Hate Struck: (Maddison High School Book 1)

by Nikki Ashton

  I laughed. “She’s one of Maddison High’s finest, that’s for sure.”

  As Shannon flipped me the finger over her shoulder, Sarah snorted. I cocked a brow and tilted my head to one side to look at her. When her cheeks rushed with pink, I couldn’t help but wonder how much of her body was covered by that blush.

  “What?” she asked and flicked her tongue out at the side of her mouth.

  I pressed my lips together and slowly shook my head, watching her eyes as she looked anywhere but at me. When I didn’t answer, she leaned forward and poked Shannon in the shoulder blade.

  “You want to swap partners?” she asked.

  Shannon screwed up her brow, looked at me, looked at Sarah, and then without any response turned back to Edward.

  “That’ll be a no then,” Sarah grumbled, and I couldn’t help but smile.

  “I think you’re misjudging my ability,” I said as I opened up my textbook at the chapter headed The Battle of Austerlitz. “Now, you going to help or not?”

  With a sigh she looked at my book and then opened her own at the same place.

  “So, how do you want to do this?” I asked. “I vote we write it as a victory speech he’s making to Emperor Alexander and Emperor Francis.”

  “But they’re who he defeated,” Sarah said, glancing at what Mr Raymond had written on the board.

  “You’ll notice,” I replied, and nudged her with my shoulder, “it says to be as inventive as possible. Everyone else is going to write a series of boring facts about how he won the battle. We can include what those two dicks did wrong.”

  “You know that do you? Because I can’t say I’ve read any of that in this chapter.”

  “Well they were stupid for a start, believing his right flank was weakened. Exactly what he wanted them to think.”

  Sarah looked at me in astonishment, her mouth parted on a quiet oh.

  “Close your mouth, Sarah, I know it’s a shock, but I do actually have a brain.”

  The pink was back onto her cheeks and as she leaned down to get a pen from her bag, I caught a glimpse of colour on her collar bones where her t-shirt gaped.

  “So, do we agree?” I asked and shifted in my seat, pulling it closer to my desk.

  Sarah gave me the smallest nod of her head, smoothed down the pages of her textbook and cleared her throat. “I’ll write. So, where do you think we should start?”

  As we left the class, I threw mine and Sarah’s paper on top of the others already there. Mr Raymond smiled at me and then looked to Sarah.

  “Did Adam help you to catch up with where we are, Sarah?”

  “Yes, thank you,” she replied, barely looking him in the eyes.

  “I think you’ll find I did a good job with Sarah, Mr Raymond.” I smirked at him and wiggled my brows.

  Mr Raymond shook his head. “Go to your next class, Adam and we’ll see how good a job you did when I mark your paper.” He rolled his eyes and smiled. “Sarah, let me know if you need some old tests, or study notes to help you get to speed. Your records say you missed almost two months of school before you came here.”

  That pricked my ears up. When I turned around to listen to some more, I noticed how the colour had blanched from her face.

  “I’ll let you know,” she muttered and pushed past me out into the hall.

  So, she’d missed a couple months of school – well that was interesting.

  “I can give Sarah any help she needs, Mr Raymond.” I said in my most sincere voice. “Seeing as she missed so much school.”

  Mr Raymond eyed me over the top of his gold metal framed glasses.

  “Go to class, Adam.”

  “But…”

  “Adam.” He scooped up the pile of papers. “If Sarah needs help, she’ll ask. Now I believe you have maths with Mrs Baker, so go.”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “But if I can help in any way.”

  “Goodbye, Mr Hudson,” he growled.

  I laughed and walked out into the hall, wondering how in the hell I could find out why Sarah Danes had missed two months of school.

  9

  Sarah

  I had no idea how Alannah had talked me into it, but she’d persuaded me to go and watch her cheer practice before going with her for a burger at a cafe called TJ’s, which was apparently styled liked a 1950’s diner.

