by Sam Crescent
EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2020 Sam Crescent
ISBN: 978-0-3695-0135-6
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Editor: Audrey Bobak
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
To taking a chance, to finding the dream. This book holds a special place for me, I hope you all enjoy Drake and Pru's story as much as I did writing it.
THE LOVE OF MY BULLY
Sam Crescent
Copyright © 2020
Prologue
Hatred from the beginning
Prudence, age five
“Look at you. You’re so fat, you make the chair crack.”
Prudence squealed as someone pushed her off her chair, and she fell to the floor. All the other kids in the class laughed. She tried to stop the tears flowing, but it was hard to do.
Her hands hurt and so did her side.
Looking up, she saw Drake Connor smiling down at her.
“You need to learn to stay in the dirt where you belong.”
She tried to get up but he held her in place. His hand, so much larger than her own, kept her near the floor.
She whimpered, not wanting to be afraid, and yet, he had gotten beneath her skin and now she couldn’t move.
“Drake, stop it now,” Mrs. Winston, their teacher, said, shouting to be heard over the laughter.
Prudence let out a scream as he pulled her hair. “Let go!”
She dropped down, trying to stop him from pulling her hair out, but it didn’t work. He kept on pulling and tugging until she had tears in her eyes.
“No Mommy to help you now, is there? No Daddy for you. You’re nothing.”
The very blissful tears she promised herself she wouldn’t cry came. She did want her mommy, really bad. She would protect her. Drake’s parents, from what little she knew, never did come. They were never there. He was always on his own unless his friends were around him.
“Everyone here hates you. They don’t want to be your friends.”
She didn’t know how much more she could take before his weight was suddenly pulled off her.
He sneered at her and she didn’t like how much he hated her. She wasn’t used to being hated at all. Her parents had just moved to this small town, and she couldn’t even remember what it was called. The name sounded like a bike or something.
Finally able to stand, she sniffed and waited as the teacher led Drake back to his chair. She didn’t yell at him or tell him off, just made him sit back in his chair. Prudence knew deep down this was wrong.
He was mean to her and no one told him off.
They accepted it.
“Now, class, open your reading books and let’s all take a moment to just relax.”
She stared at the kid who had bullied her.
Drake smirked.
Why didn’t the teacher tell him off or give him a warning? Resting her chin on her hands, she stared at the open book, wondering what it all meant.
“Psst. Don’t keep looking at him.”
She turned to the young boy at her table. He wore glasses and he scrunched up his nose.
“Why?”
“Drake’s mean. Stay out of his way or you’ll be sorry. He doesn’t like new kids, especially not poor new kids.”
Prudence stared down at her worn clothing. Her parents had needed to downsize after her father lost his job. She didn’t know what went wrong, only there was a lot of yelling at home. Her mother was often crying because of the unfairness of it all. They had gone from having nice things and a nice home to something really small. There was no yard and their neighbors played loud music and smoked all the time.
They hadn’t gone shopping in a long time. Her mother liked to sew, and many of her clothes had been turned into either skirts or shorts, or even shirts. She would stand still for her mother so she could use her needles. She’d learned the hard way not to fidget. The needles she used hurt when they were stuck into her flesh.
“I’m Prudence.”
“Sean.”
She shook the boy’s hand. “Are you friends with him?”
“No. My family isn’t good enough.”
“He sounds horrible,” she said, wanting to make a friend.
“He is. Stay out of his way and don’t respond to him. He always hates people who get in his way.”
Mrs. Winston shushed them and Prudence quickly looked down at her book. She didn’t want to see Drake anyway. Her back still hurt and so did the base of her neck where he pulled her hair. Back at her old preschool, she never got shoved or hurt.
She didn’t know what it was about her that he hated but she had no intention of ever going near him. Boys like that were bad news. Her mother was always telling her to stay away from mean boys. They were no good. Half the time her mother was giving advice, she rarely listened. None of it made any kind of sense to her, but she understood what she meant now. She was talking about boys like Drake.
By the time lunch came, she was so nervous because of her fight with Drake. Would he bring it out into lunch? Would any of the teachers be there to help? It was sunny and Mrs. Winston had told them all to go outside and eat. Benches were lined up in the playground for this occasion. She grabbed her lunchbox, holding it against her chest. Every time she looked over at Drake, he glared at her.
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she stepped outside.
Everyone had a spot. They were all already friends. She had no one here.
“You can sit with me,” Sean said. He stood beside her, a briefcase in his hand.
“Really?”
“Drake hates me. He doesn’t come near me. He thinks I’ve got cooties. If you’re okay with my cooties, we can eat together.”
She smiled. “I don’t mind cooties.” She didn’t want to sit on her own and she really didn’t want to be anywhere near that bully.
