by Isabelle Rae
I smiled and tightened my arm on his waist. I loved Nick; he always looked out for me and Amy. He was probably the only guy in the school to actually hate Erika Dennison. All other guys fell at her feet, but not Nick, he hated the way she was towards us.
Erika frowned, looking hurt for a split second before she rearranged her expression into the bitchy one. “Shut up, Nick!” she retorted.
He laughed. “Great come back, darlin’,” he mocked, winking at her.
Her face flushed, and her eyes seemed to darken as her fist clenched - but instead of directing her anger at him for his comment, it seemed to be directed at me. “I want a word, Ice Princess,” she hissed, nodding her head off to one side.
Nick’s arm tightened on me, holding me in place. “Just go socialise with your own kind, Erika. The airheads are over there,” he stated, pointing to the group of her friends who were giggling hysterically off to one side.
She made what sounded like a growling sound and flicked her hair over her shoulder. I could see the angry retort that was about to burst from her lips. I didn’t want her to say anything about me and Will and our ‘deal’ so I quickly pushed Nick’s arm off of me and shook my head, signalling that it was fine.
“It’s okay; I need to speak to Erika about our History project anyway. We got partnered on Friday,” I lied, smiling at Nick reassuringly. He frowned but nodded, letting his arm drop down to his side.
Erika turned and walked off without saying anything, so I grabbed my bag and followed her down the hallway. She stopped after a little while and turned to me, her eyes flicked over my shoulder and I knew that she was probably looking at Nick and Amy who no doubt were watching this exchange. “Why does he have such a problem with me?” she asked, frowning angrily.
I shrugged. “Probably because you’re always such a bitch to me and Amy,” I answered casually.
Her frown deepened as she looked back at me. “My assignments?” she requested coldly, holding out her hand for them, obviously deciding to ignore my comment about Nick.
I suddenly wondered why she was so bothered about little old Nick anyway. She can’t have a crush on Nick, can she? I studied her face for a couple of seconds trying to see something there. No, no way. Erika Dennison, daddy’s girl, spoiled brat, and head cheerleader, could not have a crush on one of my best friends…
Nick was very cute though, and a great guy, he undoubtedly had a lot of appeal, a lot of girls in the school thought so, but he wasn’t one of the popular crowd because he didn’t want to be. He really wasn’t Erika’s type either. For one thing, he wasn’t a jock, sure he played basketball for the school, but he wasn’t that into it and your typical jock stereotype that Erika usually went for. Hmm, if she does like him though then that would explain why she hates me and Amy so much. I decided not to entertain that crazy thought any longer. I was wrong; there was no chance of her liking Nick. And besides, even if she did like him, she had no chance with him whatsoever. He hated her with a passion the same as I did.
I handed her the assignments and prayed that she didn’t look at them too much, she did a quick scan of them then shoved them in her bag, none the wiser to any of the ‘additions’ that I’d put on there. I bit back a laugh thinking about her handing them in. Hopefully she’d into trouble for them, I’d find out in a couple of days no doubt.
“So, you can buy me lunch today. I want a baked potato, plain, and some salad on the side.” She picked at her nails as she laid out her orders for today. I smiled and nodded so she continued, “I’ll meet you here at the end of the day and give you my assignments that I get today, don’t be late.”
I nodded and raked my eyes over her hair, trying to see a slight difference in the shade of it. It still looked the same so I assume that it either wasn’t working, or that it needed a bit of time to build up and make a difference.
I spotted Will walking down the corridor, talking to a freshman about some math theorem that I just didn’t even want to try and understand. He smiled discreetly at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back, it was like an automated response, my body just responded to him without any conscious thought being involved.
“So anyway, I need you to come over to my place on Wednesday at six and drive me to my chiropractor’s appointment, and then drive me home again,” she stated. I came out of the daze I was in and shook my head, trying to focus on what she was talking about rather than replaying memories of Will and I on Saturday night and Sunday daytime.
