I hadn’t seen Harry since our brief conversation in the corridor and as I entered, part of me hoped I’d see him sat at the table with Pen, laughing along to her lurid jokes, anything to validate my earlier decision, but he wasn’t there and it took me a moment to realise that none of them were in there at all and their normal table was empty.
I breathed a sigh of relief that for the first time I’d be able to eat my dinner in piece and that I did with enough time to spare afterwards to enjoy an apple pie for pudding.
I was just about to get up and leave when Tre slid into the seat next to me and thrust her face near to mine.
“I heard about what happened before registration,” she said sympathetically. “Are you okay? I thought I said to stay out of her way?”
“Easier said than done,” I sighed, putting my tray back down. Having Tre around me was a welcome breath of fresh air and I hadn’t realised how much I’d been lacking a girlfriend’s company until she’d plonked herself beside me. “Anyway, I couldn’t be a bystander and watch her bully Geri…”
“Geri?” Tre said her name as though it tasted bad in her mouth. “The girl’s a lost cause.”
“How so?”
She groaned and rolled her eyes.
“Haven’t you seen the way she follows those Cresties around?” she lowered her voice. “Someone I know, knows her family and said over the summer she had an abortion and she wasn’t sure who the baby belonged to…”
The image of Geri getting gang banged popped into my head. It made sense but I kept that little gem of information to myself.
Tre and I’s friendship was still new, and I didn’t know what she was like at keeping secrets.
“Anyway,” she continued. “Enough about her. A number of us from class are heading to the beach this evening and I wanted to personally extend you an invite…”
I groaned when I thought of my dad and how I’d be lucky to ever see the light of day again.
Tre raised an eyebrow at me.
“Harry will be there…” she urged.
“You mean Harry, leader of the Crest Club you warned me against?”
She laughed and pinched one of my chips.
“I heard a rumour that you two already…connected?” the smile fell from her face almost instantly. “What you do is none of my business, but word of advice?”
I nodded, feeling the heat of embarrassment creep over my face again.
“Please?”
“Just watch your back. Watch Pen, watch the other Crest guys… never let your guard down. Not even for a second and as a heads up, the story about you and Harry is spreading through school like a wildfire. The version I heard was that you begged him to shag you because he was rich and you and your mum need money.”
I buried my head in hands, wanting the floor to open up and swallow me so I didn’t have to leave the dining hall and face anyone.
“It’s not true,” I sighed, regretting the moment I’d followed him into the boarding house. “He took me out to see my mum and then we got close and I…”
“Hey,” she stopped me and put her arms around my shoulders. “You don’t have to explain it to me. I get it. I believe you. I’ve only just met you, but I know you aren’t the kind of girl to do a Geri and get infatuated by men.”
I reached out and squeezed her arm.
“You’ve been an angel,” I said looking across at her. “At least that’s one person in this school that doesn’t think I have the lurgies.”
“Not being a rich arsehole doesn’t mean you’re not amazing,” she laughed. “Now you’d better be coming to the beach later. Any opportunity to show these bottom feeders you don’t give a fuck should be jumped on.”
I straightened up. She was right. Avoiding being around everyone would just give out the impression that I had something to hide or be ashamed of. I was going to go there and if Pen turned up, I’d let her know that no matter what she said or did, I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“Fine. I’ll go.”
Tre beamed across at me and stood up, flinging her bag over her shoulder.
“Great! I’ll pick you up at 5.30? Wear your cossie under your clothes. I need to run. Ciao!”
She breezed away from me and out of the dining hall without enough time for me to reply and I had to smile. I already knew we were going to be good friends as she reminded me so much of my girls over in London.
I finished my lunch and went out to the back courtyard that was starting to become my favourite place to escape and I sat down on the steps and looked across at the door to the Crest Club. My thoughts went instantly to Geri and I felt a pang of uneasiness in my stomach. Was she in there now? Was it just James and Elliot on her or were there more this time? Was she afraid? Happy? Scared?
I closed my eyes so I could empty my mind.
She was a big girl and she could handle herself. She’d been doing it long before I’d arrived.
I moved over to allow a couple of girls to walk past and I realised that the more I thought about her, the more the image of a scared Geri surrounded by arrogant rich boys with their fat cocks out played on my mind.
Change had to come from somewhere and in this case, that somewhere was with me.
So what if she had an unhealthy obsession with a few of the boys, maybe she couldn’t see past it. Maybe she couldn’t see how in deep she was.
I stood up and pulled my bag with me. The least I could do was try. If they were in there fucking her, I was going to speak up and if they didn’t care, I’d get Mr Creswell over and then at least I’d be able to sleep knowing I did something.
I felt the warm rays on my back as I made my way over to the Crestie’s quarters and I paused once the large door loomed over me, nervous.
What for, I didn’t know because the worst that could happen was one of them spotted me and turfed me out.
I pushed on the handle, mostly expecting it to be locked, but it gave way easily and within five seconds I was inside with the door closed behind me panting heavily with anticipation.
