“You know you only have an hour before class starts?” Her face scrunches.
“Your point?” I grit my teeth in frustration, of course she wouldn’t care.
“Don’t worry about it.” I snatch my schedule off my desk and grab the books I’ll need for the day and shove them in my bag. I turn and head for the door but her question stops me.
“Why did you disappear?” I grip the strap of my bag tightly and count to three in my head trying to ward off the rising panic inside me. If I turn to face her, she will see the truth in my eyes. I keep my back to her as I answer.
“Why didn’t you come find me?” Her shocked gasp is the last thing I hear before I walk out. The hallway is bustling with students, I have to slink against the wall so I’m not knocked over by two guys racing past me on electric scooters. I hide behind the curtain of my long black hair and keep my head down as I make my way to the cafeteria for a quick breakfast. I made sure to allow extra time in case I got lost trying to find my way to my first class today.
I push through the doors of the cafeteria and am assaulted by laughter and so many voices mingled together. I feel gazes on me but ignore them as I grab a tray and join the line. I pile my tray with eggs, toast and fruit. I snag a bottle of OJ and turn to face the crowd. There isn’t an empty seat in sight. I decide not to loiter and head outside. I find a spot under a tree and take shelter under its shade. I rest back against the trunk and gaze around the quad as I eat. I smile to myself when I see a group of guys wearing letterman jackets, shoving each other and laughing boisterously amongst themselves. I envy how they appear carefree and like nothing in the world matters to them.
I spot a group of cheerleaders coming round the side of the building. They giggle and laugh at something the redhead bitch says, the same red head that is friends with Car. I honestly expected to see Carlina amongst them. She always loved cheer and she was actually good at it when we were kids. I almost kid myself into thinking I could try out for the same team as Car. What a fucking idiot I was back then to think someone like me would ever have a shot. I don’t look like those stick figures. I have anassand hips and my tits are a too big to fit into those crop tops. My long black hair would stand out amongst their blonde and light brown colored hair and my blue eyes tend to make people stare, they are so pale they almost look white. I’m also short as fuck and people always underestimate me because of my height. I may be small but a girl like me had to learn how to woman the fuck up and learn how to fight. Gage, he was my saving grace. He taught me how to fight at his gym. He took pity on me when he saw four guys corner me down the alley next to his gym, if I didn’t have that piece of two-by-four I would have been raped and left for dead. He took me in and gave me somewhere safe to lay my head, somewhere my mother’sfriendscouldn’t try to come in and help themselves to my goodies.
“Holy fuck!” I shake my head and turn back to the pack of guys and find them staring at me. My eyes widen slightly when I register who two of the guys are. They break away from their group and head toward me. Not wanting to be in a weak position, I push to my feet and stand as both of their hulking forms dwarf my own. I look to each of them and no matter how hard I try to remain unaffected, I fail at keeping the smile off my face. Time may have carried on but their boyish charm still remains. “Come here!” His brown eyes shine with warmth as his brown hair flops forward onto his forehead. He shakes it away and wraps his arms around me. I don’t even hesitate, I wrap my arms around his waist and inhale, he smells like home. He’s so much taller than me that he practically hunches over my head.
“Fuck off, Rook, my turn.” Rook and I pull apart. I turn to face Knight and smile wide. They are identical—exact same shade of eye color, hair color and even skin tone. I don’t know how I do but I have always been able to tell the twins apart. I hug Knight and allow myself for just a second to think about how things might have been different if Tony hadn’t done what he did. Maybe I wouldn’t be so hardened inside and out and keep people at arm’s length. But I guess that’s what happens to people when their mother sells them to a fucking monster and doesn’t care what he does to them as long as she gets her hit. We break apart and I gaze up at each of them. I may be older than them but there is no way these two would need a fake ID. they are huge and filled out. I know football players are big but these two are like over the top big. Their letterman jackets strain against their arms, they aren’t even able to snap their jackets closed. I can feel their muscles and chests as they hug me—there isn’t an ounce of fat on either of these boys. “You look good, princess.” I roll my eyes at their stupid nickname. They have been calling me that since they watchedThe Lion Kingwhen they were younger.
“So do you––both of you look great.” Rook and Knight exchange a look and I know they are doing that weird twin thing, where they can read each other’s thoughts just from a single look. I tamper down my annoyance and wait. I can feel the eyes of their peers and the bitch squad on me but ignore them. I check the time on my phone and groan, my first class is due to start soon and I need to move my ass or risk being late. “I’ll see you both around.” Before I can step around them Knight shoots out an arm blocking my escape.
“What’s the rush? We haven’t seen you in years and already you want to escape us?” I flinch at the accusation in his tone. “Did… did we do something?” I deflate and look at both the guys and the vulnerability in their gazes has me crumbling. I reach out and grip each of their hands in mine, squeezing reassuringly.
