FALLEN CREST HIGH (Fallen Crest #1)

Chapter Four

Friday night came and went. I stayed in, but Fallen Crest Public won against Fallen Crest Academy by a landslide, 32 to seven. I knew my dad would be heartbroken, but I still felt as if he had kicked me out of the house. My sympathy scale was in the negatives. The only high point was that Jessica and Lydia were both so hyped about the parties; they forgot to harass me into going. Jeff did the same, though I knew he was always sore after a loss. Even if he didn’t play since he’s second string, I knew he’d be grumpier than normal.

Apparently, my new roommates were the highlights of the game. Mason sacked Adam seventy percent of the time and Logan ran in for three of the touchdowns. I got all that from Lydia’s text messages.

“Honey, are you going out tonight?” My mom found me the next afternoon. She came into my room and took a seat on one of the couches with a cup of tea in her hand.

I was in the bathroom and had just gotten out of the shower. When I saw her curl her legs underneath and tuck them away, as if she were sitting with the Queen of England, I snorted in disbelief. Then I let loose the towel I had wrapped around me and walked into the room.

“Samantha!” she gasped and glanced at the door. It’d been left open.

I stood and perused my closet. Ignoring the shiver that ran over my naked body, I pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans with a black tank top.

“Honey, I wish you’d put some clothes on.”

I pulled out a black lacy bra and a pair of black thongs.

She sighed behind me. “I suppose this is you trying to get back at me, hmmm?” She took a sip. “I should expect this. Malaya said this is what teenagers do when they’ve been displaced from their homes, especially girls. I can only wonder what else you have in store for me.”

I threw the thong to the side and pulled the jeans on. Then I glanced in the mirror. Analise’s mouth twisted in a frown, but she took another sip.

“Are you sleeping with that Jeffrey? Is this why you’re dressing like some…”

I turned around, slowly. “Like what, mother?”

Her lips shut for a moment and then she exhaled, “Like a whore.”

One of my eyebrows shot up. “You think I’m a w***e?”

She set the tea cup aside and smoothed out her skirt. “I think you’re dressing like one because you want to get back at me. You never used to dress like that.”

“Yeah, well, I used to have a family.” I ducked my head and pulled the top on. When it fit like a glove, just above my jeans, I leaned forward to inspect my face in the mirror. I wasn’t anything great, long black hair, thin with a runner’s build, and eyes that were bleak.

“Samantha, honey, I worry about you. You’re so beautiful and I know that other boys can tell.”

I looked back at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Jeffrey.” Her hand raised in a helpless motion. “I worry that you’re wasting your high school years on him. He is clearly not good for you. Look at you; you’re thin as a rail.”

My mouth twisted.

“He obviously cheats on you. Even your friends have told me this.”

“You’ve talked to Jessica and Lydia?”

“Of course, I have. They’re your friends.”

“When?”

“What?”

“When did you talk to them?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe a month ago.”

As a breath of relief left me, I turned back to the mirror and did up my hair in some braid. Jessica taught me how to do it so I tried. It didn’t look the same, but it’d do. It was swept up and some strands fell free. I knew Lydia would croon in approval. Then I toed on my sandals.

“Where are you going, Samantha?”

I’d been prepared to walk out and ignore whatever else she was going to say, hell, I would’ve enjoyed it, but her soft voice made me stop. I cursed inside as I turned. “I’m going to some party with Lydia and Jessica.”

“Oh.”

I wanted to roll my eyes. I wanted so badly. “Why?” I didn’t.

“I think Mason and Logan are going to a friend’s get together. Maybe you could go with them? You can’t keep ignoring them.”

Her idea of a ‘get together’ was their idea of a 200+ house party. I wasn’t sure if my mom chose to be dense or if this came from the new relationship.

“Sure, mom. I’ll get right on that.”

She sighed, “Honey, at least try for me, please. It’s important to me if you get along with them.”

I stopped what I was doing and watched her in the mirror. If I hadn’t known her all my life, I would’ve wavered at the broken look on her face. It was like she’d lost her puppy. Then I cursed myself. I knew I was wavering anyway.

“I’ll see if Jess and Lydia know about any Public parties. I’m sure Mason and Logan will be there.”

She brightened and flashed me a smile before she picked up her tea again. “It means a lot to me, honey.” Then she pressed a kiss to my forehead and sashayed out of my room with her skirt swinging around her hips.

I’d been sucker punched by my own mother. She’d gotten me to fold.

