by Bella King
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Intro
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Destroy Her
A Dark High School Bully Romance (Crimson High Book 1)
Bella King
Copyright © 2019 by Bella King
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Intro
Students dropped like flies at Crimson High, and Travis always seemed to be close by when it happened. Rumor had it that he killed a girl three years ago, and now he had his eyes on me. As I tried to keep a low profile, I became a target for his bullying.
Being associated with the school bully wasn’t doing me any favors. Detention, Arson, and murder were among the lists of things I had become wrapped up in since meeting Travis, but things were getting far worse. Why? Because I found myself falling for the very man that made my life a living hell.
Chapter 1
Rumor had it that Travis murdered a girl at Crimson High during his first week there. A girl named Kimberly had disappeared, and she was always around him at school before she went missing. At least, that’s what one of my friends had told me when I transferred there at 18 years old.
I didn’t know much about Travis, nor did I want to. If he was a killer, I thought it best to keep my distance. Even if he wasn’t, he was still known to be a bully, and he always seemed to be ordering around women. I thought there must be something seriously wrong with him, but again, I didn’t want to go digging and risk becoming a target.
After transferring to Crimson High, I foolishly believed it would be smooth sailing until I graduated. I always received good grades, and even though Crimson High was home to some of the wealthier young adults in the neighborhood, I never really stood out or made a scene, despite not having that much money. I worked for what I had, while everyone else’s parents gave them an allowance. That didn’t make me better than anyone there, but I believe it had a positive effect on my character. When I wanted something, I knew how to do the work to get it.
I already had friends who went there, so it wasn’t terribly difficult to blend in. I don’t even think that people realized I was a new student until near the end of my first week. It was then that things began to change. Being noticed isn’t always a good thing at Crimson High.
See, I figured that if I laid low and wrapped up this year without event, I would be able to move on with my life and get out of this toxic environment. That is what it was - Toxic. Even though Crimson High was a considerably nice-looking place, there was still a lot of shit going on that the teachers and staff didn’t know about.
What about the kid that threw himself off a building last year? What about the girl cowering in the corner as bullies tormented her daily? What about all the seniors gathering in the bathroom to smoke cigarettes and talk about people behind their backs? That was all covered up, giving the impression that Crimson High had perfect students with perfect lives. That couldn’t have been further from the truth.
I wasn’t one of those women that slunk off to the bathroom to smoke and gossip about how many people had died at the school. Like I said, I was trying to lay low. Even when my friend Amy urged me to join her in the boy’s locker room one Friday afternoon, I straight up refused. Why the hell would I want to hang out with the jocks while they prepared for their afternoon football match?
I wasn’t very into sports, but Amy had a huge crush on this guy on the football team, Kain. He was 19 and still in high school, go figure, and he was the biggest guy on the team. He could plow through just about anyone on the field, making him the top player at the school. I think Kain failed the previous year just to be able to play on the team another year. What an idiot.
The worst thing about Kain was that he was friends with Travis. That’s the real reason why I didn’t want to have anything to do with the jocks. Travis was on good terms with all of them even though he wasn’t a jock himself. He just seemed to garner respect from the most influential people at the school, including the teachers. Maybe that’s how he got away with murder.
Okay, again, I didn’t know for sure if it was Travis that had murdered Kimberly, but that’s what everyone seemed to think. It was likely, seeing how cruel he was to some of the women around the school. He was a bully, and Kimberly had definitely gone missing.
I never knew Kimberly, of course, because I was new to this school. The incident happened three years ago and was quickly covered up by Crimson High’s administration. The rumor remained, but nobody knew what exactly had happened to Kimberly, only that she was gone now and would probably never be seen again.
I was content with minding my own business, but funny enough, that’s exactly how I managed to get myself into trouble during my first week at Crimson High. Maybe if I had joined Amy in the locker rooms that afternoon, things would have gone differently.
“I’m really not interested in hanging out with a bunch of sweaty jocks,” I said to Amy.
She looked at me with pleading eyes, clutching her books tightly to her small chest. “But Alice, I want you to meet Kain. He’s, like, the hottest guy in the whole school.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not trying to fuck some stupid jock Amy, and if you knew any better, neither would you.”
Amy stomped her foot on the checkered tile floor. “Why don’t you ever want to do anything fun?”
“I do, just not with guys like that. You know that Kain is tight with Travis, right?”
“Duh, that just makes him hotter. I heard they shared some girl in the locker rooms last week,” Amy replied with a silly grin.
I had enough of this talk from Amy. It was making me sick to my stomach. How could anyone want to fuck Travis or Kain, much less both of them together? “Amy, thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather save myself for someone who matters.”
