Confess: A High School Bully Romance - Madison Falls High Book 3

by K. Walker

  He threw his arm around my shoulder. “Nah, but better you than me.”

  “What?” I cried in alarm and threw his arm off. “You’re such a jerk.”

  “I know,” he said and pulled me to him by my waist. “That’s why you love me.”

  “I’m beginning to rethink that,” I replied, even as my insides became nothing but mush.

  We were just inside the building when Jake shouted to Chad from down the hall. “Chad! Deven! Coach wants to see us for a couple of minutes.”

  Chad cocked his head to the side and gave me one of his cutest and most apologetic looks. “Sorry, babe. Gotta go.”

  “Yeah, sure, no problem. I’ll see you later.” I reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. He stroked my cheek for a second before he hurried off with the other guys to join the rest of his team.

  I was radiating like a sunbeam when I turned and then jumped when something wet splashed all over my top. I looked down to see brown marks dripping off my shirt, and then glanced up and at the pallid face of Madison Falls’ biggest bitch.

  “Callie! What the hell?”

  “Sorry, I didn’t see you,” she said with a smirk, and then her lips curled upwards. “Actually, coffee makes that top look a whole lot better.”

  I stood in the middle of the hallway, my chest warming to the liquid, and the smell of the coffee drifting upwards and tickling my nose. My fists balled against my thighs and my vision narrowed on her skinny ass as I walked towards her.

  I tapped her on the shoulder, having all the strength and power behind me now that I knew what mine and Chad’s father were plotting.

  She turned, the smirk still painted on her face, when I lifted my hand and swung at her. She cringed, anticipating the blow, but it didn’t connect. Someone grabbed my arm.

  I looked beside me to find Amanda and Alexi. “Let me go!” I shouted at them.

  “Do you really think you’re going to get away with that?” Callie sneered when she regained her composure.

  “Come on,” Alexi said close to my ear. “Not today.”

  “That’s right. Take the poor girl away, so she doesn’t embarrass herself more,” she gloated.

  But I knew what was coming her way— or had an idea, anyway. I shrugged free of Alexi and Amanda. “You think you’ve won, don’t you?” I asked and smiled at her. “You think a coffee stain on my shirt’s going to compare to what’s going to happen to you?”

  Her face tightened. “Like you can do anything to me. Ha!” She looked back at Zoe, Christine, and Paris, and all four started laughing heartily.

  “You need to stay in your lane,” Zoe said to me, her prissy face looking like a ceramic doll – painted and polished.

  “Yeah,” Christine added and folded her perfectly toned arms. “Sometimes, you just have to know which battles to avoid.”

  They formed a line, completely rehearsed I bet, and turned tail. Students steered clear of them, and several sympathetic eyes found me. I, too, shuddered when I saw my top.

  “Come on,” Amanda said and pulled me away. “I have a sweatshirt in my locker you can wear.”

  I remained tight-lipped as I followed her, with Alexi in tow. We ran into Liz on the way, and her eyes widened when she saw my shirt.

  “Don’t ask,” Amanda stopped her before she could ask the question.

  Her eyes remained the same as she waited for the answer, anyway. “Callie,” was all I said.

  “OMG!” Liz exclaimed and her round face reddened. “What the hell is wrong with her? She needs to quit while she’s ahead.”

  “Girls like Callie don’t know any other position, so there’s no quitting,” Amanda replied as she pushed the locker door in.

  I was beginning to feel like the floor at Dunkin’ Donuts by the time we reached the lockers. Amanda pulled out her navy sweatshirt and handed it to me.

  “Here,” Liz said and slipped her hand into her purse, pulling out some moist towelettes.

  I raised my brows. “Why do you have these?” A smile curled her lips. I held up my hand. “On second thought, I don’t want to know. Thank you.”

  She giggled and Amanda joined her as I stripped and wiped the smear from my chest. Luckily, I had on a tank under my shirt. I had to take that off as well, as I slipped Amanda’s sweatshirt over my head.

  “Am I going to have to start taking extra clothes to school with me?” I asked out loud.