“Um… Erika, I can’t drive you, I don’t have a car,” I admitted.
She looked at me like I was stupid. “You don’t have a car? How can you not have a car? That’s just stupid!”
I shrugged. My parents couldn’t afford to buy me a car, but I wasn’t that bothered anyway because Amy and I were usually together and she had a car, which meant I didn’t need one.
She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll get someone else to drive me then.”
She turned on her heel, flicking her hair over her shoulder, which actually whipped me in the face. Did she do that on purpose? Stupid bitch!
I watched her walk up the hallway and stop with her friends. She was shifting uncomfortably on her feet still. I giggled wickedly. I skipped back to Amy and Nick, slinging my arm around Nick’s waist as he put his arm around my shoulder.
“You got partnered with her? That sucks!” he complained, looking at Erika distastefully. I loved how Nick saw past her obvious beauty that every other guy in the school was besotted with.
I shrugged. “I know, but at least it’s almost done now, the project ends in a couple of days,” I lied, hoping my voice wouldn’t betray me. I was pretty sure that, in a couple of days, Erika would discover that I wasn’t playing her game anymore. Once that happened I wouldn’t have to have anything to do with her ever again.
He nodded, obviously accepting my story and started talking to Ryan who had come over to hang out with Amy before class. I relaxed. Just a couple more days of doing Erika’s bidding and then I’d be able to stop being her ‘personal bitch’. In the mean time I was just going to screw up everything that she gave me to do. Strangely, I was actually looking forward to it.
The next couple of days passed incredibly fast. True to my plans I messed up slightly on everything that she gave me. If I had to get her coffee order I asked for full fat milk, if I had to bring her lunch then I accidentally sprinkled some pepper or something over it. If I had to pass a message to her friends then I omitted a couple of details – which actually worked out pretty perfectly because she ended up leaving one of her friends at the school when she was supposed to be driving her home. The catty argument in the hallway the following day was entertaining to say the least.
Her hair was losing some of its blonde brilliance, only slightly though, but Amy and I could tell the difference. Over the two nights, I let Will make amendments and changes to her assignments. She obviously hadn’t had any feedback about them yet though because she hadn’t said anything. As far as she was concerned I was her perfect little slave. I did everything she asked of me, and never once complained.
But three days later was when the poop really hit the fan.
I heard her before I saw her. I was walking down the hallway, and I could hear a frustrated screaming sound coming from behind me. Amy and I turned, as did everyone in the hallway, only to see Erika screwing up a piece of paper, her face the picture of rage as she almost growled in frustration. People were milling around her, trying to soothe her but she wasn’t having any of it.
She looked up and her eyes met mine. I actually flinched at the anger that I saw there. She sneered and stalked up to me, every step was taken with determination and confidence as she walked right up in front of me, glaring into my face.
“You little bitch!” she spat venomously.
I gulped. Is she going to hit me? She looks like she wanted to rip my head off or something. The way she was looking at me sent a cold shiver down my spine. I wondered what she had discove
red, it had to have been the assignments that I’d been doing for her, there was nothing else I had done to get her this angry.
“What?” I asked, my voice a little weak. This was the part that I wasn’t looking forward to; this was the part that I was dreading. It was fine doing all of those things and messing with her when she didn’t know, but the way she was looking at me made me feel nauseous. I kind of wished I’d just stuck to the original plan and done her damn chores properly.
“What?” she repeated sarcastically. “What?” she sneered at me again. “Are you serious? That English assignment that you did for me on Monday just got me two days’ worth of detentions! Now I can’t practice with the squad and our cheer routine is going to be ruined for the game on Friday! You really have the audacity to ask me what?” she ranted.
I shrugged. “I’m assuming that you accept my resignation as your personal bitch?” I offered, raising one eyebrow, trying to appear more confident than I felt.
She stepped closer to me. “What the hell kind of game are you playing? You know I have you and Mr Morris by the balls. How is he going to feel when he loses his job because of a cheap little bitch like you?” she asked quietly, I was confident that no one else heard.
