The Retribution: A High School Light Bully Romance (Beverly Hills Prep Academy Book 3)

by Melissa Adams

  His eyes skim over my body and I can't really get offended because I admit that I’m checking him out too.

  He grabs my hand and guides me inside the main school building, walking fast to avoid the constant stream of students walking the hallway.

  He stops in front of the girls’ bathroom and I gasp in shock when he follows me inside, locking the door behind himself.

  “Uh, this is the girls ...”

  He shrugs.

  “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t. Come on, take your shirt off.”

  “Excuse me?”

  My outraged tone must not hit home because he chuckles as if my reaction was hilarious.

  “I’m not undressing in front of you!”

  He lifts a perfect blonde eyebrow and his knowing little smile widens just a little when his eyes travel up and down my body to stop on my chest.

  “I really don't think it makes a difference, since your white shirt has practically disappeared. I mean, unless you're hoping to win a wet t-shirt contest during first period ...”

  I look down and squeal in horror, trying to cover my chest when I see that my white lace bra is showing.

  “No! This isn't happening!”

  I whine, feeling heat rise to my face.

  The hot blondie sheds his leather jacket and his own blazer and shirt, revealing a smooth, chiselled chest and the yummiest abs I’ve seen in a while.

  And you know what? He’s been staring at my boobs, so I’ve got the right to stare back at him.

  But unlike me, he isn't embarrassed and puffs up his chest, walking towards the hot air dryer on the wall.

  “Uhm, are you not gonna help me?”

  What the fuck is wrong with me? Honestly today isn't my day, I sound like a whiny little bitch.

  He sets his blue gaze on me again and he says that he was gonna help me but since I wouldn't give him my shirt, he's gonna dry his own and be out.

  “Ok, ok. Damn it!”

  I start undoing my buttons and hand him the shirt, trying to shield my chest, because I noticed that my white lace bra is also wet and I’m offering much more of a show than I thought.

  He takes the shirt, brushing my fingers with his totally on purpose and spends a couple of minutes with my shirt under the dryer.

  “All right. It isn't bone dry but it should be wearable and you won't be flashing the whole school.”

  I take the shirt from him and try to turn around to give myself some privacy but he walks in front of me again and begins helping me to fasten the buttons.

  His fingers are slightly rough on my skin and I feel a tingling shiver travel up my spine at the contact.

  His eyes are fixed onto mine again and I’m thrilled and annoyed at the same time by his complete lack of physical boundaries.

  When I’m nervous, I tend to babble uncontrollably and this time isn't an exception.

  “Thank you for helping me. I’ve had a rough couple of weeks, I got into a fight with my parents and had to move out, I’m going through a breakup ... well kind of a breakup and I’m new here, so ...”

  He chuckles.

  “Yeah, I know that you're new.”

  “How?”

  He winks at me when he says that he’d have definitely remembered a pretty girl like me.

  “Thank you for being so kind to me. I don't even know your name.”

  He smiles for the first time without any trace of humour.

  “I’m Teague.”

  “Aubrey.”

  “Come on, Aubrey. Let's go or we’ll be late for the general assembly.”

  He begins to walk towards the door but I stop him.

  “Teague! You're still shirtless!”

  He winks at me and throws his leather jacket on, zipping it closed on his bare chest.

  We walk to the auditorium and as I grasp the door handle, Teague starts walking away.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’ve gotta go in from the side door. I’ll see you in there.”

  I guess that if I was hoping to sit near him, I was totally wrong. After all, I doubt that a guy as hot as Teague could be single.

  The auditorium is crowded and all the seats towards the back are taken, so I have to walk all the way up to the front and sit in the second row.

  I feel all eyes on me and pray to all the gods that I don't trip and make a fool of myself in front of the whole school.

  This is what I realised lately: Alex is the smart sibling, the overachiever.

  Abi is the sweet and compassionate one.

  And I’m the klutz, the fucking hot mess.

  Even though officially, I’ll say that I’m the fun one.

  A tall, balding man walks to the podium in the middle of the stage and introduces himself as Principal McArthur.

  He welcomes us all to Beverly Hills Preparatory Academy and after illustrating the many achievements of the alumni that graduated from this fine academy — we count three Presidents of the United States among the BHPA alumni— and that academy promise to get us into an Ivy League college and to set us up for every success in life, he proceeds to introduce the members of the faculty.

  “Another institution that in recent years has made us proud is our State Champions, our football team lead by Coach Benson. Go Tigers!”

  The football team starts walking on stage through a side door and Teague is among the hot guys that stand behind the principal, accompanied by deafening applause.

  “After a few of the star players that contributed to our victory last year have graduated, our academy has taken care of recruiting the finest athletes in California to make sure that we have a fighting chance to defend our title. Without further ado, I have the pleasure to introduce to you all, our new starting quarterback. From East Hills High, Devon Archer!”

  And like a surreal moment, in a dream, I find myself staring into a pair of vibrant green eyes I know really well.

  “Fuck me!”

  I blurt, instantly covering my mouth when I see the principal wince.

