Teagan
I was having the week from hell.
First thing Monday morning, when he returned from his trip, Hope's dad killed our dream of spending Valentine's together in Galway, thus spiraling Hope into a meltdown of epic proportions. Seriously, the girl was not nice to be around when angry and Hope was still very angry with her dad.
And yesterday I ended up with lunchtime detention for using inappropriate language in History class when I called Reese 'a thundering whore' for purposefully pulling my chair back just as I was about to sit down.
Then I woke up late this morning and started my day by having a huge altercation with Ellie over my guitar – which had resulted in her creepy father intervening and threatening me to, and I quote, stay on my side of the fence.
The fact that Ellie fully admitted to trashing Martin – and slashing my tires – made both my blood boil and my cheeks flame. Noah had been telling me the truth which meant I bashed him with a guitar for no reason.
He was right, I was a judgmental bitch…
I'd stupidly left my car keys in Hope's bedroom and had to powerwalk my ass to school in the pouring rain – which resulted in missing my first class. Thankfully, I made it to my second class before most of my classmates and scooted inside, pleased when I saw a friendly face at the back of the class.
Layton.
"Hey, can I sit with you?" I asked with a smile.
"Hey." Layton looked at me before quickly looking away. "Sure," he mumbled.
What's up his ass?
"So…did you have a nice weekend?" I asked more out of discomfort than curiosity.
Layton shook his head slowly before clearing his throat roughly. "Nothing worth mentioning."
"You're awfully quiet," I stated evenly.
"I'm a little tired," he replied, not meeting my eyes.
"Do you want me to move seats?" I asked him straight out. "Is that the problem? You don't want me to sit with you?"
"No," Layton replied loudly and a little too squeaky before clearing his throat again. "You can sit wherever you want, Teagan. It's a free country."
"Right…" I folded my hands and stared at his beautiful face. "So…how's life? Are you looking forward to Christmas – it's right around the corner…"
"Teagan, can I give you a little advice?" Layton didn’t wait for me to respond. "Keep your distance from Messina." Sighing heavily, he added, "You're a nice girl and he's…" Layton paused and ran his hand over his shaved head. "You're playing with fire," he mumbled. "And you know how that saying goes."
I shook my head and rose my brows in confusion. "Layton, what the hell are you talking about?"
Layton didn’t answer me.
Instead he turned his head and stared out the window, purposefully ignoring me.
A group of Ellie's friends walked into class and stopped dead when they saw me. All eyes locked on me and one even went so far as to point at me.
I rose my brows and stared back at them defiantly, but inside I was having a huge case of the WTF's. What the hell was going on around here? Had I somehow become the school leper?
"There's a photo of you online…. You know, the one with you twerking all over a very sweaty, half-naked Noah."
Amy's voice drifted into my mind and I scoffed loudly to myself. So I was being treated like a disease because of the whole twerking business… Fabulous.
"That's her," one of the girls hissed to her friend as they passed by my seat.
"You have no class," one of the girls spat before sitting at the desk behind me.
"I hope you're happy with yourself," muttered another – Reese, I recognized. Her eyes were bloodshot. "You're destroying everything."
"Come on, come on, get seated, everybody. We have a lot to get covered this morning," Mr. Trammel, the biology teacher called out as he rambled into class.
I opened my text book and tried to focus on what Mr. Trammel was saying and not on what the rest of the class were whispering.
****
Biology and every class after that passed painfully slowly and by the time I made it to the cafeteria for lunch. I was exhausted and tossing around the pros and cons of homeschooling.
"What the hell is happening in this place?" Hope growled as she dropped her lunch tray on the table before digging my car keys out of her jeans pocket and taking a seat beside me. "People have been acting strange as hell," she muttered with a sigh as she handed me the keys.
"Cheers."
"No probs." Tearing off the lid, Hope dug into her yoghurt with a vengeance. "Thank god it's…" she stopped mid-sentence to lick the yoghurt from her spoon. "…almost home-time. I need a break from this crap."
"Thank god," I said, relieved, as I stirred my coffee aimlessly. "I thought I was the only one being treated like a piranha."
"Jealousy is an ugly trait," Ash offered in a supportive tone before sliding her phone towards me. "On the bright side, Amy was right. Your ass is amazing."
"Good to know," I muttered with a heavy sigh.
Placing my elbows on the table, I rested my forehead against my palm before picking up Ash's phone, holding it away from my body like it was a poisonous snake. "Do I really want to see this?"
I didn’t wait for the girls to answer.
