Page 4 of The Bodyguard
Bea pretended like she didn’t care, and Ronnie just said he had to do what he had to, but still it felt a little like…he was leaving us for good. I wondered what might bring him back. I stopped when I heard voices.
The hallway should have been clear, but there was clearly something going on around the corner.
“Let me go!”
“Make us, fag.”
“I’m not even!”
There were two of them against one. I knew who they all were—Dusty Creek’s one high school wasn’t that big. Kevin, who was being pinned to his locker, was in my class. The other two were juniors. Buddy and Fitz. They lived to terrorize anyone who they thought strayed from the straight and narrow path of a true Texan.
Kevin didn’t like guns and he wore skinny jeans. Enough said.
I thought about Garrett and that day he’d stood up for me back in September. He’d been so angry that people felt the need to treat each other like this. Suddenly I felt that anger, too. I could turn around and walk away from it all. Stepping in would only invite trouble. Trouble I most likely couldn’t handle.
But Kevin looked more than annoyed. He looked scared.
“Hey,” I said, rounding the corner. “Leave him alone!”
“Oh, if it isn’t Princess Fat Ass,” Buddy said. “Take a hike. This doesn’t concern you.”
“Yes, it does. Kevin is a friend and you guys are being jerks. Just let him go.” He wasn’t really a friend. I didn’t really have friends. Hard to make them when all you wanted to do was avoid people.
Then Fitz, who was pretty big for a junior and really shouldn’t be calling anyone else fat, started to walk toward me. I could have run, but I didn’t.
“You know you’re considered the ugly King sister,” he sneered.
I did.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Yes, but I’m also the funniest, so there is that. You’re not going to do anything with me watching. So just let Kevin go.”
Fitz looked like he was going to retaliate when suddenly he stopped. Buddy took his hands off Kevin and stepped back. Kevin stumbled but thankfully he didn’t fall on his butt.
The two juniors turned their backs and walked past me, and Kevin just gave a chin nod in my direction and took off down the hallway. Not for nothing, but he did rock his skinny jeans.
I thought that had gone remarkably well. I mean, I did it. I stood up to two bullies and they backed down!
I gave myself a little fist pump and made my way back to class.
SABRINA
Freshman Year—Spring
I knew they would be here. Caroline was so predictable. Quietly I made my way to the top level of the bleachers. School was out for the day. The football field was empty now that it was winter and the season was over. No one around except Caroline and…her boyfriend.
My someday-in-the-future boyfriend, Garrett.
I knew I had as much chance of getting Garrett to go out with me as I did of becoming a world-famous model. But a girl could dream.
Fantasize.
Stalk.
They were making out now, and it hurt a little. Because, as silly as it was, I considered Garrett to be mine.
Which was ridiculous. I knew that. It was just that from the moment I met him he’d been my hero. Because he didn’t see the fat girl or the ugly sister. He just saw me. He was best person I knew. And I had to believe that it all meant something.
That we were meant to be something.