I looked at her in the eyes and pretended to be confused. “I’m not quite sure what you are going on about, Erika. What does Mr Morris have to do with me?” I asked, faking innocence.
She scowled. “You really want to go there?” she asked, her voice threatening and cold.
I shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Erika,” I lied, going for unconcerned and aloof. I wasn’t sure if I was pulling it off, Amy was glaring at Erika like she wanted to kill her in front of everyone.
Erika laughed, pushed her hair over her shoulder dramatically, and smiled sweetly at me. “Say bye bye to your education at this school, Chloe. You and Mr Hottie Teacher are out of here,” she said softly, as if we were talking about the weather. She turned on her heel and marched off down the hallway. I flicked my eyes to Amy and willed myself not to cry. What if she said something? She was bound to say something to someone, I knew what type of person she was, she would definitely do this.
Amy slung her arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to her as everyone started to whisper and talk about Erika’s little outburst. “It’s fine, Chloe. Everything’s going to be fine, she has nothing on you, and Sam’s plan is genius. Just chill,” she whispered, rubbing her hand on my arm reassuringly.
We headed to the lunchroom, but I wasn’t hungry. I felt sick. All I could think about was Will getting into trouble because of me. I needed to tell Will what had happened, but I didn’t want to go anywhere near him right now in case someone saw and it added fuel to the fire. I looked up at Amy and forced a smile. People were looking at me worriedly, Nick was frowning at me.
“You feeling all right?” he asked, putting his hand on my forehead, checking my temperature.
I nodded and pushed his hand off. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. I looked at Amy. “I need to tell er…” I trailed off, hoping she would understand what I was getting at.
She nodded. “Want me to?” she asked, cocking one eyebrow.
I smiled gratefully. I really have the best friend in the world. I nodded quickly. “Do you mind?”
She shook her head and picked up the rest of her sandwich. “Of course not.” She turned and kissed Ryan lightly. “I’ll see you after school, okay? I just need to go speak to Mr Morris about my calculus assignment for today’s lesson,” she lied smoothly. He kissed her back, his hand trailing down her back to slap her behind gently as she walked away.
I sat there picking at my sandwich, trying to join in with the conversation going on around me, but I just couldn’t concentrate. All I could think about was Will getting into trouble, him hating me and never wanting to see me again because of how much hassle I was to him. We were literally going to have to be ten times more careful from now on. That probably meant no going out in public at all until school finished, we probably couldn’t even risk heading to the next town over just in case someone saw us.
I just prayed that Sam’s genius idea held up if Erika decided to go to the Principal. Maybe she won’t even do it, maybe she’ll decide that she’s going to be the bigger person here for a change and let me off. Maybe she’s going to turn over a new leaf and everything will be fine. Wow, that’s a lot of maybes!
The sound of my cell phone ringing brought me out of my worried thoughts. I pulled it out and glanced at the screen and saw Amy’s number flashing there. I gulped and answered, not sure if I wanted to hear what she had to say. What if she told Will about Erika and he went crazy and hated me?
“Hey,” I said into the phone, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Hey, Cutie.” The sound of Will’s voice on the line instead of Amy’s made my heart race. I felt my eyes fill with tears, and I looked up that the ceiling quickly so they wouldn’t fall.
“Hi. Did you hear what happened?” I asked, trying to keep my tone light and my words noncommittal to anything so that people wouldn’t know what I was talking about.
He sighed down the phone. “Yeah, Amy just told me. It’s okay, Cutie. We were expecting this, so it’s no big shock. Just don’t worry about anything; everything’s going to be fine, I promise. You trust me, don’t you?” he asked, his voice soft and comforting. I smiled and closed my eyes. I really don’t deserve this guy; everything about him is too good for me. He was being so tender and caring even though he was facing jail, or at the very least, he was facing losing his career that he worked so hard for. Yet, he was still comforting me. He amazed me.
