The boys take off and Aiden relaxes just a little. “Would you quit staring and work out how the hell to get me out of this mess?”
I try to hold in my chuckles as I bend down beside him, studying the handcuffs. “How did you get in this mess?” I question as Tully pulls a pin from her hair and starts jamming it into the little lock and giving it a good wiggle, though something tells me she has no idea what the hell she’s doing.
“Fucking Stacey Lasno,” Aiden grunts, referring to one of the girls on the cheerleading team as he shakes his head in disgust. “She must think she has a magic pussy or something. She dragged me in here thinking she could ‘make me straight’ and see the error of my ways by rubbing that used up pussy of hers all over me. She handcuffed me, wanting to be sexy and mysterious then tore my shirt right off as though it’s been way too long since she’s been fucked last.”
“Trust me, that whore is no stranger to a good fuck,” Tully grumbles.
“Well, she was today,” Aiden says. “She pulled my pants off while I couldn’t do shit about it and when I wasn’t hard for her, she got personally offended, took all my fucking clothes, and then the bitch left me here.”
“I could fucking kill her,” I seethe.
“This ain’t budging,” Tully cuts in, pulling on the handcuffs. “We might have to wait for the boys to get back and see if they can break the railing off the wall, then you could slide it right off.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t help me get this fucking thing off my wrist.”
“It’s cool, I’m sure between the boys, one of them will be able to get it off. If not, I’ll watch a few YouTube videos. I’m sure there’s something on there about how to break out of this shit.”
Aiden rolls his eyes, clearly very frustrated with his situation when the door whips open. I turn around, expecting to see the boys but when Mrs. Carson, the drama teacher, shows her face, my world comes crashing down.
She looks between me and Tully before glancing down at Aiden with horrified eyes. She instantly points between me and Tully as she goes red in the face. “That’s it. I’ve had it with you two girls thinking you can do whatever the hell you want around this school. How dare you treat a new student like this.”
“Wait, no. We didn’t.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” she spits. “You two have gotten away with too much lately and it’s about time you learn a lesson. Seeing as though detentions don’t seem to work for you delinquents, you’ll both participate as extras in the school musical tonight.”
“What?” I demand. “That’s not fair.”
“And neither is this,” she yells, indicating down at Aiden. “Now, get the hell out of here so this poor boy can leave with a little shred of dignity.”
“But we…”
“Go,” she yells, stepping out of the doorway and pointing a finger out the door.
“Shit,” Aiden sighs. “Just go.”
I look back at Aiden and then to Tully before letting out a sigh. “We’ll go deal with Stacey.”
“Get her good,” he demands as Mrs. Carson steps towards us, the very last bit of her patience running out.
Tully and I scurry along and before we even have a chance to get to the cafeteria to eat, the bell sounds, sending us straight back to class.
Chapter 5
I step out of the bathroom stall and look at myself in the mirror. This is humiliating with my brown turtleneck, white pants pulled up to my waist, and white suspenders crossed over my chest. Not to mention the brown slides with a white cotton ball attached on top.
“No,” Tully groans painfully from the bathroom stall behind me. "This is not cute. How did we get into this mess?”
“From trying to get Aiden out of his mess,” I remind her.
“But this isn’t fair. I can’t pull off the ‘Oompa Loompa’ look. I look ridiculous.”
“Yeah, well just wait until the orange face paint goes on and the green wig gets shoved on top,” I say as I study my reflection with distaste. “We’re going to look fucking fantabulous then. You know, Noah is never going to let us live with down.”
“Don’t remind me,” she cries. “He’s been waiting since the day we were born for this shit. I bet he has a whole film crew set up out there just to make sure he doesn’t miss a thing.”
“Damn it,” I groan, realizing just how right she is.
A loud knock sounds on the bathroom door before Mrs. Carson’s voice yells through it. “Are you two nearly ready in there? You have three minutes to get your butts out here and prepped before showtime.”
