I experienced my first official hangover on Sunday. I’d only had a couple of drinks at Dizzy on Saturday night, but apparently, that was enough to make my head pound and my stomach turn at the sight of food the next day. I slept until noon and hid in my room pretending to do homework once I woke up. I didn’t want Dad to guess what I’d gotten up to the previous night, but I also didn’t want to deal with Chase when I was in such a fragile state.
The plan we’d come up with to get him out of the house didn’t seem to be going particularly well. I’d followed Tessa’s advice as much as possible at Dizzy, but Chase was hardly swooning over me. Dancing with other guys hadn’t enticed him like Tessa had suggested it would, and my outfit choice had only seemed to annoy him. He’d pretty much dragged me from the club, and it felt like he’d only done it to try to ruin my night.
Only one thing seemed clear so far: trying to get a guy who hated you to start seeing you as girlfriend material was hard.
I somehow managed to avoid Chase all Sunday and didn’t see him until Monday morning. My first interaction with him was far from helpful to the plan though. He decided to hog the shower all morning, so I was left with no choice but to start knocking on the door relentlessly. It was like he hadn’t even bothered to read the morning shower roster I put up. By the time he emerged, I was more than ready to let my anger loose on him.
His lips curved in a smile the moment he saw me standing outside the door. I knew I was supposed to be acting friendly toward him, but I couldn’t seem to control myself. I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I thought of him, but then he winked at me and walked right past.
I was so furious I was left speechless. I simply let him walk right on by while I stood there standing with my mouth stupidly agape and my mind empty of all the cutting and inventive insults that had been running through it only moments ago.
Thanks to Chase’s long shower, Shane and I were running late to school, and when we finally arrived, it was so late I didn’t even bother saying goodbye to my brother. I was out the door and running across the parking lot before he’d even pulled the car to a stop.
I ran the whole way to my first class, only arriving after the bell had already rung. As I entered the room, every student looked up at me. It wasn’t the usual look of disinterest though. A few of the girls started giggling while some of the guys had knowing grins plastered to their faces.
“Thank you for joining us, Ally,” Miss Wilkes said, her voice thick with judgment. I hated nothing more than being late and catching the teacher’s attention, but I was more concerned with the strange looks I was getting from the students right now.
“Don’t blame her, Miss Wilkes, she had a late night at work,” one of the boys called out, earning sniggers from the others around him. I frowned and glanced at the back of the room, trying to figure out who had said it and why. I didn’t even have a job.
“Go find a seat, Ally,” Miss Wilkes said, ignoring the heckle that had been thrown at me.
I quickly made my way to the only free desk in the room, which was somewhere in the middle. The other kids were still watching me even after I sat down. Something was definitely up, but I had no idea what it was.
A pen poked me in the back, and I swiftly turned to find Chase sitting behind me. I’d been so distracted I hadn’t even noticed he was in the room.
“If you want to make fun of my dancing or gloat about your long shower this morning, I don’t want to hear it,” I murmured.
“I need to tell you something—”
He was cut off mid-sentence as Miss Wilkes started reading from the board, and I quickly spun back in my seat to face the front. Chase never spoke to me in class though, so I was curious about what he had to say. But I’d already gotten enough judgmental looks from the teacher for one day, so I didn’t want to get caught talking. Chase poked me with the pen again and tried to get my attention.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait,” I whispered over my shoulder before quickly turning to face the front of the room once more.
Chase ignored my response and leaned forward in his chair so his lips were close to my ear. “Well, don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.”
I wasn’t sure if it was his words or feeling his breath against my neck that sent a shiver down my spine. What did he need to warn me about? The question had my stomach swirling with uncertainty.
I kept getting curious glances from other students during class, and my phone kept buzzing in my pocket. The unease I felt only magnified as the lesson continued, and I finally gave in and carefully snuck my phone out of my pocket. My eyes widened as I saw I had fifteen missed calls from numbers I didn’t recognize. A few messages also appeared on the screen, and I almost dropped the phone when I read the first one.
Hey Ally, do you do private shows?
Private shows? I glanced around the room nervously before I started reading through the other messages.
Ally, are you okay?
Don’t be upset. We’ll fix this!!
Damn, girl. You look good.
Is this the right number for Ally?
My heart was racing, and my skin went clammy as another call came in from an unknown number. I had no idea what had prompted the calls or messages, but I knew it must be related to whatever Chase had wanted to talk about at the start of class.
I hazarded a glance over my shoulder at him, but he was focused on his work, and his face gave nothing away. He had to be well aware of whatever was going on, and I wished I hadn’t been so quick to ignore him earlier.
The anxious feeling followed me as I left the classroom at the end of the lesson. Chase didn’t try to talk to me again, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask him what was going on after I’d already shrugged off his warning. It wasn’t until I was out in the corridor that I finally saw why I’d been getting strange looks all morning.
There were posters sprawled all over the walls in the corridor. But they weren’t the regular kind of pep rally posters that usually papered the school promoting team spirit or the next school play. No, these posters were straight out of my worst nightmare. I staggered toward the closest one and pulled it down from the wall, cradling it in my hands. My horror escalated as I saw what was printed on it, and my stomach swirled with so much unease that I no longer felt certain I could keep my breakfast down.
