Bully Anthology: Boys of Westview Academy, books 1-4 Page 6

  My heart softened towards him and I wondered if he and I were in the same boat, victims of our parent's short sighted self-centered personalities.

  And I missed my home even more.

  Chapter 11

  The next day I made it through school pretty unnoticed. I guess the excitement of being the new girl had worn off.

  Until lunchtime again.

  I walked away from the lineup with a tray of delicious food, the kind of fancy eating you'd have in the nicest restaurants back home, and looked for a table.

  I saw an empty one in the corner at the back of the cafeteria and made a beeline for it, hoping to continue my streak of luck and remain under the radar.

  Even Barrett that morning had been silent on the way to school and had said almost nothing as he dropped me off.

  I was almost at the empty table when three boys rushed past me and slid into the benches on either side.

  Whitt patted the seat next to him and said, "You have to join us, Steph. I saved you a spot."

  I laughed and shook my head. "You're crazy, you literally just got here."

  "No way. I've been here waiting for you."

  He was so sincere that I swear I would have believed him except that I'd actually just seen him jump in front of me.

  But I smiled and took the spot.

  "What's up, Steph?" Chase asked and took a huge bite of his sandwich. The bread was dark and looked handmade, the meat and cheese were all the sorts of things you'd call artisan and see featured on the cover of some country style magazine that filled you with envy for chic rustic food and decor.

  Sometimes I had to mentally shake my head because I couldn't believe the life I lived now.

  What a world I'd been drawn into.

  "Just eating my quinoa salad and apparently not studying my French, which is what I had planned for my lunch hour,“ I said dryly.

  "Oh, excuse me," Whitt said. "We would speak French with you but Rome here fucking sucks at languages. I hear he's even a terrible cunning linguist."

  "Oh fuck off," Rome said with a laugh and it took me a moment to get the joke.

  "Ew, gross," I said and rolled my eyes. Cunnilingus, a play on words.

  Rome tossed his apple at Whitt's head with quite a throw but Whitt reached out and snatched it from the air before it made contact.

  It rolled along his thumb though, and almost in slow motion it slid right off the end and hurtled towards the table and my salad.

  Rome's hand whipped out and caught it just as I made my move. I somehow found myself holding onto Rome's arm, his bare skin was smooth and hot under my touch and I felt an electric spark run along my skin where we touched.

  I gasped, locked my eyes on his, and jerked my arm back as if burned.

  He smiled a lazy smile, winked at me and took a bite of the apple.

  His eyes held hunger though, and it wasn't for the food in his hand.

  He'd felt it too, that spark, and he hungered for me. His blue eyes were lit up as if from within and he chewed deliberately as he looked at me.

  "See? Even Steph here finds your behavior shocking," Whitt said and slung his arm around my shoulder. "You made her recoil in disgust, isn't that right, Steph?"

  "Sure," I replied but one look at Rome told me that he knew I was lying.

  And that look told me I wasn't alone in my confused attraction.

  How strange it was, having these boys around me. I'd gone from wanting Josh so badly that I couldn't imagine myself with anybody else but him...to flirting outrageously with four different ones, one of them my stepbrother.

  "Oh nice, you three are getting cozy with the new girl," Becca said and slid onto the bench on my other side.

  "What can I say? Boys love me," I said with a smile but I couldn't get that sincere with Becca. I was still annoyed that she'd gotten me in trouble with Barrett the afternoon before.

  "I'm sure they do," she said with a snide glance. "Oh by the way, I was supposed to give you a message from Barrett yesterday and I like, totally forgot. Sorry."

  "That's fine, we found each other anyways. Kind of hard not to when you live together," I laughed, but it was a dry, fake laugh.

  "So no hard feelings?"

  "Oh my god, girl, none at all."

  "Shit, Steph, are you doing this again?" Barrett snapped as he reached the table too.

  "Doing what?"

  "Slutting around with my friends while I'm not here?"