  “Not really,” Liz replied. “She’ll have to quit one day.”

  I glanced over at Amanda. She was the only one who knew anything about what was going on with my dad and Chad’s. I figured that the possibilities of the information getting out there would increase if too many people knew about it. I barely did. My own parents didn’t even trust me with the information.

  And I wanted to shock the pants off of Callie. I didn’t want her hearing even a trickle of anything, and I know Chad hadn’t said a word to his crew either. For now, that was how it would remain.

  “I hope it’s soon because I’m not going to make it all the way through my senior year like this. If Alexi hadn’t stopped me, she’d be wearing a dent right now.”

  “It doesn’t make sense to me,” Alexi piped as I stuffed my dirty clothes inside my locker.

  “What doesn’t?” I swept my hair back and walked to the mirror to make sure I was decent before I turned back to them.

  “That she’d keep picking on you when it’s clear you’d whup her ass!”

  I shrugged. “Beats me; It must be a learned behavior.”

  “Quite possibly,” Amanda mused and twisted her lips. “From what I’ve seen of her mother, she might not know how else to be.”

  “That’s bullshit!” Liz snapped. I led the way out of the locker room as we converged in the hallway. “I had a crappy childhood. My dad abused my mom in front of me before. She finally grew some smarts and called the cops on his ass. Amanda has only her mom, too, and Alexi, you’re working to help out at home. Callie has it made. Bitchy mom or not, that’s no excuse!”

  “Tell that to the psychologists,” Amanda said mockingly. “They’ll tell you she has subconscious processes that are dominating her current behavior, or whatever.”

  “I don’t know anything about all of that. All I know, Alexi, don’t hold my hand next time,” I said sternly.

  Liz chuckled. “I definitely won’t.”

  “Come on, let’s go, bell’s about to…” Ring! “Right on time.”

  “Yeah, I’ll catch you all at lunch,” I sighed and tugged at Amanda’s arm as we headed for the classroom.

  The snickers that erupted from the corner of the room was unmistakable.

  “Nice sweatshirt,” Callie said out loud.

  And I bit down on my lip so hard I could taste the blood.

  Chapter 3

  Sophia

  Chad scrunched up his face as he waited for me by his table in the cafeteria. His eyes swept my body and he tilted his head.

  “I may not be the most observant person, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what you had on this morning.” He slipped his hand around my waist and kissed my face.

  I wrapped my hands around his middle and leaned into him. “I had to change.”

  “Why? What was wrong with your top?”

  “Nothing, until Callie spilled coffee all over it.” I felt his body tense before he said anything.

  He turned so he could see her table. I tried to twist his body back, but he was too strong for me. “That’s it,” he said as he walked off towards her.

  She smiled and rested her chin on her locked palms. “Look who it is – Madison Falls, not so favorite couple,” she sneered. “Missed a turn Chad?”

  He walked right around to her side of the table. He sat, forcing Christine to shrink away and slide to the edge of the bench. “You think that was funny what you did? Spilling your drink all over my girl?”

  I hated the attention I was getting from some of the other students, and when I checked my table, the girls were star
ing expectantly. “Chad, babe, let’s just go. She’s not worth it.”

  “She’s going to buy back your shirt,” he said without looking at me. “Aren’t you, Callie?”

  She scoffed and then looked around the table at her girls. “Why would I do something like that? If she hadn’t been careless, she would have seen me.”

  “Doesn’t matter— you spilled it, and now you owe her a shirt.”

  “Chad, it’s fine,” I called to him as I shuffled nervously while I waited for him.

  “You heard her,” Callie replied. “No big deal.”

  She lifted her smoothie and slurped on it, right before Chad yanked the cup from her hand and dumped it in her lap.

  She jumped up and screamed. “Chad! What the hell!”

  “Like I said, you owe her a top. Don’t fuck with me, Callie. You should know better than that!”

  “Aah!” she screamed, her hands stiff at her side and her face the color of cherry. “You ruined my fucking skirt.”

