Page 2 of Sinful as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #1)

I let out a little breath. “We just… We’ve never really gotten along,” I said lowly, suddenly getting more and more paranoid that Sawyer was going to be in my class. Please, please, please don’t let that happen.

My explanation was sugar coating it. We were total opposites.

That was the real problem. I knew Sawyer was from the wrong side of the tracks.

He lived over at Cedar Crest, at one of the many trailer parks that sat by the interstate.

I came from a totally different world and called Highland Park my home.

It was a rather affluent part of town, especially compared to Cedar Crest. My family were well off, and for that, I was thankful.

I was one of the lucky ones, and I appreciated every luxury my family and I had.

But that seemed to put a big, red target on my back that only Sawyer saw.

I was the “rich bitch” and the “stuck up princess” and the “prissy, little Malibu Barbie.” All very endearing insults from the one and only Sawyer Westbrook.

“He didn’t mention anything about you two not getting along,” said Brodie. “He’s actually the one who told me about the school paper.”

I almost stopped in my tracks right then and there. “Sawyer told you about it?”

“Uh, yeah.” Brodie gave me a look. He must have heard the tone in my voice. “Wait, I hope you don’t mind me joining...”

My eyes shut for a moment. “No, not at all. It’s just… I’m surprised to hear Sawyer mentioning the newspaper in a good light.”

Brodie let out a sheepish chuckle. “He actually said The Chronicle was the worst part of this school, but I like to write, so I thought I’d still check it out.

That’s how I found out about it. He gave me a little run down of things to avoid.

He also said the cheerleading team sucks; that the football team is awful; and that the art club is full of, and I quote, pretentious assholes. ”

Yup, that made sense. Of course Sawyer went ahead and belittled The Chronicle and the cheerleading team. Two things he very much knew I loved. And he went ahead and threw the football team in as well .

“Classic Sawyer,” I mumbled under my breath.

“You’re not a cheerleader, are you?” Brodie asked, a slight look of worry on his face. “You kinda look like you could be one...”

I forced a smile. “Head cheerleader, actually.”

Brodie winced. “Oh. Well, you don’t play football, right?”

“I don’t. But my boyfriend’s the captain.”

The wince on Brodie’s face widened. “Look, Sawyer says a lot of stuff about a lot of things. He’s got a big mouth.”

“Oh, that I know all about.”

“But he didn’t say anything about you! That’s a plus.”

“That’s honestly shocking,” I told him. “It feels like Sawyer takes every opportunity to call me names or make fun of me for being a cheerleader or tell me I’m gonna be a future mistress for some old, businessman or something.”

“Sawyer says the same stuff about me.” Brodie waved a hand at me.

I smiled at that. Brodie was trying. Bless him for being so sweet. Okay, maybe he was the only Westbrook that could be trusted.

But Sawyer didn’t like anything about me.

I didn’t like him because he never let me forget where I came from, and how he always held my family’s wealth against me.

Like I had any control over my parents’ money!

I had never judged Sawyer for his background, though.

Ever. And I never would. We didn’t get along from the beginning.

I was the enemy and Sawyer seemed to love nothing more than tearing me down.

“Mhm. This is your room, by the way.” We came to a halt outside of Mr. Bailey’s classroom. “Mr. Bailey can be a bit… harsh. So, I wish you all the best with that.”

“Thanks.” Brodie shot me a smile. “And thanks for walking me to class. I feel like the prettiest girl at school already.”

I giggled softly. “You’re getting the special treatment. Next time I’ll carry your books. I gotta go to class now, but I’ll keep you updated about The Chronicle. Our first session should be this Wednesday.”

“Awesome. Thanks again. See ya, Holly.” Brodie waved at me before disappearing into Mr. Bailey’s class, leaving me all alone to make my way down the hall to the English rooms.

I made it to class at nine-thirty and gave Mrs. Edwards the yellow late slip. She just smiled at me, nodding towards the seats. And when I looked over at them, I wanted to cry. Every seat was taken. Every single one. Except for the one in the second last row… Right in front of Sawyer Westbrook.

I glanced at Annie in the second row, her curly brown hair in a perfectly styled ponytail. She cringed, miming out a “sorry.”

I reluctantly made my way to Sawyer, and with each and every step I took, a smirk on his face formed.

God, I hated him and his stupid, crooked smile.

His green eyes just seemed to be lighting up at the thought of me sitting near him.

And God, his hair was so much longer than the last time I had seen him.

Didn’t he get a haircut over the summer?

Apparently not, because he had to push back his dark brown hair out of his eyes.

He looked bigger too with his broad shoulders, his long legs stretching out in front of him.

That was a worry. Sawyer was practically six feet tall last year.

Looking at him told me he had grown a few more inches since our last interaction.

He was already a lot to deal with the last time I saw him.

A taller, stronger and bigger Sawyer was going to be even more of a pain.

Especially for Carter. Those two were always getting into fights. ..

But I wasn’t going to focus on Sawyer. No. I sat my bag down on the floor before taking a seat. Pulling out a fresh notebook, I did everything I could to just concentrate on Mrs. Edwards and the sentences she was writing on the board.

“You know…”

I heard the gravelly voice from behind me. How was his voice even deeper than last year?

Here we go. I could feel his breath on my neck as he spoke lowly. He must have been leaning over his chair as I copied down the words on the board.

“I heard you and my cousin are gonna be hanging out a lot,” Sawyer told me.

God, I hated his voice so much.

