As the bell rang, signaling the end of speech class, Georgia gathered her stuff. She sounded almost timid as she asked, “If you want, you can sit with me at lunch.” Her green eyes broke away from mine as we left the classroom.
I couldn’t help but wonder if everyone ignored Georgia, or if she purposefully kept herself from them. She seemed nice enough, but quiet. She hardly ever rose her hand in class, preferring to doodle on the edges of her notebooks. She was small, and the way she held herself made her appear even smaller. She almost reminded me of the old me, the me of sixth grade. I could tell there was a sadness nestled somewhere inside of her, a loneliness no one else could truly understand. I did, but only because I’d felt it myself.
“Sure,” I spoke, nodding once. Since speech class came with no textbooks, and I didn’t bring a lunch, I didn’t have to stop at my locker. I followed Georgia to hers, surveying the kids walking by as I waited for her to input her combination. Once she had her brown paper bag in her hands, I followed her to the cafeteria.
On the first floor, the cafeteria was huge. Full of round tables with stackable chairs. I trailed Georgia to a table on the side, right by a garbage can. I had no idea why she’d want to sit there, but then again, most of the other tables were full.
I sat down beside her. “Do you sit alone?” I made sure to position myself so that I could see most of the other tables with a quick glance of my head. If there was ever a time to make sure Alec and Xander still went here, it was now. Everyone had lunch together.
“Usually I read a book,” Georgia said, unrolling her bagged lunch. “I don’t really fit in here, but I figure you can sit here until you find somewhere else to sit.” The way she spoke, like I was just going to desert her, made me frown.
“Why don’t you fit in?” I ignored the last part of her remark, not knowing how to address it. There were tables of jocks, tables of nerds, tables of the choir people and the kids in the band. The emos, the druggies—there was a crowd for everyone in high school.
“I transferred in the middle of sophomore year,” she said, “so I know what it’s like. When they realized I was boring, that they wouldn’t be able to date me or sleep with me, most of them stopped trying to talk to me.” Georgia shrugged. “I don’t care. After high school, none of these people will be friends. I saw it happen when my sister graduated. I know what to expect.”
So cynical. So much like me.
“Why’d you transfer?” I asked, leaning on the table.
“Dad got a fancy new job,” she told me. “Why’d you transfer?”
Why did I transfer? God, it was a fucking long story, one I didn’t want to tell her, mostly because I wasn’t sure if I could trust her or not. Trust, true trust, didn’t come easily. Just because she was an outcast didn’t mean she’d automatically side with me in my fight against Christian and the rest of the Dick Squad.
“I…” I started to tell her that it was too long of a story, but my gaze landed on a table further in the cafeteria.
Christian sat with his arm slung around a girl. A pretty girl, one with curled blonde hair and warm brown eyes. Dimples, too. The old, self-conscious me started to reemerge, but I pushed her back.
First thing was first, I had to break them up. Who would be the weaker link—Christian or his pretty girlfriend?
My thoughts vanished the moment I spotted the one sitting on his left. Another boy who was more like a man, handsome in a way that warmed my lower gut. Wavy brown hair, sparkling green eyes that seemed lively, even though he was so far from me. He wasn’t as muscular as Christian, but he was manly all the same, even in his Batman t-shirt.
Alec Perry. Victim number two.
Good, that just left Xander to find.
Georgia followed the trail of my gaze, and she let out a sigh when she saw who I was staring at. “Tell me you don’t like those guys. Alec is okay, but Christian is a douche.”
“I’m not exactly a new transfer,” I finally said, moving my gaze back to her. “I was here from kindergarten to the middle of sixth grade. They were both in my class.” I pursed my lips, fighting the memories that were trying to swim their way to the surface of my mind. “I wonder if they remember me.”
No, I knew they did. What I wondered was if they knew how badly they’d broken me.
Georgia let out a sound of disbelief. “I’d say so. Looks like Alec is coming over here.” Her posture went rigid, as if it was the last thing she wanted.
