Fallen Crest Public (Fallen Crest Series) (15 page)

She pretended to hiss, grinning at the same time. “That hurts, Kade. I thought we had something going between the two of us.”

“The boyfriend and best friend never like each other.”

Her eyes widened and she paused in her footing for a second, but lifted her fingers to her forehead. She saluted him. “You win, Mason Kade. You always do.”

But there was no response. Mason had already turned and was walking the other way. Even now, with their little exchange, so many people had been hanging onto every word. As he passed by groups in the hallway, the girls followed him with hungry gazes. A few didn’t, but the guys were almost as bad. A lot of them stopped what they were doing and puffed out their chests. Their backs straightened and most struck a cocky pose until he walked past them, without acknowledging them. When he disappeared into the senior hallway, the hallway went back to normal. The girls giggled and whispered. The guys, most of them, went back to their drooped shoulders and lounging stances.

I’d never get used to it. I don’t know how he did it.

“I heard what happened,” Heather brought me back from my thoughts. Her hand tightened on my arm and she pulled me closer, lowing her voice. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Waves of anger and curiosity mixed together now. One thing at a time. “Do you know a girl that used to be friends with Marissa?”

“Marissa?”

“I don’t know her last name. She was friends with Mason and transferred out of here two years ago.”

“Oh.” Her facial features tightened and her lips pinched together. “Yeah. Red hair? Frizzy? Average weight?”

“Yeah. Who is she?”

“Her name’s Paige.” She grimaced. “I wouldn’t get close to her.”

“Why not?”

Stopping at her locker, I leaned against the one beside it and waited as she opened the combination. “Because she will never be your friend. A lot of girls lust after your boys, but there’s a few that hate them. Paige is one of them. She blamed Mason for everything that happened to Marissa.”

“And by everything that happened to Marissa, you mean …” I gestured to my clothes. “Getting her clothes stolen.”

She grabbed her book and shut her locker, but turned to fall against it with her back. “Getting the clothes stolen is the first step. That’s why I found you right away.”

“How’d you know?”

“My friend Cory’s in your gym class.”

“The one …” I frowned, trying to remember and then it clicked. “The angry one? She wears black. She hated me on sight.”

“Yeah, that one.”

“And she’s another one of those girls who hates Mason and Logan?”

“No, she doesn’t hate them, not like Paige. She hates Kate and her friends. She doesn’t like Mason and Logan because they never stopped Kate. She’s been okay this semester so far, but everyone can sense she’s got things in the works. It’s tense around here. Don’t you feel it? You’re not coming into this school at a good time.”

It was because of me. Everyone knew that and it was starting to make sense why the welcome wagon had been missing. It’d been doused in gasoline somewhere, waiting for Kate to strike the match.

I couldn’t do anything about it. That was the hard part. “How’d you escape their wrath?”

Heather chuckled. “I don’t know, but if I were to guess, it’s because of Channing at Roussou. He’s still in my life. Everyone knows that and he holds his own over there. If they did anything to me, he’d get even. That,” her head bobbed forward, “and because I think one of those four always had a thing for him.”

“One of them with someone from Roussou?

“He’s hot. People can still date between the two schools. It’s not really encouraged, but it’s not forbidden or anything.” She laughed again, eyeing me up and down. “But that doesn’t matter anymore. We both know I’m on Kate’s shit list now.”

The first bell rang at that moment, and everyone started to scatter.

I shook my head at the mass chaos. “I feel like we go to school with a pack of wolves. It’s everyone for themselves.”

Heather grinned. “Only the strong survive here.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like to fight back. I will when I can’t avoid it, but I’m starting to realize being proactive might be the best solution here.”

“Hey.” She grabbed my arm before I could go to my class and pulled me back. Her eyes grew hard. “That’s why I found you. Stealing your clothes is the first step. Kate and her Bitch Crew don’t do cliché pranks. You’re not going to find your clothes in a toilet. They did this to Marissa a few times. They’d steal her clothes and put them on a mannequin. Natalie’s aunt owns a clothing store and I think that’s where they get them. They’ll take pictures of it wearing your clothes and then Photoshop it to make it look like you. They’ll even have a picture of your face blurred on the thing. It’s really creepy how close to being real it is. Then they’ll put the pictures on the internet.”

“Of a mannequin wearing my clothes? They could use any clothes then.”

“They use the person’s real clothes. It’s the extra kick in their prank. Again, they Photoshop it so it looks just like you. Same hair, same everything. Your name will be attached to it. It’s scary.”

“But then what? It’s just a big doll that looks like me.”

She gave me a ‘come on’ look. “Sam, think about it.”

A sick feeling came over me. “What’ll they have the mannequin doing?”

“If you’re lucky, nothing. If it’s what I’m thinking, really bad things. People won’t care that it’s not you. They did this to Marissa and it was bad. Guys talked about raping the mannequin, but it was like they were saying that they wanted to rape her. With you, can you imagine what all the girls will do? There’s a bunch of girls besides Kate and her crew that don’t like you. A lot of the drill team. Most of the cheerleaders. They’ll be vicious.”

The sick feeling spread all over now. “How can I stop that?”

“I know you’ve wanted to handle Kate on your own, but this is too much. Tell Mason, or at least Logan. They might have an idea of where they’re doing this. They could probably stop them.”

I shook my head. “I can’t. Nate’s car accident. I know Mason’s going to go see him after basketball practice.”

“Then tell Logan.”

“He’ll tell Mason. I’m scared of what they’d do.”

“Are you really trying to protect Kate? She’s not sitting back and hoping you’ll go away. She texts me every day now, and she’s making threats to me, threats to even my dad and my brother. Now this.” She stopped and took a deep breath. Her eyes held mine, a plea filled them. “Please, Sam. If not Mason, then tell Logan.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Don’t think about it. Do it.”