  "She was practically drooling on them when I showed up," Becca said and reached for Barrett's hand. "I got you a turkey wrap, babe. Come, sit."

  Barrett didn't look at her though, he was glaring at me as if I disgusted him to his core.

  "This might go over back in California, sis," he said with a cruel emphasis on the sis part, as if the world alone made him sick. "That's not how we are here in Harrisburg. Our girls try to keep their slutting around to one guy at a time. With class."

  "Yeah, with class," Becca agreed and glared at me too.

  I was humiliated, hot shame burned my cheeks and I felt as if I might pass out from the heat of my embarrassment. I couldn't believe that not only was he calling me out in public, but in front of his friends and Becca too. I wasn't a little girl and I wasn't his property to try and control.

  I stood up and looked him in the eyes, my gaze unwavering as anger followed the shame and gave me an almost tingling sensation in my stomach. I was so mad I was practically vibrating. Whitt stood too, standing next to me. I sensed his tension as I began to talk.

  "Listen here, bro," I spat out. "You're the one who's apparently slutting around, so don't pin this one me."

  He thought I was done, but I wasn't. All of the frustration and embarrassment melded together as a ball of molten rage in my stomach and I kept going, not yelling but speaking in a way that made him flinch away from me.

  "I'm not the one who tricked me into taking a picture of your dick one the first night we met," I said and then looked down at his friends and held my fingers apart just a couple inches. "It didn't even fill the camera frame, if you know what I mean."

  The three of them snickered and Becca's mouth flew open. "That's not true! It's huge!"

  "I didn't ask to be here," I kept going, enjoying the surprised look on Barrett's face. "I didn't ask to be sent to live with some guy I barely know and a new, snobby family who hates me."

  "I don't hate you, I don't have any feelings for you," Barrett replied. "I mean hell, David hadn't even told us about you until last week. When he took pity on your slutty ass."

  "Don't you dare," I hissed in a low voice. I had no idea if anybody at Westview Academy had seen my YouTube video, the viral sensation of me being dragged out of Josh's party, but I didn't want to know. I was trying to make a clean break, start with a clean slate.

  "You know why you landed out here, penniless and wearing your cheap old clothes, looking like somebody's house cleaner and not David Montgomery's daughter. You know why he didn't tell us about you," Barrett said with deliberate cruelty.

  "Whoa," Whitt said and put his hand up. "You're crossing all kinds of lines here, dude. I suggest you shut the fuck up and take a seat."

  "You stay out of this," Barrett glowered. "This doesn't involve you, Whitt. You don't want to do this."

  "It does involve me when you're being a giant fucking asshole to a fellow student. I don't care if your mom married her dad, that doesn't give you the right to push her around like this."

  The cafeteria had gotten notably silent as all eyes were on us, watching and waiting to see what was going to happen.

  There was nothing like a fight to get everybody's attention in high school.

  The two of them remained locked in a dark stare-down and I realized I had to do something.

  "Just stop it, you two," I said. "Whitt, I appreciate your help but it's not necessary. Barrett's just being a bratty little brother, right, bro?"

  The tone in my voice was forceful enough to break the stare down and his eyes flitted t
o mine. "What?"

  "You're just being a bratty little brother," I smiled and put my hand on his arm to calm him. It seemed to work, Barrett's tension left his body and he gave me a crooked smile.

  "I'm older than you though."

  "When's your birthday?"

  "February."

  "Well I'm January, so there," I replied and stuck my tongue out at him.

  Everybody laughed, even Becca, and it was the much needed released that was necessary to break the buildup between Whitt and Barrett.

  But I couldn't ever forget two things that had happened just now.

  The disgust in Barrett's eyes.

  And how quickly Whitt had jumped in to defend me.

  I sat back down, storing that knowledge for later when I could properly process it.

  But it felt like I was already sorting out who had my back and who would stab it the first chance they got.

