Tears burn my eyes as I think about what he did, but I refuse to cry. He doesn’t deserve any kind of reaction from me, let alone my tears.
I wash my hands and wipe at the smudged makeup under my eyes before squaring my shoulders and preparing to walk back out there. No one else will have a clue as to what happened back there.
But I know.
And he knows that I know, and that thought is terrifying. If he’s willing to sneak into my house and murder our rabbit, what else is he capable of?
I always knew he was unhinged. Well, he wasn’t as a child. He was just like the rest of us then the accident happened and it totally changed him. He might have lost his mother that day but it was like he gained a personality transplant.
He turned cold, evil, selfish. He suddenly wasn’t happy with his life and he needed to be the best, be the one everyone else was jealous of.
I couldn’t understand it then and I still can’t to this day. I’m fairly sure I never will. I just need to focus on school coming to an end and getting away from it all.
Am I running away? Maybe.
Thoughts of my future drag me down as I pull the door open and step out with the intention of heading straight to first period.
I don’t look up, I don’t want to see if I’m the subject of everyone’s attention. Sadly that means I also don’t see the person whose chest I walk straight into.
4
Zayn
“Is Hellburn still giving Poppy grief?” I ask Jake as we turn the corner and stumble across them having a stare-off at the other end of the hallway.
“That guy’s a fucking asshole,” Jake mutters, his eyes drilling into the wannabe football captain.
His intentions aren’t a secret, and if they’re meant to be then he needs to remember that Jake and the rest of us hear everything that happens in this place. We have ears everywhere.
Although, we don’t need those ears to know that he has some kind of issue with Poppy.
When I first started here, I thought that he just wanted her. But as time has gone by, things have changed.
“Should we…” I trail off, not really wanting to look like I care. Jake’s still not heard about New Year’s Eve but I know my time is limited. I’m surprised no one’s snitched me out yet.
“Why do you care?” Jake snaps, although his stare doesn’t leave the guy stopping his cousin from leaving.
“Because like you said, he’s an asshole. What is that smell?” I mutter as we walk farther down the hallway.
The second Jake speaks, the entire hallway falls silent. I’m sure that more than a few of the spectators right now would pay good money for Jake—anyone really—to take out Preston fucking Hellburn.
He stalks off with his little gang of pussies before Poppy takes off running. Everyone else is too distracted to notice the speed she leaves at, but I see it.
“Hey, girl. What was that about?” I ask, sliding up to Ruby and resting my forearm on her locker.
Her cheeks are red long before she even looks up at me. “Poppy had something in her locker. Can’t you smell it?”
“In her locker?”
“Yeah. Good holiday?” she asks, changing the subject from her friend.
“Uh, yeah. You?”
“I missed you,” she admits, running her hand up my chest.
“That right? Because rumor has it that you spent time with Rich on New Year’s instead of me. That hurts, baby.”
She shrugs. “It wasn’t anything like that. He’s not you.” Her lips curl in a salacious smile but it doesn’t affect me like it usually does.
We’re distracted when Chelsea makes an appearance and demands that both Harley and Ruby get their asses to the gym.
“Look out, Queen Bee is back,” I call after her, earning me the finger over her shoulder.
“You got a death wish, man?” Shane asks, coming to stand next to me.
“Nah, if we get her angry, you’re the only one she’s taking it out on.”
He thinks for a second.
“You’re welcome.”
He laughs and I can’t help but let it affect me. It’s good seeing him so happy, even if he shocked the hell out of the entire school by deciding that not only was Chelsea his girl but that he’d already gotten her pregnant.
“How’re things?” I ask, wrapping my arm around his shoulder and walking us toward our own lockers.
“Oh yeah, you know. Standard shit with a pregnant girlfriend while in senior year.”
“I still can’t get my head around that.”
“You and me both, man. I’m going to be a fucking dad. Like, I’m going to be responsible for someone else’s life.”
A shudder runs down my spine at the thought. Most of us can barely look after ourselves right now, let alone a kid.
“Any news from your old man?”
“Nah, he’s still holed up in New York. He can fucking stay there for all I care. My kid doesn’t need him as a grandad.”
“Damn right, not when he’ll have us as uncles.”
“You think it’s a boy?”
“Hell yeah, you’re so having a little football player.”
The others descend on us and our conversation comes to an end.
The guys start reliving their breaks, but as they talk about what they got for Christmas and the drama their families had, I can’t get one girl out of my head.
“I’ll see you later, man,” I say, slapping Shane on the shoulder and walking away from them as the bell rings for first period.
I don’t head for class, instead I go for the place I suspect Poppy might have run to.
I hover outside the girl’s bathroom wondering if I should just barge in and find out if I’m right. But I don’t need to because it seems luck is on my side.
The door opens and a defeated-looking Poppy emerges. Her eyes remain locked on the floor as if she’s too afraid to even look up.
Moving closer, I expect her to see me, but she doesn’t and instead crashes straight into my chest.
“Shit,” she mutters, going to take a step back to go around me. Still her eyes remain on the ground.
Reaching out, I grip on to her upper arms, holding her in place.
“Poppy?”
Painfully fucking slowly, she lifts her head to look at me.
“Fuck.” My heart constricts as I see the tears filling her eyes. “What did he do?”
“It’s nothing,” she whispers, averting her gaze.
“Bullshit,” I spit, a little too harshly seeing as she flinches in my arms.
“Just let me go, Zayn.” She fights in my hold, but I only tighten my grip to stop her.
“Talk to me.”
An unamused laugh falls from her lips as her haunted gray eyes once again find mine. “Talk to you? That’s a joke right?”
“No, if he hurt—”
“He didn’t hurt me, Zayn. He doesn’t have the power to hurt me. He’s no one.”
I open my mouth to respond but discover I don’t have any words.
“Can I go now? I really don’t want detention on the first day.”
Without thinking, I release her and she immediately slips past me.