6|
are you gonna make me?
"EH, SURE," I snort at his terrible attempt at flirting, sliding into the empty seat beside Cassidy without paying further attention to him.
Cassidy only rolls her eyes, silently mouthing me to ignore it. I'd say I'm surprised, but I was kind of expecting something like this from Timothy and the rest of the Shameless Foursome, considering the player reputation they have around the school. Though, I wasn't expecting him to be so blunt about it after knowing me for not even a whole minute.
"I'm serious," he flashes me another one of his charming smiles, raising his hands at his sides in what I suppose is his attempt at innocence, "if I asked you out on a date, would the answer be the same as the answer to this question?"
My jaw falls slightly agape before I gain the control over my inapplicable muscles back. I open my mouth to tell him something witty back in return but the evil queen herself beats me to it.
"Oh, please, Timothy," Jade rolls her eyes at him, "using the cheap lines to get into panties of another morbidly naive girl again? Wasn't her sister enough?"
And just like that, my grip on the edge of the table tightens at the mention of Sarah, and I whip my head around to gauge the looks on both of their faces again.
"Stop saying shit, Jade." Timothy snaps harshly at her. "I don't even know her sister for fucks's sake."
Jade's bloody red lips curl into an amusing smirk. "Oh, really? I guess guys tend to forget about all the puppies trailing behind them these days."
"Jade," Collin Adamms gives her a warning look, "stop right now."
"Or what?" she shifts in her seat, leaning incredibly close to him before placing her perfectly manicured hand on the tanned skin of his bicep. "Are you gonna make me, Collin?"
Her sick smirk grows even more when he grabs her wrist and pushes her hand off him. "Stop teasing me or you're going to regret it."
I've heard a lot about Collin but that doesn't prevent the dynamic between them, accompanied with the freezing tone of his voice from shocking me. I feel like intruding on something personal, and as curious as I might be at times, I really don't like this feeling.
But Jade doesn't really seem to be affected by his threats. She snorts, rolling her eyes once again as she pulls her hand all the way from Collin's arm and shifts her attention to her dark-complexioned friend. Judging by the shade of their skin, one would assume they are sisters. Or at least cousins. But while Jade is a tiny bit paler in comparison to Tarryn, Tarryn seems to have a bit more almond-shaped eyes, a trait that's probably tied to her Filipino background.
Both, Jade and Tarryn, dive into a silent conversation and the murmur at the privileged table picks up a little. Looking at Cassidy poking into her green salad with her fork, I take the sign as my cue to finally bite into one of the incredibly tasty chicken tortillas.
After a while, my mind wanders to Bishop and I turn my head around, searching the cafeteria with my eyes to spot him. One look at our usual table in the far corner of the crammed space makes my heart skip a beat in my chest.
His eyes meet mine only for a brief moment before he makes the move to look away and shoots up from his seat at the table. I silently watch as some of our other teammates pat him on the back in a friendly gesture, waiting for him to look in my direction, but he never does. Fine. If that's how he wants it . . .
"Aren't you the girl that I spilled my milkshake on yesterday?"
The sudden question snaps me out of my thoughts, prompting me to turn toward the curious blue-eyed rubberneck.
I give him a flat look, watching him for a few seconds before I open my mouth to respond. "I'm glad your mind is working properly but just for the future -- if you ruin someone's favorite shirt, don't bring it up again after you apologized."
"Ouch," Jason Tarren snickers next to me as he slings his arm around the back of my seat; his presence being suddenly incredibly close to me, "that must have been a pretty nasty punch for your ego, Collin." His grin spreads from ear to ear as he turns his face to me. "I like this girl already. She's a feisty little one."
I furrow my brows together, desperately wanting to punch him in the gut for talking about me as if I wasn't even here. I don't have a single doubt that these guys are used to talking about girls like they own them but that doesn't mean I'm going to let them treat me the same.
I flick my gaze back to Collin's face, apparently catching him by surprise, judging by the way his eyes quickly retreat from their previous position fixed on Jason's arm hugging my shoulders.
"Whatever you say, Jase," he says, uninterested, sliding his eyes lazily across the cafeteria.
"I'm not a piece of meat, you know." I tell Jason as I turn my head back to him. His brows knit together with confusion and he gives me a perplexed look.
"The fuck? I never said you were a piece of meat. What are you even going on ab--"
"You didn't say it directly, but it definitely sounded like it," I say calmly. I could continue and curse him -- all of them -- out for screwing over every girl that passes their way, not to mention what they did to Courtney Chapel, but I know there is not really a point in that. People like these guys don't really care if someone shits on them or not.
