by Octavia June
“Maybe I do.” I groaned. “Just sit down. Everyone!” I felt as if I were in kindergarten with a bunch of two-year-olds.
A knock sounded on the door, and relief overcame me.
“Come in,” I said, and my mom pushed the door open.
The boys immediately stopped whatever the fuck they were doing—I sure as hell hoped no one had taken pics of my room, but I really wouldn’t put it past them to try.
“Hey, guys,” my mom said as she carried a tray with sandwiches. “I brought you something to eat.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said as she lowered the tray on my bed.
“How is your project going?” she asked.
“Great, Mrs. Reid,” Aaron said with such a nice smile that I had no idea how he was doing it.
Hell, they all suddenly seemed like the best boys ever.
Incredible.
And so fucking fake.
“Oh yeah,” Zack said. “It’s going to be awesome.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” My mom eyed each one of them and then glanced at me. “Do you need more drinks?”
“No, we’re fine,” I said.
Although, a part of me wished my mom could stay just so the boys would stop running around like crazy chickens.
“Okay. If you need anything, just call for me.”
Once she was out of the room, the boys threw themselves on the sandwiches as if they hadn’t eaten anything in days.
Huh.
And they were making fun of me for eating.
They were lucky they could eat whatever the hell they wanted and still have such perfect bodies. Okay, they did spend a lot of time practicing and they were almost all into sports, but still.
Not all of their teammates were so lean and strong.
“Fuck me, this is just fucking amazing,” Zack said with his mouth still full. “If your mom makes such great food, no wonder you’re fat.”
“Ha ha. Thanks, Zack.” I rolled my eyes.
“No, seriously.”
Aaron and Zack grabbed another sandwich as soon as they finished.
Damn.
My mom was going to be so happy when I told her the boys hadn’t even left any crumbs behind.
“Can we now work on our project?” I asked when they finished.
“Not yet.” Rhys pulled something out of his pocket.
That box. The one he’d had at his house.
“No. You can’t smoke in here!” I said.
“Chill. You can open the window if it bothers you,” Rhys said.
Oh hell.
“What if my mom comes back?” I hissed.
My mom probably wouldn’t expect something like that, especially because she knew I didn’t smoke.
“So what?” Aaron grinned at me. “Are you afraid?”
“If you want to smoke, go outside. I don’t want that stink in my room.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine,” Rhys said. “We do this all the time.”
Great. Just fucking great.
“You can do it later. Not now.” I gritted my teeth.
No matter what I said, I wasn’t going to achieve anything, was I? If I started yelling at them, my mom would come for sure.
They completely ignored me, and I waved my hand in front of me, shaking my head at them. “You’re playing sports. Isn’t this a problem?”
“Not if you know what you’re doing.” Rhys winked at me, and I furrowed my brow.
I suspected there was more to it, but they sure as hell weren’t going to tell me. Either no one ever tested them for anything or they had a way around it.
Hmm.
I got to my feet and opened the window wide.
Were we even going to get any work done today?
Somehow, I doubted it.
Chapter 15
THE NEXT DAY, PHOTOS of my room were all over the Ember High Journal, and I was so damn furious that I went looking for Aaron, Zack, Ethan, and Rhys right away.
I found them just as Rhys was placing a book in his locker.
“What the fuck?” I yelled at them.
“Hey, Melody. What’s up?” Zack asked with a smile. “You look annoyed.”
“Really? Is that all you’re going to say to me?”
“What do you want us to say?” Aaron cocked his head at me.
“Why the fuck are photos of my room on that fucking website? Which one of you did it?” I glared at them.
“No idea,” Rhys said, lifting his hands up and giving me his most innocent face ever. “It wasn’t us. Are you sure it wasn’t one of your friends?”
“The only people who were in my room yesterday were the four of you, and today, there are pics of my room online. Do you really expect me to believe it wasn’t you?” I all but growled.
“We might’ve taken a few pics,” Ethan said. “But we didn’t post them anywhere. Who knows who owns that website or how they got the pics.”
“We should change our passwords,” Zack said as if he’d just gotten the best idea ever.
They were all just a bunch of fucking liars.
One of them or all of them were behind that damn website, but I knew there was no way for me to get them to confess.
“You know what?” I crossed my arms. “Do something stupid like this again, and I’m done with the project. You can finish it yourselves.”
“Oh, come on, Melody. Don’t be like that,” Aaron said. “So what if someone took pics of your room? It’s just a room.”
“Do you guys want pics of your rooms online, huh? Maybe I should take a few next time we work together, and then I’ll send them to that website. Do you want people commenting on everything you have in your rooms or on what might be on your computers?” My gaze shifted to Ethan, whose brow furrowed.
Aaron sighed. “We didn’t do anything.”
“Okay then. Be like that. If you want to call me names and make fun of me every chance you get, then I’m out. Fuck the project.” I turned on my heel and started walking away.