Amy shrugged. “Your loss. If you want to stay a virgin for the rest of your life, that’s your call.”
I shook my head. “Just don’t do anything stupid, okay?”
Amy giggled. “No promises,” she said with a grin, skipping off down the hall toward the locker rooms.
I sighed, turned back in the direction I originally planned to go. I was heading back to my locker to fetch some books for the final period of class, walking swiftly through the empty halls. Most of the students were gathered in the bathrooms or had already left. It was a tradition to skip your last class on a Friday.
I didn’t follow such traditions. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my
grades for an extra hour of free time when I had to entire weekend ahead of me. Yes, I had a job that I had to work at, but it wasn’t that bad, and I could enjoy my spare time more because I had money to spend.
Not everyone was as reasonable as I was, as was probably the case for whoever was making so much noise down the adjacent hall. There was some yelling going on, which grew louder as I got closer to it. I turned the corner, expecting to see a lover’s quarrel, but instead came face to face with Travis, the school bully.
He was leaning over some poor woman, practically touching his nose to hers as he spoke to her. “Don’t tell anyone about this, okay? My dad would kill me.”
At this point, any hope of going unnoticed at Crimson High burned up in a quick ball of flames. Travis spotted me out of the corner of his eye, and backed up off this woman, who promptly ran away.
I was frozen in place, unsure of what to do next. Travis glared at me, not moving either. We were at a sort of stalemate, so I made the first move. I walked up boldly to my locker and undid the lock while Travis’s eyes followed me closely.
He didn’t say anything at first, only watched me as I searched for my books for the final class of the week. I felt a cold sweat come over me as I tried to act casual in the presence of Travis. I felt like his eyes were boring a hole through my clothes as I nervously grabbed my books.
Finally, the awkward silence broke. “I like what you’re wearing. Short enough to be sexy, but long enough so that guys don’t think you’re a slut,” Travis said, stepping toward me and staring at my plaid skirt.
I spun around, clutching my books. There was nobody in the hall except for him and I, and my classes were starting soon. I didn’t have time for this sort of confrontation, and I had no idea what to say to his pseudo-compliment.
Travis cocked his head at me and smirked. “You don’t even know me, and you’re already scared. Here, let me introduce myself. My name is Travis,” He said, holding out his hand.
I cautiously reached forward, pressing my books against my breasts firmly as my hand snaked around his. Travis shook my hand, not breaking his intense gaze into my eyes for a second.
That gaze was cold, almost dead. His eyes were pitch black, not even reflecting light from the hallway. It was like they were consuming the light sources, maintaining their darkness no matter how bright the lights above us were. It was unsettling, but what was more unsettling was how pleasant he was being toward me.
“I didn’t catch your name. Could you enlighten me?” Travis asked coolly.
“Alice,” I replied simply.
Travis slowly nodded, taking his hand out of mine and placing it in his pocket. “Well Alice, welcome to Crimson High, where students drop like flies and the only way to stay above water is through brute force.”
I nodded at him, pressing my lips together in a fake smile. I didn’t have any idea what to say in response, but I felt extremely uncomfortable in his presence and wanted to leave. Class was going to start any minute.
I scooted to the side, slipping out of his intimidating shadow. I could swear the air warmed up when I left his cold gaze.
“I’ll see you on Monday, Alice,” Travis called out to me as I powerwalked down the hall toward my class.
God, I hope not.
Chapter 2
“Travis totally has a crush on you, Alice,” Amy squealed over the phone after I got finished telling her about my bizarre encounter with him.
I was at home after finished my first week at Crimson High, laying in bed with my clothes strewn across my bedroom floor. I was so glad to finally get some time to unwind after a week at school. Maybe I was just a sensitive person, but whenever I moved schools or met new people, I got stressed out. On top of that, I now had a new issue with the school bully, Travis, who Amy seemed to believe had a crush on me.
“He doesn’t,” I responded. “He’s just found a new girl to bully. Jesus, why did it have to be me? I was literally just minding my own business. He was yelling at this girl in the hall when I saw him.”
“That would be Eve. Travis seems to have a real interest in her,” Amy explained. “I’m not really sure why. They’ve been talking a lot lately.”
“Because he’s an asshole who likes to harass women,” I grumbled.
“Maybe, but I’m pretty sure that Eve and Travis were friends when Kimberly disappeared. Maybe they killed her together,” Amy said, letting her thoughts wander.
“I doubt it. I mean, he seemed pretty pissed at her about something,” I said, trying to remember what they were arguing about. “He was telling her not to tell his dad something. I don’t know.”
