by Mae Doyle
No, he looked through me.
Like I wasn’t even there.
It makes me shiver, but worse than that? I felt something for him. How I could feel something for someone who hates me is beyond me, but the low tugging in my stomach tells me different.
If he just weren’t so damn hot then this wouldn’t be a problem, but he’s the perfect high school quarterback. Tall, strong, blonde, piercing eyes, ripped.
He’d be the guy from my dreams if he didn’t act like he came right out of my nightmare.
The water streams over my body and I turn under the spray, letting it flow down my face in hot rivers. I can’t wash away the feeling of his hands on me or the way it felt to have the entire school staring at me, but the heat is a nice distraction.
As I stand there, trying to clean myself, I think about the day. Even though I know that I should have avoided Clay after school, I felt drawn to him.
Like a moth to a flame? Too cliché.
Like an arrow to a target? Too painless.
It was more like he was the sun and I was in orbit around him, just like everyone else at the school. The problem was that if I got too close, I was going to burn up, and I couldn’t seem to keep my distance.
Even though I was busy with practice, I tried to keep an eye on him while he worked out. He’s good when on the field, and I can see why so many people practically worship the ground he walks on. But not me. No matter what he does or how great everyone else thinks he is, I have no interest in fawning all over him.
And yet…
Yet…there’s something incredibly sexy that I just can’t deny.
I drop my hand to between my legs as I think about him, but before I can even enjoy myself, I hear my mom calling me again.
“Elle! You have a friend here!” She bangs on the wall downstairs and the sound carries easily into my shower.
Fuck.
Gasping, I turn off the water and grab my towel, stepping out and drying off as quickly as possible. The bath mat I put on the floor soaks up all of my dripping water and sticks to my feet as I dry off. My hands are shaking as I try to beat whoever came to visit. The last thing I want is someone from school up in my room.
I have no idea who could be here, but I don’t want to be caught with my guard down. The only two people who showed any interest in me are Clay and Bethany. Everyone else treated me like a pariah. At first, I thought that it was because they hated me, but I think I know the real reason.
Clay.
He must have done something to make people back off.
Dammit. The thought of Clay being here right after I was about to touch myself and think of him makes me blush.
Wrapping the towel around me, I reach for the door knob, but I’m too slow. Before I’m even out of the bathroom there’s a knock on the door. I freeze and wish that there was more than one way in and out of this room.
Why the hell would one of them come to my house? My heart pounds in my chest as I imagine Clay on the other side of my door, leaning against it and listening for me. I know that it’s stupid, but it almost feels like I could have summoned him by thinking about him.
Especially while touching myself.
“Elle, geez, how long does it take to dry off? Get out here.” Bethany’s voice cuts through my thoughts and she turns the bathroom door knob as I quickly wrap the towel around me. When she pokes her head into the bathroom, she coughs in the steam. “Holy shit, how can you breathe in here?”
Thank God. Not that I’m happy to see her, but it’s better than her older brother. She fans steam away from her face.
“Bethany. Hi, I was just…practice was tough today and I was super sweaty,” I tell her, tucking the end of the towel in on itself so it stays up. I pray that it won’t slip down and expose me to her.
“Well, get out here so I can talk to you.” She slams the door shut and I hear her tapping her foot while she waits on me.
No, no, no. I don’t know why she’s here, and after my little run-in with her brother, I’m not entirely sure that I want to see her. She seems completely two-faced and I’m cautious when I walk back out into my room.
“You too poor for a bedframe?” She kicks my mattress with disgust and then looks at me. “Seriously, though, how long have you lived here? And why haven’t you unpacked? Your room sucks.”
I’d never admit it to her, but it does. This room is nothing like the one that I had back home. Then, I’d actually taken time to paint and hang up art and pictures. My room here feels more temporary. It’s simply a holding cell until I graduate and can get the hell out of Blacksburg.
“Oh, I’m sorry that it’s not up to your standards,” I spit back, still holding onto my towel. “I had to come to your stupid school this morning instead of setting up my room, so that was fun.”
“Yeah? Did you like it?” Ignoring my sarcasm, she walks over to a stack of boxes and lifts the lid to peek inside. It’s packed with books and she scoffs, dropping the lid on the floor before turning back to me. “Did you like cheerleading?”
As much as I hate to admit it, I kinda did. I never thought that I’d play a sport, not that cheerleading is a sport, exactly, but hanging out with girls and some guys who don’t look like they want to kill me was a bit of a nice break.
“It was fun, yeah. Thanks for the invite to try out. Do you know when I’ll hear if I made the squad?” I try to sound nonchalant, but she smirks at me like she can see straight through me.
“You did. Like I told my brother, we’d like another flyer, and you’re the perfect size. Here.” She picks up a bag from the floor and hands it to me. I take it but keep my eyes on her. Knowing Bethany, it could be just about anything in there. “Open it, it won’t bite, dummy.”
I peek inside and there’s a uniform all ready for me. It feels strange for me to look at it, but when I do, I can’t help but feel a bit of pride. It looks smaller in the bag than it had on the cheerleaders today, and I try to imagine what I will look like when I’m wearing it.
