Page 60 of Web of Lies
“Well—looks like you made the rabbit bleed. But know this,” I say, taking a step closer to her. “It’ll never happen again,” I whisper, “In fact, you can let him know that. I’m here. I’m staying, and I will find out what I came here for.” God, why can’t I shut up? Maybe it’s the adrenaline making me word vomit all over the place. The last thing I need to do is taunt the alpha apocalypse guy. But here I am, doing it anyway.
“You’re so screwed, Dumbass Freak,” she whispers finally, looking me up and down. Satisfaction roars through her eyes as she settles on whatever she drew on my forehead. She flicks her fingers on my skin, grinning like a madwoman. “So screwed,” she whispers again, turning on her heel, sauntering off. Like she didn’t just assault me in the middle of the hallway with her knee and a permanent marker.
With my hand over my forehead, I walk into the bathroom, needing a mirror to see what I’m stuck with for the rest of the day. Wow. Hadley sure is creative with what she writes. “Dumbass.” That’s it. That’s all it says. She could have at least picked “Freak” over dumbass. I scrub at the word with water, and just like I suspected, it doesn’t budge. At least the blood scrubs off from under my already bruising nose. Deep pockets of purple form under my eyes. Great. More bruises. More proof I got my ass handed to me by a fucking Omega.
The bell rings overhead, signaling I’m late for Calc class. My phone pings in my pocket. Pulling up the screen, I’m not surprised one bit when my medical file is on full display with my diagnosis for everyone to see. Tit for tat, I guess. I showed hers, and now she shows mine. Fair is fair. That’s what I try to tell myself, which isn’t helping the anger building in my gut. If they wanted to make me ashamed to show my face, they are doing a good job. With my hands on either side of the sink, I seriously consider skipping this entire day altogether. Fuck Mondays, anyway.
The door to the bathroom opens and shuts. I don’t bother looking to see who it is. Probably another girl to lay into me. “Kaycee?” My lips curl together, burning forming behind my eyes. I can’t let them see me cry. I can’t let them know they’re getting to me. Not today. Never.
“Yeah?” I ask softly, holding back my emotions. My body flinches when a hand softly touches my back, soothing circles on my shirt.
“I—I saw what Hadley did. Do you want to go to the headmaster about this?” I lift my eyes toward our reflections in the mirror, eyeing Zoe.
“They won’t do anything,” I whisper, shaking my head, “It’s not worth it. He’ll just tell me it’s my fault or something.”
“That’s fucking bullshit!” Zoe hisses, eyes drifting towards the ceiling. “All of this is bullshit.” She shakes her head.
“Why do they do it then?” I ask, looking over at her with weepy eyes.
Her back stiffens, and I know she’s about to clam up. No one talks about why these people do the bullying. She stares at her shoes and then peeks under the stalls.
“They blackmail us into doing it,” she whispers, “but Hadley? She has no problems doing it to anyone, especially you. She thinks you tried to steal Chase and the twins, just like that girl last year. Hadley made her life hell… I felt so bad for her, but….”
“Magnolia?” I ask without thinking. The pain in my face is lowering my defense barriers. “I’ve heard about her,” I whisper, trying to recover my slip of the tongue.
“Yeah, yeah. Maggie. God—Hadley was such a bitch. She got Carter in on it. She fucking pushed her in the pond, fully clothed, and held her head under for like a minute. If it weren’t for Ainsley, she would have drowned there. After everything she went through, I don’t blame her for how she ended it.” She rubs the back of her neck, eyes sinking into sadness.
My gut twists at her words. “Wait—I thought Ainsley attacked her?” I ask quietly. Zoe meets my eyes and shakes her head.
“What? No. It was all Hadley. Ainsley and Maggie were friends, kind of. I don’t know. She taunted her but never pushed her in the water. Ainsley’s not that demented. Why would you think that?” Zoe asks. “I mean—I witnessed it, I tried to help, but Carter. Well, he’s an asshole.”
“Can-can I trust you?” I whisper. She nods her head. “I thought because Magnolia told me so. She… she blamed it all on Ainsley and the boys…….” I trail off. I don’t want to give too much away, even if I spilled the beans to Zoe, who seems like an okay person.
“You knew her?” she whispers, taking a step closer. I nod, confirming her theory. “Holy crap. No. No, they were cool with her. Well—kind of—you know how this school is. Let’s just say they never tried to murder her.”
My stomach drops into my feet, a dizzy spell taking over my brain. But—but her emails. They all insinuated the same things. Chase, Seger, Ainsley, and Zepp were responsible for her bullying.
Did Magnolia mislead me?
I need to double my efforts and find her journal.
"Come on,” Zoe says, grabbing my hand. I’m too numb, thoughts consuming me. “Don’t back down now, Kaycee. Show them you’re brave. Show them they can’t bring you down.” She drags me towards the door of the bathroom. I don’t fight her. I don’t even fight when she pulls me into Calc class.
Before I look around, their gazes burn into me, staring at the word marking my face. “Don’t back down now,” Zoe whispers, walking calmly to her desk.
I peer behind her, looking for my desk. Although we have a new teacher, my desk is still missing. My shoulders slump. My bravado is taking a hit, melting faster than an ice cream cone on the Fourth of July. I am a tough girl. I can take hits and name-calling and anything else. But today? It’s all hitting me at once. Laughing erupts from the class, fingers pointing in my direction. “Dumbass Freak”, spills from the lips in whispers as I make my way to my perch.
“Miss Cole, I presume?” The teacher stands at the front of the class. Her brown eyes narrow in on me sitting on the window sill, and I nod.
“That’s me,” I say in my firmest voice. But who am I kidding? A girl can only handle so much.
Her eyes check around the classroom, brows dropping in confusion. “There seems to be a desk shortage,” she mutters to herself, running her fingers through her long black hair.
“There’s not a shortage, Miss Pascal.” I glare back at Carter’s stupid, smug face—a smug face I want to kick. “Dumbass Freak is not allowed to have a fucking chair, hence the little birdy perch she’s on.” I scowl more as he flicks his wrist in my direction.
The new teacher scowls at his vulgar language, putting her hands on her curvy hips. “Now listen here, Mr. Cunningham. I will not have you speaking to me or anyone else like that in my classroom.” She points a haughty finger at him, trying to sound as authoritative as she can.
He rolls his eyes, but his smirk stays in place, giving him all the confidence in the world. A knowing look glints in his eyes as he takes out his phone. His fingers move across his screen at a rapid pace, and then he’s done. Crossing his arms across his chest, he leisurely leans back in his seat.