I frowned. There was an edge to her voice.

She finished, “If you don’t, I will.”

“Heather.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Kate’s gone too far. She did this to Marissa and she ended up transferring. They didn’t stop once they started. I know it’s going to be worse for you. I just know it. Everyone else does, too. No one wants to get hit in the crossfire, so they’re all leaving you alone. Please, Sam. You’ve got the two biggest enforcers on your side. Use them. They can stop Kate. I know they can.”

As she left, hurrying away for class, I couldn’t move. The last bell rang. I was going to be late, but my feet wouldn’t budge. Heather’s last warning echoed inside of me. It wasn’t that they couldn’t stop Kate, it was
how
they were going to do it.

They had forced wine down my mother’s throat. They did that to prove to her what they could do, but that hadn’t stopped Analise in the end. Whatever they did to Kate wouldn’t stop her. I knew that in my gut, but I had no idea what to do. A part of me was scared. If I let Mason and Logan loose, I worried they’d cross a line. I couldn’t let them do anything that would jeopardize their futures, not after Mason’s had been threatened by my own mother. I couldn’t go through that terror again, but Heather was right. I had to do something, but I had no idea what.

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, even when Mason caught me after school. He was heading to basketball practice, and I was headed to Coach Grath’s office. Heather’s warning had stuck with me all day, sending pangs of terror through me, but I was still worried. Being loved and protected by Mason and Logan was like holding a loaded gun. I could pull the trigger at any moment, but the consequences could be disastrous.

When he asked if I was okay, I lied. He knew it, but I wasn’t ready to tell him yet. When he pressed a soft kiss to my lips and left, I realized that was my second lie to him. Two lies in two days. What lie would I tell him tomorrow?

Meeting with Coach Grath, he told me to run on my own. There was a select group of girls he wanted me to train with, but he caught wind that I wouldn’t be welcomed. I was supposed to train on my own until the time came to ‘bite that bullet.’ His words, not mine. He wanted me to record my times to check for improvement. That wasn’t a hard thing. I was bursting from the inside. Getting to the hotel room and driving to my old park took too long for me. I couldn’t hit that trail fast enough and when I soared past Quickie’s, I shot past all the cars in the parking lot and hit the hills at a full sprint. Once I got to the top, I skimmed over Fallen Crest below me and kept going to the next hill and the one after. The air temperature had noticeably dipped when I finally stopped.

My heart was racing and my chest was heaving as I gasped for breath.

I’d never felt more alive.

Then it hit me at the same time. It was like a cold wind to the north decided to make an abrupt turn and crash into me. It staggered me.

Kate. My clothes. A mannequin.
I gulped. Whatever she was going to do would be on the internet, probably even tonight. Then the lies. I hadn’t said a word about my run-in with both Broudous. I had no idea how to tell him Brett Broudou asked me out. He didn’t know that I sat outside David’s house or that Kate stole my clothes. I knew why I kept quiet about some of those, but not my home. As I thought about it now, my heart began pounding again, louder and louder in my eardrums.

I didn’t want to feel any of this. Regret. Confusion. Lost. So I turned around and started my run back home. The adrenalin always pushed everything away, but that didn’t happen this time. My body was tired. That was all there was to it. I was tired. For once, running hadn’t helped me. It made me feel more defeated than when I had started.

It was later that night when Mason texted me.

Mason:
Nate’s at his house now. Going over to hang out
.

Me:
I thought you couldn’t.

Mason:
Banned from hospital, not his place. I need to talk to him about some things. You ok?

Me:
Yeah. We should talk tonight, too.

I waited, holding my breath. Then my phone buzzed again:
Ok. Won’t stay long. Love you.

I closed my eyes, let out a deep breath, and replied:
Love you too.

“Was that Mason?”

I glanced up and tossed my phone to the other side of the bed. My textbooks and computer had taken up most of the bed. Logan was in the doorway to our bedroom. His hair was wet and he had on a Fallen Crest Public athletic jacket. “Did you shower here?”

“Nope. At school. Ran home to get some cash.” His eyes fell to my phone. “Where’s Mason at?”

“He went to see Nate.”

“Oh.” Then he turned thoughtful, studying me. “What are you doing?”

“Studying.”

I was going to tell him that I was exhausted from the run, but paused. Logan had that look. He was thinking and that meant he was planning something. I kept quiet until he nodded to himself, some decision made. He then said, “I’m meeting the guys for pizza. You want to come?”

“Why do I get the feeling that I don’t have a choice?”

He started for me, rolling his shoulders back, a cocky smirk adorning his face. “Because all you do is go to school, study, run, and have coital bliss with my brother. You need to hang out with friends and have fun.”

“I do.” He was beside the bed now, and I couldn’t hold back my grin. “I watched movies with Heather on Saturday.”

He snorted, leaning down and taking hold of my ankle. He started to pull me to him. “That wasn’t fun. That was hiding from my mother. That’s work. Come on.” With one abrupt tug, I was jerked to the edge of the bed. He tucked his shoulder down and moved me onto it. As he stood, I was slung over him.

“Logan!”

“You look fine. Always hot, Sam. You never need to worry about that.” He patted me on the back and turned for the door.

I was laughing too hard to fight back. He scooped down and handed my shoes to me, along with a coat and my bag. We headed out like that. There were others in the elevator, but Logan commented, patting my butt at the same time, “She forgot how to walk.” An elderly couple was confused while someone chuckled. A little kid circled to look up at me, pointed, and said, “You look weird.”

I felt Logan’s reaction. His body tensed and then shook in silent laughter. When the doors slid open to the bottom floor, everyone let us go first. Logan didn’t lower me until he got to his Escalade. I was deposited into the passenger seat, and he jogged over to his side.