Then I looked in the mirror again and changed everything. The black was thrown to the side and instead I pulled on a pair of pink skintight pants with a flesh-colored sparkly top that molded to my body. I grinned as I turned and headed out. My mom would’ve had a heart attack if she’d seen the new outfit.

Instead, I was content with Jessica and Lydia’s reactions.

Jessica frowned and twisted her shirt in her hands. Lydia’s eyes popped out and her mouth kept opening and closing like a fish. Finally she remarked, “You look good, Sam.”

“Hot damn,” one guy remarked as he and his friends moved past.

Another one gave me a wolf whistle while a third asked if he could feel me up. The last one asked if I’d go to dinner, but I grinned until I felt a pair of hands snake around my waist. I was pulled back against a body and a pair of lips started on my neck. I heard the chuckle and relaxed, slightly.

Jeff whispered in my ear, “Can we please go somewhere? You walked in that door and I got hard.”

“Sweet nothings. That’s what I look forward to from you.” I patted his cheek and walked away.

He groaned behind, but followed. His hand curved around my waist and he pulled me close again. “Seriously, Sam. I’ve got an itch that I really want you to scratch.”

At that moment, a guy burst through the crowd and landed beside us, against the counter. He glanced over with glazed eyes, but threw his head back and started howling. Some guys’ answered and Jeff’s hand tightened on my arm. When it increased and became painful I started to say something, but the crowd parted at that moment.

My words died in my throat.

Mason and Logan walked through the crowd with a few of their friends beside them. They strode forward as if they owned the party, which it felt like they did. It was a Public party. Jeff and I were next to the drinks so they stopped close. Logan skimmed an eye over us and grinned, but turned and grabbed a bottle. He started pouring drinks while Mason took one that was offered from someone. His eyes were locked with mine.

After a moment, Jeff nudged me. “You know Kade?”

“No,” I clipped out and shoved through the crowd.

The group howled again as Jeff followed behind.

Lydia found us in a back room later on. She gripped a cup in her hand with a drunken haze over her eyes. “Did you see them?”

Jeff groaned. He had a hand curled around my waist and he’d been kissing my neck for the last hour. He pulled away and fell back against the couch now.

“Them?”

“Mason and Logan Kade.”

My frown was quick. I couldn’t block it.

Jeff noticed. “You sure you don’t know them?”

“I don’t need to know them to not like them.”

Lydia swooned, “Mason is so gorgeous. Maybe I should tell them I was at the gas station that night. I bet he’d talk to me then. Maybe I will.” She looked hopeful as she scanned the room.

“Pretty sure he went upstairs half an hour ago with some blonde,” Jeff clipped out.

She frowned. “Oh.”

“Where’s Jessica?”

The excitement burst forth again as Lydia turned back. “She’s in the back playing pool with Logan Kade.”

“Really?”

Jeff shifted beside me on the couch. “I’m going to get something to drink. Sam?”

I held out my cup, but he left without it.

As I frowned after him, Lydia took his seat. “She’s not playing with just him, but a bunch of others. I’m sure he doesn’t even notice her, but maybe. Maybe they’ll start to date. Could you imagine that? Being Logan Kade’s girlfriend?”

“He’s not that great, Lydia.”

She frowned. Some of the drunken haze tried to clear up. “What do you mean? Have you talked to him?” Then she nodded to herself. “That’d make sense. You were out there. You saw the whole thing. Did they threaten you? You’ve never said a word about the car bombs. People don’t know that you witnessed the whole thing. I bet they told you to shut up about it, didn’t they?”

I gripped her arm tight.

She kept on, “Can you imagine being threatened by them? I’d have a hard time trying not to jump in their arms. Mason’s so dreamy…”

Some people near us started to pay attention to the conversation. I saw their glances and as she rambled on, I felt more and more attention. My hand squeezed harder. “Lydia.”

“Huh?” She tried again to focus on me.

“Shut up.” I had a death grip on her now.

She gave me a silly smile. “Or did you get it on with them? I wouldn’t blame you, especially with Jeff. Who cares about him, right?”

I snapped and stood up. “Would you give it a rest? They’re not that great and my love life, if it is one or not, isn’t your business.”

When I whirled to stalk out of the room, I stopped short. Logan stood in the doorway with a cup in hand and a pool stick in the other. Some of his friends were around, but Jessica had a hand on his arm. She frowned when she saw me, but glanced up to Logan with a small smile on her lips.

Logan narrowed his eyes with his mouth in a firm line. I watched how his hands gripped the cup tighter. And then I stormed out. I didn’t care if I pissed him off or not. Hell, I would’ve enjoyed that.