Sean held out his hand and she took it, thankful for him even willing to be her friend. Making new friends was never going to be easy. Her mother said she didn’t need to be someone different for others to like her. That she had to learn to be herself.
Again, she didn’t have a clue what she was talking about, but her mother knew stuff.
They sat down at the table, and she saw others were laughing and pointing as Sean opened up his briefcase and took out his sandwich. So his briefcase was in fact his lunchbox, very strange. She didn’t question it, and no one else said anything, so it must be something he did regularly.
“Fishy face!”
“Look, they got cooties.”
“Gross.”
Sean opened his sandwich and Prudence wrinkled her nose. “What you got?”
“Sardines. Mom always puts them on because my dad loves them but I hate them. Yuck.”
“They call you fishy face.”
“They’re morons.”
“You said a bad word.”
“They always say worse.” Sean shrugged.
Prudence opened her lunchbox. She had a cheese spread sandwich. After she offered him half of her sandwich, he took it with a smile.
“Where do you live?” Sean asked.
Her first lunchbreak, she told him everything. Where she used to live, the house they had moved into. Everything. She didn’t leave a single t
hing out, and in return, Sean told her all about himself and life at Mountain Peak Valley.
That was the town she moved to. The town where her parents hoped to start a new life, and one she didn’t want a part of. At least she had one friend, even if he did have a weird briefcase.
****
Prudence was late to come out of class again. She got caught passing a note to Sean, asking if he wanted to come to her house tonight. They’d been best friends since she moved to town and he always played with her. Their parents got along as well. They didn’t live too far apart either, a couple of streets away, and her mother let her walk there, so long as she saw her cross the road. She was six now, not a baby. She didn’t need constant babysitting.
Finally skipping out of class, she came to a stop when she saw all the kids gathered in a circle. She looked toward the swings where she and Sean usually stood during break.
He wasn’t there.
She didn’t like the way the other kids were yelling, laughing, and cheering. What was going on? Where was Sean? What had she missed?
Sean was always waiting for her. Nothing ever kept them apart, not even sickness.
She moved away from the swings and made her way toward the group who was watching whatever was in the middle of the circle. The moment she caught sight of Drake hitting Sean, she pushed her way through, determined to get to him.
“Move!”
“Get out of the way!” she cried out as someone shoved an elbow into her side, but that didn’t stop her. Clearing the wall of people, she saw Drake straddling Sean, hitting him while Sean tried to ward him off.
No one was stopping the fight.
Her heart raced. She had to stop Drake from smacking Sean. She didn’t know what had started the fight and she didn’t care either. “Get off him,” she screamed.
“Fuck you, fatso.” Drake hit Sean even harder.
Not caring about her own safety, she charged toward Drake. The force of her impact knocked him on the ground. She was faster than him and where he’d been straddling Sean, she now was astride him.
“Get off,” he said.
She thought about her first day of school. Of all the name-calling and crap he’d thrown her way. She was done with him, with it all.
There had been many nights when she hit her pillow, wishing it was Drake and getting no satisfaction out of it. He had hurt her friend for the last time.
Drawing her fist back, she punched him hard. She landed a blow to his face. Once, twice, and then he pushed her. The circle of friends had gotten bigger and she let out a cry as Drake moved over her. He sat on top of her. He brought his fist back and hit her again, not caring about the strength he used.
She looked back to see Sean was on the ground. He’d pulled his knees up against his chest. But she was strong, so before Drake could make another move, she hit him right between the legs. It did the trick, jerking him off her.
With blood running down her face, she wiped her fingers under her nose and then down her dress. Her long, brown hair had come out of the band her mother put in her hair that morning.
“You saving your pussy of a boyfriend.”
She glared at him. “You leave him alone.”
“He deserves to be hit. He’s trash, just like you.”
“The only trash I see is you.”
Suddenly, teachers approached the group. All the other kids moved out of the way. She kept her gaze on Drake, not wanting him out of her sight. If she didn’t keep an eye on him, he was going to hurt her. She had no doubt.
“What’s going on here?”
The sound of the principal’s voice had her shaking. She was terrified of him. He was always shouting, and he always took Drake’s side, never hers. She hated him. In the year she’d been coming to school, she had seen how Drake was treated so much better. She’d also noticed that Drake was picked up by a limousine, and rarely was he left behind at school, whereas she and Sean always had to wait for their parents.
“Nothing is happening here,” Drake said. “Nothing.”
“Prudence?” the principal asked.
“Nothing.” She whispered the word.
“Sean?”