  “You know you could actually help me,” she said with a quick glance, her green eyes much brighter without her glasses.

  “Me.” I let out a laugh. “I don’t think so. I love dancing, but cheer is really not my thing. No, that I’ve got any experience of it anyway.” I didn’t elaborate that the thought of hanging around with a group of girls all in one place brought me out in a rash.

  “You don’t have to join the squad, but this is all new to me, to all of us. We’ve only had a squad for two years and you should have seen the hoops I had to go through to get Miss Daniels, the PTA and Mr Jameson to agree to it.” Alannah rolled her eyes and sighed. “Anyone would think I’d asked if we could give the team a lap dance every half-time. Anyway, the thing is, I know you do street dance and if you could show us some moves to add to the routine, something to go with the usual pikes and thigh stands…”

  I pulled to a stop and slapped a hand against her stomach. “How did you know that I do street dance?”

  If she knew that what else did she know?

  Had she read the notes from my last school?

  Did she know about what happened to me?

  Alannah frowned like it was a really stupid question, and why wouldn’t she know?

  “Miss Daniels told me,” she replied. “Why?”

  My throat clenched as I searched her face for any sign that she might believe all the rumours that I’d led Mr Mills on or that we’d been having an affair.

  “You didn’t read my notes?”

  I was being irrational, there was nothing on my notes, was there?

  “No. There’s no way Miss Daniels would allow that. She asked me if I knew any place that taught street dance around here so that maybe you could join.”

  Where I lived before, had only been an hour from London and I’d had a whole host of dance classes available to me, Street Dance had been the one that had pulled me in though, and had been the one to exhilarate me more than any of the others. I’d lived and breathed it for almost five years, even training to be a qualified teacher. Me and my squad had won the national championship two years in a row before I left, and I’d done the majority of the choreography.

  “And is there?” I asked, an unexpected ache to dance again hitting me.

  Alannah shrugged. “There’s the Starline Dance School on the edge of the trading park, but I don’t think they do street dance. It’s mostly ballet, tap and some sports hall that they teach, but you should go over there and ask.”

  I nodded and carried on walking with Alannah rushing to catch me.

  “So,” she said. “Will you help?”

  I had thought I was going to say no, but when I opened my mouth the word, “Yes,” came out. Alannah squeaked excitedly and I felt a surge of joy at the thought of getting back to doing something I’d loved with passion up until a year ago.

  “No way am I joining the squad,” I stressed. “And anyway, I haven’t practised in ages.”

  Alannah shook her head. “Nope, no way would I ever ask you. We have a full squad and three reserves anyway, so I promise.”

  Eager to get started, yet apprehensive, I followed Alannah to the sports hall with thoughts of Which-A-Way’s and Scarecrows already forming in my mind.

  When we walked in, my Converse squeaking on the polished floor, the cheer squad were already there, all stood together talking and giggling about God knew what. As Alannah approached them, I expected them to quiet down as their ‘leader’ had arrived, but they carried on, barely looking at her while she walked over to a huge speaker by the climbing ropes and dropped her bag next to it and turned it on. She pulled off her hoodie to reveal a purple bra top underneath w
hich matched her leggings.

  As she messed around with her phone, I moved over to a row of chairs around the edge of the room and surveyed the group of girls. I noticed Amber in amongst them, but she wasn’t talking, just listening and smiling occasionally whenever one of the other girls said something. Her arms were wrapped tight around her waist and if I hadn’t spent lunch with her earlier in the week, I’d have said she was shy and quiet. We’d only talked for thirty minutes, but she’d been funny and engaging and had plenty to say about the failings of the new shopping centre that had recently opened on the edge of town.

  My gaze then moved to Alannah who with her phone in her hand, approached the group. She coughed to gain their attention, but when they continued to chatter, she pulled a whistle from around her neck and blew it.

  All the girls looked at her and while most stopped and turned to Alannah, two or three others continued chatting but with their heads together. When Alannah blew the whistle again, they finally stopped; one of them did an eye roll.

