Falling for Hadie (33 page)

With him, I felt like I was at my very best regardless of what others thought of me. In a few short weeks we had formed a connection that was just as strong as if we’d known each other for years. Lincoln made me see the beauty in the smallest things and he made me step outside of the box.

He made my life easier, but very soon I’d have to learn to live without him. I’d have to find a way to move on from the large gap he would leave behind. I tried to push the horrible thought aside as Lincoln spoke.

“Maybe they’re staring at you,” he supplied with a grin.

I turned my head to scrutinize the closest girl and that’s when I realized that something was wrong.

There was something strange about the way these girls were staring at Lincoln. They weren’t checking him out; they were watching him with wide eyes. And it wasn’t just the girls. The boys were doing it too.

What on earth…?

I looked up at Lincoln to see if he had noticed it as well and judging from the way his smile was quickly fading, I knew he could see it too.

“What’s going on?” I asked, grabbing onto his arm as a flurry of whispers followed us down the hall.

Estella and Mariah were standing by my locker, their faces grave. Before we’d even reached them, Lincoln stopped and turned to me. He only said two words, but they had such a profound effect on me that it felt like my heart had been dunked in a bucket of icy water.

“They know.”

My friends began walking towards us, shooting us both looks of pity and sadness. I ignored them for the meantime, my full attention on what Lincoln had just said.

“They know
what
?”

Lincoln’s face turned pale. “They know about me. This is the way everyone back at my old school looked at me when they found out. Did you tell anyone else?”

I shook my head. “Only my parents know and they wouldn’t tell a soul.”

Estella and Mariah stopped in front of us. The four of us were silent, looking at each other awkwardly until Estella finally spoke.

“Lincoln, there’s a rumor going around the school about you.”

“Something horrible,” Mariah added.

My heart drowned.

No. This couldn’t be happening. How could everyone know? Who could have told them? Lincoln was in no condition to deal with this. It didn’t make sense how this had gotten out. We had both remained tight-lipped about it. I hadn’t even told my friends because it wasn’t my secret to tell and because Lincoln had asked me not to. Who would do something so nasty to him?

It didn’t take very long to work that out either, because just then Bennett and Kance rounded the corner and came towards us. They were flanked by several of their friends and to my surprise, I found Becky walking alongside Bennett, her arm linked through his.

No way. There was no way in hell Becky was going out with that low-life.

A hush fell along the corridor, and Lincoln bristled beside me as the “popular kids” stopped a few feet away from us.

“Get the hell away from my sister.” Lincoln was the first to speak, his shoulders rigid from all the anger he was holding back.

Bennett’s lip curled. “What’s it to you, new kid? Rumor has it you won’t be around for much longer anyway. Maybe once I’m done with your sister, I can bang your girlfriend too. She’ll be lonely after you die.”

Several students let out loud gasps, including Mariah who was standing behind me. Becky shot me a dirty look, which I ignored. The last thing I cared about was her.

I had to give Lincoln credit. He did not flinch. Instead, he was stoic as he faced Bennett down, not an ounce of fear on his face at being confronted by one of the most popular boys in school. Maybe it was because he’d been at the top of the food chain at his last school. Maybe you gained a certain kind of confidence from being in that position that never left you.

Whatever it was, I could see Bennett’s smug expression slip a little at getting no reaction from Lincoln. He had expected Lincoln to crack. He wanted a fight—he was out for blood.

And it was all because of me. Because I had rejected him. Because I had moved on and I was happy. Out of all the girls he could’ve had, he’d picked Becky because he’d known it would get to Lincoln the most.

What an asshole.

“I’m sooo glad I stayed away from the new boy,” Kance cooed, “God knows what other diseases he’s carrying around.”

There was a chorus of “ooohs”. I wanted to smack Kance on her uppity little face and rip those curls off her head.

Her reasons for picking on Lincoln were simpler. He had rejected her advances and she was pissed. When she had kicked Ashton out of the group, Bennett had stood by her and deserted one of his closest friends. This was her way of repaying the favor.

Once again, Lincoln didn’t respond. Instead, he fixed his eyes on his twin sister, looking desperate. “Becky, get away from him. He’s scum of the earth.”

Through the crowd, I could see Ashton and Eddie standing side by side, both unmoving. I didn’t know how long they’d been there for, but it was obvious they’d heard everything. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Eddie knowing the truth about Lincoln.

Becky’s expression darkened. “Don’t tell me what to do, little brother. Bennett’s a great guy. It’s sad that you can’t see that.”

“Now you know what it’s like when someone takes something that belongs to you,” Bennett said with a satisfied smile.

“Hadie doesn’t belong to you,” Lincoln said, gritting his teeth. “And Becky doesn’t belong to me. I just hate to see her with a piece of shit like you.”

“Oh my God, Link!” Becky fumed, gesticulating with her hands. “This has nothing to do with you! The world doesn’t revolve around you, so stop acting like it does! Don’t use your sickness as an excuse to get all the attention!”

“You must really be pathetic if your own sister can’t stand you,” Kance remarked with an evil smirk.

Just as Becky and Kance finished speaking, my eyes met with Ashton’s. Her face was calm and she gave me a meaningful nod. That tiny gesture made all the sense in the world, and immediately I knew what was going to happen next.

Ashton and I moved together towards where Becky and Kance stood as though we had rehearsed this. I didn’t know how I knew what was going to happen, but I just knew that Ashton had my back.

I stepped towards Becky, and Ashton stepped towards Kance. Then, before anyone could react, we raised our hands in perfect synchronization and slapped the girls across the face.

For a second no one moved. Then all hell broke loose.

“Don’t you dare speak about your brother like that! I could care less about you and Bennett! You two deserve each other!”

Becky stared back at me, her mouth hanging open.

