School, Sex and Secrets II (School, Sex and Secrets #2)

by Sheila Michelle

  Hours later, Marie and I had lunch at a fast-food restaurant off campus. I was in no mood to eat healthy, so I had a double bacon cheeseburger and some large fries, as well as a thick chocolate malt. Marie had a chicken salad with a diet soda.

  “I’m sure you know that Ava isn’t here today,” she said, and then sipped her soda.

  “Oh, and I wonder why she’s not,” I sarcastically replied as I rolled my eyes.

  She laughed. “Do you think you’ll ever forgive her for what she did with Brad?”

  I sighed. “I honestly don’t know. She’s my best friend, but I have such a hard time saying that now because I really feel betrayed by her — by her and Brad both. And even though this is the first time that I actually caught them, how do I know if they haven’t done this before?”

  “Well, the only way you’ll ever know that is if you ask them.”

  “And I’m going to,” I replied, and then bit into my cheeseburger.

  She stared at my food. “Gosh, that looks so good. I admit that I’ve been trying to get back on track after gaining five pounds after I had shot John and thought that I killed him.”

  I gasped! “You have?!”

  “Yeah, I have. I just couldn’t stop eating junk — it’s definitely comfort food. I didn’t wanna do anything but sit at home and eat junk. I knew that I had to stop because if I didn’t it was really gonna show. Despite everything that’s been going on, I’ve still been trying to get myself back on track.”

  “Well, you’ve never had a problem with your weight — you look like you always take good care of yourself.”

  She smiled. “I’m trying.”

  “Oh, I don’t know why I almost forgot to tell you this, but something else happened that night besides me catching Brad and Ava fucking each other.”

  She looked at me. “Oh, my God! What?”

  “John abducted me by gunpoint from a restaurant hours before where me, Brad, Ava, and Marc were having dinner at.”

  She shrieked! “Are you fuckin’ serious, Vanessa?! Holy shit!”

  I nodded. “Yeah, he did. I mean, I came out of the bathroom at the restaurant and there he was. He pointed a gun at my back and told me to walk out of the restaurant through a back door — there was no one around. Once we got to his car — and it wasn’t the car that he drives to school — he cuffed me to the door handle, but I managed to escape while we were coming up on that bridge that has that river underneath it, and was able to get my hand out of the cuff and get the door open and I jumped out of the car and into the river.”

  She looked at me like I was making this story up. “Vanessa! For real?! This sounds too unbelievable!”

  “It’s not — this really happened on Saturday night. There was a couple down by the embankment when I jumped into the water, and since it was dark, all they heard was me screaming and a big splash. I didn’t even know they were there, either, until they yelled something in shock, obviously in reaction to me.”

  She shook her head. “This is so fuckin’ unbelievable, Vanessa, but I believe you — a hundred percent. John is obviously more serious than I thought about trying to scare all of us out of going to the cops with what we know and trying to get his DNA. You obviously weren’t able to get it from him that night, huh?”

  “Not at all — in fact, I wasn’t even thinking about it. All I wanted to do was get the fuck out of that car because I had no idea where he was taking me — now I’ll never know.”

  “Well, that’s very fortunate that you were able to get out. I hate giving into his demands when he wants it — I just can’t have him telling the cops that I shot him.”

  “Well, he strangled Natalie and then slit her throat, so in my book, what he did is a hell of a lot worse than what you did to him. You didn’t kill him, Marie, and that’s the bottom line. He killed Natalie, so he needs to be in prison for what he did to her, period.”

  She tried not to choke up. “I agree, Vanessa. I did it because of what he did to Natalie. And if I could, I’ll do it again because I hate what he’s doing to me and to you . . . and to Brad and Ava since he knows that they know that he killed Natalie, too. Do you think he had something to do with Ken and Veronica’s deaths as well since they were in Brad’s SUV that night?”

  “Absolutely — I think he thought it was me and Brad. Who knows what the hell he had planned for me on Saturday night, but I quickly foiled it.”