I just have to remember not to put it on when I’m around Ted. I’ll take it to school and change there instead of wearing it around the house.
But that doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is that the team wants me. They really want me. I don’t care if it’s because I’m a bit smaller and they’ll be able to throw me up into the air. The fact is that after an incredibly shitty start to the day, there’s a group of people who want me to join them and that feels damn good.
So much for wanting to blend in and disappear. Jesus, hand me a fucking uniform and I’ll fall right in line with the rest of the brainwashed clones at Kennedy Academy.
“Don’t fuck up, okay? I’m putting my neck out for you.” Bethany walks to the door and leans against it while she waits for my response. She looks completely out of place in my room with her cute clothes and her made-up face.
Even though we’re so different, for a moment I can’t help but think that maybe we could become friends.
“Thanks for doing that, Bethany, I really appreciate it. I don’t know what made you want to be so nice, but – ”
She cuts me off. “It’s not because I’m nice and it’s certainly not because I like you, Elle. It’s only because we need someone small like you. Also, I really like to fuck with my brother, and you’re the perfect way to do that.” She wiggles her fingers at me, and I feel my stomach sink. “Wear it Friday for the pep rally and the game. I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetie.”
She saunters down the hall and the stairs like she owns my house and before she goes, I hear her talking to my mom. “I just love your daughter so much! I think that Friday she may just spend the night at my house after the game. Does that sound okay to you?”
For once, I can’t hear my mom’s response, but I know what it’s going to be. She’s going to be thrilled that I’m making friends and she’ll take any chance that she can to pawn me off so that she and Ted can have some alone time.
Dropping the bag with my uniform, I kic
k it across the floor. It seemed like such a good idea earlier, but now I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.
Clay
Apparently, some of the assholes that go to this school didn’t get the memo that Elle is off-limits and belongs to me because all week I’ve heard people talking about the cute new girl.
They have to be talking about her. She’s the only new girl at the school and, as much as I hate to admit it, she’s cute.
That’s a lie. There’s something sexy about Elle that I wasn’t expecting. I don’t know if it’s because of who she looks like or the way she moves her body during cheerleading practice, but I can’t seem to get enough of looking at her, and I hate myself for it.
Teague’s sitting across from me at lunch when Brett and Robby drop down on either side of me. They’re assholes, like Teague, but they’ve stuck with me through all of the bullshit I’ve dealt with after Tiffany died.
“Did you see Tiffany 2.0 this morning?” Robby takes a huge bite of his burger and speaks around it. He’s laughing as he speaks and all I can think about is him choking on his food.
“What the fuck did you just say?” I feel something rising in my chest as I wait for him to swallow and respond. His eyes widen at the tone of my voice.
“Elle. Did you see what she was wearing this morning?” He’s a little red and both Teague and Brett are watching without saying a word.
Hell, yeah, I saw what she was wearing. Everyone in the fucking school saw her tight little shirt and her skintight jeans. Her tits looked positively juicy and I had to keep myself from walking up to her and taking her in the middle of the hall when I saw her on the way to second period.
But that’s not what I’m upset about.
“What the fuck did you call her?” My voice is low and even Robby, who tends to be a little stupid, looks nervous.
“Hey, man, it’s not just me. But you can’t deny that she looks just like Tiffany. Some of the other guys in school are calling her Tiffany 2.0.” He leans away from me like he’s afraid that I’m going to attack him or hit him. Good. He should be afraid.
“Not cool.” Slamming my fist on the table, I stand up and immediately the whole cafeteria grows silent. Everyone turns to look at me. Most of the people in here right now are upperclassmen, but there are a few freshmen and sophomores I recognize.
They look scared. I’m glad. Everyone should listen to me. I want them all to be afraid of me. I’m the fucking golden boy of this school and I don’t want anyone to think that they can have something of mine.
Never in my life have I had to fight for something of my own, but that’s only because everyone’s been too afraid to try to take what’s mine. Elle isn’t going to be any different, and any asshole that thinks he has a chance with him is fucked.
“Listen up! I’m sure that all of you have seen the new girl, Elle.” I wait, but nobody dares to move. Nobody nods or responds. They all know that their king is speaking and that they need to be quiet.
“She’s mine. I don’t give a shit what you assholes think. If anyone lays a hand on her or looks at her sideways then you’ll have to answer to me. Do you understand?” A few people nod, but most are still, their eyes locked on me. “I fucking asked if you understood!”
Tables of students start nodding, but I’m not done. “And if I hear a single person call her ‘Tiffany 2.0’ then I will personally fuck you up.”
There’s movement in the corner of my eye and I glance down to see Teague take a drink of his water and wink at me. Bastard is probably the only person in this damn school who isn’t afraid of me and the only person who really should be.
We’re as close as brothers, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t fuck him up if I need to.
“Is this clear?” I look back out at the cafeteria. My voice is quieter now and everyone nods. Satisfied, I sit back down, but my heart is pounding in my chest. It feels like forever before people start talking again. Even so, some of the more stupid underclassmen glance at me from time to time like they can’t believe what just happened.