“Melody, hey! Wait!” Rhys called after me. “How about we call a truce?”
I stopped and spun around to face him.
“We won’t tease you or anything until the project is done. How about that?”
Wow, what a fucking generous offer.
Also, tease me?
Was that what this whole thing was to them? A simple teasing?
Ugh. I wanted to punch them all.
But something was better than nothing, wasn’t it?
“Fine. But if anything appears on that website and you try to claim that it wasn’t any of you—”
“It won’t,” Aaron said.
They were behind that damn website.
They had to be.
“Okay. Since we’re going to need to go through some books, we should meet at the library next.”
“Sounds good,” Rhys said, and the rest of them nodded.
“I’ll message you later.” I had to figure out when I’d find the time to go to the library.
If they hadn’t been messing around so much, maybe we could’ve done more. But getting them to actually do any work was hard.
Well, except for Ethan. He was doing his part just fine, but the rest...
Ugh. The mere thought of it was driving me crazy.
They wanted it to be perfect, but they weren’t willing to put any work into it. Maybe, just maybe, they could do the research part right. Our resources couldn’t all be from the Internet. We needed some actual books too.
As I strode away from the boys, I could hear them whispering something and laughing.
Were they laughing about me? Did they find me funny? Had they taken anything I’d said seriously? Or were they just concerned about how they were going to find the time to smoke since they couldn’t do it at the library?
Oh god. I really hoped they wouldn’t try and get us banned from the library or something. Now that would be a disaster.
Maybe I should call them one by one instead of all of them together. It wou
ld take us longer to finish the next step of our project, but it was easier to deal with one of them at a time.
Chapter 16
I CHECKED THE TIME again, but it didn’t look like Aaron was going to show up. Just fucking great. We’d agreed to meet at the library, but even though half an hour had passed, he still wasn’t here.
After gathering my things, I headed out.
Where the hell could he be?
I’d texted him, but I’d gotten no response.
Wasn’t he supposed to have soccer practice right before? Maybe he’d had to stay longer for some reason, or maybe he’d just forgotten.
Still, I decided to look for him. Maybe he was hanging out with his friends near the locker room, or hell, maybe he was outside having a smoke.
The hallway that led to the locker rooms was in darkness, but I could hear voices, so I inched closer. The door was cracked open, and I could see Aaron inside.
He was shirtless, and damn, he was hot, but there was no time to think about that. But then I realized his parents were in there with him.
What the hell was going on? Had he had an important game or something? Why hadn’t he told me?
“You’re too slow!” Aaron’s father said as he shook his head. “The ball was right there in front of you, and yet that guy got to it before you!”
“Don’t you think I don’t know that?” Aaron snapped.
“You need to lose more weight,” his mom said. “Look at you.” She actually reached out and pinched the skin of his stomach.
“Mom!” He pulled away from her.
“Well, it’s true. You’re too fat. That’s why you’re slow,” she said.
My eyes widened. Was she for real?
Aaron’s mom needed to have her eyes checked, or maybe her brain.
“We need to find another diet for you,” his dad said. “I’m going to call the nutritionist.”
“No! I don’t want to eat some stupid shit!” Aaron grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head.
“Son, do you want to go to Europe or not?” his dad asked. “You need to be the best. Better than anyone else here. Better than anyone in this damn country.”
“Forget it.” Aaron’s mom touched her husband’s shoulder. “He’s never going to be like his grandfather.”
“Maybe I don’t want to play soccer,” Aaron said. “Maybe I don’t want to go to Europe and play there!”
“Nonsense,” his dad said. “But you need to do better. I’ll talk with the nutritionist. There has to be something. You need more practice too.”
“I can’t. I have a school project that needs to be done.”
“School project? No. Don’t think about that,” his mom said. “There’s only one thing that needs to be on your mind. Soccer. You know it’s your only chance to achieve something in this life. Don’t waste it. Your father and I have given up a lot to make sure you have everything. Only the best for you. Is this how you repay us? Have you been eating something from the forbidden list?”
“No, Mom. For fuck’s sake, can you leave me alone?”
“Don’t talk to your mother like that,” his dad said. “There’s one of those apps that tracks calorie intake. We’ll set up one of those for you.”
I pressed myself against the wall.
Wow. That was just insane.
Tracking calories? Who even knew how to do that? I certainly didn’t.
Not to mention it would be depressing. And yeah, I suspected Aaron had broken a rule when he’d eaten those sandwiches at my house.
Wait, was that why I’d seen that locked cabinet at his house? Was that why he’d had to explain that the food was for me and not for him? Was that why his mom had come to check if I was the one eating it?
Oh hell.
I couldn’t imagine having to live like that. No wonder Aaron was frustrated about the whole thing.
It was ridiculous. And who said he’d be faster? Maybe he’d be too hungry to run.
Hell, he was just a teen, and I was pretty sure not all soccer players were skeletons. Did he even want to professionally play soccer or were his parents hoping to get crazy rich through him?