“Yeah, yeah, give us a sec,” I grumble, even though we’re going to need a shitload more than just a sec. We were sent in here twenty minutes ago and instructed to get dressed and put the face paint on, but we sat around and talked for half an hour and now I guess we’re running late.
Tully pushes her way out of the stall and I look up and down her body, trying my hardest to control myself, only when I get to the shoes and take in the little cotton balls on each foot, I lose it in a big way.
“Shut up,” she demands. “You look just as bad.”
“I know,” I laugh. “That’s what makes it so funny.”
She walks past me and instantly gives me a dead arm, teaching me not to laugh at her when she’s already down. But hell, if I can’t laugh at her, then I’ll be down too and having the both of us sulking around is no fun at all. We have to make the best of this bullshit.
We make our way right up in front of the mirror and work on getting the paint slathered all over our faces. The only blessing is that with all this paint, the wigs, and the other ten suckers who got roped into this, it’ll be hard for people to figure out who’s who, though, not Noah. He’ll pick us in this line up anywhere.
“Is it supposed to be so sticky?” Tully questions, scrunching up her face as she presses the paint to her skin.
“Who knows?” I shrug. “It’s probably the same paint they used when they did the same damn musical last year.”
“Gross,” she groans, continuing to slather it over her face while looking a little sick.
I man up and get the job done. We have no choice but to participate and the longer we put it off, the worse it’ll be.
I help Tully to evenly spread it down her neck and she does the same for me before we both stand back and admire our handiwork. “We look like fucking morons,” she tells me.
“True, but out of all the morons, we look like the best morons.”
“You’re such an idiot,” she laughs, before collecting her clothes and recapping the face paint.
We start making our way out of the bathroom and go to reach the handle when the door is kicked in from the other side. “What’s taking you so long?” some girl demands, looking like a little pissed off version of me and Tully.
Tully steps forward into the girl. “What did you say?”
Her eyes widen a fraction before standing her ground. “Mrs. Carson sent me to hurry you two up. The play starts in half an hour and we’ve been working our asses off on this for the past few months and I’m not about to let you two waltz in here and screw it all up. Now hurry your asses up. I still have to go over all the choreography with you and teach you your lines, but then, it’s not like you’re going to remember them. Maybe it’s best you just keep quiet the whole time.”
I stare at the girl in shock before schooling my features and looking across at Tully. I don’t think anyone has ever really had the balls to put us in our place like that, and I think this weird feeling pulsing through my veins is respect. How strange.
I wonder if that’s how Noah felt when I stood up to him that very first day.
How crazy.
“Way to go, little ‘Oompa Loompa,’” I say fondly. “Let’s go.”
Just like that, the three of us head out of the bathroom and meet up with the other ‘Oompa Loompas.’ “No one said anything about choreography,” Tully murmurs as some guy from my calculus class comes striding in with a bag of green wigs.
Half an hour later, we stand backstage as the play gets started while Tully and I desperately try to remember what the hell we’re supposed to be doing. I mean, it’s embarrassing enough just being a part of this, but if we were to go out there and stand around like idiots looking as though we didn’t have a clue, that would be so much worse.
“You ready, girls?” Mrs. Carson says, walking up to us with a wary look before roaming her eyes over our costumes to make sure everything is in place.
“Nope,” Tully says.
“Tough luck. The show starts in three minutes and you’re going out there whether you like it or not.”
I look across at her. “Do we get some kind of extra credit for doing this?”
She scoffs, looking absolutely appalled by my question. “Extra credit?” she laughs. “What you’re getting is the opportunity to perform in a school musical rather than face another suspension or maybe even expulsion if you consider your records. We take bullying extremely serious in this school.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that we were trying to help him?” Tully groans.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I scoff. “This school does not take bullying seriously. They turn a blind eye and you know it. How many times during my first year here did I come to you and tell you what was going on with those damn cheerleaders? Not once did you do anything about that, none of you damn teachers did. You’ve got your wires crossed.”