“Feel better man?” Teague toasts me with his water, but I stand up and knock it out of his hands, sending the bottle spinning onto the floor.
“Fuck off.” Standing, I leave my tray and stalk out of the cafeteria.
I don’t know what the fuck has gotten into me.
Actually, if I would be honest with myself, I do. It’s fucking Elle. She’s under my skin in a way that no girl should be. I don’t know what to do about her.
Part of me wants to wrap my hands around her neck and squeeze until she squeaks and can’t breathe. The other part of me wants to bury my dick in her and fuck her until she rips open.
Why not both?
The only good thing about what happened at lunch is that word will spread to everyone else in the school that Elle is mine. Nobody at Kennedy Academy is brave or stupid enough to stand up to me when they know that I want something.
It’s taken until my senior year, but I control the school. Anyone who doesn’t like it can come talk to me, but nobody ever has. It’s a strange feeling – knowing that everyone is afraid of you. I have friends, like Teague, and Robby, but I’ve never really known where they stand with me.
It’s like we’re all tied together by chance, but that doesn’t mean that we’re all close. It just means that we were the ones to scrabble to the top and to take control when everyone else was afraid to.
The problem is Elle. She dropped into Kennedy Academy when I was at the top of my game and is shaking everything up. After losing Tiffany, I never thought that I would be able to care about another person, especially a girl again, but then she showed up.
I don’t know what I’m going to do with her. She seems so sweet, so kind and good. Something like that simply can’t survive when I’m around it. Before I make it to my next class, I know what I’m going to do with her. I’m going to do the only thing that I know to do with something as good as her.
Destroy her.
Chapter 4
Elle
“You’re not nervous, are you, Elle?” Bethany cocks her hip out and points at me as I pull down my shirt. The skirt is way too short on me, even though my legs aren’t very long, and I feel like my tits are going to spill out of the top as soon as I get tossed in the air.
And the whole thing about getting tossed in the air? I don’t have a lot of practice, so yeah, I’m nervous. All night last night I went over our routine, trying to remember exactly how to hold my body when I’m tossed into the air. As much as I want to get away from Ted, I really don’t want to accomplish that by ending up in the hospital.
“I’m fine.” It’s a lie and Bethany knows it, but all she does is smirk and then walk away, expecting me to follow. I do, of course. There’s nothing else for me to do but play the role I’ve been assigned. Hell, I wasn’t even assigned it. I ran after it, practically begging to be let on the squad because I was so desperate to fit in somehow at Kennedy Academy.
As soon as we’re outside I start searching for Clay, even though I told myself that I’d stay as far away from him as possible. He told me that he has no interest in me, but then I heard through the grapevine that he made a stink about me during lunch.
Yesterday was bad enough, but now the only people who will talk to me are on the squad with me. Everyone else gives me a wide berth. It’s exactly what I had hoped for on Monday morning but now that I’m even more of a pariah, it kinda sucks.
People don’t just hate me because I look like Tiffany. They hate me because Clay wants them to, and honestly, that’s even scarier. The fact that he could easily turn everyone against me gives me chills. It’s like he has some sort of weird control over everyone at the school that doesn’t make any sense.
Never in my life have I seen any student be able to control everyone else as easily as he does.
The crowd is already pumped up without us, but they really start screaming when we come out onto the field. Out football team is incredible, so nobod
y really pays attention to the fact that I’m not that great of a cheerleader. However, when I get tossed into the air and then caught, everyone goes wild.
My breath is in my throat as I spin in the air, and at the last second, I remember to pull my arm in during the fall. Bethany warned me over and over that if I swung my arm out I could easily break it, and it was only the terror of not being able to wipe my own ass that made me wrap both arms around myself like I was in a straight jacket.
The girls caught me, bounced me once, and then popped me out of the grip onto the pavement. My knees shook a little under the impact, but I caught myself and stood up straight, throwing my arms back up and over my head in victory.
For a moment, I feel like I fit in. For just a moment, I feel like I could belong. It’s a heady feeling and I catch myself grinning at the other girls on the squad. Bethany catches my eye and smirks, making the smile fade off of my face.
Of course. I’m here because of her, not because I’m actually good at any of this.
The game passes quickly and we win, of course, thanks to Clay. He really is incredible out there and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him the entire time. There was something magical about watching him play, and I hate him for that.
I never had much of an appreciation for football, but watching him run and throw makes my stomach twist. I’m watching the football team crowd around each other and him to celebrate their win when Bethany comes up behind me and runs her finger up my arm.
Shivering, I turn around. “You need something, Bethany?”
“From you? Ew, no. Although, with the way you keep staring at my brother, maybe you just want it from one of us. Is that the case, Elle? Do you swing either way as long as someone touches you?” She grabs my hip in the same place that her brother did earlier in the week.
Wincing, I remember how it felt when Clay had his hand on me. He’d wrapped his arm around me like we were best friends and then held me tight by the hip. I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t kinda sexy. And terrifying. For a moment, I’d felt myself start to fall under his spell, and I’d had to fight to shake it off.