  Devon remains unperturbed: if he’s heard me, he doesn't give it away.

  2.

  Cheer Squad

  Devon

  WHEN I HEAR THE PRINCIPAL announce my name, I walk on stage expecting the applause of an adoring crowd.

  What I don't expect is to see her sitting in the second row, her blue eyes huge with surprise.

  “Fuck me!”

  She blurts it out so loudly that half the auditorium heard it and while the principal winces at the curse, my fellow football players are all chuckling and cracking jokes around me.

  “Oooh, someone already has an admirer!”

  “Dude! She’s hot! And she’s fucking begging you for it!”

  I ignore them all, trying to stop the crazy rhythm my heart has decided to pick up as soon as I laid eyes on her again.

  Only two weeks ago her soft lips were on mine, I revelled in the sound of her laugh, in the way she looked at me.

  And then we made love on the beach, the night before she left and I know that I let her down because I was so excited and sad to have to say goodbye at the same time.

  At first I couldn't bring myself to accept her friend requests on social media because I felt guilty for how I pressured her into having sex to then offer the worst fucking performance of my life.

  I was done in two seconds flat.

  Then I felt like I waited too long and I was embarrassed to accept her friend requests and didn't know what to do, and then my life was thrown upside down and I had so much on my plate that everything else lost importance.

  I used her memory as a comforting thought, to steady my nerves by thinking about a time when everything looked so simple.

  When Mom packed my things to move me to Beverly Hills, I never thought I’d see her again.

  Yeah, I knew that she was from LA and that she was obviously from a privileged background but I never thought that I’d see her here at school.

  Now she's right there, her beautiful blue eyes
fixed on me and I only allow myself a second to look at her and try to figure out her emotions.

  That was one of the things that made me fall for her, how she wears her heart on her sleeve, how open she is about how she feels.

  And I see surprise, longing, anger...

  I don't blame her for any of those feelings but I can't afford to show mine, so I train my eyes ahead of me and try to harden my gaze and my heart.

  Nothing good will come out of a warm and fuzzy reunion.

  The reality is that our summer fling was magic because we both could afford to be ourselves on the beach, where all the background shit didn't matter.

  It could be just the two of us with our hearts, our bodies, our desires and the stars and the moon, the sea and the beach were only accomplices, merely watching our blossoming love.

  But back in the real world I guess that things are more complicated and regardless of my guilt and embarrassment for how I handled things with her, I gotta tread really carefully or this is gonna end up in heartbreak for both me and Aubrey.

  I follow the rest of the team out of the auditorium and there are ten minutes before the next period and I’m not surprised at all when we get surrounded by a group of girls.

  They're all giggling and finding every excuse to put their hands on my arm and bat their eyelashes.

  I’m used to it because it was this way in my old school too: being the star quarterback does put a huge spotlight on me and makes me a desirable date, at least on paper.

  But here the girls are different than at my old high school: they're all so perfect that they look like they're straight out of a fashion magazine, or something.

  I guess this is what money does, it gets you the best of everything and it's noticeable that some girls have had some surgical help to enhance their ‘appeal’.

  “Devon, I’m serious, anything you need, I’m your girl.”

  A busty brunette is absolutely all over me but my gaze goes past her and settles on Aubrey.

  She's standing behind the girl who’s basically rubbing herself all over me.

  Her blue eyes are full of hope and for a second I consider taking her in my arms and kissing her in front of the whole school, telling her that I missed her.

  But if she rejected me, I don't think I could take it, so I look away and wrap my arms around the girl’s shoulders and begin to walk away.

  I feel her gaze burning holes in my back but I force myself not to turn to look at her.

  Aubrey

  I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

  I don't know why he's ignoring me.

  Well, ok, maybe my blurting out ‘fuck me’ when he walked on stage didn't exactly make for a romantic reunion but I didn't expect for him to act as if I weren't even here.

  I shake my head and consider that actually, I should've expected it since he didn't acknowledge my existence after that night on the beach.

  There's a bunch of unanswered friend requests that actually support the theory that he's not interested in knowing me.

  He got in my pants and that must've been all he wanted.

  But while Devon’s ignoring me, I meet Teague’s eyes and while his lips are curled in the same little smirk he had earlier this morning, this time the smile isn't reaching his blue eyes.

  He's probably noticed how I was looking at Devon and how he completely dissed me and that makes me feel even more miserable for some reason.

  I look at the red slip of paper with my class schedule and the map of the school, so I start looking for my class and I don't see Teague until he’s standing right by my side, flanked by another guy.

  He looks at my class schedule and this time his smile reaches his eyes.

  “A-Class? So you aren't all about good looks and the mouth of a sailor, huh?”

  The teasing in his tone is friendly but I still blush under that gaze, there's something about him that makes my blood rush in all sorts of places.

  The memory of the way his fingers were brushing against my skin while he helped with my shirt earlier is still quite vivid in my mind.

  “Ok, I admit it. My mom has given up about trying to end my penchant for cursing. But in my defence, I was a little surprised.”