Damn.
Now I was starting to feel bad for Aaron.
Was he mad at me because I could eat whatever the hell I wanted, and no one was going to try to rip the food out of my hand or count every single thing I ate? Was that why he loved to mock me for my weight?
Because his parents were calling him fat even when he wasn’t? He’d been stealing my food too. Or well, Zack had done it most of the time, but Aaron had been there too, and I was pretty sure Zack had thrown him my sandwich at least once.
Maybe it was because he actually wanted to eat something decent for once.
I let out a sigh.
This was so not what I’d been expecting to find out.
Chapter 17
ETHAN HAD A FOOTBALL game, and we were supposed to work together after it because he couldn’t find any other hole in his schedule, so instead of waiting for him at the library, I decided to go to the game.
No one knew that I’d overheard Aaron’s conversation with his parents, and I wanted it to stay that way, at least for now. I didn’t know much about how the whole soccer thing worked, but I didn’t think his parents should treat him that way.
Bullying someone like that wasn’t going to help. How could it?
It would only make him angry and annoyed. And yeah, playing some sport professionally required a lot of sacrifice, but if your heart wasn’t in it, then why do it?
If you really loved something and you wanted to be the best at it, then you didn’t mind all the hard work as much. I had no idea how Aaron really felt about soccer.
Was it his dream or someone else’s?
As I watched Ethan on the field, I was sure that he was born to play football. It was just the way he moved, with confidence.
And damn, soon I found myself cheering with the crowd.
When the game was over—another win, of course—everyone was congratulating him, but I realized he kept glancing at the audience.
Was he looking for someone? As people were starting to leave, I headed toward the field so I could tell him we could do our project a bit later than we’d agreed upon.
He had to be exhausted after everything, and I had no idea how he’d planned on making it.
“Hey, Melody,” he said as he approached me. “We said we’d—”
“Oh no. I’m not here because of the project. Well, actually I am, but it’s not what you think. I wanted to tell you that we could meet in two hours. You need to get some rest first. It’ll do us no good if you’re tired and hungry or whatever.”
“Yeah, okay. Sure.” His eyes lifted toward the crowd that was getting thinner and thinner. “Have you seen my—” He bit down on his lip. “Never mind.”
I glanced around us and realized that all the players were surrounded by their families.
Except for Ethan.
His parents were nowhere to be seen.
“I don’t know much about football, but you were awesome,” I said.
“Thanks,” he said, giving me a look that told me he wondered if I was teasing him.
“I’m sure your parents are just busy,” I blurted out. “They’d be really proud of you if they could’ve seen you.”
Why the hell was I trying to make him feel better?
He was one of my tormentors. Sure, we supposedly had a truce. But for how long? He could use anything I said or did against me.
“Yeah, I doubt that.” He scratched the back of his head. “They never come to any of my games. But it’s okay. I don’t care.” His lips pulled up into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
Yeah, maybe he didn’t want to care, but he did anyway.
“I should go,” he said. “Need to shower and—”
“Sure. Go. And don’t forget our project. In two hours, okay?”
He nodded.
As he was walking away, I wondered where t
he hell his friends were. Ethan clearly wasn’t worried or bothered that they weren’t here, so I supposed they had a good excuse for not being here.
Considering how hard it was for me to catch them and find a hole in their schedule for our project, they were very busy people.
But what the hell were they doing? It wasn’t like they were going to share any of that info with me.
Ah well.
Maybe I was going to find out soon. There was more to these boys than they were letting on. And a part of me kind of enjoyed seeing the real them behind their masks.
It was easier for me to see them as people rather than just bullies who wanted to make my life miserable for no reason while theirs was perfect.
But of course, things were never perfect, even when they seemed to be.
Chapter 18
IT TURNED OUT RHYS had a job.
He was bartending at one of the bars, and he’d told me to meet him there. I had no idea how no one had talked about it before or how I hadn’t heard it, but it didn’t look like it was a big secret or he would’ve never invited me there.
But as I was sitting at the bar waiting for his shift to end, I realized that I hadn’t seen him for more than five minutes.
He’d gone off through one of the doors and hadn’t come out yet. Was he busy doing something in the back? Or had he escaped me and just left me here?
I waited a few more minutes, but then I headed outside, unable to sit there any longer. When I rounded the corner, I found Rhys sitting on a bunch of bricks and smoking.
“Are you okay?” I asked because he didn’t really look well.
Okay, he was still as handsome as ever, but there were dark circles under his eyes and it seemed as if he was tired of everything.
He let out a sound of annoyance as he closed his eyes for a moment. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw that you weren’t there, so I went to look for you. If this is not a good time or if you’re not feeling well, we can do the project some other time.” I didn’t really want to have to find another time and date, but he was of no use to me like this, especially if he just sat there and waited for me to do most of the work.
“Just give me five fucking minutes!” He shot me a glare.