Raising the screen to my face, my eyebrows shot up in surprise. "How the hell can anyone tell this is me?" I asked, feeling acutely relieved that my face was hidden. "This was taken from behind us. All you can see is my ass and the back of my legs." I mentally patted myself on the back for keeping my body tight and trim – and for having the good sense to shave. "You would've had to be there to know it's actually me."
"Maybe so, but it's not hard to put two and two together," Ash goaded with a chuckle. "Noah's not a blonde man – aside from you…and look at how his eyes are glued to your butt, Teegs."
Fair enough it was pretty obvious that the guy in the picture was Noah. You could easily make out the side of his face as he…cupped my butt cheek? Hang on… "What do you mean aside from me?"
A male arm swooped over my shoulder and grabbed the phone before letting out a whistle. "Messina looks like he wants to take a bite out of you." Cam handed me back the phone before sliding into the seat beside me. "Do wolves eat p…"
"Shut up, you little pervert," Hope warned him before slamming her spoon on the table in frustration. "Oh for the love of all that's holy…" she grumbled before jerking out of her chair and marching over to where a group of girls were blatantly staring and pointing at us. Of course Ellie Dennis was one of those girls. Reese was another. All four girls seemed to grow nervous as Hope approached. "Gotta problem, girls?" Hope asked, eyebrow raised.
"Not with you," Ellie replied, cutting a dark look my way.
Hope noticed the evils I was receiving. "You see that girl over there." She pointed to me before looking back at Ellie. "She's my friend. If you've got a problem with her, then I've got a problem with you. You got it?"
"Have you seen the state my brother is in?" Ellie demanded. Shoving her chair back she stood up and stepped right up in Hope's personal space. It looked quite comical really considering Hope had a good four inches on her. "Because of her," Ellie spat, pointing her finger at me.
"What exactly are you accusing me of, Ellie?" I demanded as I jerked out of my seat and stalked over to where Hope and Ellie were standing. "Because of me." I glared at her. "I have nothing to do with your brother."
"Exactly," Ellie hissed. "You are nothing to my brother, so stay the hell out of his way and stop making problems for him."
Actually I said 'nothing to do' and not 'nothing to' but Ellie looked so pissed I didn’t bother correcting her. Both statements were true.
"Listen to me carefully, bitch," Ellie growled as she stepped closer and wrapped her hand around my wrist. "I'm only going to tell you this once." Her green eyes burned into mine. "Noah has a lot of people depending on him, a lot riding on him staying focused and doing what needs to be done." Her nails bit into my skin. "Stay away from him or you're going to get him hurt."
Tightening her grasp on my wrist Ellie tugged me so hard I stumbled forward. "And stay away from the Ring of Fire," she whispered in my ear. "I knew you were going to cause trouble for us the minute I laid eyes on you," she added, her tone laced with disgust. "Stay. Away. From. Noah."
"If you don’t take your scabby little hand off my friend you're the one who's going to get hurt," Hope warned her menacingly.
Ellie dropped my wrist and stepped back slowly. "Take my advice, Teagan," she warned, eyes locked on me.
"I'm really not interested in taking advice from the school Barbie," I said in a bored tone even though I was feeling a little rattled. "I enjoy thinking for myself."
I waited for the queen bitch to sit back down before I left the cafeteria.
Thankfully Hope didn’t follow me, I think she realized I needed space. I was in a foul mood, tired, and seriously pissed off with Ellie for making a fool out of me and with Noah for being the root of all my problems.
"Hey beautiful."
I groaned internally when I reached the parking lot and was faced with Hope's baby brother.
"Hey Colt," I muttered, not making eye contact, hoping he'd get the hint that I wasn’t feeling particularly sociable right now.
"How's your day going?" he asked as I walked past him.
Reluctantly I stopped and turned around to face him, pulling the hood of my coat up to protect my hair from the rain. "You know," I said dryly. "A little of ass and a lot of hole."
Colt chuckled and then ran a hand through his soaking wet hair. "Well," he mused. "Don't let the assholes drag you down to their mundane level."
I pursed my lips and grimaced. "Right about now, Colt, I'm striving for normal. Mundane is sounding pretty damn appealing."
"Don’t strive for normal, beautiful," he said with a full dimpled smile. "Reach for yourself."
I shook my head in amusement. "Reach for myself?"
"Yeah." Colt grinned as he continued to walk backwards. "The best part about reaching for the best part of you is that it's completely attainable because it's already inside of you." He winked at my confused expression. "You already have the key, Beautiful. Find the lock inside of you it fits. And the best part of it all is you're the only one with a key, therefore no one can take the best of you from you. It's yours. For Keeps."
What the…
I stood in the pouring rain, watching Colton as he strolled into the school building, feeling totally confused and surprisingly uplifted.
Yeah, Colton Carter was a strange guy.
****