  “So now you have a skirt and a top to replace. By tomorrow,” he said and walked back to me. His arm was around my shoulder as he pulled me away. I tried to see behind me to check what Callie was doing. She was still fuming, but anyone who was someone knew not to mess with Chad

  He knew he was on the verge of winning, and I couldn’t help but grin as we walked away, knowing Callie had just lost the mini-battle she had started. And she didn’t even know a war was coming.

  “Hey,” I said and stopped him as we were passing my table. “You don’t mind if I chill with my girls for a while, do you?”

  “Of course, not,” he replied and released me. “But, I want to see you before class, okay?”

  “Sure thing.” He kissed me and turned and walked away.

  “I swear, if you guys get sweeter, I’m going to have to start taking insulin shots,” Liz gushed, and if it were possible, she would have love signs in her eyes like the emoticon.

  “Right?” Stacey added. “I’m jealous.”

  “Really?” I asked in surprise, wrinkling my brows as I did.

  “No, not really,” Stacey said and laughed. “But you two do make a nice couple.” She wagged her fork and pointed at Callie’s table. “What was going on over there? I couldn’t hear everything. What was he saying about a shirt?”

  “Oh, you missed it this morning,” Liz said and filled her in as I rubbed my stomach that was starting to growl. “Callie tossed coffee onto Sophia’s top.”

  “I was wondering why she was wearing a sweatshirt,” Liz said. “Damn!”

  “Yep,” I replied. “Callie being her bitchy self. Chad just ordered her to buy me back a shirt, but I think he did that for my benefit, as my hero, I guess.”

  Amanda wrinkled her nose. “Why do you think so?”

  “Because it’s Callie. No freaking way is she going to do that just because Chad said so.” The girls stared at me like I was wearing a spandex suit. “What?”

  “How long have you been going to this school?” Liz asked and leaned forward on the table.

  “Almost three months. What does that have to do with anything?”

  “And how long have you been with Chad?” Alexi chipped in.

  “Oh, glad to see you’re able to join the conversation,” I mocked.

  She blushed, which wasn’t something Alexi did often. “Sorry,” she said and glanced around the cafeteria nervously. “Was a little busy,” she said and wagged the phone in the air.

  “I can see that. We all did.”

  “Excuse me. Back to the conversation,” Liz snapped.

  I gave her a poker face. “What? Liz, just forget it. It was just a shirt and now it’s ruined…”

  “And tomorrow, you’ll have a new shirt,” she smirked and sipped her drink before falling back in the seat.

  “I’m not going to hold my breath.”

  “You’ll see,” she said confidently, which intrigued even me.

  Chad was my boyfriend, and though they had known him longer, no way he could get Callie to jump like that. “Why do you sound so sure?”

  “Because it’s freaking Chad Minor!” Alexi said louder. “If he wants Callie to buy back your fucking shirt, it’s done. Don’t watch any of the other bullshit. It’s Chad. You need to know who you’re with.”

  Did I know him that little? I mean, I had seen him hassling freshmen boys, and Truman – I still didn’t understand Truman. He was just as old as Chad.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said naively.

  “It does,” Liz grinned and stood. “When you’re with a Madison Falls bad boy, you own it, girl, and enjoy it. And speaking of which,” she said and took one last slurp of her smoothie before she swung her leg over the bench, “I’ve got one to go see myself.”

  “And I need to get a sandwich before my stomach eats itself,” I groaned and got up. I hadn’t even walked off when Deven walked up to me with a tray. “Thank you,” I smiled at him and then glanced behind him and at Chad, who was staring at me with his intense green eyes and luscious everything else.

  “Thank you,” I mouthed.

  My phone chimed seconds after I sat.

  Chad: Thought you should get some food. You seemed to have forgotten you haven’t eaten as yet.

  Sophia: So, you’re like my honorary protector and diet counselor?

  Chad: I’m everything you’ll ever need

  I was grinning too hard by then to even respond. I bit my lower lip and looked up to see three pairs of eyes staring back at me.

  “What did he say? Must have been good?” Amanda asked and tried to see my text.

