Page 46

How was it possible to hate someone so wholeheartedly while still wanting to fuck their brains out? It made no sense.
The school had semesters, but the schedules were set up on block scheduling. I had something similar in Indiana, so it wasn’t anything new. The school colors were blue and white, so we had blue days and white days. Four classes on each day for a total of eight.
Week one, blue days would be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and week two blue days would be Tuesday and Thursday. In a two-week period, we’d have five blue days and five white days. I liked it better like this. Gave an extra day to get homework done. Plus, classes weren’t rushed, so teachers could take their time.
What Ididn’tlike, however, was dealing with Damian and his minions for twice as long when I had a class with them.
And lucky me, second period creative writing was with none other than Damian Wolfe.
My eyes closed, and I groaned as I walked inside.Great.
“Well, look who it is,” he said. “Finding everything okay?”
I sighed as I took a seat next to him. I damn well knew if I didn’t, he’d move, so I just cut out the middle altogether.
“Yep. Finding everything just fine. Thanks for asking,” I said, my voice nearly monotone. “Why the hell areyouof all people in a creative writing class? That seems… strange.”
“Aw, you don’t sound very sincere. Are you having a rough day? Here I thought I helped you start the day off right.” He ignored my question entirely, though I wasn’t surprised.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see a text from an unknown number. I opened it to see a picture of a dick. I sighed as a second message came in right after.
__________________________________________
Trent:
Hey, this is Trent. Since it’s dick you want, I have something for you.
__________________________________________
I looked over at Damian who smiled at me smugly. “Did you put Mighty Mouse up to this?” I asked, showing him the text.
He laughed. “Well, would you look at that? I told him about this morning. I guess he wanted a taste, too.”
My eyes narrowed. “You realize these childish games just make you look pathetic and petty, right? You’re trying to use my body against me and control me with it, but it’ll never work. I know your game. It doesn’t work on me.”
“Hmm… We’ll see about that.”
“How did he get my number?” He looked at me incredulously, and I sighed. “Harper?”
He nodded. “What does she have against you, anyway? I know Harper. She’s ruthless, and when she sets her sights on something, she usually gets her way. But this? This is personal. I’ve never seen this side of her before. So, what is it?”
There was something in his expression—his excitement of knowing, the curiosity blooming inside him—that made me pause. Fear settled in, and my anxiety spiked. More than anything, I needed to maintain control in front of him. Even if it was just an illusion, I needed to maintain it.
“Interesting,” he said, his eyes studying me. “Your silence speaks volumes.”
My anxiety was well on its way to ruining the façade I’d created, so I forced an eye roll and turned to face forward.
“My silence is nothing more than annoyance at having to speak to you.” My voice shook at first, but I managed to steel it before the end of my statement. “It’s not my job to know why selfish, insecure, blonde girls hate me. From what I gather, she operates much like you do. You don’t need a reason—just opportunity. She’s the same. She picks a target and goes after it. If you want to know why she hates me so much, ask her.”
I could see a dark smile spread across his lips out of my peripheral. “Oh, I’ve asked. A few times. She won’t tell me. That’salsostrange. Harperalwaystells me. She can’t help but be honest with me. She wants me, and she knows if she lies to me, I’ll never trust her. So, that just makes this little mystery all the more interesting to me. Plus, there’s a tiny hole in your logic. Picking targets is kind of hard to dobeforeschool starts. Especially if it’s a brand-new student. She knew all about youbeforethe first day. That means the two of you know each other, and I won’t rest until I figure it out.”
No, no, no!That was the opposite of what I needed. Damian was the type of person who wouldn’t stop until he had any and all information he wanted. If he investigated this, hewouldfind answers. Answers I didn’t want him to have. Hell, answers evenHarperdidn’t want him to have.
I sighed and turned to face him, my eyes locking on to his as I quickly made something up on the spot. All I had to do was text Harper and tell her what’s up. Even if she hated me, she didn’t want this getting out any more than I did. Obviously, our motivations were completely different, but the end goal was the same.
“I came here to live with my aunt, who lives close to Harper. Rick felt sorry for me and told my aunt he’d have Harper chauffer me around to get me started at Crestview. What I didn’t realize was that my aunt was trying to get into Rick’s pants. Harper caught her flirting with him.”
“Bullshit. Rick Avery’s precious, squeaky-clean reputation is everything to him. He’s no different than my piece of shit father. He would never flirt with someone so close where he could get caught.”