  “Okay,” she called, as she shifted her feet around. “We’re going to practice the choreography we did to High Hopes, but I want to add a Deadman in the middle after Chloe does her flyer. We’ll warm up first.”

  After the way they’d failed to acknowledge her when she’d arrived, I kind of expected them to complain or suggest something different, but to their credit they each agreed and moved off to the middle of the hall where Alannah took them through some stretches and warmup exercises.

  For a while, I had one eye on them and one on my French textbook. Once the music started to boom from the speaker though, I gave the squad my full attention. They were good, no doubt about it, especially the girl Chloe who was the flyer. Alannah was right though, it was kind of… boring, nothing I hadn’t seen before on YouTube or Britain’s Got Talent. As they repeated the choreography two or three times, I jotted down some moves that I thought would fit in and where to put them. I was sure the girls could pull them off and if Chloe could do a Funky Guitar mid-air, it would add some fun to the routine too.

  Eventually after almost two hours, the girls, all sweaty and breathing heavy, were called into a line by Alannah.

  “That was great; you’re all doing really well with this new routine. Practice is off tomorrow because the football team have a match against Manchester Met.”

  “So, we need to be here then?” a tiny girl with a high ponytail asked.

  Alannah shook her head. “No, Mr Jameson doesn’t want us here. The match is a friendly so he can take a look at the team against an older side and see how they go. He doesn’t want us distracting them.” She huffed out a breath and flicked her ponytail over her shoulder. “As if we would do that.”

  A beautiful black girl with an amazing afro laughed loudly. “You know we would. Any chance I can get Tyler Jordan to look at me, I will. It’s those damn freckles of his, I just want to find out where else he has them.”

  The girls all laughed, well everyone except Alannah and Amber who both looked at the floor. A wave of unease swept over me. What the hell had Adam and his hangers on done to them? I needed to find out, especially as Alannah seemed to think he was interested in me. If he had that much power to make these two girls appear almost invisible to everyone then I didn’t want to be his next victim. I’d had enough shit in the last year. I wasn’t sure I would manage to wade through the darkness again if anymore came my way.

  “Okay,” Alannah said and cleared her throat. “Practice same time on Thursday.”

  As the girls all started to walk towards the changing room, the double doors into the sports hall swung open and a bunch of boys wearing training gear all pushed through. They were sweaty and panting hard and right at the front of them was Adam. He wore a football top and shorts and his hair was all mussed at the front; but aside from the fact that I could see it was wet with sweat, he didn’t look as though he’d exerted himself like the rest of the team.

  “Alannah,” the teacher who I assumed was Mr Jameson called. “I take it you’ve finished your practice.”

  Alannah stepped forward. “Yes, we’re just leaving now.”

  “Good because this group of ladies need to put in some more practice seeing as most of them appear to have forgotten that training continues throughout the season and not just up to Christmas. Too much chocolate and turkey, is that right Walker?”

  A really tall boy with black hair and, as far as I could see, not one extra ounce on him grunted and wiped his face with his t-shirt.

  “Does that mean those of us who managed to complete the session without puking can go home, Mr Jameson?” Adam asked.

  I looked over to see a conceited smirk on his face as he stretched his arms lazily in the air.

  “Nope,” Mr Jameson answered. “You’re a team and if one fails then you all damn well fail. Now get into some dry kit, boots and shinnies and be on the pitch in five minutes. And you, Captain,” he said to Adam as he passed him, “should know better than to ask such stupid damn questions. For that you’ve just earned yourself a little one on one with Walker once everyone else has finished.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that burst through and when Mr Jameson pulled off his baseball cap and flicked the back of Adam’s head with it, I snorted a laugh. Adam spun around and when his eyes met mine, they narrowed, and he pinned me with a stare that literally took the air from my lungs.

  It was as if he’d poured every black part of his soul into it and a cold shiver ran over my skin despite the warmth of the sports hall.

