And then I am on the floor because someone is slapping my face and I look up to see Hanna pulling at my hair.
This is not my finest moment.
“Get. Off. Bitch,” I yell at Hanna and knee her in the crotch. Hanna punches me in the face but before anything else could happen Aria pulls her off of me.
I brush myself off and quickly get up.
“Gee,” I smile politely at hanna, “Is that how your mother acts when she fucks her bosses just to get through the year?”
I don’t understand how I’ve not been murdered yet but Aria is holding Hanna back and she stands infront of Hanna who is fuming.
Aria jabs a finger into my chest, “You, shut up and leave before I start attacking you.”
I laugh hysterically, “Oh Aria, are you sure you want to lose another friend after you lost your boyfriend Ezra Fitz? Oh come on, I’m not writing a novel about Alison so I shouldn’t be kicked onto the curb.”
A hand clenches my upper arm and I’m pulled straight into Wesley’s side before we start immediately walking towards the school exit.
I struggle beside him.
He is looking straight up and not even at me. “I have a hand gun in my pocket and If you pull something, I will shoot every single person in this hall.”
I laugh.
Wesley doesn’t.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on my side Wesley? I really didn’t expect this betrayl,” I hiss. My eyes fall on the Rosewood High Dance poster and my inner mind is slowly working and nodding at me.
“Anyone in this room only had to see two seconds of that fight before they knew what side they were on. I have seen years of your obsession with Alison. I clearly know what side I’m on,” He says.
I tense up and then wince as the broken glass deepens. Wesley looks down at me and I can see a hail storm in his eyes.
He is very unhappy with me.
“How did you get back into Rosewood high anyway? I’m pretty sure they would’ve heard you with that gun and Noel Kahn’s body,” I say curiously.
His eyes tensed, “I said it before. I took care of i-“
I kneed him in the groin and he doubled over, releasing his grip on me. I was five steps before his hands came back around me in a bear hug.
I kicked and squirmed but we were no longer in the part of the hallway that was crowded. Then we exited the school by the front door and Holbrook was leaning against his car with his arms crossed looking just as unhappy as Wesley.
I looked away.
I couldn’t bear to meet his eyes.
He had never said he was disappointed in me but I bet he was. Even back in the Ravenswood days I had felt a sense of embarrassment of doing things with Alison and Holbrook finding out. He was supposed to be my escape from her and it was torture when he knew how low I had fallen.
Wesley dragged me towards the car. I put my foot up on the door too prevent me from being shoved in while trying to keep my hair in front of my face so that Holbrook couldn’t see me.
And then I feel his hand gently try to pull back my hair from my face but I snap away instantly, still held onto by Wesley.
“Alice,” Holbrook is saying sternly. “Look at me.”
I don’t want to look at him.
I keep my head down and just stand there. Struggling against Wesley is doing stuff to my wrists that I can’t afford if I want to escape again.
Holbrook speaks to Wesley, “Can you drive? I need to ask her some questions.”
Wesley answers a “yes” after a while and then hands me to Holbrook and I am struggling against him. Then he attempts to gently shove me into the back seat of the car while Wesley gets into the front one.
Holbrook follows after me and then the car is being pulled out of the parking lot.
I think my eyes are leaking again. Oh, how weak I’ve gotten. My hair has formed a curtain around me while Holbrook reaches over me to buckle in my seat belt.
He pulls back to his seat and tells me to lay my head on his shoulder. And I think: Why Not? How could I possibly embarrass myself anymore?
I lean my head and cry silently and he is slowly stroking my hair softly, leaning his head against mine.
Then I get up and turn away from him and throw up in the back of the car.