I tried to head for the front door, but there were so many people. I kept getting lost and so I headed up the stairs. It was empty and it was somewhere I could gather my sanity again. However, as I pushed into a bedroom, I hadn’t expected to find Jeff in the bed with another girl.

He glanced over his shoulder with a scowl, but his eyes went wide. The girl twisted out from underneath him and tried to pull down her black tube top. Lipstick was smeared over both of their faces.

I gutted out in a laugh, “Are you kidding me?”

“Sam, wait.” He scrambled off the bed. I turned to bolt, but he caught my arm in the hallway. “Wait. Please.”

“I’m not even surprised.” I spoke in a calm voice. My heart was racing. I knew my face must’ve been red because I felt my blood boiling. My arms, legs, knees, everything trembled and shook, but my voice sounded like I had asked if it was raining.

He paused and watched me.

“Isn’t this the cliché ending to us?”

“Ending?” His Adam’s apple moved up and down.

“Yeah,” I laughed outright now and swept a hand towards the bedroom. “You were making out with another girl.”

He narrowed his eyes and pulled up his pants.

A door opened behind him. It was quiet, so quiet that if I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have sensed his presence. Mason came out with a skinny blonde on his arm. She looked unable to stand, but I saw his hand grip underneath her legs and he lifted her against him. She hung on around his neck and leaned a head against his chest with a contented smile on her face. He narrowed his eyes when he saw me.

Then Jeff broke the spell. “I know it looks bad.”

“Looks bad?” I spat out. “Are you dense?”

“Yeah, well, you had me going so hard all night.” He gestured at me. “Look at you, Sam. You’re hot, hella hot. And I get nothing. I’ve been your boyfriend for three years. It’s taken me a damn year and half to see your tits.”

My eyes turned to a glare.

He ran a hand through his haphazard hair. “I’ll change, Sam. I’ve gotta. I love you.”

“You don’t love me.” I said it quietly.

“Three years. That’s gotta mean something. Please, Sam.”

“You don’t love me.”

He looked ready to argue, then something flashed over his face, and a snarl came out instead. “Why don’t you get off your high horse? Fine, we’re done. I’m not even going to kiss your ass. It hasn’t done me a damn thing in the three years we’ve been dating or the two it took me to get you. I can be half the nice guy I am to you and I’ve got no problem getting panties to drop.”

I geared myself.

He spat out, “You’re just some high class b***h that ain’t high class, Sam.”

Mason lifted his head. His eyes remained narrowed to slits, but no other reaction came from him. His face was a blank mask.

I tore my eyes from his and found my soon to be ex boyfriend’s in a glower. “Don’t you want to know who I’ve been with? You don’t have any inkling?”

“I know that you’ve been cheating on me. Even my mother knew.”

“That makes you look like a fool.” A cruel smirk came to him. He stuck his hands in his pockets and a prideful look came over him.

“Maybe. Or maybe I didn’t give a crap.”

He grew quiet. “Yeah, you’re screwed up, Sam. I’ve never known another girl who’d stay with a guy if he cheated the whole time.”

My heart skipped a beat. The whole time?

He laughed again. The sound sent shivers up my spine. “You’ve got no clue who with, do you? You’ve got piss poor taste in friends.”

“Friends?” I wrung out. My eyes gleamed with an ugly feeling.

He was so smug. “Jess has been giving it to me for two years now.”

“Jess.”

“And Lydia knew. She’s known the whole time. She’s helped us cover it up too.”

“Lydia knew?” I parroted like a fool.

Jeff chuckled and shook his head. “I’d be up here with her now if she wasn’t so obsessed with Kade. Ever since the car bombing, it’s all either of them talk about. I told her to get straight. The Kade brothers are going down. They set fire to those cars. The cops have to know—”

Mason started to step forward.

I cried out, “Shut up. You don’t know a thing about it!”

Jeff frowned.

“I was there. I was outside and you don’t know anything. Jessica and Lydia were inside. They didn’t see a thing. They were wasted that night.”

Mason moved back a step. The girl on his arm looked up with concern, but settled back against his chest a moment later.

“It don’t matter. They’ll get what’s coming to them.” His mouth curled up in an ugly smile.

I slapped him. When it was done, his head snapped back and he stared at me, his eyes wide. The air had grown thick, tense. I found it hard to breathe. Then I turned and left. This time I found the front door and I drove off. The hand I slapped him with shook even after I got home and crawled in bed. I tucked it under me and tried to go to sleep.

I never fell asleep that night.