Page 21 of Web of Lies
“Please,” she says, rolling her eyes. Raising a hand, she makes a hissing noise and mocks a spray towards Chase. “I sprayed my Benoit repellant. It works on both of you. Now turn around.” She says through a smile, twirling a finger in his direction. He rolls his eyes dramatically toward the ceiling, turning towards the front of the class.
“I could really learn a thing or two from you,” I quip. Her palm smacks into her desk, a laugh bursting from her mouth. Chase turns around with a wrinkle in his nose and a twinkle in his eyes.
“New Girl! I’m hurt and offended. Bad, Zoe, bad! Don’t teach her anything, leave that up to me.” Oh Chase, he sure knows how to make me melt with that playful lop-sided grin.
Zoe snorts and waves a hand, dismissing Chase.
“So where did you come from, New girl?” Zoe asks, sitting back in her seat. Her eyes stay on the teacher, heavily panting in the front of the room. His round belly bounces and jiggles like Santa Claus with every breath. Is he about to have a heart attack? What a sight that’d be to see on the first day of a new school.
“New girl?” Zoe nudges me, gaining Chase’s attention again. He completely turns around, tuning out the teacher.
“It’s Kaycee,” I say, eyeing Chase. “Nowhere special. Just your average private school. Came here for a change.” I shrug my shoulders.
“Kaycee, huh?” Zoe mulls over my name by bobbing her head up and down. “It’s cute,” she says with a shrug.
“More than cute.” Chase pipes in through a grin. Zoe’s hand connects with the back of Chase’s head with a thud. His jaw falls open as his hand cradles the pain.
“I see the sunshine and European tours did nothing for your personality. You’d think after having stadiums scream your name, you’d be much more pleasant,” Chase grumbles, rubbing his head. Zoe snorts at his comment and starts twirling her pen again.
“Yeah, well—you’d think after red carpet events with your daddy you’d learn when to shut up,” she says, popping the P at the end of her sentence with a cruel-looking smile. Chase grumbles more under his breath, probably calling her all sorts of names, but never says them out loud. All the while I’m trying to figure out why Zoe would tour in Europe? Touring is very popular in the summer months.
“What was your favorite place to tour?” I ask, envisioning tall glasses of wine and delicious meals.
“You have no idea who she is, do you?” Chase asks with wide eyes and a grin.
I want to feign ignorance. “Zoe?” I question with a shrug, half-listening to the lesson in the background. I take sloppy notes, as the teacher speaks in a very monotone voice. His breaths have evened out, but he still paces the front of the room. Wiping sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief fashioned with an odd design. At closer inspection, it looks like tiny penises decorate the sweat rag. Gross.
“Did you live under a rock at your old prep school?!” Chase asks in surprise. “It…. it’s….”
“Zoe Hart,” she supplies.
“From The Hartbrakers! The friggin’ Hartbrakers, New Girl. They’re like the hottest band since West by East except bigger and way fucking better!” He whispers shouts with enthusiasm, throwing his hands wildly around.
“I don’t really listen to music much,” I confess, watching the teacher out of the corner of my eye. “Unless you count the Angel Warrior soundtrack. Or Skyrim…. Fallout 4 had a good one too.” I say with a shrug, examining my sloppy handwriting. It’s a mix between cursive and normal script, but it looks like chicken scratch. Ha. Like my doctor writes. If I were a nurse—
“I didn’t peg you for a video game kind of girl,” Chase says, pulling me away from my rambling thoughts. A lazy grin spreads across his face and I kind of want to slap it off.
My lips purse. “What kind of girl did you peg me for?” My head tilts.
His Adam’s apple bobs with his heavy swallow, eyes frantically darting around. Zoe’s hand hides the massive grin splitting her face, as Chase’s panic flashes in his eyes. “I—I—well—fuck—I don’t know! You don’t seem like the type.” He gasps out, the muscles in his jaw twitch as he clenches it.
I shrug at his comment. “Not the type, huh?” I question, tilting my head again.
The muscles in his jaw tick again, as his body tightens. The smile he always has plastered on his face has disappeared. This is the Chase Magnolia described in her emails when she talked about the bullying—stone-faced and stone-hearted. Calculated with every move he made against her for whatever reason. There had to be a reason, right? You didn’t just decide to wake up one day and make someone’s life hell. Right?
“You seem like the pony and princess type of girl. Romantic movies and long walks on the beach. That kind of thing.” Chase finally says blowing out a long breath. His muscles slowly deflate, the chaotic anxiety draining from them. I snort.
“I can tell you by the look on her face you’re off by a friggin’ mile,” Zoe says through a hysterical cackle, causing some other students to look back at her. Her middle finger raises in the air, aimed at the nosy students. She gives them a weird stink eye, borderline crazy stare with a snarl, forcing them to yelp and look away. Huh—she might be a good friend to keep around, crazy eyes and all.
“I guess it’s true what they say then, you really can’t judge a book by its cover. Or-or you can’t judge the pretty girl by the blonde of her hair or the blue of her eyes.” He laughs to himself, winks, and turns back around. Smooth, charming asshole.
“Do those lines work on other girls?” Zoe asks with exhaustion. “Because seriously, Benoit, you need new material. Even New Girl can see your desperation from Mars.” Zoe earns herself the death stare from Chase.
“Are you jealous, Zoe? We could go to the maze later. I can show you a thing or two on how these words work wonders with the ladies.” He smirks as her face drops.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead with you in the orgy infested hedge,” she spits back.
“Anything you’d like to share with the class, Chase? Zoe?” The teacher up front says, wiping his sweaty forehead again.