  “We should go,” Alannah said, quickly turning to me. “You ready?”

  I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll just grab my stuff.”

  You are my sunshine my only sunshine

  You make me happy when skies are grey…

  With the calming words of the song floating around my brain, I quickly packed my books into my backpack along with my notepad. The whole time I felt Adam’s eyes on me. I didn’t dare look up because I knew there would be no doubt how much he scared me. My mum always said the eyes were the window to the soul and if that were true mine would most definitely show fear and anxiety.

  “Hudson,” I heard Mr Jameson shout. “Go get changed or that little one-on-one is going to get longer.”

  When I heard the squeak of trainers on the floor, I slowly lifted my head to see Adam disappearing into the locker room.

  “Anyone else coming?” I asked Alannah with my eyes still on the swinging door.

  “No, just us.”

  “What about Amber?”

  Alannah didn’t answer but almost skipped out of the sports hall and with a feeling of uneasiness swirling in my stomach, I followed her out to the car park and to a black Renault 500 with a daisy decal on the side.

  “Nice car,” I said and stood back to examine it.

  It wasn’t particularly new but was cared for and was shiny and clean.

  “My Dad got it for me for my birthday, it was his way of apologising for his affair with his new PA. I mean how cliché is that?”

  “Oh.” My mouth stayed open as I tried to process what she’d said. I wasn’t sure how to respond, we’d only been friends for the sum total of two days. I wasn’t expecting to hear something so personal from her.

  “It’s not a secret, the whole town knew, well except for my mum who was away for six weeks caring for my grandma. It only lasted a couple of weeks and he was the one who broke it off and then confessed to Mum. Apparently, he felt neglected.” Alannah rolled her eyes and did air quotes around the word neglected.

  “Did your mum take him back?” I asked as Alannah’s chin began to quiver.

  She nodded. “They’re madly in love, the PA was moved to a different office and he just happens to be a dick but I’m loving making him pay.”

  Her voice was laced with so much anger that I really wanted to slap her face.

  “We all make mistakes, Alannah,” I snapped. “And you should really cherish your dad while you have him. I don’t have
mine and I wish every damn day that I did.”

  As I felt the emotion start to prick the back of my throat, Alannah gasped and took a step back.

  “Oh God, Sarah, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

  I knew it wasn’t Alannah’s fault. Mum had asked Miss Daniels not to tell anyone, that way I wouldn’t have to experience their sympathy when they found out. Even so, it didn’t make it any easier.

  “You weren’t supposed to know.” I wrapped my arm around my waist and tried desperately not to double over with the pain. “I don’t want everyone’s sympathy, I just…”

  I trailed off to take a deep breath so that I didn’t sob out the words, ‘I just want my dad back’.

  Alannah clasped a hand to her mouth, but the other she gently placed on my shoulder. The expression on her face was the exact one my mum had every day.

  “I’m not going to crack up,” I said. “I know that’s what you’re good at dealing with, the crazy ones, the ones with so much baggage they’re buckling under the weight of it, but I’m fine Alannah. I just miss my dad that’s all.”

  Before I knew what was happening, I was wrapped in Alannah’s arms and being squeezed tight.

  “I love my dad,” she whispered in my ear. “I really do. He’s so sorry about what he did, it almost broke him, but I just want to be mad for a little longer.”

  She sniffed and her arms tightened

  “Okay.” My response muffled into her squeeze. “But make sure he knows that even though you’re mad at him, you love him too.”

  “I will.” She let me go and held me at arm’s length. “Do you want to come to my house for dinner instead of TJ’s? My mum always makes far too much, she forgets my sister is at uni now.”

  “It’s fine,” I sniffed. “We can still go, but let’s ask Amber too.”

  Alannah chewed on her lip and looked back towards the school and finally nodded.

  “Okay,” she said and passed me her phone. “I’ll drive, you call her.”

  “Thanks, Alannah.”

  “For what?” she asked and gave me a huge smile.