  “Nothing,” I beamed and flipped the phone over. “I was just telling him thanks for being so considerate.” I took several bites out of the salad to keep my mouth occupied so I wouldn’t have to answer any questions.

  “I don’t know how they can be such jerks to everyone else and Prince Charming to one person,” Amanda said and rolled her eyes.

  “I know,” Alexi said in an airy voice that didn’t go unnoticed. All eyes turned to her.

  “What was that?” Stacey asked.

  She blushed again. “And that,” Amanda said, pointing her straw at her. “Since when do you blush?”

  “Nothing! It’s nothing! Sheesh!” Alexi snapped and stared at the table.

  “Uh-huh,” Stacey quipped. “Definitely not nothing.”

  “If I didn’t know better, I would say she has a new boyfriend,” I teased between bites.

  Alexi didn’t lift her head, but the blush had spread to the back of her neck by then. “I need to go freshen up,” she said and hurriedly stood.

  Amanda gasped. “She didn’t deny it. Alexi! What aren’t you telling us?”

  “A lot,” she winked and laughed and ran off before we could ask her anything else.

  “Do you know about this?” I asked both of them.

  “Nope,” they both replied.

  “Interesting,” I said weakly as my eyes followed her out of the cafeteria. I glanced around, but there was no one that I noticed leaving after her. “Maybe it’s someone at her job, or from another school.”

  “Maybe. Not sure who Alexi would want to date at this place,” Amanda replied. “But it’s Alexi. Who knows?”

  I laughed. “You’re right.”

  The bell rang and we had to make a quick exit again. I hurriedly downed the rest of my juice and got up. Chad was already coming over.

  “Were you going to leave without me?” he asked and scooped me up, lifting me off the ground. You would think he hadn’t seen me in days.

  “I was just coming to get you.”

  “Ugh!” Stacey drawled. “You two.”

  “I can hook you up, you know,” he said and grinned at Stacey.

  “No, thank you,” Stacey said and held out her hand like a traffic cop. “I can handle that.”

  He laughed, right in my ear, and the sound wrapped around me like a second embrace.

  “Okay, come on. I’ll walk you to class,” he said as we
all walked off. The other guys were waiting for him by the door, except for Brody. I wondered if Chad knew about his secret rendezvous at the beach, and if he was keeping his head low once and for all.

  I didn’t want to be the one to bring it up, so I let it go.

  Callie was quiet for the remainder of the day, and when school was dismissed, she avoided Chad like the plague.

  “Seems you did a number on Callie,” I observed as we headed for his car. He had taken it upon himself to be my honorary chauffeur and everything again.

  “No one messes with my girl and gets away with it,” he winked. “Don’t worry about Callie.”

  “I’ve been hearing that a lot. You heard from your father?”

  He closed the door without answering like it was deliberate and walked to his side of the car.

  “Nope,” he replied once he slid behind the wheel.

  “Oh. I wonder what’s going on,” I said, out loud for him to hear and possibly reply. He said, not a word. “Did your Dad make you sign an NDA too?” I crossed my arms and asked.

  He chuckled. “No, my dad hasn’t said anything. But it’s only been a week, so.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” I said and glanced out the window. “It will happen soon enough.”

  “Yep. So, considering you barely ate any lunch, you want to go and get something to eat?”

  “Oh, yeah,” I replied, and my stomach rumbled for emphasis. He laughed. “No joke. I could eat the tires off this car right now.”

  “Takeout, or do you wanna dine?”

  I glanced down at the sweatshirt. “Hell no, we’re going home.”

  “Yeah, we are?” he asked and his eyebrows did a little dance.

  I giggled and punched him on the arm. “Is that all you think about?”

  His face suddenly got serious. “No,” he said. “I think about more than just sex. I also think about…um,” he said and looked upwards like he was searching his brain. “No, that’s still sex,” he said like he was talking to himself.

  I started laughing. “Really?”

  “Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything else. But have you seen you? Damn, babe,” he said and reached across the partition to take my hand. “All I want to do is take you to a private island and make love to you every single day.”