I notice the entire table went completely silent and everyone's attention is focused purely on me. I swallow the nausea caused by being in the center of the spotlight down my throat and scroll over the faces surrounding me.
The pressure of the mortification turns my cheeks slightly red, pushing me to mindlessly blurt out the first thing that crosses my mind. "I'm kidding."
I force a laugh past my lips and watch as after a beat, everyone else does the same. Everyone but Jade Donnovan, who's suspiciously assessing me.
The incoherent murmur follows next as the others return to their previous conversations.
"Huh," Jason squeezes my shoulder once again, shaking my entire body in the process of drawing me closer to him, "you actually got me thinking you were being serious for a second there."
"Huh."
I give him a small smile, which I hope doesn't look as if I was having pain and shove the murderous thoughts to the back of my mind. I can't afford to look suspicious right from the beginning if I want this to work, if I want to find out something more about what's been going on with Sarah.
At last, I flick my eyes in Collin's direction -- I can't help the uncomfortable feeling nagging somewhere deep down inside me, telling me my act didn't quite convince him. Sure enough, he's watching me with his eyes narrowed, but his stare doesn't remain for long.
First thing to be noted: these people are fucking weird.
Snapping my locker shut, I turn on my heel -- a pair of ramshackled skates dangling snuffly from my hand -- as I cross the empty locker room and take a seat on the wide wooden bench.
I slide my shoes off before pushing my feet into the skates, the process of tying and tightening the laces following automatically, despite the horrid state they are in.
I don't let myself pay that much attention, though. I know I can be glad I have them -- even if they're only inches from being totally unusable -- judging by how Brad seems to have much better intentions with the money Sarah and me inherited from our father than actually leaving them to us.
Tightening the lousy lace one more time, I push myself off the bench. A panic-stricken shriek escapes my throat when I look up, and I clutch my hand to my chest, somehow steadying myself that way to prevent me from ending down on the ground.
"What the fuck?!" I manage to huff out. "How long have you been standing there?"
The person in front of me pushes off the door frame, uncrossing his arms as he takes a step toward me.
"Not long," he shrugs his shoulders casually as if he didn't just scare the living hell out of me, "I just wanted to talk to you."
"Talk to me?" My heart starts beating faster. I don't like feeling cornered, and it seems, Collin is playing at exactly that. "Why? How did you even know where to find me in the first place?"
The rink is usually closed at this time of the day, or at least, off-limits to the most of the players. Only few have the access -- in order to be able to train harder to better themselves before the season starts. Coach McKennedy has been using this little secret tactics for a few seasons, and from what I know, no one except the members of the team knows about it.
"It wasn't that hard." he says, "I mean, you're the last girl that still plays hockey this year. I figured you'd be here since your car is parked in the parking lot."
"In all honesty, I could consider what you just said utterly stalker-ish."
"Oh, please." he snorts, rolling his eyes and then remaining silent for a minute. His fingers rake through his chocolate brown hair and he sucks in a deep breath. "I don't want to stall you or whatever. I just want to ask you a quick question, it won't take long, don't worry."
I contemplate whether wasting the time I need so desperately to train just to listen to something meaningless he has to say is a good idea. Though, I have to admit that the fact that he tracked me down all the way here to talk is still a little shocking to me; he didn't even know who I was up until yesterday.
"Fine," I sigh, letting the curious side of me win over the suspicious, "just hurry up. I don't have the entire day for this."
Collin shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans and takes a step closer to me, his body towering over mine, despite the fact I've never been considered short.
Actually, I'm quite the opposite, and immature nicknames such as giraffe or skyscraper have been tied to me on a daily basis during primary school. Luckily, high school kids are a little more mature when it comes to height-shaming. Still, I'm surprised how intimidating he seems right now.
"You're not the only one who has other plans, you know?" He cocks his brow at me in a challenging manner. "But to get back to the point --" he licks his lips slowly, "--what exactly did happen to my sister yesterday?"
I can't help it. My breath hitches involuntarily a little at the mention of his sister but I force myself to quickly recover. "What are you talking about?"
Furrowing my brows together, I tilt my head to the side and attempt to play it off, even if it means looking like a complete pathetic fool to him. I know I shouldn't make such a big issue out of this, I could just simply tell him, but I gave Rose my promise and despite not knowing her well, I intend to fucking keep it. It's not my place to intervene.
