Caterina
I feel Chase lean over and gently pry my hands from my face. “Don’t be embarrassed, Caterina. The rambling and blushing is kind of…cute.” He laughs, which just makes me blush even harder.
“I actually have something to ask you.”
I perk up, thankful that we are going to move on to another topic. “Yeah?” That makes more sense. Maybe it’s about class or something.
“Well, some of my friends were talking about Valentin toying with you—”
My face falls. “That’s why you’re here?”
How many people are going to interrogate me about what happened? I have no idea what Valentin wants from me more than any of them do, gosh.
“Hey, hey, hear me out.” Chase leans forward, and his voice goes low. “Valentin is a total dick.”
Finally, someone understands!
I am already liking Chase.
“And he already has a girl so I don’t know why the fuck he’s messing with you.” He shrugs. “But anyways when I saw you today…I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
I stop breathing. Does he recognize me?
I gulp. “Um, what do you mean?”
He shakes his head, watching me intensely. “I just…you are really beautiful. I just had to come over and introduce myself.”
I freeze.
Beautiful? Did he just say I’m…what do I do?
I don’t freaking know! What do the girls do in the books when an extremely hot guy says they’re beautiful?
Giggle and stuff? But first, fix your face. You look like a perverted uncle.
“I…um…I…” I laugh nervously. “That’s very…I think…I…” I grab my tray and get up. “I have to go. My parents are calling me, so yeah, uh…”
Mortified, I drop the whole tray in the trash, and then freeze, realizing I just threw the tray in the trash.
“Caterina!”
I turn slowly around and find Chase still sitting, looking a little confused and chuckling at the same time.
“Do you want to go to the party with me?”
“Wh-what?”
“The homecoming dance tomorrow. Do you want to go? Because not only are you beautiful,” he looks at my book, “but you’re also smart and,” he laughs before adding, “adorable.”
Adorable?
So like a puppy.
I’m like a puppy.
Okay, I can go with that.
I laugh nervously. “I’m sorry, I don’t know if I heard you correctly. But I have my next class to go to so…”
He jumps up and jogs over toward me. “Caterina Callahan, you have real commitment issues, you know that?” His grin is panty dropping. And I think he has dimples, gosh.
He doesn’t know who you are. My shoulder drops, a little relieved. But suddenly, my eyebrows shoot up. “How do you know my last name?”
He reaches over me and grabs the tray from the trash, picking it up. Setting it on the table he winks. “I have my ways.” He gives me a puppy-eyed look and pouts. “So what do you say?”
“To what?”
My mind kind of has selective memory when it came to things like this. I refuse to believe that…ugh. No. I can’t even think about a guy liking me. It makes me shiver.
“The dance…”
I blurt out, “I can’t!”
Chase nods slowly. “You can’t…”
I nod. “Yup! I can’t. I just can’t.” I shake my head like I’m disappointed. “Now I must get going…my parents.”
Again with the parents?
“And all…and classes…and stuff.” I give him a wide smile, which I am one hundred percent sure is creepy.
This is how you scare guys off, Kitty.
I know.
Before I turn around and sprint out of the cafeteria, I quickly turn and blurt out, “Chase, I promise I’m not this weird most of the time. But I have no idea who you are and you can’t just plop down next to me, call me beautiful and ask me to go to a dance when I’ve never gone to a dance before. But you seem really cool and stuff, you know?” I slowly turn around, trying to get out of the situation before I make it worse.
How much of a hole can someone dig themselves in?
I don’t know, but you seem to be getting close to the record.
I start walking. Take a step. Right foot. Left foot. Don’t you dare trip. The least you can do is walk out of this without embarrassing yourself. Left. Right. Left. You’re almost there. Right. Left—
“I know I seem creepy that I keep asking you, but why aren’t you even considering it?”
Oh, God, the boy is back again.
“Chase, I said no.”
He raises an eyebrow. “But did you?” He cocks his head, looking confused. “It seems to me that you’re just trying to get out of here before you give an answer.”
He puts his hands in his pockets and looks at me with a smile. “Look, I don’t know if you’re creeped out that I called you beautiful, but I don’t know why that would come as a surprise considering the whole male population of this school thinks you’re hot.”
I cough, tucking my hair behind my ear and looking over his shoulders to the exit. “I don’t know what you mean…” How fast can I sprint there? Five seconds? Less? I mean it seems a litt—
“It’s just a dance, Caterina. I know Valentin has been giving you shit, and if you’re with me…” He shrugs. “Look, I’m not scared of him so you’ll be safe with me.”
I consider it for a moment. But suddenly, I laugh and for the first time in this conversation, I’m not tongue-tied. I flash him a grin. “I don’t need protection from a stranger, but thanks for the offer!”
I leave Chase shocked and give myself an imaginary pat on the back.
If he had liked me before, he certainly doesn’t like me now.
Disaster.
Averted.
***
Thinking I can get some work done, I plug in my headphones and keep my head down. But of course, things aren’t that easy. My life seems to be filling up with drama lately.
