Page 18 of Wicked Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 1)

CHAPTERFIVE

Stella

“Iheard they killed a guy,” someone whisper-shouts as I walk into the girls’ locker rooms after school the next day, ready to try out for the gymnastics team.

I roll my eyes at the excited gossip. Seb’s friend’s black eye and split lip, and his and the other one’s busted knuckles, are all anyone’s talked about all day.

Having met them, albeit briefly, I’m not surprised they found themselves in the middle of a fight. They are conceited douchebags, after all.

They’re probably in some rich boy gang, pretending to be dangerous in the hope it gets all the girls.

Idiots.

I think back to his warnings the night in the graveyard and roll my eyes. He really needs to think again if he expects me to be scared of him.

It’s not until I’ve lowered my bag to the bench that the gossiping stops, and I know why. Their attention drills holes into my back.

I guess it stands to reason that Blonde—who I’ve since learned is actually called Teagan, thanks to some gossip I heard earlier about what she got up to recently behind the swimming pool with some guy—is on the gym team. I guess this is Knight’s Ridge’s version of the cheer squad.

Just like when I overheard it earlier, a wave of something I really don’t want to acknowledge at the thought of her being with Seb rolls through me. No one’s mentioned his name, but from what I’ve seen, he seems to be the only one that vapid bitch is interested in right now.

Reminding myself that I don’t care, I suck in a calming breath and prepare to turn around.

“Are you lost?” Teagan asks, her two sidekicks standing just a little behind her with equally pissed off looks on their faces as they stare at me.

“Um… nope. I don’t think I am,” I say, throwing my hair over my shoulder.

“I don’t think you’ve got what it takes to be on my team.”

“Oh really?” I ask, taking a step toward her. “And why would you think that?”

“Because over here you actually have to work, not just jiggle your pom-poms for the dads in the crowd.”

“Is that right?” I ask, anger burning through my veins at her assumption of me, mimicking their stances and placing my hands on my hips.

“You should probably just leave now before you embarrass yourself.”

“Yeah, maybe. Or I could stay and watch you eat a piece of humble pie when I wipe the floor with you.”

Not waiting for a response, I turn my back on them once again and begin getting ready.

I’m faster than them, seeing as they spend most of the next ten minutes whining like the little bitches they are and trying to intimidate me into giving up.

They are seriously barking up the wrong tree if they expect me to cower down to them.

Only a few of the quieter girls have left the locker room by the time I do, and I find them warming up while Miss Peterson—I assume—talks to them with a wide smile on her face.

“H-hi, Miss Peterson,” I stutter, interrupting their conversation. “I’m—”

“Stella,” she says with an even wider smile.

Okay, I like her already.

“I’ve done some research, and I must say, I’m impressed. I think you’re going to fit right in on this team.”

Yeah… or not.

While the rest of the team emerges from the locker room and begins warming up, Miss Peterson walks me around the gym, showing me all their state-of-the-art equipment, talking me through the competitions they take part in and proudly pointing out their trophies. Maybe Teagan did have a point being worried about adding new members to her team, even if she did go the wrong way about it.