I dug around in my bag until I found an old, broken granola bar. Gabby had the forethought to pack a decent lunch and offered me half of her sandwich.
"Ugh Ash, you're so frustrating sometimes. Just tell me what happened. I'm supposed to be your best friend, remember? You can tell me anything. I swear I won't judge you or anything like that."
"I know you won't. Something happened at work last night," I paused and looked at her.
"Someonehurt youat work last night."
I nodded. "I'm okay."
"Are you really okay or are you doing that thing where you say you're okay but you're really not? And why are you wearing a sweatshirt? It's like, eighty degrees out."
Oh, I know. I'm sweating like a pig under here.
"I'm really okay.” I avoided her question and pushed up my sleeves to get a little relief from the heat. “It was Reynolds. Last night at Aces…”
“What the fuck? No!” Gabby’s eyes widened in shock and her mouth hung open.
“Yeah…” Her pity made me want to curl up into a ball and cry. “Don’t say anything. No one else knows. I have a plan.”
“A plan like…tell Principal Brecken? The police?”
I laughed. “You know me better than that. I’m not going to anyone else with this shit. I’m taking him down on my own. Before he can hurt me or anyone else again.”
Gabby hugged me and held me for most of our lunch break. She didn’t ask a ton of questions. She didn’t scold me for not telling the office or the cops. She was just there for me. Once she pulled away, I grabbed my bag and unzipped the inside pocket, pulling out a joint and a lighter.
"What are you doing?" Gabby gasped.
"Getting high," I smiled as I lit the joint and took a hit.
"We'reat school, Ashtyn."
"Exactly. Want some?" I asked, passing her the joint.
She looked around, double-checking that the guys on the field weren't looking, and took it, taking the smallest of inhales. She coughed and quickly handed it back to me, making me laugh at how ridiculous she was being. People smoked all the time at school–eveninsidethe school, and teachers would look the other way. Too much paperwork to write us up. Nothing was going to happen.
After I was done smoking, we finished eating and chatted about Gabby's parents–how they freaked out when they caught her sneaking out to pick me up on Saturday night. They took away her car keys and were making her use their driver to get to and from school for the next month.
"You're so lucky you don't have parents that get on your case for every little thing," Gabby said as we walked back into the school.
"Yeah, lucky," I fake smiled. If she only knew.
"I better get to class. If I don't get there before the bell rings, I'll get stuck sitting next to the football players," Gabby complained. “Thank you for telling me, Ash. I’ll do anything I can to help you.”
We parted ways and I was feeling calm and relaxed from the lunchtime weed session. I needed to do that more often. If I was going to survive Reynolds' class, having to look at his smug face, then I was going to need all the vices I could get my hands on.
Maybe Chloe's idea to always have a flask on hand wasn't so crazy after all.
No, I needed to be focused and have all faculties fully functioning around Reynolds. I couldn't allow him to hurt me again. The only reason he had the chance last night was because Pete threatened Mom. He knew I'd never subject her to what he wanted her to do. Never.
An arm reached out from an alcove in the hallway and pulled me into his hard body. With my free arm, I jabbed my elbow back as hard as I could, eliciting anumphfrom whoever grabbed me. "Shit, princess. I just wanted to talk to you," West choked out, rubbing his rock-hard stomach. It probably hurt me more than it hurt him. Drama queen.
"Don't fucking do that again," I warned. His warm eyes washed over with anger, growing even darker. “What do you want?”
“First, I wanted to tell you that the picture with Kendra was bullshit. She snuck into my room at Axel’s and–”
“I don’t give a fuck, West. You’ve made it clear that you’re mad at me or whatever, and you certainly don’t waste any time moving on.”
His eyes steeled. "Speaking of moving on, is something going on with you and Reynolds?"