  And sadly the one who should have been closest to me was the one who would hurt me.

  Not that I would ever give him the chance.

  Chapter 12

  The car ride home that afternoon was horrible. He barely spoke to me from the moment I climbed in to the moment he stopped in front of the house.

  I didn't see Barrett at dinner either, so he stuck me with Elaine who went on and on and on about how I needed to start using good skin care products because she worried that I would dry up like a raisin after living in the California sun for so many years.

  I perfected the art of nodding politely while texting Maddy and Brie under the table.

  And once again I had that aching pang of longing when they told me about how old Mr. Hubble had accidentally lit the Chem lab on fire...again...and how principal Abbott had done a total ban on crop tops because Crissy Sinclair had underboob showing during a speech competition.

  I missed how carefree my old school was, and how all my big problems back home now seemed so insignificant. I couldn't believe I'd ever lain awake praying that I would become popular in senior year.

  Now I'd give almost anything to be completely unknown.

  And I'd give basically anything I had to go back to California and hang out in the background.

  But I was here and I was stuck so I made an excuse to miss dessert and head upstairs to do my homework.

  What I really wanted to do was hunt Barrett down and ask him what he’d meant at lunch, if it was true.

  Had my dad really not told them about me at all? Why had he kept me hidden from Elaine and her sons all this time?

  I slammed my door shut and flopped across my bed to do some reading for English class and ignore the world for a few hours. I needed a mental break from everything.

  I was a few chapters into the book when I heard a tapping at my door. I rolled over and sat up.

  "Come in," I said.

  The door opened and Kit was standing there looking extremely uncomfortable.

  "Can we talk?" she asked

  "Sure, what's wrong?"

  "Nothing wrong, but something's come up."

  "Come in," I said and my heart was strumming like the strings of a guitar, I was so nervous. I had no clue what she needed to talk to me about.

  She walked across my room and stood in front of me on the thick, sheepskin carpet that had been dyed a pale pink color. It was so pretty and gave me the urge to curl my toes into the softness every time I walked on it.

  At the moment it looked like Kit was going to vomit on it though, so I waited until she began to talk.

  "I don't know how to approach this so I'm just going to come out and say it," she said, her eyes looking everywhere in the room except for me. "Did you steal Elaine's diamond bracelet?"

  The air became too thick to breath and I couldn't inhale. My ears popped, there was so much pressure in my head as the shock of her words hit me.

  Finally I stammered, "What...what?"

  "I know. I don't think you did it. But Elaine is furious and insists you're the only one who had access to it."

  "I never go in her room. Ever."

  "It wasn't in here room. She took it off for her tennis lessons and when she got back it was gone."

  "When were her lessons?"

  "About an hour ago."

  "I was in here reading the entire time. I have homework."

  "Did anyone see you?" Kit asked, nervously flitting her eyes across my face as if she hated herself for even asking.

  "Of course not. I was alone."

  "I'll let her know. And again, I didn't think it was you."

  "Thanks. I guess," I replied and frowned. "When does my dad get back?"

  "On the weekend. Sunday afternoon. I'm sure we can talk about it as a family when he's home. Until then, can I give you some advice?"

  "Sure," I said.

  "You're new here and seem very nice. You have no idea how crazy these people get. Just keep your head down, focus on making it through the year and try not to attract attention to yourself."

  "That's funny, that's almost exactly what Barrett told me."

  "Sometimes he says something worthwhile," Kit smiled and finally met my eyes. "But stay away from him, okay? He's not crazy but he's...well, he's got a lot going on and sometimes lashes out because of it."

  I thanked her again and shut the door behind her. I locked the door and walked back to my bed thinking about what she'd said.

  These people were crazy and I should keep my head down.

  What the hell kind of world had I collided with?

  The next morning Kit was waiting for me with keys in her hand and that same nervous energy.