Why was I ever excited for high school?
Someone sits next to me and I sigh, pulling out my headphones. Is Valentin going to do what he did yesterday again?
“Valentin, I—”
It isn’t Valentin.
I have almost gone through half the day without seeing Cassandra and her friends, and am about to relax, but suddenly, there she is. There is a substitute teacher for AP Sem because Mr. Mahor is absent. The class is getting rowdy.
I guess that also means people from other classes can just walk right in and make themselves at home.
Her icy blue eyes pin on me, like…like a hawk.
“It’s weird that my boyfriend’s name was on your lips before you even knew who was sitting here.” Her voice is getting under my skin.
Keeping my other headphone in to blast Coldplay, I reply quietly, “Just leave me alone. If this is about yesterday, your friend deserved it.”
Cassandra scoffs, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “This isn’t about what you did to Nola. This is about what the hell you’re doing with my boyfriend.”
I look at her for a moment, wondering if she is being serious. “You mean…”
“Yes. Why the fuck are you hitting on him?”
The directness and the certainty of her words make me lose it. “You think—” I burst out laughing like it’s the best joke I have ever heard in my entire life. “You think I—” It feels good to let it out. When I look up, brushing a literal tear off my eyes, I realize I have gained the attention of the group around us. “Oh, my God, that was…”
Apparently laughing hasn’t done much to ease Cassandra’s nerves though because she looks furious. “Why the fuck are you laughing?”
I laugh. “I just find it hilarious! Valentin?” I watch her and bite my lip so I don’t laugh again. “Like the Valentin who dumped me on the ground? The one who put disgusting things in my locker? The one who stole my clothes? And cornered me in the
locker room with his brother? The one who made my first week of school literal hell? That Valentin, you think I like him?”
I chuckle. “Cassandra, you must really be as stupid as you look.”
There is a burst of laughter from the people around us. I can see Cassandra’s face turning red with anger. She hisses, “Excuse me?”
“Excuse yourself because I’m certainly not doing it.” I roll my eyes. “I don’t like your boyfriend. In fact, he’s the first person in my life that I have ever despised.” I shrug. “True story.”
She laughs, snarling. “You little bitch, you’re such a fucking liar. The reason he’s doing any of those things to you is that you’re making him.”
“Making him?” Is this girl being serious?
What is it about being in relationships that make people lose all common sense?
By this point, she is huffing and puffing like she has been running a marathon. “You’re new, you’re a senior, and you want every guy to swoon over you. You’re trying to get my baby’s attention away from me. I know what you’re doing, you sly snake!”
“My baby?”
I want to tell her to chill. I may not know much about boys and relationships but this is high school.
She looks so enraged, which is the only reason I force myself not to laugh. If I do, a fight might start. But everything she is saying is just so…
Wrong!
I throw my hands up in the air. “Honestly, can you please help a girl out and tell me what exactly I’m doing that’s getting his attention? That way I can stop doing it as soon as possible?” I lean forward and put my hands in prayer style. “Please?”
It seems like I am joking, but nothing about it is a joke.
She gets up, towering over me. Putting her hand on her hips, she leans down, glaring. “You come near him one more fucking time or put your dirty STD-fucking infected lips on him and I will destroy you. He’s my man, don’t even fucking try to take him.”
The girls around me start nodding and glaring at me. “Yeah, who the hell do you think you are?”
“They’ve been together for like six months so back off!”
“Um, don’t be such a ho?”
“Get your own man.”
I turn red with embarrassment and anger. Gritting my teeth, I say to the last girl, “I have. I’m going out with Chase. So back the fudge off.” I turn to Cassandra. “So shove it. Have a happily ever after with Valentin.”
I smile smugly, watching their mouths drop.
That shut them up didn’t it?
It is truly priceless.
Suddenly I freeze…did I just say I’m going out with Chase?
***
As I’m waiting for Mom and Dad, my phone pings. Confused, I quickly get it out of my bag. My phone never pings. I had no one who would text me.
Unknown: did I just hear that you’re going out with chase??
Who was this and how did they get my number?
Unknown: it’s Mell btw. In case you’re freaking out.
Cat: How do I know it’s you?
Unknown: uh…Mell the one who gets to call you kitty instead of cat but not kitten because you have a big issue with it…?
I sigh in relief. It is her.
Cat: How did you get my number?
Mell: lol that should not be your main focus right now kitty. CHASE?
Cat: I know, I know. It just happened, I’ll explain tomorrow.
Mell: you better because…damn girl.
Mell: i leave you alone for 1 day and you get yourself a man? i see you kitty.
I type furiously, mortified.
Cat: It was not like that!
Cat: How did you find about this anyways?
Mell: lmao just because I wasn’t there today doesn’t mean that i don’t know what goes on ;)
Suddenly, there’s a honk and I see my parents’ car. Shoving my phone in my pocket, I hurry over to them.
So, it’s official. The whole school thinks I’m going to the dance with Chase.
Now I just need to ask my parents if I can go. It should go smoothly. I mean, Aunt Raven will totally back me up.