The poster displayed a picture of me dancing at Dizzy on Saturday night. It wasn’t a shot of the fun moments I’d had with my friends during the night though. No, whoever had taken the picture had done so after I’d taken to the podium and started dancing in an act of defiance against Chase and my brother.
I didn’t know the first thing about pole dancing, but it didn’t look that way in the picture. My skirt had ridden up, and my back was arched in such a suggestive way that it looked like I’d been dancing around poles for years.
Bile rose up in my throat as my gaze skimmed over the words typed across the bottom of the page. It was my phone number and an invitation to call Ally for a good time. There was only one person in this school who hated me enough to do such a terrible thing…
I scrunched the poster into a ball and threw it away from me as hot tears pricked the corners of my eyes. The paper skidded across the ground before coming to a rest against the wall. As I looked up from it, I realized I’d drawn quite a crowd. Kids had paused all along the corridor to watch me and I had to wonder what was wrong with them. Did they enjoy my pain? Did they like seeing me upset?
I swallowed a heavy lump in my throat and tried not to cry. I thought that living with Chase was going to be the worst thing to happen to me this year, but apparently, I was wrong.
“Ally…” I turned to find Chase behind me, his eyes dark and filled with anger. I’d seen the expression on his face a million times before, but something about it was wilder now, and I couldn’t understand why. I expected him to be smug about the posters, not angry.
I took a step back from him, crossing my arms over my chest. “Why would you do
this?” My throat felt scratchy, and my voice sounded hoarse, like it hadn’t been used in forever.
He shook his head. “I didn’t—”
“Don’t lie to me,” I growled. “You were standing right where this picture was taken on Saturday night. I know it was you.”
“I swear it wasn’t me.”
I didn’t believe him. And I didn’t want to hear any more of what he had to say, so I turned and fled down the corridor, rushing toward the front of the school. I’d felt so brave when I’d stepped up on the podium to dance on Saturday night, but all of that strength escaped me now, and I had no idea how to face the posters plastered all over school.
I somehow managed to stop myself from crying until I reached the parking lot. I didn’t have my keys though, so I sagged down next to the car and bundled my knees up to my chest. I pressed my head against them as I took deep breaths in and out. It was just a prank—I knew that—but that didn’t stop the fact it hurt.
“Ally?”
I looked up and let out a relieved breath as I saw Tessa and Mia both rushing across the parking lot toward me. They didn’t slow down until they reached me and crouched down at my side.
“You saw the posters,” Tessa said, her eyes filled with sadness.
I nodded and wiped my hand under my eye. “Yeah, I saw them.”
“Please don’t cry, Ally,” Mia said. “I’m sure no one believes you’re actually a stripper.”
“Well, I really hope not,” I said. “Although some of the messages on my phone beg to differ.”
Tessa started to scowl. “Well, whoever is messaging you is an idiot, and you better believe we’re going to find the person who did this and make them pay.”
I sighed and rested my head back against the car. “Well, I’m pretty sure we don’t need Sherlock Holmes to solve the case. It was Chase.”
“What?” Mia gasped. “He would never.”
I shrugged. “Apparently, tormenting me at home wasn’t enough.”
Tessa was shaking her head though. “You guys always bicker, but he’s never lied about you before. I don’t believe he’d do something like this.”
“I guess he’s just more of an ass than we knew.” My phone vibrated in my pocket, but I refused to answer it. I was going to need a new number.
“What are you going to do about Chase?” Mia asked. Her voice had quieted a little, like she was nervous to ask me.
I looked back at the school as I considered her question. We already had a plan for getting rid of him, but the idea of dating someone who could do something so cruel to me was abhorrent. On the other hand, living with that person was worse.
My gaze hardened as I turned back to my friends. “I’m going to go through with the plan and get rid of him for good.”
They both looked at me with surprise. “Are you sure you can handle it?” Mia asked.
“I don’t have much of a choice.” I shrugged. “I’m still not certain the plan’s working, but it’s the only option I’ve got.”
“Oh, it’s working,” Tessa said. “I saw him looking at you on the dance floor on Saturday night, and he couldn’t take his eyes off you.”
“Sure, and putting up posters at school claiming I’m a stripper was just his way of telling me he loves me,” I said with a roll of my eyes.
“I have heard that’s how most psychos express their love,” Mia said with a laugh.
I let out a groan. “This isn’t funny. Everyone at school is considering how I earn my pocket money right now. What am I going to do?”
Tessa rubbed my back to comfort me. “I think we just have to wait for this to blow over. Everyone knows there’s no way you’d actually work as a stripper.”
“Just keep your head down, and ignore everyone,” Mia added. “I’m sure the worst is already over.”
I nodded and let out a breath, desperately hoping they were right.
11
Ally
My friends could not have been more wrong. They said the worst was over, but the worst hadn’t even begun.
