Bully Secret (Bullies of Ember High Book 1)

by Octavia June

  Just how much did the boys care about their grades? If they failed the project, they’d fail the class. That much I knew about them.

  But how much did they really know about me? If I failed the project, I’d still pass the class.

  Sure, it wouldn’t be satisfying, and I definitely didn’t want to fail and put any of my future plans at risk—I still had no clue which college I wanted to go to, which was driving my counselor insane, but I wanted to have all the options open.

  But the boys couldn’t know any of that, could they? They didn’t give a shit about my hopes and dreams or anything.

  “Fine. If you don’t want to do the project, then I won’t do it either,” I said.

  “But you don’t want to fail it, do you? You’re a nerd,” Ethan said.

  “Oh really?” I raised an eyebrow at him. “I didn’t get the memo, but yeah, maybe I am, a little. So if I fail this, I won’t fail the whole class. But I’m not sure about you. So if you don’t want to do the damn project, don’t. It’s none of my concern.”

  They exchanged a few looks, and I fought the urge to smile.

  They couldn’t fail this, could they? Well, that was definitely interesting. And there was no way for them to tell if I was bluffing.

  Sure, my grades were mostly excellent, but not always. I wasn’t perfect at everything, but I could still afford to slip up.

  “Just do the fucking project or you’ll regret it,” Zack said.

  “Why?” I placed my hand on my hip as he dropped my bag onto the floor. “Are you going to be nice to me if I do it? Because even if you promise me the moon, I’m not going to believe a word that comes out of your mouths.” I glanced at Rhys. “You guys had your chance and maybe I could’ve forgiven you, but now, if you want to get a good grade, I suggest you pull your heads out of your asses and start acting like normal people.”

  Surprise flickered through Aaron’s eyes.

  Rhys’s eyebrows shot up.

  Zack let out a small laugh, and Ethan’s lips parted.

  I supposed they hadn’t expected to hear something like that coming out of my mouth.

  “You’ll change your mind,” Aaron said.

  They were going to call my bluff, weren’t they? Ugh.

  Was I really willing to fail the project because of them? Would it even be worth it?

  If they failed the class, then yeah. I’d do it.

  Even if it was a stupid thing to do.

  But this was high school, and I didn’t think I’d filled my stupid-things-I’d-done quota just yet.

  “No. I think you’ll change yours.” I flashed them a smile as I snatched my bag off the floor, and then I pushed past them.

  This time they didn’t try to stop me, and I didn’t look back.

  If they really refused to do the project or they paid someone to do it for them, I was going to miss the opportunity to get some dirt on them, but whatever.

  Although, if they put my name on something someone else had written and the teacher found out we hadn’t done the project ourselves, I’d be in a whole lot of trouble.

  Gah.

  Was there a way to win with these guys?

  Hopefully, they weren’t going to try something stupid like that, especially since I could report them to the teacher.

  Okay yeah.

  Maybe I had some kind of a plan after all.

  The boys were going to change their minds. They had to.

  And then I’d figure out how to use all that to my advantage.

  Chapter 11

  ARE WE DOING THIS OR not?

  Make your choice.

  That was the message that I’d left for Aaron, Rhys, Ethan, and Zack in our group chat.

  If they wanted to do the project, then they had to contact me.

  If not, I was going to be very pissed, but I wasn’t going to run after them or do the project for them. It was actually a lot of work, so that was why five of us were needed anyway.

  And it wasn’t like this was my only class. There were other things that I had to do.

  When my phone vibrated with a new message, I thought it was Sam.

  But when I actually checked the message, I realized it was Rhys.

  Unless the whole thing was another trap for me, they’d decided to do the project after all, and Rhys wanted me to come to his house to discuss it. There was an address too.

  I furrowed my brow.

  Going to Rhys’ house? Was that dangerous or safe?

  Hopefully, his parents were going to be there.

  I gathered everything that I might need and headed straight there.

  Rhys’ house wasn’t big, but it was in a nice neighborhood. Before I headed for the front door, I checked the address once again. If he’d sent me to the wrong place, I was going to be really mad.

  I spotted a doorbell and rang it.

  A few moments later, a dark-haired man opened the door. He was wearing a police uniform.

  “Um, I’m looking for Rhys,” I said.

  The man looked me up and down, and then a smile spread across his lips. “You must be Melody. Rhys said you’d be coming over. Come on in.” He stepped aside.

  I entered the foyer, looking around me.

  Rhys’ father was a cop?

  Aw great.

  I supposed calling the cops for something involving Rhys was out of the question now. He’d just get away with everything or his daddy would make all the evidence mysteriously disappear.

  “Rhys’ room is just down the hallway.” He pointed at it. “What was it again that you’re working on?”

  “Our History project.” I gave him a small smile.

  Was he actually making sure Rhys wasn’t lying or was he just trying to be friendly?

  “Oh yes. Of course. Do you want something to drink? A snack? I’m going out in a bit, but my wife is in the kitchen. If you need anything—”

  “No, I don’t. It’s fine. Thanks.”

  “All right. If you change your mind, the kitchen is over there.” He bobbed his head toward it.