She turned back to her friend and begged him with her eyes to stay silent. She couldn’t have her mother coming back to the school again. She’d be so angry. Her mother hated coming down to the school because it meant taking time off of work, and then her parents would argue. They fought all the time about money. Prudence always tried to avoid it. Drake seemed to always know what to do to rile her up.
“Nothing,” Sean said.
He’d be annoyed with her now because she made him lie. Sean didn’t like lying. He said it only served to get them all in trouble.
The principal finally walked away and she turned toward Drake, who’d stepped into her path. “You betta watch yourself, trash.”
“We just lied for you,” Sean said, getting to his feet.
Prudence studied her friend. He grabbed his side as if he was in pain. She went to him, hating to see him in pain, and trying to offer him assistance. She looked up at Drake, and his glare was firmly in place.
“You think I’d get in trouble? My dad owns this town and one day, I will too. You two fucking losers need to see the fucking truth in that.” Drake scowled at her one more time before finally walking away.
“He swore.”
“So. Like he says, no one cares. Not about us. They only care about making it easy for him.” She wiped at her face. Blood came from her nose and she winced. “Why were you fighting?”
“I was waiting in our spot. He didn’t like it and said I needed to have my face pounded in.”
“He dragged you?”
“He’s got some serious issues. What did the teacher have to say?”
“Nothing.” She turned to him. Sean hated confrontations and she didn’t want to upset him any more than she already had. “Let’s go play.” She took his hand, leading him to the swings.
Drake was a bad seed. It was what her mother said to her, but she also told her not to get into any more fights. She didn’t get it. Drake had hated her from the start, but there was nothing she could do to change that.
****
“You will sit with your partners and draw what you want for the future. Think about it. I know it’s hard and you all want to be rock stars, but there is way more to life than that.”
Prudence pushed her long hair off her face and stared down at the picture. At eight years old, what did she know about what she wanted in life? She didn’t want to look to her partner. Ever since third grade had started, the teacher had put her and Drake together.
The bully who liked to hurt her hadn’t stopped his taunts. Only now, he was closer to her to get away with it.
She gritted her teeth as he stomped on her foot.
“What do you want to be when you grow up, Trash?”
“Richer than you.” It was a stupid answer. After her mother had found out Drake’s family owned half of the town, she’d been ordered not to make any waves. She wasn’t allowed to hurt Drake in any way. She knew it was because her parents were worried about losing their jobs. Drake’s parents owned the town. They worked for the Connors and her parents had told her plenty of times to avoid him. They couldn’t afford for Drake’s parents to fire them, or worse, push them out of town.
Seriously, though, how could she keep on doing this? It wasn’t fair.
His foot let up and she pulled her shoe behind the chair.
“Yeah, right. You’re never going to be richer than me. I own your ass, Stewart. You’ll always be beneath me.”
She glared at him but didn’t say anything. In fact, she found the more times she was silent, the more pissed-off he became. Staring down at her piece of paper, she picked up the crayon and began to draw.
“What are you doing?”
“The work. I know what I’m going to be and I know what you’re going to be as well.”
“You’re going to be one of those food-
eating contestants.”
This time, Prudence smiled. “And you’re going to be a sad man with no friends and no one.” She didn’t know why she kept talking to him or even entertaining him with words. Drake never listened to her and he always did what he wanted to do. He was a cruel boy.
No matter what anyone said, they didn’t know the truth. The teachers always pretended to look the other way and Sean, well, he couldn’t fight Drake.
She wasn’t afraid of him.
Bullies were cowards, or at least, most of the time, they were. Drake never picked on anyone else. She hadn’t seen him hurt anyone or treat anyone the way he did her.
“I won’t be alone. You’re going to be my pet for life. Trash like you only need money and I’ve got a whole lot of it. You’ll belong to me.”
When he kicked her this time, she held on to the table as her chair jerked. Pain sliced up her leg and she tried not to let him see how much hurt he’d caused her. Revealing any kind of weakness in front of him wasn’t good.
“Why do you hate me so much? I’ve never done anything to you.” From the first day until now, Drake had hated her. Whenever he saw her, he made sure his revulsion of her was clear. Even his friends hated her, and if he wasn’t around, they made sure she knew he wasn’t too far. They were all ready to do his bidding.
Her mother never listened and her father was always working. The teachers told her he was just playing rough. She knew only one thing. Every single person she had told was afraid of him and she didn’t understand why.
****
Pushing her feet back, she held on to the metal chains of the swing and looked out across the park. Mountain Peak Valley had one of the best children’s parks around and Sean was supposed to meet her here any minute. They were going to head off and explore the woods. He wanted to see if he could accurately pick the right mushrooms to eat. Not that they would actually eat them. They were way too dangerous, but Sean liked to think he could do anything. At ten years old, he already thought he knew more than most adults.