I decided to brave the rest of the day at school, but I immediately regretted the decision when lunch arrived. I walked into the cafeteria with Mia and Tessa at my side, and the moment we entered, I felt every eye in the room watching me. It was like I’d walked into a den of hungry lions and I was their prey.
I wrapped my arms around my body as the three of us made our way across the room to the lunch line. I was halfway across the large hall when a set of speakers started blasting a song through the room, and the whole cafeteria erupted in cheers and whistles.
The rhythmic bass of the music was deep and gritty, and the lyrics quickly became sexual and suggestive. I recognized the song from one of the striptease scenes in the movie Magic Mike.
If anyone wasn’t watching me already, they certainly were now, and Tessa and Mia huddled in close to me as the room descended into an uproar. I tried to work out where the music was coming from and zeroed in on Chase’s table. His blue eyes were hard and the color of steel as he stared back at me. He had one eyebrow raised as if he was daring me to break down in front of the whole school.
There was no way I was giving him the satisfaction though. I wasn’t going to let any one of the idiots jeering at me from the safety of their lunch tables win this battle.
“Let’s get out of here,” Mia said, gently touching my arm.
I shook my head. These people had been ridiculing me all day. They’d laughed at me and mocked me with their cutting words and tried to use a stupid prank to make me feel small and unworthy. I’d never been ashamed of my dancing before, and I wasn’t going to allow these people to make me feel embarrassed of it now. Dancing had always been an expression of my emotions, and I refused to let these kids morph it into something dark and twisted. I might not have a game plan, but this was one fight I wasn’t going to lose.
I stormed toward Chase’s table, my friends quickly following after me. My blood was pulsing with adrenaline and fear as I weaved my way through the packed cafeteria, ignoring the wolf whistles of students as I passed. I was a girl who lived her every moment by the plans she’d made in her diary. I didn’t like to go off script or make waves, but when someone disturbed my tranquil waters, they better believe I’d be coming for them like a tsunami.
Chase’s stare grew more intense as I came closer, and he seemed almost angry with me for not fleeing from the room. Thankfully, I knew my brother was at football training, or he’d be sitting right next to his best friend, and I felt somewhat braver without him there.
I placed my hands on my hips as I came to stand at the end of Chase’s table. “Nice song,” I said. I was practically shaking, but I somehow managed to appear confident.
“I hear it’s your opening number,” Jenna said, and my gaze darted in her direction. She was staring at me with a superior look in her eyes, and I got the feeling she was the one who had put the music on.
So, Chase had gotten his little girlfriend to do his dirty work for him. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. She kept staring at me like she was waiting for me to object or collapse into floods of tears at any moment. But Jenna had underestimated me. They both had.
I gave Jenna a sly smile. “Even if I was actually a stripper, this wouldn’t be my opening number. But I must admit, I can never stop myself from dancing when I hear it.” Without another word, I slowly climbed onto the table. My stomach fluttered with nerves as I considered what I was doing. Every eye in the room was focused on me, but my anger and irritation with the kids around me spurred me on.
As I stood tall on the table, the jeers in the cafeteria quieted, and the faces looking up at me from the seats around the table dropped with surprise. Chase and Jenna both seemed particularly horrified by my refusal to back down, but their reactions only made me feel braver. Any triumph they might have felt was completely shattered when I started dancing to some of the moves from the song.
Yes, I was guilty of having taught them to myself after seein
g the movie—with a few alterations. I didn’t get nearly as down and dirty as Channing Tatum did on the screen, but I was dancing suggestively enough that there was no doubt I was imitating the movie.
The noise levels in the room slowly started to increase again as claps filled the air and people started shouting my name in support. Like a forest catching fire, the cheers of encouragement gained quick momentum until the entire cafeteria was going wild. Guys were whistling, and girls were cheering, and the sound of them chanting my name became even louder than the music.
I’d barely gotten a minute into the routine when I felt a pair of arms around my waist. I gasped as I was flung over someone’s shoulder. The cafeteria erupted in boos, but as I was carried farther and farther away from the table, the chants of my name returned even louder than before.
“What are you doing?” I shouted. I couldn’t see my captor’s face, but I could tell from the dark blue T-shirt that Chase had grabbed me and was hauling me out of the cafeteria.
He didn’t say a word in response, but I simply smiled and waved to passersby as I was escorted from the room.
It wasn’t until we were out in the hallway that he let me down. Chase didn’t seem in a rush as he eased me off his shoulder, and my skin prickled as my body roughly brushed against his. Our closeness sent a strange and unexpected thrill through my body, and I was surprised by how much I liked it. His hands lingered on my waist, and as I looked up into his troubled eyes, I felt that powerful electric feeling course through me once more. His gaze was magnetic, and as we silently stared at each other, I had to wonder: did he feel the same thing too?
I quickly shook my head and stepped out of his grasp. What was I thinking? I knew Chase hated me, and that fact was even clearer after his actions today.
“Is this our thing now?” I asked. “You throwing me over your shoulder…”
He ignored my question. “What was that in there?” His voice was filled with accusation—like I was the one who had done something wrong.
I Hate You More Page 10