  “And I’m glad you did. I just can’t stand the fact that he’s walking around school acting as if he didn’t do anything. I swear I feel like taking a gun and blowing his fuckin’ head off in front of everyone and killing him for real!”

  I nodded. “I know you feel like doing that, Marie, but we need him alive so he can pay for what he did to Natalie.”

  “And that’s the only thing that’s stopping me from doing it.”

  I smiled at her, and then ate some of my fries.

  “So, when he abducted you from the restaurant, you didn’t go to the cops to report it?”

  “No, I didn’t,” I replied in somewhat of a shame.

  “Why not?”

  “Well, because I didn’t want them asking him a ton of questions and then him getting mad and implicating you in the attempted murder on him, and that I’m just making it up because I just wanna get him in trouble. Also, I really had no proof that he did to me what he did. There were no witnesses to me being with him when he abducted me from the restaurant, nor were there any when I jumped out of his car and into the water. Everything was circumstantial. By the way, the couple who helped me out of the water is from Westmore, and they actually asked me about Natalie’s murder.”

  “Really?!”

  “Yeah. They wanted to know were there any updates on it since they heard about it.”

  “And what did you tell them?”

  “I told them that there weren’t any. But little did they know, I just jumped out of the car of her killer.”

  “Damn, that’s chilling, Vanessa. I’m so glad you did; I didn’t wanna hear about him hurting you.”

  “He would’ve had a hard time hurting me, Marie. I will fight John until I can’t fight him anymore just like what Natalie did, but unfortunately, she didn’t win the fight.”

  Her eyes swelled up with tears. “Yeah, unfortunately.”

  I handed her a napkin. “She may not have won the fight, but we’re gonna the win the war for her. John will go to prison forever for what he did to her.”

  She patted her eyes as she nodded. “And like I said, I will fight until my last breath to see that he does.”

  I replied with a nod. I looked at my phone and saw that Ava was trying to call me. “Guess who’s trying to call me right now?” I said, and then showed her my phone.

  She looked at it and smiled. “Aren’t you gonna answer it?”

  “Nope,” I replied, as I put my phone in my purse. “I don’t wanna hear her bullshit. If she wants to talk to me then she should’ve showed up at school today, but I doubt that I would be talking to her. She knows it’s lunchtime, that’s why she’s calling me. There’s nothing wrong with her — she just has a case of fear and guilt because of what she did.”

  She chuckled. “And I would hope she would. Well, hopefully, she’ll say she’s sorry to you soon and really mean it. I hate to see the two of you fight — you never do.”

  “You’re right. I think our last fight was freshman year over some stupid shit — I think it was a boy that liked me that she liked. It always seems like us girls get into fights over boys, huh?”

  She grinned. “It does. But we especially get into fights over our boyfriend’s cheating and shit.”

  “I know, huh? Why does this always have to happen? Sex seems to always ruin everything, you know? It’s the reason why Natalie was killed because why? She had a secret, sexual affair with John and got pregnant by him so he killed her because he didn’t wanna be a father and have his secret relationship with her exposed. Now I’m mad at Ava for the first time in years because she
had sex with my boyfriend, and I just don’t know when I’m not gonna be mad about it anymore. Sometimes I feel like never having sex again.”

  She chuckled. “Well, now, don’t say that! It also has its good qualities!”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right!”

  We laughed.

  I looked at the time. “Well, lunch is almost over with so we better get back to school. I just need to make it through the rest of this school day and I think I’ll be okay.”

  She smiled at me as we got up. “Don’t worry, Vanessa, you’ll do just fine.”

  We walked out to the parking lot to her car since she drove us here.

  “You know, Vanessa, I was thinking,” she said.

  “About what?”

  “About those gorgeous shoes that you threw back to Brad earlier.”

  “What about them?”

  “Well, it’s too late to do it now since you threw them back to him like any girl with any sense would’ve done. But if I thought about this when you still had them, I would’ve suggested that you did something to him since the shoes has spikes on them.”

  I grinned. “And what would that have been?”

  “You should’ve put them on, marched over to him, and kicked him in the fuckin’ balls!”