She ignores every word I say and turns up her nose. “I’ve told you already; unless you can supply evidence that you were there to help that young man, then you’re staying right here and performing proudly for your school.”
“Are you kidding?” Tully laughs. “Aiden told you himself.”
“Right,” she scoffs. “You want me to believe the victim when he says that you didn’t do it. You probably pressured him into saying that. I’ve seen how the students of this school fear you and those boys, Noah and Rivers. You could get just about anyone to do whatever you want and now it’s time to face the consequences.”
I take a step towards Mrs. Carson and even in this ridiculous outfit, I somehow manage to still appear intimidating. "Walk away.”
The irony isn’t lost on me that I’ve literally just done the one thing that we’re being accused of, but I don’t care, not after the way she just spoke of my pack and treated us like shit she stepped in.
Mrs. Carson narrows her eyes on me for a moment before giving in and stepping away.
“That was a dangerous move,” Tully warns me.
I shrug my shoulders. “She’s not going to do anything,” I tell her. “People like her are only interested in doing something if they can somehow gain. If she continues pushing, she risks that we screw up her play and that’s not a risk she’s willing to take.”
“Good point,” she murmurs. “You know it’s scary how easily you can read people.”
“Consider it a gift,” I tell her. “When you’re on the outskirts and bullied for so long, you quickly learn how to read people’s intentions. Mrs. Carson’s are her own personal growth and success. She’s pretty pathetic and self-centered if you ask me.”
The show starts and Tully and I make our way over towards the other ‘Oompa Loompas’ as to not miss our cue. We watch on from the side and soon enough, we’re being forced onto that stage.
Noah’s loud roaring laughter is heard above all else and I grin up at him to find not only Noah, but Aiden, Spencer, and Jared, all joining in with Noah’s rowdy laugh.
I hear Tully sigh beside me which is when the music starts.
Damn, this is going to be awful.
Precisely forty-five minutes later, Tully and I run off the side exit of the stage after completing our final scene. The show is still going but as long as we are no longer needed, we’re out of here.
We each rip off our wigs, toss them into a pile of costumes backstage and search out our clothes. We hurry into the bathroom and get ourselves cleaned up but let’s face it, I’ll be finding orange paint for weeks.
Once we look acceptable enough to show our faces in public again, we make our way out and I start pulling out my phone. “I’ll text Noah so they know we’re out here.”
“No,” Tully says, lowering my phone. “They laughed so I think it’s only fair that they sit through the play right until the very end.”
I grin across at her as we make our way down to her Jeep. “Good plan,” I tell her, absolutely loving her wicked ways. We sit in her car for about twenty minutes, listening to music and chatting about the show and how humiliating it was until people start streaming out of the assembly hall.
“Now, this is the real show,” Tully laughs.
The boys are some of the first to get their asses out of the auditorium and I laugh as they all hover around in the quad waiting for us. It’s not until someone in the student parking lot calls out to Noah to say bye, that he notices the headlights on Tully’s Jeep, shining bright and aiming right for them.
His mouth drops and a flash of confusion overtakes him before he starts making his way down here with the boys.
We wait patiently, trying to find our game faces and act as though we’re completely innocent, only that’s too much of a task to handle. A devilish smirk cuts across both our faces as Noah shows up at my window. “We were waiting for you outside the auditorium. How long have you been down here?” he questions.
I pretend the check the watch that I don’t have. “Ummm…maybe half an hour.”
“Huh?” he grunts. “The show only just ended.”
“We know,” I laugh.
Aiden shoves his face in beside Noah’s. “Wait. Did you purposefully make us sit through that when we could have gotten out of here ages ago?”
I grin at him. “Wait. Did you purposefully laugh at us when you could have been encouraging instead?”