The quarters were exactly the same as I’d seen them the day before with a long gloomy corridor that had rooms either side of it and this time round, I realised that we were probably in a disused arm of Atherton School.
Many years ago, it could have easily been the isolation wing and the thought sent shivers over me, but I didn’t have time for nostalgia. I had to find Geri and get out.
I stalked to the first door, trying my best to not make a sound on the wood floor. I peered through the window of the first room. It was empty and so were the second and third ones.
I was just about to creep to the next one on the opposite side when I heard the neat clicking of shoes across the tiled floor.
“Oh, I’ve been wondering when we’d finally meet.”
The voice behind me made me jump and I spun round to see the owner of it. James. One of Geri’s guys. Fuck.
He had his hands in his pocket and the slither of light from the ceiling window made his mousey brown hair glow on top of his head. I had to admit, for a disgusting arsehole, he was kind of handsome, but I pushed that to the back of my mind. That didn’t matter now. Jerks like him who took advantage of girls that were in love with them were ugly on both the inside and out regardless.
“Where’s Geri?” I hissed, holding onto the strap of my bag a little tighter.
The smarmy smile from his face dropped ever so slightly.
“Why should I know?” he asked defensively. “What makes you think she’d be in here?”
I toiled with the idea of telling him what I’d seen. In the first instance, I wanted to wipe the smug look from his face. The one that told me he had one up on me. I was poor. Poorer than poor so therefore he won above me in life, but I also didn’t want to bring heat down on Geri. I didn’t want the repercussions of my actions to reflect badly on her.
James ran a hand through his hair and I knew that whatever I said here, would be right. Anything to bring him and the other C
restie dickheads down.
“I saw you and your idiot friend spit-roasting her right in one of those rooms.” I pointed behind him, not remembering which one they’d been in and I watched as the realisation crossed his face and anger settled where his smirk had been.
“You didn’t see anything,” he said firmly. “It’s your word against ours and who do you think they’ll believe? You? A poor girl from the city with a broken family and no identity or prospects, or me? My father is Frederick Gravesden. A massive landowner who Mr Creswell himself rents from?”
I swallowed back my shock at the revelation.
“That’s right,” he laughed when he noticed me shrink a little. “We fucking own Creswell. You say a word and you’ll be out of here.”
“Is that a challenge?” I retorted.
He sighed, though the smile remained on his face.
“Ah, I just don’t think you get it, darling.” He took several steps closer to me until his body was inches away from mine and I felt my heart pounding. “Your days here are numbered and with your little threat now, you’ve just gone and painted a big red target on your back…”
He came closer by another step and I held my breath as he reached out and fingered a lock of my strawberry blonde waves.
“I’m not scared of you, James,” I breathed under his hard stare. “You’re nothing but a bully. If I dropped you in the middle of my old school, you wouldn’t last a day.”
He laughed.
“Now that sounds like the kind of challenge I’d get behind.”
The hand that had been playing with my hair suddenly reached back and grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me forward and James pressed his lips against mine roughly.
I put my hands on his chest, pushing him backwards. My bag dropped from my shoulder with the effort and I dragged it back up again, heart racing and I touched my lips with my fingers.
“What on Earth?” I shouted at him. “What the actual fuck, James?”
I went to storm past him toward the exit, needing to get out and get away from him, but he grabbed hold of my arm.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where do you think you’re going?”
I tired to shake myself out of his grip, but he tightened it.
“Let go!” I demanded. “I’ll scream. I’ll bring every single student and teacher here to see what a predator you are.”
The way he laughed but didn’t budge sent a shiver down my spine.
“You wouldn’t be the first girl to scream from in here…”
“You’re sick.”
“We’re Kings,” he corrected. “And this is our little kingdom. Our slice of heaven and freedom from Atherton and guess what princess? You’re our new plaything.”
I thought of Geri, had they subjected her to this kind of craziness when she’d joined and now after months of being around them, she was infatuated? Trapped?
I looked toward the front door, it was shut, and I planned my getaway. I was going to kick him in the balls, try and punch his nasty face once he was caught unaware and then I was going to…
Before I could wait for the right moment, he grabbed my other hand and dragged me to the wall, slamming me into it.
I struggled against him, but it was no use, he overpowered me tenfold, almost as though he’d done it countless times before.
“Get…off…me!” I bit. I lifted my knee to slam it into him, but he moved to the side.
“Stop fighting, you little slut!” he spat between gritted teeth and he pressed his lips against mine again.
I seized the opportunity and bit them. He jumped back slightly without letting go of me and anger flashed on his face for a moment as red blood broke through. He licked it away and smiled hungrily at me.
“Damnit! So, you’re a little bit naughty huh?” he asked, his eyes ablaze with desire. “God, I should have known after you begged Harry to fuck you.”
He slid me along the wall to one of the rooms, kicked the door open and threw me inside.
I fell to the floor and scrambled backwards, putting as much space between us as I possibly could. He closed the door behind him and turned to me.
“You’re lucky the others are at a meeting with the head right now,” he teased walking towards me.
