CHAPTER 18
⌗ 𓂃 𖥔༌ ᰷ ﹅phys ed & phone calls﹅ ᰷ 𖥔༌ 𓂃⌗
the next day, I woke up with a slight limp in my step. when dad asked, I played it off as all the running from the day before catching up. luckily, dad drove gwen and I to school as it was on the way to his work.
at school, imani and I were excused from phys ed because of our running from the day before. coach russo wanted us to be prepared for friday's practice. we sat on the indoor bleachers as everyone else climbed the ropes, did press ups and held their partners' feet down as they did sit ups. as imani spoke, I couldn't draw my eyes towards her.
across the hall, vance and his friends were doing a long round of press ups monitored by coach stone. vance's arm muscles flexed beneath him, the veins popping out as he pushed himself up and down. his blonde curls was tied back into a bun, the same one he had while he was—
"girl, are you even listening to me?!" imani asked, waving a hand over my eyes. I snapped from my trance and turned to her.
"yeah, sorry. go on." I blinked a few times to get those thoughts out of my head and listen to imani.
"whatchu even looking at??" she glanced to where I was staring and her eyes eventually found vance's muscular frame. "ohhh, ok." she smirked.
"ok. I'm gonna tell you something now, and you can't tell anyone. not even cameron. i'll tell bruce and cheyenne later so don't tell them. I might tell the other two, but either way, your mouth: shut." imani mimed zipping her lips shut and I leaned away from her, squealing a little with excitement. "ok, ok." I paused before slapping my hand over my mouth as imani shook her hands in circles, spurring me on. I leaned forward to her ear, cupping my hands over my mouth. "vance and I had sex."
"oh my god, girl!!!" imani loudly exclaimed, gaining the attention of a small group of boys near us. "turn around, whatchu looking at? girl!! what was it like?"
imani was always the friend that wanted all the nasty little details. I laughed.
"it was... nice, I don't know!" I laughed loudly as imani giggled. "ok, it was really great. he's so caring too! like he kept making sure I was ok, he was gentle... for a little bit." I let out a breathy chuckle.
"for a little bit?? oh my god, girl, did you have nasty sex with vance hopper?!" we both laughed.
"no, like... he was like, y'know... fingering me-" imani squealed excitedly at my whisper. "and his mom like... came to the door-"
"you did not while his parents were in the house??" she interrupted me again.
"his family and mine." I confirmed and we both squealed again, grabbing each other's hands. "ok, ok. so yeah his mom was at the door asking if we wanted dessert and he did not stop for even a second."
"oh. my god. I knew that motherfucker was kinky as shit. go on, girl!" imani laughed, clapping her hands together. "ok, ok how big?" she put her two pointer fingers up close together before moving them slowly away from each other.
"I'm not telling you!" I glanced to her fingers to see she was only about three inches apart. I quickly leaned over and grabbed her hand, moving them to what I remembered vance's looking like. which was a lot further apart.
"oh my god!! I knew it was a monster cock!" although our voices were quite low, I couldn't help but shush imani quickly.
"shhh! but yes, big cock and good sex." we both laughed before looking over to vance again.
now, he was stood up. his vest was hanging slightly loose on his body, showing off his muscular arms. as well, his grey tracksuit bottoms were highlighting the one thing that had all the girls staring at him and giving me jealous looks. especially one girl.
amanda hobbs. amanda hobbs liked to think she was queen bee of the school, strutting around with her blonde hair in farrah-fawcett-hard waves and small crop tops with too much cleavage that almost always got her sent to the principal's. now, I did love her style and admired her confidence, but her constant 'I'm better than everyone here' attitude always really fucked me off. she would shove past people, yell at them and even slapped me one time.
that's when I got suspended for fighting in the hallway.
ever since then, amanda hobbs and I had bad blood. her and her other two minions would stalk past me with mean glares that didn't do anything to knock my confidence like they hoped but would cause me to flip them off. they'd make mean comments about me as if I wasn't there and amanda had even taken it upon herself — at the news of him and I being in a relationship — to flirt with vance every chance she could grasp with her slimy fingers.
during english one time, my teacher sent me over to mrs greene's classroom down the hallway to collect some new books. as miss was occupied, my eyes travelled to vance who was leaning away from amanda with a disgusted look present on his face while she leaned towards him, her tits pushed together by her arms and running her tongue along her upper lip. she had caught my glare and had returned it before placing her hand over vance's which was rested on this table. at this, vance had jerked away and let out a loud profanity.
I had walked away with my head full of how I'd slam amanda hobb's head into a spiky wall.
vance never flirted with other girls, never gave into amanda's flirting, never spared a glance to the edgy girls who vied for his attention, never checked out another person. I knew I had nothing to worry about with him.
I tore my glare from amanda over to vance to find him already staring at me. there was a serious look on his face and I saw his gaze flicker slightly downwards for a second. he rubbed his chest with his hand as his eyes looked to that small group of boys near us then back to me.
I looked to where his eyes glanced and spotted one of them staring in awe at my chest. I checked my shirt and saw my school's assigned phys ed top had fallen down quite a bit, exposing a lot of my cleavage. I sucked in a half-uncomfortable and a half-humiliated breath as I pulled up my shirt, looking back to vance. he gave me a nod before heading with his mates over to the ropes.