  I gave him a nod, and then I headed down the hallway to find Rhys. The door was closed, so I knocked.

  “Come in,” he said, and I opened the door.

  His room was quite spacious, with a big window, which was open. Most of the room was in black and dark blue tones. A dark, plush carpet was on the floor.

  A king-size bed was in the middle of the room, and a desk with a chair across from it. Rhys also had a computer and a shelf full of all kinds of things, from books to video games and photos.

  “Hey,” he said as he took a seat on the windowsill. “Close the door behind you.”

  I did as he asked and stepped forward, dropping my bag onto the carpet.

  “Is he gone?” Rhys asked.

  “Who?”

  “My dad.”

  “Um, I guess. He said he was leaving soon.”

  “Good.” Rhys grabbed a small box and placed it in his lap.

  “Where’s everyone else? I thought they’d all be here.” Unless it was only Rhys who needed to get a good grade.

  “They’re busy, but we can start our part.” He opened the box and rolled a joint.

  Oh wonderful. Just what I needed.

  “But we need to all be together to decide which historical period we’re going to cover.”

  “Don’t just stand there. Sit down,” he said as if he found my presence annoying. “And none of us care about the stupid period thing. You pick one.”

  “Um, okay. But once I pick it, I’m sticking with it. If any of you want to change it later, I won’t agree to it.” I took a seat on his bed.

  Damn, it was so fucking soft.

  He lit his joint and then offered it to me.

  My eyebrows shot up as I shook my head.

  He muttered something about me being stuck-up.

  I reached for my bag so I could get my book.

  Rhys looked so damn uninterested in the whole thing that I had no idea how we were going to do this
, even if the boys actually wanted to do the project.

  If they expected I’d lose my patience and just do the whole thing myself instead, they were wrong.

  If they wanted to complete the project, they’d have to do their parts themselves.

  End of story.

  Chapter 12

  RHYS AND I HADN’T ENDED up doing much, but at least we’d settled on our main topic.

  Today I had to meet with Ethan, and he’d invited me to his house.

  Unlike Rhys’, Ethan’s house was a two-story mansion. Expensive cars were in the driveway, and there was a huge garden behind the house. It looked like Ethan’s parents had staff to take care of the house and everything too.

  “Mom, this is Melody,” Ethan said as he brought me into a spacious living room.

  Ethan’s mom was a thin blonde, her hair tied in a tight bun, and she looked like a model.

  “Nice to meet you, Melody,” she said, offering her hand to me.

  “Nice to meet you too.” I gave her a small smile as I shook her hand.

  “We should go upstairs,” Ethan said as if he wanted to get me out of the room as soon as possible.

  “It’s such a shame you can’t meet my son Roan,” Ethan’s mother said, her eyes gaining a special kind of shine. “He’s away for college, and he’s my biggest pride. If only someone else would bring me as much happiness as he does.” Her gaze settled on Ethan, who pressed his lips into a tight line.

  Okay, that was awkward.

  “Let’s go.” Ethan grabbed my hand and pulled me with him before his mom could say anything else. Interesting.

  Once we were in Ethan’s room, which was on the second floor, I realized it wasn’t all that different from Rhys’, except the most prevalent color was green, it was bigger, and there were a bunch of posters of hot models and actress on the walls.

  “Take a seat,” he said, going for his laptop. “I’ve already prepared something.”

  “Oh.” I sat down on the bed, surprised that he’d actually cared enough to do something.

  Or maybe he felt more pressure to get a good grade, especially if his mom was always going on and on about his brother.

  “Here.” He set the laptop on my lap. “Read through it and tell me what you think.”

  “Okay.” I focused on the notes he’d made. “Looks good, actually. But we need to find a reliable source. The one you have won’t do. It has to be an article from some historian or a history professor.”

  “Even if that professor picked up the info from that same website I found?”

  “Yeah, even then.” Our teacher would have an aneurysm if she realized we’d taken a random website as our source.

  “Fuck.” Ethan ran his hand through his hair.

  He seemed nervous for some reason, but I couldn’t tell why. His room was also super-clean, but I supposed that was because he had a maid.

  Oh hell.

  I wished I had a maid.

  Or maybe not.

  I didn’t want anyone to go through my stuff.

  “It’s fine. Let me just see if I can find another source,” I said. “Can I use your—”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  I brought up the web browser, and as I was about to click on the search engine icon, I missed and accidentally hit a bookmark.

  A porn website came up, and I almost let out a startled gasp.

  Ethan was pacing the room and looking the other way, so he had no idea what I’d done.

  BBW.

  Wait, was this Ethan’s laptop?

  Since it was in his room and he was using it for his project, then it had to be.

  Was he really watching porn with big beautiful women? I quickly closed the website.

  Okay. This was weird.

  I didn’t know how I felt about it.

  Had he put that bookmark there for me to click on it? But I didn’t think so.

  And why would he? It didn’t make any sense.

  “Did you find it?” He gave me a questioning look.

  Oh, I’d found it all right.

  “Um, give me a sec. It’s not so easy to find a reputable source.” I kept my face blank, pretending I hadn’t seen anything at all.

  “Yeah. Right.” He went back to pacing.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked because he was seriously starting to distract me. “I mean, you seem nervous.”

