Untouched (Bay Falls High, #1)(30)

Beth looked at me. “Yeah?”

“I saw it. I saw the ditch. I saw…”

“Don’t talk about it then,” Beth said. “What’s done is done.”

“What does that mean? They attacked Denny.”

“Stop saying his name,” Beth said. She blinked fast.

“Beth…”

“Look. Sometimes things just go too far. That’s all. Okay?”

“Meaning what?”

“I told you about Denny. The way he was. Things he did. Right?”

“You mean that he’s fun and flirty? I didn’t know that was a crime.”

“Well, he messed with the Rulz and he got busted.”

“Because of me,” I said. “They did that because of me. What does that mean?”

“That means anyone who goes near you is going to pay.”

“But why?”

“I guess you’ll find out,” Beth said. “I’m sorry. I have to get going.”

Beth slipped away and hurried to get lost within everyone else working their way toward class.

I felt someone hit me in the back and I stumbled forward.

Then I felt someone hit me in the shoulder, throwing me against the wall.

When I turned, it was Blair and Vicky.

Blair swung her hand and cracked me across the face.

It caught me off guard and I lost my breath for a second.

Vicky put her forearm to my chest and pushed me back against the wall.

“We know who you really are,” Vicky said. “You don’t belong here.”

“Careful,” Blair said. “I bet her mother was using when she was pregnant. Probably passed on a bunch of diseases.”

“Nothing compared to what you have crawling between your legs,” I said to Blair.

“You should talk, street trash,” Vicky said.

I looked at Vicky. “I bet these rich boys would like it dirty. Nasty, poor, dirty girl like me…”

Vicky pushed at me. “Shut up. We can make you disappear in a second.”

“One phone call and you’re gone,” Blair said. “Jacobson is already on the fence about you being here.”

I smiled. “Is that the best you’ve got? You think I want to be here?”

“Don’t fuck with us,” Blair said.

“Maybe you shouldn’t fuck with me,” I said. “I’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Yes you do,” Vicky said.

She pulled at the strap of my bag and wrestled it off me. When I tried to fight back, Blair took the easy grab by getting the back of my hair where I had it pulled back into a bun.

She twisted and I cringed in pain, my eyes looking at her.

Vicky hurried to open my bag and dump it all over the floor.

Books, notebooks, everything.

“Looks like you lost something,” Vicky said as she let my hair go.

My right hand was already balled up into a fist but I held off swinging.

I knew how this story would go. I’d hit the rich girl and then because I was the poor, dirty girl, it would be all my fault.

“Let’s get out of here,” Vicky said. “I feel poorer just being near her.”

Blair shoved my shoulder one last time as she walked away.

I stood there and looked down at the contents of my bag spilled in the hallway.

I crouched and told myself at least there weren’t a hundred people trying to get by like a few minutes ago.

The hallway had calmed and IA foot stepped down on a notebook that was open.

Right on a clean, white sheet of lined paper.

I slowly looked up and swallowed hard as my heart started to race.

Pres looked down at me with those super dark eyes of his. And then came the blanketing smell of his cologne. I had no idea why I liked the smell so much. I had no idea why I didn’t reach up and punch him in the balls as hard as I could.

Maybe because when I saw Pres’s face, I saw him holding that guy under water. And I saw him giving the final command to break Denny’s hand.

“Everywhere you go, you make a mess, sugar,” he said.

“Yeah,” I said. “Stupid me.”

I grabbed my bag and started stuffing notebooks back into it.

My eyes looked at Pres’s shoes. They were thick, black, heavy shoes. Almost like boots. And his pants… dark jeans… not some preppy khaki color with a fancy logo and the feel of a rich asshole.

But trust me, Pres gave off the feel of asshole for sure.

Just a different kind.

The kind that had more power than money and that was scary because of how much money he had.

My hand moved toward my trig book and Pres moved his foot faster. The tip of his shoe touched the back and I pulled my hand away. I leaned back and fell to my butt right there in the hallway.

“What?” I asked him. “Denny didn’t do anything wrong. He made me laugh. We were laughing together. Talking. Picking on Beth. It was the first time I actually laughed since coming here. And if you think I really want to be here… I don’t. At all. I’m just trying…”

Pres pulled his foot back and kicked, sending my trig book sailing down the hallway.

He started to walk, without saying a word to me.

I finished packing my bag and walked to get my trig book.