Chapter 2-1
1660 Words
Chapter 2
Bailey
Fury burns my throat, blinds me as I stumble out of journalism class.
The nerve of Cole Muchmore. He literally just stole my quiz in front of the whole class and got away with it. He’s fist-bumping his teammates—the other alpha-holes, as Rayne called them.
As if making me a social pariah wasn’t enough, now he’s stealing my work?
I can’t believe I let him get away with it.
What’s wrong with me? Am I so desperate for friends I would sacrifice my education and future just to not piss anyone off? I should have ratted him out. They already hate me. I’ve been a social outcast, party of one for weeks now.
And what in the hell is wrong with all the kids in this school that they think helping the football star cheat is the right thing to do?
Assholes.
I duck my head to hide the tears blurring my vision as I spin my locker combination around. It takes me five spins before I calm down enough to even see the numbers. Three more tries to get it unlocked.
The second the door swings open, it slams shut, a big hand slapping it closed and staying there.
Of course I know exactly who that hand belongs to.
“Thanks for the help, Pink.” Cole crowds against my backside, leaning in close to speak low in my ear, like this is some private, lover’s conversation and not more bullying from the biggest d**k in the school.
His voice rumbles deep, reverberating right into secret places it doesn’t belong.
“f**k you, Cole,” I snap. I don’t usually curse, especially not at school, but this situation really calls for it.
I guess I’m still a chicken, though, because I don’t turn around, not willing to come eye to eye with my tormentor. I press myself even closer to the lockers to keep him from rubbing against me, but he just moves in tighter, and now I have smells and sensations that will haunt me along with his smirking face.
He’s going for intimidation and it’s working, but my body registers it as something altogether different.
Something foreign yet primitively familiar. Biological level, monkey brain s**t that makes my downstairs unconscionably wet. Because no way do I find his muscle-brained posturing sexy.
It sucks that he’s Jacob Elordi level hot. Tingles race across the surface of my skin. I look down. Goosebumps. He’s giving me f*****g goosebumps just standing too close. I don’t have to look to know my n*****s are beading against my favorite polka dot skater dress. I fight the urge to cross my arms over my chest. He doesn’t need to know how he affects me.
He’s big. Strong. His voice is deep. His scent is cedarwood soap and masculine goodness. And his cocky bullshit does something squirmy to my core.
“Here.” His other hand appears in front of my face. Not the one still holding my locker closed effectively caging me in, but one on the other side of my head. He’s holding a piece of cinnamon Trident out to me.
“Really?” I snatch the gum and whirl around, too pissed now to avoid a face-to-face confrontation. “A stick of gum?” I hold it between our noses, cursing my hand for shaking. “Is this the going rate for taking someone’s quiz for them around here?”
Cole’s fiery brown gaze burns through me. I see the hatred in his eyes before he blinks and pretends he doesn’t give a s**t. He shifts to lean a shoulder against my locker. “Well, you know, that’s all I can afford… seeing as how your mom stole my dad’s job and all.”
All the noise in my head quiets. My stomach drops out and I lose my breath. “What?”
“Yeah. I guess she’s a real big shot, huh? Your mom? All the way from Coors Brewery in Colorado.” He shrugs. “My dad couldn’t compete with that.”
My knees quake. Mouth opens and closes like an empty PEZ dispenser, but I can’t figure out the appropriate response.
It doesn’t matter. Cole’s already pushed off and sauntered away, the crowd parting to allow its king to pass.
He thinks my mom took his dad’s job?
That’s why Cole and Casey Muchmore hate me? That’s why I’ve been the social outcast here for the past eight weeks. Why I can smile and say “hi” to kids in the hallways, in the bathrooms, and not even a freshman will so much as give me a head nod.
I had no idea it was personal.
Understanding should bring relief, but it just brings a hollow ache to the pit of my stomach. Unless Cole and Casey Muchmore’s alcoholic, waste of space dad gets another job, I’m public enemy number one.
And it’s not my fault. It’s not even my mom’s fault.
She was hired in after Wolf Ridge Brewery had a major kerfuffle with the FDA and got shut down. And yeah, my mom said things were a total mess when she got here. Like the checks weren’t in place to prevent contamination disasters. That means Cole and Casey’s dad sucked at his job, and it’s no wonder he lost it.