  “No. Everything’s fine.”

  “If you say so.” I focused my attention back on the laptop.

  Could Ethan really be into bigger women or was it just some kind of weird fetish for him?

  I glanced at the posters on his walls. All the girls were super-thin.

  What if I’d just discovered Ethan’s secret?

  What if he really liked girls like me?

  I was an idiot.

  People looked at all kinds of porn. It didn’t mean they wanted to do it in real life.

  “Here. I think I got something,” I said after skimming through an article. “You can use this one.”

  Ethan settled on the bed next to me and glanced at the screen. “Great.”

  With him so close to me, I wondered what other secrets he might be hiding.

  Chapter 13

  AARON’S TWO-STORY HOUSE was really nice too, but when I almost walked into the kitchen, I spotted a weird lock on one of the cabinets.

  Aaron quickly steered me out of there, though, and now we were seated on his soft, dark green carpet. His room was spacious too, in crème tones, and there was a shelf full of trophies.

  He played soccer, so I supposed that was how he’d gotten them.

  Once we started working, he was awfully quiet. He barely even looked at me. I didn’t mind, as long as he didn’t bother me or bully me.

  But after some time, my throat felt dry and my stomach rumbled.

  I’d gone off in a wrong direction before I found his house, and I’d been hungry, so I’d eaten my snack that I had with me before I even got here. Aaron hadn’t offered me anything, and I hadn’t seen his parents.

  “Um, do you maybe have some something to drink? And a snack?” Even though I tried to stop it, my stomach made a growling noise anyway.

  Aaron gave me a look of disgust and then got to his feet. He crossed the room and grabbed a bottle of water, which he tossed to me.

  “Thanks,” I said as I caught it.

  “I’ll be right back.” He headed for the door, and I opened the bottle and took a few long gulps of the refreshing liquid.

  Oh, thank god.

  But I really needed to eat something because I was starting to feel shaky. Hopefully, Aaron had something good to eat, even if it was just a protein bar.

  But as the minutes ticked by, I started to wonder what the hell was taking him so long.

  What if he’d decided he’d found a perfect excuse to leave the room and had gone off somewhere instead? Maybe he’d gone to play video games or he’d forgotten about me.

  I lowered the bottle and got to my feet, inching closer to the door.

  Voices. I could hear voices coming from somewhere down the hallway, or maybe it was from downstairs.

  It sounded as if they were yelling and arguing.

  Was something wrong?

  I pushed the door open, padding down the hallway so I could hear better what they were saying.

  “Mom, I’m telling you it’s for Melody. Didn’t you see her? She’s like a fucking whale,” Aaron said.

  Ouch.

  Thanks a lot, Aaron.

  “Bring her here,” a female voice said. Aaron’s mom?

  “No. We’re working on a project. Just give me the damn bowl.”

  “I want to meet her.”

  “No, Mom, you don’t.”

  “You’re lying to me again, aren’t you?”

  “I’m not. I swear.”

  “If I find out that—”

  “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not lying.”

  “Fine. But I don’t want to find any of this in your
room later. Understood?”

  “Yes, Mom,” Aaron snapped.

  What the hell was that all about? Because I didn’t understand a damn thing.

  Why did Aaron’s mom think he was lying about something? And how was I a part of it all? Did she think that we weren’t working on the project or was it about something else?

  I heard Aaron’s footsteps coming closer, so I dashed back to the room. When he returned, he was holding a bowl of cereal, an angry expression on his face.

  “Here.” He dumped the bowl on the floor next to me so hard that I thought it was going to break.

  Some of the milk spilled out of it and onto the carpet, but it didn’t look like he cared about that.

  “Thanks.” I grabbed the bowl and took a spoonful of the cereal.

  It was some kind of weird-tasting cereal.

  Something supposedly healthy, which meant it tasted like shit. But the milk helped to kill the taste.

  A few moments later, someone knocked on the door, and a dark-haired woman poked her head inside.

  “Mom, I told you we were busy!” Aaron raised his voice as he glared at her.

  “I’m just checking on you,” she said. “Hello, Melody.” She smiled at me and there was something odd in her eyes when she spotted the bowl in my hands.

  Did she think I was a whale too?

  Ugh. Maybe.

  She was perfectly thin.

  “Um, hi, Mrs. Oliveira,” I managed to say.

  When she closed the door, Aaron was bristling, but I had no idea why he was so upset.

  This was all just so damn weird, and I couldn’t wait to get out of here.

  Chapter 14

  WHEN ZACK HAD TOLD me the four of them would be coming to me this time, I’d thought it was a good idea, but as they spilled all over my room, touching everything they weren’t supposed to and inspecting every corner, I regretted my decision.

  “Just stop it,” I said. “You came here so we could work on the project, remember?”

  “Why do you still have this?” Rhys waved my plush teddy bear.

  “Why the fuck do you care?” I snatched the teddy from him.

  Ugh. I totally should’ve removed everything I might care about from my room, but there just hadn’t been time for me to do that.

  And where the hell would I put my things?

  “You’re a baby,” Rhys teased. “Do you have your favorite blanket too?”