"Don't play stupid," he says with a slightly harsher edge to his voice, "it's not going to work on me. I know you drove her home, and I know for a fact that you know why she's bruised up like that."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I jut my chin forward, feeling the need to appear more confident than I really am right now. "Seriously."
He takes another step closer, making me backtrack two. "Are you being serious right now? I fucking saw you pull out of our driveway. Just stop denying."
Anger surges through me like a hurricane, making me take a challenging step toward him for a change. "For the last fucking time, I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know what you think you saw, but maybe asking your sister would be much more reasonable than trying to hassle the shit out of me."
I don't give him the chance to respond, his widened eyes are hinting his thoughts well enough. Slipping past him, I walk briskly toward the entrance to the rink. I don't know why, but the last thirty seconds spent in here with him are getting to me. And it definitely doesn't feel good.
"You think I didn't do that?" he scoffs loudly. "She won't tell me shit."
I feel a sting in my chest because of the whiny way he says it, but as much as the helpless tone of his voice wants me to spill everything, I can't do that. I'm not a traitor, or a snitch. Besides, I know it's much easier to keep abuse silent than to just throw it into the open. He needs to ask her, not me. It's not my business.
"Not my problem." I don't bother with looking back at him as I make my way out of the locker rooms, letting the skates slide across the freshly smoothed ice delicately.
The feeling absorbs me instantly and I force myself to not think of anything besides the freeing pleasure simply being here gives me.
"Aspen?" Brad's deep voice calls out as soon as I step out of the shower. Silently shutting my eyes closed for a second, I rub the towel all over my skin, desperately trying to get dressed the fastest possible. "Can you come downstairs for a second?"
I don't really feel like facing him, but I don't want to push him any further, either. There's no way how to sense what kind of mood he's in today. I try to remind myself this the entire way down the creaky staircase.
Brad is standing in front of the wide-opened fridge once I make it to the kitchen, his gaze concentrated sharply on the contents in front of him. "Come here." He says without bothering to spare me a glance, making my breath hitch. The tone of his voice isn't revealing anything, but I've already found out that nothing that has to do with Brad can turn out good.
Still, my feet make the decision to move, not daring to think of disobedience for a single second. The traitors.
"Do you see this?" He nudges his head to one side a little, prompting me to raise my brows at him. What the hell am I supposed to see there? Food? It's a fucking fridge for God's sake.
"Fucking hell, Aspen!" He slams the door shut forcefully all of a sudden, causing me to flinch. The angered expression I've grown so accustomed to is once again plastered across his face as he takes a step closer to me. "I asked you a question. Honestly, are you deaf, retarded or just plain stupid?"
"I--"
"Shut up," he cuts me off before I get the chance to say more than one word, "I'm the one talking right now. I thought we've been through this already. You have no right to be this brassy, this is my house and I can't stand when something isn't the way I expect it to be."
Your house? You have to be kidding me. The urge to correct him is clawing at my insides, wanting to roll off my tongue but I keep my mouth firmly shut.
I don't need to cause myself more unnecessary troubles. I've had my fair share of them already.
"For example -- the fridge." He continues adamantly. "Where the fuck is the milk? How many goddamned times do I have to tell you to buy milk when you have the nerve to finish the whole carton?"
"But I didn't --"
"Shut the fuck up already, would you?" Brad cuts me off, trapping me between the fridge and the counter as he makes a few steps forward. "You're not supposed to be talking when I am, I told you that enough times already. Do you need me to remind you?"
I shake my head vigorously, trying to back away from him as far as possible but my actions are deterred by the counter behind my back. My desperation, however, only prompts him to take another step closer, as a wicked smirk plasters across his face.
He places one of his hands on the counter, caging me in, and rolls his shoulders back, when a sudden clink echoes through the small kitchen space.
"What's going on?"
The familiar voice snaps him out of his twisted stupor immediately, causing him to almost jump away from me as his eyes slowly settle on my mother's confused face.
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don't forget to vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter!
Q: What do you think about Aspen lying to Collin about driving his sister home? Would you do the same? Also I'm kind of curious about your opinions on : Jason, Timothy and Jade. So, what do you think of them? Are they trustworthy?
I don't really know what to write into this author's note but I want to thank you all for hitting 500+ followers and almost 3K reads on this book in less than a month of publishing it. I love to see your interaction and your support really means everything, I have the best readers ever and I couldn't be happier, haha.
Uh-kay, I'm going to stop rambling now, though, if you want to see more of my work you can check out my short story "pervorto", "Holding Back", "Cinderhoe" or "Defectives".