Rizzo looks a little uncomfortable with it, but doesn’t say another word as we each grab a tray and get our food.
Perhaps I feel guilt because she didn’t even react, just walked away. I guess my hold over her is finally taking root, and she’s accepting her position as my plaything for the year.
I sit down at our usual table, where Jeanie and Anita are gossiping.
Jeanie smirks when I sit down. “Nice hit, Elias.” She holds her hand out for a high five.
I shake my head. “Get a life, Jeanie.” I tuck into my food, not bothering to look at the pathetic socialite’s face at my refusal to high-five with her.
She’s a bitch and at times I do wonder why the fuck I don’t kick her to the curb along with Anita and Kerry.
Those two are like her minions, following her around.
I fall into silence, irritated by the look on Natalya’s face as it repeats over and over in my mind. It’s nagging at me almost as much as the guilt.
Why the fuck do I care how upset she is?
6
NATALYA
Camilla hooks her arms with mine, giving me an odd look. “Everyone is saying you and Elias are an item. What’s that all about?”
I shrug. “Stupid gossip because of that kiss a few weeks ago, I guess.”
Her brow furrows. “I heard Elias declare it to Kerry in class today.”
“Declare what?” I ask.
She purses her lips. “That you are his.”
“Well, that’s news to me.” I clench my jaw. “I hate the guy, so why would I date him?”
“That’s what I thought, but he’s going around telling everyone you belong to him, whatever that’s supposed to mean.” She grimaces. “I hate that boy.”
“You and me both,” I mutter through gritted teeth. Ever since he forced me to my knees in the corridor, he’s stuck to his more standard methods of humiliating me. My body heats as I remember how he made me trip over in the cafeteria the same night he’d forced me to my knees. I can’t work out which was more humiliating, or if it was the sheer pain I’d felt clutching at my chest.
It felt like a betrayal, even though he’s made me fall over and worse in front of the school before. After he’d kissed me so intimately in the corridor, it felt much more painful.
Since that day, he’s played stupid pranks on me as if we were back in ninth grade, such as tripping me over, throwing things at me in class, and last week he stole my skirt off of my body and locked me in a classroom, where Nitkin found me. It was beyond humiliating, but surprisingly, Professor Nitkin didn’t get angry. Instead, he found me a skirt and let me go on my way with hardly a word. I had expected to be punished, but I think he knows who did it.
Elias is a first rate asshole and there’s no chance in hell I’d ever affirm such a ridiculous lie, no matter what he threatens me with. “Another one of his games,” I say, slamming shut my locker and locking it.
Adrianna approaches us. “Are you two heading to lunch? I’m starving.”
I smile and nod. Adrianna is always hungry. “Yeah, of course.” I turn to lead the way, only to slam straight into a hard wall of muscle. As I glance up, I stare into those cold, calculating blue eyes that can make my heart stop beating. Panic and fear hit me at once and I take a step back, trying to move around him.
Elias slides an arm in front of me, blocking my way.
“Where do you think you’re going, Gurin?” he asks, ice-blue eyes narrowing.
I clench my jaw and meet his gaze, hating the way my heart thuds harder the moment I do. “To lunch, so get out of my way.”
Camilla steps to my side and shoves his arm, trying to free me. “Yeah, and while you’re at it, stop lying and telling people you and Natalya are dating.”
He turns his attention to Camilla, a sly little smirk on his lips, one that makes my stomach churn. “Did Natalya tell you it’s a lie?” He asks, moving his eyes back to me. “You haven’t even told your closest friends the truth?”
Motherfucker.