“Who told you that?” I whispered. I didn’t talk in class. Usually. But Sawyer always brought the worst out in me.

“He did. He’s kinda new in town. Told me he wanted something that would look good on his college application. I told him to avoid the stupid fucking school paper at all costs. But once he found out about it, he wouldn’t shut up. You excited to be working with my cousin, Malibu Barbie?”

“You’re so annoying.” I rubbed at my forehead. Was he ever going to let that stupid nickname go?

He chuckled lowly. “You’ll like him. He’s not like me.”

“Is that right?”

“That’s right, princess. He’s the good one. Just try not to be a fucking bitch to him and you won’t have to deal with me.”

“And when have I ever been a bitch?”

“Literally from the day you were born.”

“You’re a loser.”

“You have to sit in front of me for the whole year.”

“You barely even turn up for school. Guess it shouldn’t be too big of a problem.”

“If it’ll piss you off, I might just show up.”

“Like you could manage coming to school all the time. I’ll be surprised if you even graduate this year.”

“They can’t wait to get rid of me.”

“Oh, I’m shocked. Who wouldn’t want to keep you around? Maybe if I’m lucky you’ll get shipped off to juvie again.”

“Only reason I got shipped off to fuckin’ juvie last year was because your little boyfriend couldn’t fight his own battles and had to get his fuckin’ daddy involved.”

Ugh. Him and the dirty mouth. “You punched him so hard he had bruises for weeks.”

“And he deserved every one of them.”

“You should have stayed there.”

“Why haven’t you fucked off to some fancy private school yet?”

I rolled my eyes. I had tried that for the first few years of schooling. But private school students were so obsessed with wealth and showing that wealth off. Four years of private school were enough to make me realize I never wanted to attend one ever again.

My parents eventually gave in to that request, which was why I was attending a public school instead of some snobby private one with students who prided themselves on how much money their parents had. But the one thing my parents wouldn’t let me decide on was where we lived.

Highland Park was the wealthiest part of Dallas, and they had no plans on moving anytime soon. It was a thirty-minute drive to school – but the traffic was worth it for some normalcy. Well, everything was almost normal except for the thing behind me.

“Who would you torment if I left?” I hissed. “You’d be so bored."

“I’d be living the fucking dream if I didn’t have to see your face anymore, actually.”

“Trust me, I feel the same way,” I snapped, finally turning around to face him. My voice was louder than it should have been, but God, I was just trying to concentrate. It was day one and Sawyer was already getting on my nerves.

“You’d miss me. Who else is gonna tell you that high school cheerleader is the furthest you’ll ever go?” Sawyer fell back to his chair and slumped in it lazily, giving me a wink and grin that he always loved to give me.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked with gritted teeth. “Just shut up and leave me alone.”

“Miss Sutton?” my English teacher called from the front of the room.

Sawyer smirked. I glared. Then I turned around and gave Mrs. Edwards the sweetest smile I could manage.

“I’m sorry. I was just…” I fumbled on my words. I couldn’t come up with an excuse, mostly because I didn’t ever get into trouble.

“Not paying attention in my class,” Mrs. Edwards sighed. “Try not to do that again, please.”

“Sorry.” I blushed. My face felt hot as everyone stared at me.

I wanted to be somewhere else. At the football game cheering for Carter.

At Fran’s Diner where we always went after a win.

Or in Carter’s arms as he held me tight, giving me a long kiss.

It would have been nice to have him in my English class.

“I see you two are already going at it!” she said with an amused smile. “And the school year has only just started. This should be entertaining.”

I blinked at her slowly. “That’s not the word I would use.”

“And since you and Mr. Westbrook are so talkative this morning, how about one of you answer the question the rest of the class were discussing?” Mrs. Edwards continued. “Mr. Westbrook, how about you?”

I turned around and grinned, my eyes zeroing in on Sawyer. This was gonna be good.

“Sure,” he mumbled, glancing over at Mrs. Edwards. “What was it? Someone couldn’t keep their mouth shut so I couldn’t hear you.”

I just narrowed my eyes at him.

“What is the importance of intertextuality in writing?” the woman asked.

“I dunno,” Sawyer said with a little too much confidence. “To… personify shit.”

But before Mrs. Edwards could correct him, I decided to take the reins, making sure to look right at Sawyer as I spoke.

“Actually, intertextuality in writing is important because it’s a good way for authors to show how other texts have influenced them.

A lot of authors take inspiration from other pieces.

Sometimes they use them in their writing to emphasize their own points.

” The smile I gave Sawyer was the fakest one I could manage.

“Exactly! Thank you!” Mrs. Edwards said. “Mr. Westbrook, please don’t swear in my class again. Did you understand Holly’s answer?”

“Loud and clear,” Sawyer answered with a scowl, his voice monotone.

Rolling my eyes at him, I turned back around, excited to not look at his green eyes anymore. English class was going to be Hell if I had to sit in front of Sawyer all year, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. I just stared at Mrs. Edwards as she wrote down some points on the bored.

“I see you still love running that big mouth of yours, huh?” he asked with a chuckle. “Think I’m gonna have a lot of fun sittin’ behind you this year, princess.”

Of course he couldn’t help himself. He needed to have the last word. I did my best to keep my composure. Next year I would be free of him. I’d be in college. I’d be in my dream school. I’d be studying journalism. I’d be at Columbia, far away from Sawyer Westbrook.

I didn’t bother to look back at Sawyer. He didn’t deserve my attention.