“You guys didn’t do anything.” I can’t tell them the truth but I’m also not a liar. I fucking hate being caught in a situation like this. “Things went to shit at home and I… moved out.” It’s not a lie, I’m just not telling them the full story of what really happened. Rook looks confused at my omission. Knight being the more intuitive one keeps staring at me waiting for me to say more. Before they can ask me more questions, two of their cheer squad slide in on either side of them linking their arms through theirs. I fight the eye roll that wants to break free. Each of the carbon copy Barbies run their gazes over me and scrunch their fake-ass noses in disgust.
“Are you the new janitor?” I narrow my eyes at the whore that clings to Knight. He glares down at her but doesn’t untangle himself from the cunt either.
“No, you thirsty bitch. Now if you’ll kindly get the fuck out of my way, I have a class to get to.” I don’t bother to wait for a reply as I push through Rook and Knight. I ignore their calls for me to come back. I hate to admit it but them not sticking up for me stings. Aside from myself, there is only one other person I can rely on to have my back, but he isn’t here. I keep my head down as I make my way to my first class. I find it with ease thanks to actually paying attention when I was given a tour of the school. The door is open so I waltz in and claim one of the seats at the back. I gather the supplies I’ll need from my pack and place them on the desk. I hear someone drop into the seat beside me and tense on reflex. I sit up slowly and peer over to see Knight staring straight at me. “What the hell are you doing in here?” I snap.
“I’m in this class,” he says like it’s obvious.
“You’re a junior, this is a senior class. Don’t fuck with me, Knight. I don’t need any distractions.” He narrows his eyes and pins me with a frosty glare that has me clamping my mouth closed.
“Since when did you give a shit about getting good grades?” I sigh and slump back in my chair. I decide to be honest and give him the whole truth.
“Since it was my only option to get a better life and not end up like my mom.” I’m grateful when the bell sounds and other students filter in, effectively shutting down Knight’s line of questioning. I barely concentrate through the class because I can feel his stare on me the whole time. I take notes and write down what I need to catch up on. As I look around and see other students with iPads and Laptops, I cringe. All I have is a pad and pen. I hate that I still feel inferior to others because of their money. I should be used to it. I knew this school was full of rich snotty bastards, but knowing about their wealth and seeing it are two totally different things. The bell sounds and I quickly shove all my books into my bag and race out the door before Knight can catch me. I know it’s stupid but being around the twins and Car again is bringing up memories I fought fucking hard to repress. I will not go back down that black hole again. If it wasn’t for Gage, I don’t think I would have made it. I wanted to die and was prepared to give up, without me even knowing it Gage became my reason to fight to live. He’s my best friend. He never pushed me to talk or open up. He’s always just been there for me for the past three years since I ran.
* * *
Idon’t even think as I fill my tray with food, then head straight outside to enjoy the sunshine. I’m not in the mood for all the stares and prying eyes. I just need to keep my head down and get the fuck through this year, then I’m free. I’ll finally graduate and be able to get the fuck out of here and move to Alaska. I want to live out my dream of being isolated amongst nature and not having to deal with people day in and day out. I’m not anti-social, I just don’t like people. They annoy the fuck out of me. I claim my spot from this morning and set my tray to the side as I pull my books out, prepared to get a start on the work I need to catch up on. Apparently, my public school isn’t quite on par with this private school’s curriculum. I shove a piece of pineapple into my mouth and pick my pen up when a shadow falls over me—wait, scratch that,shadows.
“Well, fancy running into you out here, again.” I grind my teeth together as I slowly raise my gaze to meet the twins’ stares. “Can’t have you eating alone now can we, princess?” I open my mouth to protest but then Rook waves over his football buddies and I gape at the audacity of them.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I grit out through clenched teeth. Knight meets my gaze and I can see the cunning monster that lurks beneath the surface of his carefree playboy façade.
“My brother has a point. What type of friends would we be if we let you eat on your own?” I glower at the shithead.
“We’re not friends, Knight!” I hiss.
“Ouch, that actually hurt my feelings.” I turn to Rook and scowl. “Come on, K. Don’t be mad. You may actually like the guys, they’re cool.” Speak of the devils, their posse sits around in a circle casting us side long glances. I make sure to keep my resting bitch face in place as I run my gaze over each of them. Rook and Knight drop down on either side of me, so I take a deep breath and try to reign in my temper.
Suck it up, Kiara. They’ll get bored of you soon and move on.
I keep repeating that mantra in my head as I eat my lunch and try to get a head start on my homework. When the bell sounds, I don’t even utter a word to any of the guys as I stand and head to my next class. I feel eyes on me and look to my left as I climb the steps to the science building and cringe. The bitch squad all sit around a picnic table glaring at me. I spot Car amongst them. A pang of longing shoots through me and I quickly shut it down. She was my best friend. My only friend aside from the twins and because of her piece-of-shit father, I lost her.
Chapter3
Kiara
TWO WEEKS