But Dad…?
I smile nervously as I get in the car.
Nah. It won’t be that bad.
Chapter 10
Valentin
“Val!”
“Hm?”
Nate walks into the frat house with bottles of tequila. He’s looking down at his phone with surprise. “Guess your pretty little kitten starts to meow at other guys when she’s not being watched over.” He bursts out laughing, setting the drinks on the table.
My head jerks up and I push the girl on my lap off me. “Get off.”
She had been a gift from Father but she was getting more annoying than helpful lately.
“What the fuck do you mean she’s meowing at other guys?” Nate chooses a lot of pretty words sometimes. Probably why he’s always wanted to be a singer. Not that Father would ever let him.
Nate shrugs, setting his legs up on the table, and cracking open a beer. “Don’t freak out if I tell you.”
“Nate…”
He grins. “I mean I’m sure it was all a misunderstanding—”
I don’t know what the fuck he is doing, but it is going to get him killed. I jump at Nate’s throat and push him against the wall, his collar fisted in my hands. “Don’t fucking play with me now, Nate.”
Unlike other people would have, he doesn’t piss his pants. Guess that’s one of the perks of being my brother.
But his eyes widen. “You’re drunk.”
Apparently, I’m known to get rowdy when I’m drunk.
Like killing some motherfuckers.
“And you’re gonna be on this floor, shit beaten out of you, if you don’t tell me—”
Nate jerks out of my grip and shakes himself off. “Lannister just asked her out.” His side glance tells me everything. He is getting ready to call Father if I get out of hand.
A smile lifts my lips, rage filling me. “What the fuck do you mean…Lannister asked her out?”
Nate shrugs, fixing his collar and dropping back on the couch. He yells out into the kitchen, “Can any of you pretty ladies fix me another drink?”
There are squeals and giggles. A chorus of “Of course!” comes from them.
This room is the only empty one in the frat house, and it is where me and the guys deal with small businesses. But today is supposed to be a day to relax.
This is not relaxing.
And Nate isn’t helping by withholding information. I don’t want to hurt him, but my anger is uncontrollable when it gets out of hand, and Nate is treading on a thin rope.
He turns back to me. “I don’t know, brother.” He shrugs. “I’m not a fortune seer.”
I don’t realize that I have broken the beer in my hand until Nate throws me a napkin, his brows pulling in. “Why the fuck are you so angry?”
I drop the glass and start picking out the smallest pieces from my hand. “Because she’s mine.” Father has given her to me. If I do what is to be done, I can have her.”
I don’t want her tainted by some motherfucker.
For goodness sake, I had been the girl’s first kiss.
“We all know that she’s yours, bro. He probably wanted to get back at you for what we pulled off last year.”
I grit my teeth. “He should know better than to go after her.”
Nate shrugs, “He’s angry, Val. What do you expect?”
None of what Nate is saying is calming me. I want to fucking kill Lannister. Now.
“Plus,” Nate took a swing of his beer, “Kitten is the one who said yes.”
My eyes bore into his. “Don’t call her Kitten.”
Nate bursts out laughing. “All right, something’s definitely up.”
I look at the door, wondering where Lannister is right now. I could have found out if I asked some of my guys but today is their off day too. “Nothing’s up. She’s mine and he’s messing with
that. It’s as simple as that.”
I don’t hear Nate get up until he’s right next to me. He puts a hand on my shoulder. “Valentin…you need to keep your anger in check. Lannister, as much of a dick as he’s being right now, is not who deserves your wrath. It’s the Giovanni family.”
The anger doesn’t lessen, but Nate’s words get me to direct it elsewhere. That’s the only way any of us will be able to survive.
It’s her fucking fault.
Her family’s.
Finally, I turn from the door and sit back on the couch. “You’re right, brother.”
He grins. “Of course I am.”
She’s the one who needs to be punished.
***
Caterina
“Hell, no.”
The dinner table is silent as Dad’s voice fills the room.
“Dad!”
“I let you go to a school without security, stopped monitoring you, and forced myself not to get involved, but you are really pushing the limits now, Caterina.”
I stab the meatball on my plate with the fork, angry. Before I can reply, Mom puts her hand on his arm. “Dom…”
“Do not,” he looks at Mom with a glare, “fucking try to convince me to change my mind.”
I gasp and look at the kids’ table a couple of feet away. Thankfully, none of the kids heard.
Mom, soft-spoken, says, “Dom, please…”
“I let her ‘gain her independence’ as you so put it, because of you. And now you want me to let her go to a party filled with horny teenagers and alcohol?” He pushes her away roughly and stands up. He turns to me and says in a final tone, “No.”
I shrink back into my seat and watch Mom’s fallen face. Dad rarely acts like this, especially not to her. He loves her.
This is my fault.
Aunt Chloe and Aunt Raven try to come to Mom’s side but their husbands stop them. There is a scowl on both my aunts’ faces as they watch Mom get up. She whispered, “Excuse me, please,” and after kissing me on the cheek, she walks off.
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