“I’ve been dying to do that for a long time,” Ashton said, her voice cool and a lot calmer than mine. “You stole my best friend from me and you drugged my boyfriend, yet you have the nerve to go around and call other people pathetic. Who’s the attention whore, really? Who has to backstab and screw other people to get ahead in life?”

Ashton raised her hand again but before she could land another blow, Eddie and Luca—who had appeared out of nowhere—sprang forward and grabbed her. She didn’t try and fight them, only relaxed against them as they dragged her away from Kance.

Kance was swearing at Ashton now, calling her names that made my ears wither and burn—words that I would never repeat. Some guys had grabbed onto her, but her expression was venomous—she looked as deadly as a hissing viper.

Becky sprung on me and grabbed me by the hair but was quickly wrenched off me by someone a lot stronger than both of us. My head was on fire as Lincoln wrapped me up in his arms, and when I looked around I saw that Bennett was the one who’d pulled Becky off me. He was now pushing her away and she was staring at him, appearing confused.

“She hit me!” Becky cried. “Let me at her! I’ll break her face!”

Bennett gave her a withering look as though she was a piece of shit. “You’ll do no such thing. You’ve served your purpose, which was to make Hadie jealous. Obviously, it didn’t work because there’s nothing about you that could ever make her jealous. So, scram. I’m done with you.”

“B-but I thought we had something special, Bennett. You told me you cared about me,” Becky sniffled, her eyes widening in disbelief.

“I would’ve said you were the most beautiful girl in the world if it would help me get Hadie back,” Bennett scoffed. “Get the hell out of here, Becky.”

Lincoln released me and stepped forward. “Fuck you, asshole.” Then all I heard was a sickening crunch, like a bone had been snapped in half.

The crowd of students was surging forwards and there were several flashes as people whipped out their phones and started taking photos. Bennett stumbled away from Lincoln, his hand pressed against his nose as blood spurted from beneath his hand.

My stomach churned as the blood spilled to the floor, and I had to turn away because the sight of Bennett bleeding like that made me sick. That’s when I caught sight of three teachers pushing their way through the crowd, trying to get to the students who were causing the disturbance.

My stomach jolted as I realized that I was one of the students who had caused the disturbance. Boring, bookish, straight-A student Hadie Swinton was the one slapping people and getting caught in the middle of a rivalry that was as ridiculous as Bella picking Edward.

I guess I wasn’t so boring anymore.

***

It was a wonder that the seven of us had managed to cram ourselves into Principal Lawson’s tiny office.

Becky and Kance were sitting on the chairs across from Principal Lawson; Lincoln, Ashton and I were squashed against one cor
ner, while Bennett—his nose bandaged and no longer bleeding—occupied the corner opposite us. Despite Eddie not being involved in the fight at all, he was standing in between Bennett and Lincoln like a buffer.

We were the most unlikely group of people to ever be in the same room together.

Kance and Ashton were ex-best friends. Ashton and Bennett were ex-best friends. Lincoln and Becky were siblings. Bennett was my ex-boyfriend. Becky and Bennett had sort of been dating but I guess were over now. And Eddie? Well, he seemed to be the only normal person out of all of us, yet he was the one covered in tattoos and piercings.

What a freak show.

“Eddie, can you please explain to me what just happened?” Principal Lawson asked, careful not to make eye contact with anyone else.

We all turned in unison to stare at Eddie, surprised that he was the one who had been given the opportunity to explain the events. Eddie didn’t seem overwhelmed as Kance and Becky glared at him; he simply stared straight ahead as he spoke.

“Becky told Bennett that Lincoln is sick. Bennett took Kance and Becky along with him to rub it in Lincoln’s face. They taunted him, and Hadie snapped. Ashton slapped Kance, and Hadie slapped Becky. Then Bennett made a derogatory remark about Becky, so Lincoln punched him in the face.”

I couldn’t help but admire Eddie as he spoke. He held no bias towards anyone; he had stated the facts exactly as they had happened without adding anything unnecessary or taking anything away. Was that why he was in here with us? Did he go around the school collecting intel on everyone?

Kance looked angry as Eddie finished speaking. She flipped her beautiful, dark curls over her shoulder and fixed Eddie with a look of disdain. “I’m sorry but why is he here?”

Eddie didn’t flinch, which I had to give props to him for. Most other people would have run away screaming from Kance Logan. “The principal is my uncle.”

Kance’s mouth opened in surprise and she muttered something under her breath but didn’t say anything else as Principal Lawson looked over at Ashton.

“Ashton, you were in trouble two months ago for bullying another student. I warned you that failure to stay out of trouble would result in suspension from the school. You don’t seem to have any reason to get involved in this fight, so why did you?”

Ashton flipped her golden hair over her shoulder. “Because I’m sick of Kance acting like she runs this school, and I’m sick of the way Bennett acts like her lapdog and treats everyone like they’re worthless.”

“I’m not her lapdog!” Bennett yelled.

“Sure you’re not.” Ashton rolled her eyes and looked away.

Kance pursed her lips as though she were sucking on a lemon and looked Ashton up and down. “I can’t help that you’re jealous of me. I mean, I did steal your only best friend, the guy you wanted to date, and your spot on the cheerleading squad. It can’t be helped that you want to be like me. Everyone wants to be me.”

As if to further prove her point, her eyes flickered over to Becky who was staring at her with this sickening look of adoration on her face.

Ashton shot Kance a tight smile. “I guess I should thank you for stealing my life from me. First, it’s a huge compliment that you’d want to take everything away from me. Imitation is the best kind of flattery, or so they say. And, secondly, not being your friend is the best thing that ever happened to me. I finally found myself again—found Luca again.”

The smug expression on Kance’s face faded at those words. The former best friends stared daggers at each other, and I felt chills run down my spine just watching them.