  "What's up?" I asked her, nibbling the muffin I'd snagged from the elaborate morning breakfast spread. It always seemed to be over the top and I wondered what happened to the food we didn't eat. I hoped the staff got it, I made a mental note to talk to my dad about it when he got back.

  “Elaine found her bracelet,” she said with a sigh. “All that drama for nothing. She’d taken it off in the house and forgotten all about it.”

  “Ah, forgotten. Okay.”

  I didn’t believe it for a minute, I thought she tried to stress me out by blaming me but when she realized I wasn’t going to panic, she got bored of her stupid little plan.

  “Also I'll be driving you this morning. Barrett isn't feeling well," she said, shifting from one foot to the other.

  "Is he sick or just sick of driving me?"

  "He won't be attending school today."

  "Okay, fine with me then. Let's go."

  I had to admit, Kit was much friendlier to ride with. She was driving one of the estate's many black matching Range Rovers and was pleasant to talk to.

  In spite of her being nicer to ride with, I couldn't help but simmer one thought over and over in the back of my mind: Barrett could eat a bag of dicks for being such a fucking jerk to me yesterday and lunch. And he could eat a double bag of dicks for avoiding me since yesterday after school.

  The least he could have done would be man up and apologize for his horrible outburst.

  And I had to admit, it hurt me that he had told everyone about my dad not caring for me. It upset me that my dad hadn't told Elaine and her sons about me. I felt like an embarrassment to him, like I was too trashy to admit I was part of the Montgomery empire.

  I felt rejected, and it hurt.

  It fucking hurt.

  But it also forced me to harden my heart against them, the entire family, and protect myself from anything they could ever do again.

  Ignoring me, turning their backs on me, and even deliberately hurting and humiliating me like Barrett and Elaine seemed to love doing.

  "Are you okay?" Kit asked, breaking into my brooding anger. I snapped out of it and nodded my head.

  "I'm just going over some notes I took for class today," I replied with a sunny smile as she pulled through Westview Academy's imposing front gates. I didn't know if I'd ever get over the beauty of them, the intricate scroll work on the metal gate or the stone work of the fence on either side.<
br />
  "In your head?"

  "Yeah, I'm kind of a nerd. I like going over information again and again until it sticks."

  "Wow, that is impressive. No wonder your father brags about you so much."

  My head jerked up at that and I wanted to ask her what she meant, but she stopped in front of the school and Rome, Whitt and Chase were already waiting for me.

  "Looks like you've got yourself a cheering section," she smiled and checked the boys out. Kit was older, over thirty, so she was too mature for these guys but even she had to appreciate how fucking hot they all looked in their uniforms. They weren't wearing their football jackets today and were looking mighty fine in white pressed shirts with matching dark blue cardigan vests overtop.

  "I think they need help with math," I replied, blowing off her implied words. I didn't want her to think I was slutty too, it was bad enough having Barrett calling me that without Kit thinking the same thing. She was one of my only friends at home right now and I needed her on my side.

  “You have yourself a good day. I'll pick you up after school. Text me if you're going to stay later, you have my number."

  I thanked her and hopped out, slammed the door and turned to find the three guys staring at me like I was a piece of steak and they were starving dogs.

  "To what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked with one eyebrow raised sarcastically.

  "I wanted to see how you were feeling after yesterday," Whitt said.

  "Me too, that was a weird outburst from that crazy brother of yours," Rome added.

  Chase shook his head and said, "If you need anyone to knock that fucker to his ass, just let me know. I've one punched him before and I can do it again."

  I smiled and said, "Thank you guys but I'll be okay. It's just family stuff, we're learning how to fight like siblings."

  Inside I was beaming though, their attention and care was exactly what I needed to help sooth my shattered ego.

  And each boy was so gorgeous in his own way. They were all well over six feet and all so well-muscled. Each one walked like he was entitled to be worshipped for merely existing. Each one knew his position in the society of Westview Academy, and it was at the very top.