Noah slowly shakes his head in disbelief as Aiden gapes in outrage. “Low blow, ladies,” he tells us. “Low blow.”
Noah opens the door and Aiden steps out of the way. “Come on,” he tells me. “Let’s go home.”
I look back at Tully who laughs. “Uh-oh, you’re in trouble.”
“Go home, Tullz,” Noah grins. “I have a feeling you didn’t tell mom about this shit otherwise she would have been here. So, she’s probably sitting at home wondering why her favorite kid isn’t sitting at her dinner table.”
“Shit,” Tully sighs. “Yeah, you’re right.”
With that, I jump down from Tully’s Jeep and take Noah’s hand as we make our way across to his Camaro. The rest of the boys disappear and before I know it, he’s backing out of his parking space and getting us the hell out of here.
We get halfway home when I turn and study his face. “You laughed,” I accuse.
He looks back at me with thoughtfulness lingering in his green eyes. "If you can honestly tell me that you wouldn’t have done the same thing, then I’ll apologize.”
Damn it. He’s got me there. I would have howled with laughter until I wet my pants. A grin spreads over my face. "It was really bad, wasn’t it?”
“I mean…” he lets out a sigh, unable to find a lie that would work. “Yeah. It was bad. I was embarrassed for you.”
“I just love how supportive you are.”
He grins back at me before sending a devilishly sexy wink my way. “Anything for you, Spitfire.”
I laugh and all too soon, we’re pulling up at home, only dad’s truck isn’t here. I guess he took Ari out for dinner.
I pull my phone out and call dad as we climb out of Noah’s car and walk towards the door. He answers on the fifth ring and I grin to myself. Dad always answers quickly unless he’s in the truck which tells me he’s trying to avoid the call, but then ‘daddy guilt’ takes over and he quickly answers before it’s too late.
“Squish,” he says cheerily. “What’s going on?”
“You’re not home,” I say a little more accusingly than what’s deserved.
“Yeah, you wer
en’t home so I figured I’d take Ari out somewhere special for a bite to eat. Why, do you need me to bring something home for you?”
I scoff under my breath. “Can you put Ari on?”
“Ahhh…why?”
“Because she hasn’t worked out how to lie to me yet.”
“Oh, um, well…she went to the bathroom.”
“No, I didn’t,” Aria’s loud screechy voice comes hollering down the line making an unladylike snort come tearing from deep within me. I slap a hand over my mouth as Noah raises an amused brow. Great, I’ve managed to embarrass myself a little more.
“Damn it,” dad groans.
I can just picture the cringe on dad’s face as he hands the phone over. “Hi, Henley,” Aria booms excitedly into the phone.
“Hey, sweet girl. Did daddy take you out for dinner?” I ask as I rifle through my things for my keys and hand them over to Noah to unlock the front door. He gingerly takes them and gets busy working the lock.
“Uh-huh,” Aria says.
“Did he take you somewhere fun?”
“Yeah, we went to McDonald's and I got to play in the playground.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun,” I tell her, walking through the door with Noah and heading straight for the bathroom, desperate to scrub the remaining orange paint off my body. “Did you eat up all your dinner? Did Daddy eat up all his salad?”
“Salad?” she laughs. “Daddy didn’t have a salad. He had a burger, just like me.”
I hear dad groaning beside Aria. “Crap, don’t tell her that.”
I laugh to myself. Gotcha. That man is so easy to read. I’m going to have to make sure Noah puts him through his paces with a good workout tomorrow. I’ll soon have him regretting the decision to order himself a burger, and I don’t doubt he paired it with fries. “Thanks, Ari. Have a happy night ok. I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Ok, love you.”
I grin into the phone. “Love you too, Squirt.”
I place my phone down on the sink and look at myself in the mirror as Noah walks in after me. He comes up behind and cages me in, putting both hands down on the sink on either side of me as I search out all the stray paint.
Undeniable: Haven Falls (Book 5) Page 5