I can see why us moving in next door would be like rubbing salt in a wound, but my mom didn’t steal his dad’s job. And even if she did, how in his twisted, Neanderthal brain am I to blame for his life turning shitty?
I know quite a bit about life suddenly turning shitty. You don’t see me screwing over strangers in revenge.
Fingers shaking, I work the combination on my locker once again and pull out my backpack and head to lunch, my most dreaded period of the day. The time when I try to find a place alone to sit and do my homework as I eat a sandwich.
“So you took the alpha-hole’s quiz for him, huh?”
I whirl to find Rayne, standing there. Her friendly face is such a balm to my raw emotions, I want to throw my arms around her and squeeze. I hold back though. I don’t want to scare my only friend off with my desperation for human contact.
“News travels that fast?”
“Yep. That’s Wolf Ridge for you. Takes about five minutes for the latest news to go around. Especially when it concerns our star quarterback.”
“Is football that big a deal? I don’t get it.”
She shrugs, falling into step with me. “Wolf Ridge takes state in almost every sport. We’re renowned. But Cole is special—he’s entertainment on the field. Kinda toys with the other team. Like a cat with a mouse. It’s legendary. So if he got benched for bad grades this week, everyone would’ve mourned. I know you had no choice, but you just became an unsung hero.”
“I just became the laughing stock of the school and a target for every bully.”
“Nah, just Cole.”
“So do you have to be good at sports to be popular?”
“Yep.” She sweeps her hands down her body with a giant rueful smile. “Guess you know why I won’t get crowned homecoming queen.”
I have the insane urge to steal the homecoming crown before it’s given out this weekend just to give it to Rayne. And that thought makes me smile.
She elbows me. “It’s not that funny.”
My smile grows bigger. “I’m not laughing at you, I swear. Just thinking how fun it would be to throw the contest.”
She grins back. She leads me to the far side of the school, where there’s a little patch of trees I hadn’t seen before. “This is where I like to hide during lunch.” She sinks down with her back against one of the trees.
I drop to join her. “This is way better than the places I’ve tried.” It’s true. She found the one tiny patch of real nature on campus where the air is somehow easier to breathe.
“So Cole thinks my mom stole his dad’s job,” I blurt, unable to keep my mind off it.
Rayne raises her brows. “You didn’t know that?”
I sigh. Okay, Wolf Ridge is that small and interconnected. “I thought everyone hated me because I’m Hispanic.”
She spits out her juice laughing. “That’s hilarious.”
“Well, it is pretty homogenous here. And I don’t fit the bill. You should see the way Cole’s dad stares out the window at us. I swear to God, I thought he or one of the other neighbors were going to call ICE on us, hoping we’d get picked up in the night just because our last name is Sanchez.”
Rayne laughs so hard tears leak from the corners of her eyes. “No.” She wipes at the moisture. “It’s not racism you’re combating here.”
The way she draws out racism makes me think there’s something else. Something besides my mom taking Cole’s job, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what that would be.
She tucks a wild tuft of white-blonde hair behind her ear, and I see the flash of a blue tattoo on the inside of her wrist. “What is that?” I ask, pointing to it.
She holds it out to show me a tiny paw print.
“Very sweet. Is it to remember a dog?”
“It’s a wolf print, actually.”
“Are wolves special to you?”
She quickly tucks it away and ducks her head. “No. Just for Wolf Ridge. It’s stupid.” She blushes furiously. “I wish I’d never gotten it, but it’s too late now.”
“I like it.” An idea takes hold, one that gets me excited for the first time in months. A way to memorialize Catrina. “I want to get one. Did you get it here in town?”
“Yep. At Wolf’s Paw Tattoo.”
“Oh my God. Is that why you got a wolf’s paw? Is it free if you become a walking advertisement for them?”
Rayne laughs. “No, but I guess that’s where I got the idea, yeah. But you have to be eighteen or have parental consent.”
“Well, it just so happens that my birthday is tomorrow.” I grin. “Want to come with me?”
She lights up. “Definitely. What are you going to get inked?”
I swallow back the sudden lump in my throat. I guess I’m still not okay talking about it. Instead I shrug and go for mystery. “You’ll see.”
- Writer