  He nods.

  “It sure looked like it. And it seemed like the cause of your surprise is QB1? Do you two know each other?”

  My blushing gets deeper and I deliberately downplay the situation.

  I’ve embarrassed myself enough for one day without admitting how I know Devon, especially since it seems that he wants to pretend that he doesn't know who I am.

  “Yeah. I saw him around in the summer.”

  I don't offer any further details and he doesn't press me for more but he nods towards the guy who’s standing by his side with a huge smile on his face.

  “Well, this here is Landon. He’s been bugging me about being introduced to you. Apparently cursing really does it for him.”

  Landon slaps Teague’s back with a huge grin on his face.

  “Ha ha. That's very funny. But yeah, I like girls who aren't afraid to be vocal and what Teague isn't telling you is that he told me that you have the nicest tits he’s seen in a while!”

  “Dude!”

  Teague did strike me as a really hard to embarrass kinda guy but I see redness starting to appear on his cheeks and the way he diverts his eyes from mine, actually makes me smile.

  “Teague, you're lucky you saved me from being run over or there’d be some retribution coming your way for talking about my boobs.”

  Landon’s smile widens, it seems that seeing his friend get in trouble amuses him.

  “You should take it as a compliment, Aubrey. Teague's seen his fair share of tits and yours were obviously something worth reporting about.”

  Landon is slightly shorter than Teague, probably around six two and he’s obviously athletic and muscular but has a more slender build than his teammate.

  What draws me immediately to him is his easy smile and the vibrant, light blue of his eyes, definitely a few shades lighter than Teague's.

  He has dark brown hair that falls on his forehead in a sexy wave and full, luscious lips that make me immediately wonder how it would feel to nibble on them.

  The second bell rings, making me snap out of my flirty mood: the day has been challenging enough already without being late to class.

  “I’m sorry guys but, I need to find my class.”

  Landon wraps a friendly arm around my shoulders and tells me that he and Teague are both headed to the A-Class too.

  “Come on, it's just around the corner. And as a thank you for walking you there, you’ll sit with us at lunch. Deal?”

  I nod, relieved to have someone to sit with at lunch and also that he didn't ask to see my boobs or something as a reward.

  Landon totally seems the type who’d do that, probably jokingly, but still.

  As we enter the classroom, almost all the seats are already taken and aside from the first row that's completely empty, there's one seat in the second row which I rush into and Teague and Landon find two desks right behind me.

  I set my book bag down and when I lift my head back up, I find myself staring into a pair of incredible grey eyes.

  They belong to a tall guy with a bleach blonde buzz cut and stunningly perfect features which somehow are made less intimidating by a light smattering of freckles on his nose.

  He’s wearing a little hoop earring in his right ear lobe and he looks vaguely familiar.

  I think he was on stage with the rest of the football players.

  It's funny how the typical stereotype is for jocks to be anything but book smart but here at BHPA, academy believes in the old Latin saying ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ (Translation: a healthy mind in a healthy body), so the athletes often end up being really good at academics too.

  It doesn't matter how much money your parents pay or how good you are at sports, if you don’t ace the super tough entrance exams, you don’t get accepted, period.

  And
the living proof of this are my brother Alex and his besties, who were all A-Class and star varsity athletes and Abi’s boys were also all A-Class football players.

  The hot freckled boy is smiling at me when he introduces himself.

  “Hey, I’m Knox. And you are?”

  His smile is open but his eyes have a certain intensity that make him look dangerously hot.

  If I ever had to imagine how a heartbreaker would look, I’d give Knox's description.

  “Aubrey.”

  His eyes have an amused glint when he says:

  “That's a real pretty name. Much better than ‘Fuck me’.”

  I feel taken aback.

  “Excuse me?”

  His lips open in a knowing smile when he explains that this is what some of the football players are calling me after my earlier outburst in the auditorium.

  Great!

  I’m at a loss for words, trying to come up with a witty retort when my train of thought gets interrupted by a feminine voice.

  “You're in my seat. Move.”

  I look up and there's a short girl, with long blonde hair and light blue eyes looking at me with her arms folded over her ample chest.

  I really don't wanna sit in the first row and I try to decide if this is worth fighting over: I don't wanna begin the new school year making an enemy but at the same time, I don’t wanna be seen as a pushover by the entire A-Class.

  When I don't move, she rolls her eyes, exasperated.

  “Look, I sit next to Knox. Ok?”

  Oh, I see. He must be her boyfriend.

  I don't say anything, still trying to decide what to do, when Knox smirks at the blonde girl and tells her that he doesn't have a problem sitting next to me during class.

  “Aubrey and I were just getting acquainted, Margaux.”

  She doesn't take kindly to it and snaps at him.

  “Knox, don’t fucking push me!”

  He gives her a provocative smile and that's what makes me decide to move: I hate to sit in the first row but I really don't wanna get caught in the middle of their fight.

  So I collect my stuff and move to the first row, just in time for the teacher entering the classroom followed by... Devon.