My gaze moved past her, and indeed, Alec was headed to our table. He was at least five foot nine, tall and sinewy. When he slid into the seat beside me, I couldn’t help but smell the musky scent he radiated.
Approaching me so soon? I hadn’t expected it, but I’d roll with it.
“Wow,” Alec spoke, sounding, strangely, amazed at my presence. “It really is you. When Christian said you were back, I didn’t believe him.” Ah, so I was the talk of the school, was I? Good. At least I was making some impression.
“Yep,” I said. “I’m here to stay.” Mostly because I had nowhere else to go, but he didn’t need to know that.
Alec glanced to Georgia before landing those pretty green eyes on me. The color of emeralds. It took every ounce of willpower to fight the feeling those eyes rose inside of me. Hell, I wanted to be just like any other hormonal teenage girl and throw myself at him. Run my hands down his chest and feel his toned muscles underneath my fingertips. But I wouldn’t. Not yet. Not unless it was a part of his punishment.
“How are you?” Alec asked, a certain heaviness to his tone.
I stared at him. “I’m…fine?” Fuck. I didn’t sound sure, did I? I blamed him, this encounter, something I wasn’t prepared for. Plus, he seemed too nice. Almost as if he truly cared about whether or not I was fine—something the Alec from sixth grade would never have been.
It was a moment before Alec said, “Good.” He glanced between Georgia and me, lingering on me, finally realizing the skintight outfit I wore. “I’ll…I’ll see you around.” And then he got up and returned to Christian’s table. Both Georgia and I watched him go with confused expressions on our faces.
Christian, on the other hand, looked positively enraged when Alec sat beside him. He withdrew his arm from the girl and leaned toward Alec, fuming. Oh, what I would give to hear what he was saying. Was he yelling at Alec for coming over to me? Or was he trying to see if Alec had gotten any new dirt on me?
“That was…” Georgia broke the silence of our table. “Weird. That was very weird.” She looked at me, as if appraising me in a new light. “What exactly happened six years ago?”
All I did was smile at her and say, “That is a long and complicated story. Let’s finish the Poe project, and if you’re not sick of me by then, I’ll tell you.” I wasn’t ashamed of what happened all those years ago; what was the point? It was the past. There was nothing I could do to change it. It was what it was, and I had the scars to prove it beneath my sleeves.
It seemed to placate her, and I spent the remainder of the lunch period trying my best not to stare at Christian’s table. What game was Alec playing at? I’d wonder it all day.
When the bell rang and the other kids filed out of the cafeteria, I went to my locker and got a fresh notebook for chemistry. The science halls were upstairs, and as I made my way up, there was no way to steel myself for what was to come.
Christian and Alec were in my chemistry class…as was Christian’s girlfriend, who I learned was named Jessie. After Mr. Burns—an older, bald, thin man who probably wore the same moss green pants day after day—introduced me to the class, he told me to get with a pair of students. I could've chosen Christian and Alec, but instead I found myself gravitating toward Christian’s girlfriend and some other girl.
“Hi,” I spoke, pulling a chair to their table. These tables were made for pairs, but every other table was already full. It was a toss up either way, no matter which table I would’ve gone with.
“I’m Jessie,” she introduced herself with a flip of
her long, blonde hair. “And she’s Sarah.” She spoke for the girl beside her, with brown hair and pink-dyed ends. A smile danced across her face, and I couldn’t tell if it was genuine or not.
My guess was not, since she was currently dating Christian.
Turned out, the girls were talkative. They wanted to know all about me. I picked and chose what I told them, figuring Christian would at least fill Jessie in on the rest. I didn’t recognize her from my sixth grade class, so I assumed she’d come from another one. As we did the equations Mr. Burns flashed across the whiteboard, I found their eagerness startling and kind of fun.
Fun, mostly because across the room, Christian was watching us, making no effort to hide his stares. Beside him, Alec stared at me, too, but I didn’t get the same hatred from him that seemed to ebb and flow from his friend.