“What you’re doing here is illegal,” I said back, my voice not as firm as I’d wanted it. “I…I’m Mr Hughes’ daughter. You’ll never get away with this. You’ll ruin any chance of getting a decent job in the future. Think about it. Think about everything you’ll be throwing away when you end up on the sex offenders register.”
He howled with evil laughter.
“I think that might actually be the funniest thing I’ve heard this year.” He crouched down in front of me just as I realised I couldn’t move backwards any further. I’d hit the wall. “As in, Mr Hughes…the help? We own him too and the minute your little tales get through, both you and your father will be cut loose. Creswell does what our parents tell him. I dare you to see if I’m making it up. Your family will be out of their house and on the streets before anyone even thinks of pinning this on me.”
He grabbed my arms to pull me up and I struggled against him again, trying to yank my wrists out of his grip but he was too strong, and I wasn’t a match for his broad-shouldered rugby build.
He hurled me up and my body crashed against him, making him groan from deep within his throat.
He tried to catch my lips with his, but I kept my turning my head, hoping that he’d get tired or bored but instead he looked amused.
“You know I love a challenge, Ally,” he strained as he struggled to contain me, and he pressed me back against the wall. “Mow hold still for fuck’s sake.”
He used one arm to keep me in place and the other, he let go of me and ran his hands under my blouse and over my stomach making my skin crawl.
I went to kick him, but he dodged it again and used his leg to pin mine back as he bent his head and kissed down my neck.
What usually turned me on left me feeling nothing but repulsed and my body shuddered.
He pulled away briefly to look at me and I thought for a moment that he’d found some compassion. That he realised that even though I was poor I had feelings just like everyone else did, but the flash of conscience that had crossed his face dissolved and he put his hand on my leg, edging it up my thigh as he looked into my eyes.
What kind of monster got off on the torment of another?
His fingers crept further up until he cupped my pussy in his hand and involuntarily, I screamed. It came up from the depths of my stomach. Loud, powerful and shrill. Harbouring all the fear and hurt that I’d been succumbed to over the past few days.
He clamped a hand over my mouth angrily.
“Shut up!” he snapped. “Shut the fuck up!”
I bit down on the skin of his palm as hard as I could and he released me with a yelp, his hand falling away from both my face and under my skirt.
“Oh, you’re going to pay for that!” he growled, and he went to slap me, but instead of succeeding, his fingers scraped across my bottom lip.
I ignored the sting and pushed him backwards. He stumbled before lunging for me again and grabbing me by the waist.
“James? What the hell?”
The loud booming voice on the other side of the room made him stop abruptly and his arms instantly fell away from around me.
I scrambled away, my breaths coming in fast rasps as I rearranged my skirt and shirt. My bag was on the floor and I reached for it, pulling it on quickly.
I couldn’t see who it was that had come to my rescue, but all I knew was that the voice didn’t belong to Harry. I didn’t recognise it at all.
“Have you gone completely berserk?” the voice asked again.
“You shouldn’t have come in here!” James retorted nursing his wounds. “I thought you were all with Creswell…”
I looked up over my shoulder to see Sebastian one of the Crest Club Leaders coming over to me.
“…you thought we were
all out, so you decided to force yourself on a girl? Seriously?”
He reached out his hand to me and I grabbed it, relived that he’d been there because had he not come, I hated to think of what would have happened.
Would he have actually gone as far as to rape me?
I didn’t realise how hard I was holding onto my hero until he gently unclasped my fingers.
“It’s okay, I’ll take you out of here…” he soothed firmly.
James watched as we walked past, the anger in his eyes still evident even though he was the one in the wrong and he touched at the blood on his lip.
“You know what this means?” Sebastian said to him as he led me towards the door. “You’ll be hearing from Rupert about your fate. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I don’t know…” he said dejectedly. “Something just snapped in me and I had to…”
“Fuck me?” I finished. “You’re disgusting!”
James pushed past us out of the room, and we heard the main door slam shut. He was gone. It was over.
“Thank you,” I croaked. “I’m just so grateful. Thank you, I….”
He turned to face me, searching over my face and his light green eyes settled on the cut by my lip from James swiping at me.
“You have nothing to be sorry for Ally. What he did… he should never have touched you like that. Once you feel ready, I’ll take you to the school nurse.”
I thought about all the overwhelming questions she was going to ask and the look on my dad’s face when they told him when he came into the medical wing. No. I couldn’t do that to him. They’d brand me as a troublemaker, and they’d resent him for ever bringing me here and destroying their peaceful equilibrium. Then I just knew my dad would force me to press charges even if it resulted in losing the job he loved, and I just couldn’t do it to him. I couldn’t be the reason he lost it all.
“I think I’m okay,” I lied, ignoring the shaky feeling I felt all over. “I’ll just get ready for class and…” I stopped when I felt tears of anger build up in my eyes and he looked at me, not convinced and I didn’t blame him. I probably looked like a complete wreck. I turned away from him, hoping he’d drop it.
Diamond - A British Academy Rich Boy Bully Romance (Atherton School Crest Club Book 1) Page 10