“Of course I do,” I whispered.
“I’d better go. Just stick to the story; no one is going to believe her. It’s fine, Cutie, I swear we’ll be fine. Just don’t worry, and try to relax,” he instructed.
I nodded and took a couple of deep breaths. “All right.”
“I love you, Chloe.”
I smiled at the sound of those words, I still wasn’t used to it, and I didn’t think I ever would be. “You too,” I answered.
The call disconnected so I slid the phone back into my pocket. He sounded so confident that it made me feel confident too. I did trust Will, and if he said everything was going to be fine, then I believed him. I just prayed his belief was justified.
The rest of the day I was on edge. Every time I passed Erika, she smirked at me knowingly. Amy was great; she didn’t leave me for a second, supporting me and telling me how everything was going to work out.
When we got to calculus there was no Will. I took a seat and pulled out my textbook, ignoring the way Erika was whispering with her friends, shooting me little glances as they all laughed quietly. A couple of minutes later and Mrs French walked in; she stopped at the front of Will’s desk and cleared her throat to get the class’s attention. Everyone fell silent, and I felt my heart sink. Where is Will?
“Class, Mr Morris couldn’t make class today. I’m substituting for him because he’s been called away at the last minute. If you could all just pull up the next chapter in your textbooks and start reading in preparation for your next lesson with him. I’d like silence please. I have papers to grade so if you could just get on with it that would be fabulous,” she requested, dumping her bag on his desk and pulling out his chair sitting and starting to grade her papers.
People started whispering. I flicked my eyes to Erika; she was grinning from ear to ear and winked at me. My whole body felt cold, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. She’d obviously not let it go. Was Will in trouble right now? Before I had a chance to think of too many questions and start to panic, there was a knock at the door. A student walked in and headed up to Mrs French, handing her a note. She read it and then looked up to the class.
“Chloe Henderson?” she called, her eyes scanning the room for me.
Oh my God!
I gulped and raised my hand, knowing my voice wouldn’t work if I tried to speak. Amy gripped
my free hand under the table, squeezing so tightly that it would have been painful if I could actually feel my body, but I couldn’t feel it, I was numb.
“The Principal would like to see you in his office,” Mrs French told me, waving at the door for me to leave.
I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t care about myself, but if Will got into trouble then it would hurt me more than anything. I gulped and forced myself to calm down. My knees felt a little wobbly as I stood up, not looking at anyone. People were whispering, all wondering what I had done wrong and why I was getting called to the Principal’s office. I didn’t say anything; I just packed my books into my bag, trying to do it as slow as possible so I could calm down.
When I couldn’t stall anymore I walked through the classroom. As I passed Erika, she put her foot into the aisle, making me trip. Luckily I caught myself on the desk in front before I completely fell on my face, but people still laughed and called me a klutz. I felt my face heat up, but it wasn’t from embarrassment, it was from anger. I wanted to smash her face in, rip her head off and chop her into little pieces and feed her to her horses. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of letting her see that I was upset and worried sick. Instead, I pushed myself up from the desk I was leaning on heavily and smiled sweetly at her.
“You might want to be careful where you put your feet, Erika, that could have been a lot worse. I’m fine though, thanks for asking,” I said keeping my voice friendly and light.
She grinned at me and nodded towards the door. “Better go see what the Principal wants, Ice Princess,” she chirped.
I nodded and straightened my shirt, walking out of the classroom with my head held high. I needed to chill out and be confident. I was not going to let Will get into trouble for me, there was no way I was messing this up.
As I got to the reception I was waved through into the office. As I pushed open the door to the Principal’s office, I saw Will sitting there, one leg folded over the other, his face serious. He didn’t smile at me, but he didn’t frown either. I looked away from him to the Principal who was sitting behind his desk with a grave expression on his face. I felt my heart rate speed up at the sight of his accusing stare; his beady brown eyes were boring into mine as if he was trying to ascertain the truth without even speaking.