"you ok? what was that between you and vance?" imani asked me, concern knitting her brow together.
"yeah, no, just tom karls staring at my tits." I muttered.
"what a dickhead. y'know he's pervving on half the girls at school? he rings up their numbers — god knows how he gets them — and then starts like tryna chat them up over the phone. he stalked aadila kahns for a week." imani gossiped, leaning towards me as we both stared in disgust at the greasy-haired boy. he wiped his nose on his palm, a string of snot coming with it, and we both cringed.
"hey." vance said as he appeared beside me, grabbing his water bottle. he climbed the bleachers and sat beside me, taking a long gulp.
"hey," I replied, placing my head on his warm shoulder.
"what's peeping tom looking at?" vance grumbled. "if he even tries anything with you, he's fucking dead."
"he won't, he knows you two are together." imani put in.
"he better fucking know it." vance cracked his knuckles.
"he does, he won't do shit." I murmured.
we watched as tom looked over to us and grinned creepily. I looked away uncomfortable as imani fake gagged at him and vance stuck his middle finger at him.
***
"y/n?" I was sat beside finney at the kitchen table helping him with his catch-up work set by the teachers when he spoke up.
"yeah, sweetie?" I asked as I changed his 12 to a 13.
"I wanna go back to school. I get bored at home, mrs fig isn't very fun." mrs fig was our elderly neighbour who watched finney while dad was at work and I was at school.
"...are you sure? it wouldn't be too much, would it?" I asked.
"yes, i'm sure! it's been two weeks, y/n! I'm sooo bored, let me freeee!" I laughed as finney slumped forward over the desk.
"ok, ok." I responded.
"school said you can go back whenever you feel like it." dad said, leaning back from pulling a can from the fridge. I felt my stomach drop for a second before I realised that it was only a coke can.
"really?! y/n pleeaaasee!" finney clasped his hands together in a begging motion. I saw dad's face drop for a second as finney came to me for the decision.
"it's not my decision. dad, do you think he's gonna be ok?" I asked dad. his face drew a big smile.
"...yeah. I do. finney, you can go back in tomorrow if you'd like?" finney eagerly nodded.
"yes!"
"right, go pop your stuff away, we'll get you to baseball. gwen, you coming?!" finished with his work, he packed his stuff up and hurried off to his room.
"coming dad!" gwen called.
"i'll see you later, yeah?" dad asked. "no friends over while i'm gone, ok? I'll grab pizza on my way back."
"got it." with a smile to dad, I headed off to my own room.
as I closed the door behind me, my phone began to ring. I picked up the receiver and held it to my ear.
"hello?" I spoke as I plopped down on my bed, my voice chirpy.
"hey, is that y/n? it's tom karls." I felt my stomach drop.
"how did you get my number?" my voice was now cold with fear. he chuckled creepily.
"don't worry about that." I had half the mind to hang up before he started talking again. "I noticed you in phys ed this morning. why were you sat out?"
"...got excused because of the track meet yesterday." I stuttered.
"you did very well. I would know, I was there." he responded, still creepily.
"oh, did you have a friend that was running?" I asked.
"oh no... I was there for you." my insides iced over and my heart sped up.
"oh... right..."
"you were gorgeous." he said hurriedly. "when you ran... they way your chest heaved and made your tits move so nicely when you were don—"
I cut off his creepy rambling by slamming the receiver down. I stood from my bed and pushed my hair back with anxiety. I began pacing, my back to the phone. I jumped as it rang again, the plastic receiver rattling in the holder. I felt the burning feel of tears in my throat before I stormed back over to the receiver and picked it up with shaking hands, hoping it wasn't tom karls.
"h-hello?"
"you hung up on me, y/n. why is that?" the slimy voice of tom karl's seeped through the receiver.
"leave me alone." I said through gritted teeth.
"i've been thinking about you a lot recently." the feeling of tears burned my throat.
"fuck off!" I hysterically yelled down the phone before slamming it down again.
I moved across the room again and stood beside the window. the phone didn't ring again for at least five minutes, when I deduced it to be safe. taking a deep breath to calm myself, I began to change into my pyjama clothes.
I stripped to my underwear and unhooked my bra — making sure my back was to the window as it was too late to turn and close the curtains. I grabbed my shorts and tank top. as I finished dressing by pulling my top over my body, the phone rang again. I pulled the receiver to my ear, the thought that it could be tom for the third time not occurring to me.
"you have a beautiful body, y/n, such innocent, white panties." my scream turned into a sob and the receiver fell from my hand. my fumbling fingers struggled to pick it back up and I scrambled to place it back in the receiver.
I rushed to the window and peered out of it. I couldn't see much apart from normal everyday things, people walking their dogs, cars passing, kids playing in the street. other houses were too far from my window to be able to spot anyone spying on me.
tears fell from my eyes as I yanked my curtains shut. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and lay down on my bed. I thought of calling vance... maybe bruce... but it was too much of a coincidence that it had happened after we'd spoken about it. I hugged a pillow close to my chest as a sad whimper left my lips.
please don't do this, tom...