I wondered if I could not only break up Christian’s relationship, but also break up his friendship. Leaving Christian with nothing, absolutely nothing to his name, sounded like music to my ears. Alas, it meant I had to be nice to Alec too, before I pulled the rug out from under him.
One thing at a time.
Mr. Burns let us take the last five minutes of class to clean and pack up. As Sarah went to put away the dry erase board we’d been using for the formulas and equations, Jessie offered me her notebook. “Here,” she said. “You can give it back to me tomorrow. We have a test over all of this stuff next week.”
I couldn’t tell if she was really being nice to me, or if this was all some kind of game. After my childhood, it was hard for me to trust anyone. Instead of fighting her on it, I simply smiled and said, “Thank you.”
As soon as the bell rang, it was like a madhouse. There was one more period left to go for most of us, and I knew everyone was itching to get out. I didn’t blame them; I wanted to call Leah and discuss every minute detail about today. I avoided all eye contact as I ventured into the hall, heading to my locker to shove my huge chemistry book inside, not to mention Jessie’s notebook. I was about to head to my last class of the day when a slim figure appeared beside my locker, smelling that same musky scent I’d noticed during lunch.
Alec. Fucking Alec.
“Hey,” he spoke, his backpack slung around his shoulders. “You need a ride?” Right, because most seniors were able to leave early, so long as they had their schedules changed so study hall was their last class.
I had purposefully not chosen to take any study halls. For my final class, I was taking something I wanted to take. Something that interested me—and not for the sake of the revenge plot. Photography was always something I enjoyed, but I never really put much thought to it before having to sign up for classes here.
I supposed I could’ve told him no thanks, but I was so caught off-guard by his question that I only blinked up at him. I knew I’d changed, become a woman, but he’d definitely become a man. My eyes were level with his neck, and I saw his Adam’s apple bob, as if he were intensely expectant, waiting with bated breath for my answer.
“Why would I ride with you?” I asked, angling my head up at him. He stood two feet from me, and I could still smell him. Damn, this boy had a nice scent.
“I…” Alec’s fingers fiddled with the strap around his shoulder. “Well, I…”
“Cat got your tongue?” I asked, breathing through my mouth to avoid inhaling his musky scent anymore. I didn’t need to start crushing on the guy. That would only complicate things unnecessarily.
A muscle in Alec’s jaw tensed, and I noticed just how square it was, not to mention the dark stubble lining it. It was no typical teenage scruff. He’d been shaving for a while, I could tell. I don’t know why the thought made my stomach warm up.
“Look, I—”
“I can’t. I have an eighth period class.” I started to back away from him, suddenly needing space. “Photography.” Damn it—why’d I have to go and tell him? It was like I was inviting him to stalk me.
And I wasn’t. If anyone was going to be the stalker here, I was. Not them. These tables had officially turned.
As I walked away, I made sure to keep my head held high and add an extra sway to my hips. I wasn’t going to fall for Alec’s games, whatever game he thought he was playing. When I made it to the back end of the school where all the art rooms were, I froze.
Hmm.
What if I acted like I was playing his game, all the while playing my own board with him as an unknowing pawn?
Chapter Four
I was the unluckiest girl in the universe. It was official.
I’d wanted photography to be the one class where I could relax, where I could breathe and not have to worry about putting on the front of a tough girl. Was that going to happen, though? No, no it most certainly was not. Why, you might be wondering?
Well, it was Murphy’s fucking Law. I’d seen Christian in two classes, Alec in one. It was only fair that the final guy in the Dick Squad was in my last class of the day, wasn’t it? Xander was here, and I would officially have no time to relax and actually be happy.
Xander was basically the teacher’s helper, from what I understood, and tasked in helping me choose what I wanted to work on the rest of the year. All the other students had chosen their projects; they’d make a huge portfolio and be graded on it. Until then, everyone had an A.