  I busted out laughing! “Yeah! That would’ve did it! Too bad you thought about this after I threw them back to him because I would’ve done it, no doubt! And since I would’ve already worn them he couldn’t return them, so there would’ve went $3,995! Damn!”

  “Damn is damn right!” she laughed.

  We laughed as we got in her car, and she drove us back to school.

  CHAPTER 37

  I walked into Senior English to John and Lisa staring coldly at me as they talked to each other. Mrs. Whitman wasn’t in the class yet, but it was almost full since the bell was about to ring. I sat down at my desk and then took out my phone and looked at it. I noticed how Ava called me two more times — I honestly didn’t know when I wanted to talk to her. I looked over at John and Lisa as they continued to stare at me, and now they were laughing as they were looking at me — I was in no mood for this. I got up out of my seat and walked directly over to them. The whole class got dead quiet, and they looked shocked that I was standing in between both of them. “I’m only gonna say this once to the two of you — shut the fuck up talking about me — I’m in no mood for it today and I never am.”

  The class gasped! I noticed out of the corner of my eye that most had their phones up — I knew they were filming me.

  “How do you know that we were talking about you, Vanessa? You need to mind your own damn business!” Lisa said.

  “And you need to know that you’re never getting Brad back, bitch, so you need to mind yours more than I need to mind mine!” I snapped.

  The class gasped again as most chuckled as they looked at each other.

  I looked at John. “And don’t be looking at me all fuckin’ crazy, John! I’ve had it with your shit, too!”

  Once again, the class gasped as some looked confused because none of them knew what I was talking about when it came to John — but he did.

  John gave me a very evil glare. “Watch it!” he mouthed to me.

  “FUCK YOU!” I shouted at him.

  The class was in an uproar of gasps and laughter!

  “NO, BITCH, FUCK YOU!” Lisa shouted to me as she jumped up out of her seat.

  I stood my ground. I wasn’t scared of her in the least bit, despite what I was told by Natalie and confirmed by Marie today about how she was gonna try and do some extreme shit in getting Brad back. “RIGHT BACK AT YOU, BITCH! I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU, LISA! I’VE NEVER BEEN!” I yelled at her.

  John got out of his seat as he tried to hold Lisa back as if she was gonna hit me — I dared her to.

  “YOU’RE A WHORE, VANESSA! FUCKIN’ BOYFRIEND STEALER! CHEATER! LIAR!” Lisa yelled at me.

  The whole class was now out of their seats as they watched what many weren’t surprised at — what would unfold between Lisa and me.

  “AND ONCE AGAIN, RIGHT BACK AT YOU, BITCH! STOP ACTING LIKE YOU’RE SUCH A SAINT! YOU’RE A SLUT, LISA! MORE THAN ANYONE WOULD EVER KNOW! DON’T GET MAD AT ME BECAUSE BRAD HAS ALWAYS WANTED ME AND YOU WERE HIS SECOND CHOICE! YOU EVEN SAID THAT YOURSELF!” I yelled back.

  Lisa broke away from John and pushed me, almost knocking me to the floor!

  The class screamed as they all looked at me to see what I was gonna do next. I knew I really had to control myself now, but she put her hands on me so I didn’t know how much control I had left in me.

  Lisa got herself into a fighting-type of stance. “COME ON, BITCH! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GONNA DO?! HIT ME? COME ON, BITCH! HIT ME! HIT ME! HIT ME, YOU FUCKIN’ WHORE! HIT—”

  I gave her one hard punch in her face! She didn’t even see it coming!

  The class screamed as she instantly fell to the floor — I knocked her out! Literally!

  John dropped to the floor as he tried to bring her back to a conscious state — he even looked shocked that I’d hit her!

  I didn’t realize that I had two guys in my class holding me back from hitting her again — they seemed to have come out from nowhere.

  Mrs. Whitman ran into the room with another teacher. “What the hell just happened in here?!” she asked. She looked at Lisa. “Oh, my God!” She ran over to her. She bent down next to John. “What happened?” she asked him.

  John looked at her, and then looked at me. “Ask Vanessa.”

  Mrs. Whitman looked at me. “Vanessa?”

