Page 7 of No Romeo
It didn’t take long for the whispers to start.Lola Stevens. The girl who screwed over Hendrix Hunt.
I knew Jessica had spread that rumor like shit on a field. As if I needed any more reason to hate that bitch. She brought out the absolute worst in me, some vicious little demon who bayed for her blood.
The teacher had just finished going over our math homework when the bell for lunch rang. Students shoved out of their desks, fighting to get through the narrow doorway while I sat back. If class was bad, then the cafeteria politics were going to be a nightmare.
After the bang of locker doors calmed down, I pushed out of my seat and went to meet Kyle in the hall.
“How was Weaver’s class?” he asked as we rounded a corner, dodging a guy giving a freshman a nuggie.
“Well, he hasn’t gotten any more interesting in two years.” But Hendrix wasn’t in there, so that was a bonus.
A group of girls passed by us, their catty glares fixed on me.
Girls had always sucked up to Hendrix and the guys, hoping one of the school’s token bad boys would give them something beyond a quick fuck in the bathroom. Before I’d left, Hendrix wouldn’t even give their thirsty asses a second glance. Now though… now I was going to have to deal with it.
The noise from the lunchroom burst into the hallway just before the puff of Kyle’s inhaler sounded. I glanced over my shoulder.
Kyle had stopped a few feet outside of the doorway. “Oh, God…” He frantically dug both hands into his jean pockets, face blanching when he turned them inside out. “I don’t have my money.”
“We get free lunch, Kyle.” Like half the impoverished kids here.
“No.” He shook his head so fast his glasses nearly fell off. “My donation.”
A group of guys shouldered past while Kyle stood there, staring through the doorway like it was a bottomless abyss filled with venomous snakes.
“Donation for what?” There was no charity in Dayton. Wewerethe charity cases.
“Hendrix’s goodwill.”
My entire face dropped. He was not serious.
I glanced inside the crowded cafeteria and spotted a group of students clustered around the table Zepp, Hendrix, Wolf, Bellamy, and I always used to sit at. “What do you mean, hisgoodwill?”
“Goodwill not to beat your butt. Ten bucks keeps you relatively safe for the semester. From them and everyone else.” He wiped the sweat beading on his brow, searching his pockets again.
Unbelievable. Hendrix had always been a bit of dick—even being in love with him, I saw that. I guess I just didn’t care because it had never been aimed at me.
I grabbed Kyle’s hand and dragged him into the cafeteria. “You arenotgiving him money, Kyle.” Over my dead body, would I let Hendrix take advantage of Kyle’s fear.
We slowly moved through the lunch line. I picked up a sandwich, trying to ignore the abhorrent charade going on in the corner as I stopped at the register.
Kyle took his tray of double french fries and headed to the geek table he’d always sat at, his shoulders stooped as though trying to make himself smaller. I followed Kyle to the empty table. Empty because all of his friends were waiting to give Hendrix money.
The poverty-stricken hustler in me was a little impressed that he and Wolf were making such easy money, but I was equally disgusted.
I’d almost finished eating by the time Kyle’s friends finally filtered over. Robert, a kid with a shock of red hair, sat his tray down, glancing anxiously at Kyle. “Aren’t you going to pay your donation, Kyle?”
I glared at Robert. “No, he is not.”
They all looked at me wide-eyed like I was the non-believer sitting in some cult church or something, and the devil was about to strike me down. “But. If he doesn’t pay it—”
“Then they won’t do shit!” At least not to Kyle. I wouldn’t let them.
“Tommy Beavers didn’t pay last year, and he ended up with a double ear infection from the number of swirlies he got.”
“You know what….” I pushed to my feet, rage throbbing through me with every angry step I took across the lunchroom.
I shoved through the throng of people huddled around Hendrix and Wolf before slamming my palms down on the table that separated me from the two of them.