While the teacher went to his desk and surfed Facebook, the rest of the students broke off into groups. Some of them roamed the halls, snapping pictures. When the weather was nice, they went outside. I sat at a table in the back of the room, fuming, mostly at myself.
Mostly because I’d been stupid for hoping to have one free period to enjoy, where I didn’t have to be on alert and watch what I say and what I do. There were, what, ten other kids in the class? None of them were familiar to me, so they were all fine. No revenge. This class was not supposed to entail any revenge plots from me.
Now…now all that had changed.
Xander was sluggish in making his way to my table, pulling a chair and sitting on it backwards, like he was some cool kid. I didn’t want to look at him, definitely didn’t want to meet those eyes that I knew were so dark they were near black, but I would have to eventually. Best get it over with, right?
Xander was a crony. A wannabe. Someone who followed Christian without a second thought, and I hated him for it.
Today was chicken and fries day at school. It was the one time I bought lunch; every other day I packed what I could find in the apartment. Mom didn’t go grocery shopping too often, mostly because she was never sober enough. If Mom didn’t have the strength, I would have to. I could grab the card out of her wallet and go by myself—I knew what numbers she pushed on the pin pad when checking out. I could do it. Maybe this weekend.
I got my tray, along with my fries and chicken nuggets, paying the lunch lady once I reached the end with the change in my pocket. The smell wafted up to my nose, and I let myself smile as I exited the kitchen area and entered the cafeteria.
Lost in my own head as I headed to my usual table in the corner, I was too focused on how I would present myself to the cashier with Mom’s card, if the cashier would try to call the police or something, to notice the foot that suddenly jutted out before me. My own foot caught, and I tripped, losing hold of my tray.
My precious fries and chicken nuggets slid along the floor, my tray colliding with the tile. I was on my hands, having caught myself with my wrists and my knees, and before I could look at the kid sitting in the table nearest me, I heard it.
The laughter.
It was slow, soft at first, but it steadily grew louder until all the tables around me were full of it. Until I wanted to claw at my own ears to drown out the noise. Various names were spoken—no, more like spat—at me. Loser. Freak. Nothing I hadn’t heard before, but their words still hurt all the same.
I tilted my head somewhat, turning to view the owner of the foot that had tripped me. Christian, of course. I shouldn’t have expected anything else. Behind him, Alec couldn’t even look at me
, almost like he felt sorry for me, and across from him, on the other end of the table, Xander sat, smirking, watching me with a fire in his dark eyes.
I hated it. I hated them. I wished…I wished they’d get a taste of their own medicine, but today was not that day. I got up, hurriedly grabbing the tray and the spilled food, trying my best not to burst into tears as I exited the cafeteria after dumping it in the trash, tray and all.
Really, I should’ve known better than to have wanted something. Anything I was excited for, anything that made my life just a bit more bearable, always screwed me over in the end.
I made it to the bathroom, locking myself in a stall, before the tears began to fall, cascading down my cheeks like a waterfall. A waterfall I could not stop, not anymore. Why was life so hard?
Xander Hill may not have been the ringleader, but as far as I was concerned, he was guilty by association. He’d laughed at me, just like everyone else. Whatever spiteful shit I’d come up with to torture him, he would deserve every ounce of it.
I felt my nerves tighten as I slowly brought my gaze up to meet his, and then my nerves were set aflame. The Xander I stared at was nothing like the Xander I remembered. Up close, he looked like a completely different person. What six years could do to a person, evidently.
Xander was no longer a preppy-looking boy. His black hair was longer, swept to the side, his eyebrow pierced, along with his lower lip. He was the thinnest out of the three, though I could tell, beneath his dark clothes, there was still a bit of muscle on him. He was, for lack of a better word, an emo.
A sexy as hell emo, but an emo nonetheless.
Huh. Not at all what I pictured. And, judging from the fact that I hadn’t seen him at all with Christian today, I wondered if the three had a falling out. A shame. I could’ve been the root cause of their falling out.
Spite: A Bully Reverse Harem Page 3