  “I hit her,” I unsympathetically told her.

  Mrs. Whitman looked shocked like she couldn’t believe what I’d just told her. “Take your things and go to Winston’s office right now — walk her there, Sawyer,” she said to the young male teacher who came running into the room with her.

  “Okay,” Sawyer said with a slight grin on his face.

  Everyone was dead quiet as they watched me as I grabbed my things and storm out of the room with Sawyer behind me.

  He caught up to me. “It’s okay, Vanessa. So you hit your boyfriend’s ex, huh?” he asked with a grin.

  I glared at him. “She had it coming.”

  He laughed. “I’m sure she did, but you can’t go around hitting people. I know it’s easy to lose your temper with an ex, but you have to learn how to control yourself.”

  I sighed. “Yeah, I know. I know I’m in trouble, okay? I’ve had a bad enough day.”

  We approached the administration office.

  He opened the door for me. “Good luck, Vanessa,” he said with a smile.

  “Thanks,” I replied somberly as I walked in the office. I headed towards Winston’s office since I knew that Whitman had already texted him about what had happened and he was expecting me in his office.

  About an hour later, I was at home as I sat at the kitchen table and cried uncontrollably while my parents stared coldly at me. I knew how disappointed they were in me for getting a three-day suspension since it was the very first suspension that I’d ever gotten in my entire school history. “Look, I can’t tell the two of you that I’m sorry enough. I know you’re mad at me for fighting and getting suspended — but Lisa had it coming. All her and John would do in that class is talk shit about me — sitting on the other side of the class from me looking at me all fuckin’ crazy and laughing — I got sick of it. I was in no mood for it today since I’m mad at Brad and Ava right now — I couldn’t take it today. I let them get away with their shit-talking about me for this whole semester so far, but I put an end to it today.”

  “Yeah, you may have put an end to it, Vanessa, but at a cost,” Dad said.

  “And whatever that cost is, I don’t care. Lisa needs to accept the fact that she’s never gonna have Brad back so she needs to stop talking shit about me and calling me sluts and bitches and whores and making it seem like I’m the bad person just because Brad asked me to be his girlfriend after they broke up. He liked me more all along —
he even said it and she knows it.”

  They looked at each other.

  “How long were Brad and Lisa broken up before he asked you to be his girlfriend?” Mom asked.

  I paused. I didn’t wanna tell them that it was for no more than twenty-four hours because I didn’t want it to look like I was the cause of their breakup. “For a while,” I told them. I didn’t know what else to say.

  “And what is your problem with John?” Mom asked me.

  I let out a big sigh as I kept my head lowered. I wish she hadn’t asked me this because I really didn’t wanna even get started on John’s fuckin’ ass. “It was said that John liked me for more than a friend and got pissed off because I became Brad’s girlfriend and not his,” I replied. I knew it was the truth, but I left a lot of stuff out.

  “Is that it?” Dad asked.

  I looked at him. “Yeah, that’s it.”

  They continued to stare at me — I had a feeling that they weren’t buying it.

  Mom sighed. “I don’t know, Vanessa. It just seems like there’s so much more to this story about Lisa and John and why they don’t like you. I don’t want to upset you so we’re not gonna ask you anymore questions about it — you’ll tell us if you want to. I remember meeting John when he came over here for a study period with you and he seemed like a nice guy, but that’s all I know.”

  “Well, as you know now, he’s far from that. I don’t wanna talk about this anymore. I just wanna go up to my room and forget about this day. I won’t be going back to school until later on this week so I just wanna forget about all of this as much as I can.”

  “Well, we’re not gonna forget, Vanessa. Even though you’re eighteen, you’re still gonna be punished, so you have an additional two weeks added on by us for what you did. I don’t know if you’re gonna make up with Brad and Ava in that time for whatever it is that you’re mad at the two of them about, but you better take this time and think about how you’re gonna control your temper and be able to deal with difficult situations because you’re always gonna be faced with them,” Dad said. “And you’re lucky that since you’re eighteen, that Lisa decided not to press charges against you for assault.”