“Would you like a ride home?”
With them? The people who’d replaced me in the dreaded spotlight of this school. I did not think so. I’d take my chances with Mr. Cole before I opened up that particular can of worms.
“No thanks,” I mumbled. Then I stuffed a chip in my mouth. Although it had been nice of him to ask, I very much wanted him to shut up and leave me alone so I could eat my food in peace. I also very much worried people would come out here in search of the pretty new twins and discover us out here in our hidden sanctuary. That would seriously suck and the place would be over run in no time. That would be a tragedy.
“She doesn’t like people taking notice of her, like at all.” Tyson informed them. How would he know? “And being seen with the two of you right now would bring her all kinds of attention. And not the good kind. If you want, Ariel, you can ride home with me.” Like that wouldn’t bring all kinds of negative attention? Yeah, right.
“What are you talking about?” the pepper twin asked.
&nbs
p; This would likely drive me crazy, not knowing their names. So I cut in and asked them.
“Abel,” the pepper twin smirked at me and answered.
“Addison,” the salt twin grinned at me from across the table.
Abel and Addison. I liked their names.
“Ariel?” Tyson had lost the glare and his eyes were back to being concerned as he starred me down from across the table.
It took me a second to figure out what he wanted. “Mr. Cole is picking me up from school, but thank you for offering.”
“No problem,” his voice had gone quiet with a hint of sweet. It was new to me. “You can ride with me tomorrow.”
Oh, geez. I didn’t know about that. On second thought, it would be better to ride with him than having to deal with one of my mother’s jealous fits.
“What were you talking about before?” Abel barked at Tyson, his voice commanding and harsh. “Why would you say that about negative attention coming at her because of us?”
Tyson looked uncomfortable again. The poor neckline on his shirt would likely never return to its normal size. “Yesterday… Shit. Yesterday was Ariel’s first day here and she… didn’t make any friends.”
I let out a semi hysterical giggle. That was one way to look at it. And why were we talking about this again? The limit to my humiliation was endless.
“Yesterday was everyone’s first day,” Addison pointed out and frowned. “Well, except for ours.”
“Who cares if she didn’t make any friends,” Abel put in. “Maybe she’s shy, give the girl a break.”
“Geez, Ty,” Addison shot Tyson a dirty look. “We wouldn’t do anything to cause her any problems, and if she’s in need of friends we’ve got no problem being friends with her. What the fuck?”
Poor Tyson, his face was starting to get red in either anger or frustration. Or, perhaps, a little bit of both. I wanted to let him suffer, because of yesterday I felt like he kind of deserved it. But then I thought about how nice he’d been to me all day and changed my mind. He might just be messing with me by being nice to me today but I wasn’t the kind of person who liked being mean to people even when they did deserve it.
“Yesterday,” I said, cutting into their glaring at each other, “people called me horrible names and someone even tripped me in one of my classes. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t fun. People don’t like me because they’re small minded and my mother is a bit of a whore.” I ignored their wide eyes and, unfortunately, kept right on spewing out words. “Well, not a whore so much as a stripper turned companion.” The emphasis I put on the word companion said it all. “Mr. Cole is super sweet and, apparently, well-liked by the community. I get why. He’s awesome. Truly. And I also get why people don’t like my mother, but I do not entirely understand why they hate me so much. I’ve wronged no one.”
They were still staring at me with big eyes as I stood up and stuffed my uneaten lunch back into my bag. For whatever reason, I couldn’t stop talking. “It didn’t help matters any that, even though he was a serious A-hole to me, Tyson still took the time to speak to me. Apparently, he doesn’t talk to anyone and him singling me out for that particular joy made a bad situation a hundred times worse. But, that doesn’t mean any of what happened to me was his fault. It wasn’t because seriously pretty boys are never at fault for anything and small minded people, plus my whore of a mother equals not so good things. It’s all high school drama and stupid if you ask me.” I stupidly waved at them and announced, “I have to go.”
I was breathing heavily as I turned and speed walked the heck out of there. I’d gotten emotional and said too much. Far, far too much. I shouldn’t have told them half of that shit. And I seriously should not have placed blame on Tyson and called him a seriously pretty boy. I’d gone too far.
Before the door closed I heard my name shouted, but I didn’t stop. In fact, I walked faster. I had to stop myself from running only because I didn’t want to think about what it would say about me if I literally ran away from them.
I did what I told myself I wasn’t going to since I’d had the crazy thought about being drowned in the toilet earlier. I made my way to the girl’s restroom closest to my next class. After checking to make sure I was alone I turned the lock on the door, locking myself inside and everyone else out. I sat my butt on the counter with my back pressed up against the mirror and I scarfed down my lunch in record time. When the first bell rang, I unlocked the door and made my way to class.
The rest of the school day was mildly uneventful. That is, if you didn’t count the twins sitting beside me in the next class and after class the both of them trailed behind me all the way to my next class. A class neither of them shared with me. They drew attention I didn’t need, but, still no one talked to me. I put up blinders after that just to be safe. If someone dared point their stupid finger in my direction I didn’t want to know about it. Day two and I was way over school in every way.
Also, if you didn’t count the girl in creative writing sitting somewhere far, far away from me, though, that didn’t stop her from glaring at me from across the room. Whatever. Abel and Addison had the class with me and they took advantage of my lack of a tablemate. They both scooted in close on either side of me. It was a tight fit and we were smooshed together because the table was only meant to seat two on each side and they were both really big guys. Their shoulders rubbed against mine. Their thighs rested against mine. It was awkward for me having them touch me like that, but I didn’t complain. In fact, I was too embarrassed to speak to either of them. After they smooshed me in between the both of them they left me be, but I felt their concerned eyes on me the whole time.
I practically ran out of there and flew through the hallways like a mad woman. I hit up my locker to exchange my books for ones I’d need for my homework assignments and then I got the heck out of there as fast as my feet would carry me without looking like a lunatic. Mr. Cole waited for me where he promised he’d be. I got in the passenger seat and we zoomed off. He drove too fast and he didn’t say a word to me. After the first tightlipped, forced smile he gave me when I first got into the car he never even looked at me again. It hurt. But, I’d asked for it and I’d gotten exactly what I asked for. It hurt like a mother, though. Deep down, I knew I deserved it because I’d hurt him and he hadn’t deserved it.
Chapter Seven