Amy laughed. “Well, maybe she’s threatening to rat him out.”
“Didn’t this murder thing happen, like, three years ago though?” I said, growing critical of Amy’s theories. “Why would he be yelling at her about that now?”
“Yeah, but you never know,” Amy said, trailing off.
“I’m done talking about this dumb shit. Even if Travis did kill someone, why would it come up again now? It’s old news.”
“Don’t you want to know what happened? Everyone is too scared to ask him. Maybe you should,” Amy suggested.
“Are you insane? He’ll beat my ass for sure. I’m trying to stay away from people like him, not welcome his bullying into my life,” I said defensively.
“I doubt he’s going to bully you, Alice. You said he gave you a compliment. He only bullies some people, not everyone.”
I rolled my eyes, wishing that Amy could see how much I didn’t care for her nonsense over the phone. “It wasn’t really a compliment, more like a weird statement about my clothes. He said I looked nice, but not like a slut. That’s a weird thing to say to someone, and pretty misogynistic if you ask me.”
Amy hummed over the phone, speaking in a sing-song voice. “Somebody likes you.”
I laughed. “Even if Travis likes me, I don’t like him. I would rather not date anyone until I graduate. You know, a lot of high school sweethearts end up breaking up after they graduate anyway.”
“God, Alice. You’re always so pessimistic. Have some fun. You don’t need to date someone for the rest of your life. It’s alright to have a fling or two before the school year ends,” Amy said.
“If something comes along, I’ll consider it, but it definitely won’t be Travis,” I replied. “Anyway, I need to go have dinner now. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay, let me know what he says when you ask Travis about Kimberly,” Amy said.
“Amy, I’m not asking him. Goodbye,” I said, hanging up the phone. I wasn’t going to ask Travis if he murdered some girl three years ago. That would be one of the stupidest things I could do now that I was on his radar. I needed to lay low and stay out of trouble, not attract more attention to myself by getting involved with Travis.
Even though I didn’t want to get wrapped up in drama on my first week, I couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t at least a little curious about Travis’s involvement in Kimberly’s disappearance. It seemed to be an accepted fact at Crimson High that Kimberly was murdered, but nobody had ever found a body. She just disappeared. Travis had apparently been questioned, along with a few other people, but no dirt was found on anyone. Maybe she was just kidnapped by someone outside the school. Maybe she ran away. Nobody really knew for sure except for whoever was responsible for it.
I could think about it all day and come up empty, just like everyone else had. Her death was only a rumor, and I had bigger things to worry about now, like whether or not Travis saw me as a target or a love interest. To be honest, I wanted neither. He may have been handsome in an intimidating sort of way, but I didn’t like people who bullied other people. It was cruel and unnecessary, and I was better than that.
As I got ready for work, Travis’s pitch-black eyes floated through my thoughts. That guy was seriously scary, and I was going to have to be elusive at school if I was to avoid another encounter with him. I didn’t want to risk him escalating things if
we got to talking again. Friday had been bad enough with him standing so close to me.
My mom called me for dinner from downstairs. Like most 18-year-olds, I still lived at home. This wouldn’t change until I graduated and moved on to college. I didn’t find much of an issue with it because my parents were quite lenient with me and allowed me to go out without texting me every five seconds. I guess I was lucky that my parents weren’t super strict.
I put on my pajamas and skipped down the stairs. I’m sure that my parents would want to know about my first week of school. I would tell them all the important academic stuff that they wanted to hear, leaving out any parts about boys like Travis.
Chapter 3
I pulled on a red collared shirt and a short black skirt, my typical Saturday work outfit. I served fast food at a local drive-in diner where a lot of people from school hung out on the weekend. I didn’t get much in tips, but the work paid decently enough. I wouldn’t have to do it my whole life, just until I graduated and started university.
I double-checked myself in the mirror before leaving home, satisfied that I looked nice enough to present myself in public. I was always so put together. It was one of the things I prided myself on. Maybe Travis had been honest with his compliment on my clothing.
I had to walk to work because the bus only came through my neighborhood once an hour, which was stupid. The diner wasn’t very far though, and it only took me about twenty minutes to get there. With everyone back in school, the diner would be filled with students on the weekend. It was a popular hangout spot for seniors.
Upon arriving at work, I was immediately thrust into a warm of other workers. I clocked in, grabbed my apron, and got to work.
I ran from one end of the diner to another, grabbing people’s meals in brown paper bags and piling them into my arms to bring outside. People were parked around the building, waiting for their food. Outside, people lounged on the benches and sipped milkshakes while talking about people and the latest music albums.
