Page 4 of The Harder You Fall (Rixon Raiders 3)

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J: Call me, I need you.

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J: Why you gotta be this way, Mya? I miss you. I love you. I need you... I’m nothing without you, baby girl.

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J: For real, it’s going to be like that? Your mama won’t even tell me where you’re at.

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Shona: It’s bad, girl. Call me xo

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My stomach sank, my insides torn apart as my head and heart warred over what to do. Part of me, the part who would always be a young naïve girl in love, wanted to call Shona and see what was going down. But the other part, the part who knew making that call only led down a road to more hurt and heartache, quickly deleted all four text messages.

When I’d first left Fallowfield Heights, our small neighborhood in the heart of Badlands, Mom had wanted me to get a new number, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t cut myself off completely. Maybe one day, I would.

But today was not that day.

Pushing down the worry, I made my way to the cafeteria, aware of the odd stare as I wound my way through the tables to get to Felicity and Hailee. I let them roll off my back though. You soon got used to being one of the four percent—one of the only Latina girls in a predominantly white school. Even if the licks of curiosity, of wariness and disapproval were like a thousand tiny bla

des over my skin.

Rixon High didn’t only love a minority story though. It loved any kind of gossip it could get its hands on, and despite being the girlfriends of two of the most popular guys in school, my friends weren’t immune to their peers’ scrutiny. Sure, they didn’t have to deal with insults or rumors based on the color of their skin or where they came from, but they had to deal with their fair share of bullshit. And like me, they handled it with grace and the attention it deserved.

“Hey,” Felicity caught my eye. “We were just talking about you.”

“All good I hope?”

A couple of girls watched me, eyeing me discreetly while they pretended to talk, as I sat down and pulled out my lunch.

“Mya, what’s... Oh.” Hailee’s expression hardened. “Ignore them, I do.”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t whisper about you for the same reasons as they whisper about me.” Irritation rippled through me as I stared right back, daring them to say something. When they didn’t, I casually flipped them the bird.

Hailee snickered while Felicity whipped her head over in their direction. “You really think they’re offended because you’re Latina?”

“Oh, I know they are.” I sat back in the chair, taking a bite of apple.

“It’s just so... so narrow minded. We had an African-American president for Christ’s sake.”

“People are threatened by what they don’t know. And I don’t need to point out the obvious. Rixon is the epitome of hick town.”

“We are not... Okay,” Felicity backtracked. “Maybe we are, just a little bit.”

“I almost wish you hadn’t gotten with Jason just so I could make a play for him and really give the people of Rixon something to talk about.”

“You could always make a play for another football player.” Hailee smirked, not saying the words we all knew she was thinking.

“Me and Asher are friends. Just friends.”

“But you could be more. You could be friends who—”

“Do not finish that sentence.”