31. Drew

THIRTY-ONE

drew

"Rumor has it, Bellamy West is your boyfriend," Nora said, falling in step beside me as I cut through the crowded corridor.

"What?"

"And I've never known Bellamy to have a girlfriend."

I shook my head. "We're not...together."

Were we? No. We hadn't even had sex. And if there was one thing a guy like Bellamy would usually qualify for, it was sex with no strings. Somehow, though, I'd gotten tangled in the strings without the sex.

It had been two days since Bellamy had kissed me in the hallway, and I'd noticed a shift in the status quo of Dayton High. Gone were the vicious glares. Instead, people refused to look at me, shifting to get out of my way like one brush with me might be a death sentence.

That could only mean one thing. They thought I was his, even if I didn't.

"They're just rumors, Nora."

"Whatever you want to tell yourself."

I cut into the bathroom, saying I'd meet her in the cafeteria.

That was a mistake.

When I came out of the stall, my pulse instantly ticked up. Nikki and two of her friends were leaning against the sinks.

Nikki was Dayton through and through, and I really wasn't.

My hand slipped into my purse, fingers wrapping around the can of mace I always kept in there because...razor blades. "Are you really going to jump me in a bathroom over a guy, Nikki? Bit cliché, don't you think?" My voice sounded remarkably strong, considering the internal panic. A hundred different scenarios ran through my head, from a broken nose right through to getting shanked and bleeding out on a gross bathroom floor.

"You're nothing but a Barrington whore." A sneer pulled at her lips. "Bellamy will get bored of fucking you soon enough."

"Great. Then why are you in here?"

She took a step toward me and pulled out a small knife. Her friends moved to grab me, and I don't even know what happened next.

Blind panic. Survival instinct. Something.

I sprayed mace like it was the perfume counter at Macy's. Somewhere in my flailing around, a sharp sting sliced over my arm. I had no idea if Nikki had actually gone for me or just caught me in the shitshow of my chaos because I had my eyes closed for half of it.

Stumbling out of the bathroom, I dropped the mace back into my bag and noticed the trickle of blood creeping from the small cut left by the blade. I robotically walked to the cafeteria, grabbed a napkin, and pressed it to my bloody arm in a bit of a shock.

Nora looked at me wide-eyed when I fell onto the stool beside her. "What the hell happened?"

"Nikki happened."

"Wait. She cut you?" Diane looked horrified. It was Dayton. Even I, the girl who two months ago, was enrolled in one of the most expensive prep schools in the country, wasn't really surprised, so why was she?

"Uh, I'm not sure. There was pepper spray and flailing, but she definitely pulled a knife, like before that."

"You pepper-sprayed her?" Nora snorted. "You carry pepper spray?"

"Well, yeah, it's Dayton, Nora!"

Diane cleared her throat and nodded across the cafeteria. "Word of advice, you might want to tell Bellamy before he finds out."

On a glare, I peeled off the foil lid from my crappy, grape Push-Pop. "He's not my keeper. We aren't even together. Besides, I already blinded her."

She and Nora exchanged loaded glances.

"Drew," Nora inhaled a very deep breath. "Again. He doesn't date. And he's dating you, whether you realize it or not. He's not stable."

Diane nodded. "I mean, they burned this girl's car once, simply because she broke up with Hendrix and called him an idiot."

"Jesus Christ." What the hell had I gotten myself into? Oh, wait, I decided to lust after the guy who broke into my house and almost got me off with the baseball bat he used to smash the place up. Crazy, crazy, crazy. I actually feared for Nikki a little bit, and I loathed the girl.

Nora took a bite from her apple. "You need to go to Brown before he finds out. Get her kicked out."

Diane touched my hand. "Bellamy being a psycho aside, what if she'd actually stabbed you, Drew?"

"Fine. If they take my mace away, I'm going to be pissed."

So I went to Brown, mainly because I was not about getting shanked, but also because I knew, firsthand, the extremes Bellamy would go to for revenge. I didn't want him getting into trouble because Nikki was a crazy bitch.

That boy wasn't getting arrested for anyone but me.

By the end of the day, the school was rife with gossip that Brown had expelled Nikki.

Great. Glad it was that easy for her. Not that I was bitter or anything.

Hendrix glared at me when I walked up to detention with Bellamy.

Mrs. Smith waved me over. "Good afternoon, Miss Nasty." She passed me a clipboard and made me sign my name. "Go sit down and reflect on why the hell you let that boy stick his tongue down your throat in the middle of the hallway. And you, Mr. Nasty…"

She handed Bellamy the clipboard. "You go sit down and think about why you think it's okay to disrespect Miss Nasty like that."

He scribbled his name over the line.

"I wasn't feeling very disrespected," I said under my breath. Of course, she heard.

"Oh, you were feeling something all right." She snatched the clipboard from Bellamy, then chugged her thermos. "His arousal all pressed into your woman parts."

"Woman parts." Hendrix shoved past us on his way to the back table. "More like his Arby's sauce all up in your roast beef sandwich."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you have to call it a roast beef sandwich? The imagery is just…"

Bellamy stopped at the end of the table and whacked Hendrix in the face with his notebook.

Wolf chuckled and sank to the stool across from Bellamy. "You're gonna give him a head injury."

"He is a head injury, Wolf." Bellamy glanced at Hendrix and threw up his hands. "What do you want me to do? Punch him in the nuts next time he says shit like that?"

Hendrix glared across the table. "Did you just threaten to damage my baby batter mixer?"

"Wow. What Diane sees in you…" I mumbled.

"A nine-inch cock and a tongue that works magic. I know that's hard to imagine with Bell's one-inch Vienna sausage…" Hendrix grabbed at his crotch. "But I'm hung like a camel. Pretty sure I have a future in porn."

"Congratulations?"

"I'd call myself Kamikaze Kummer because there's no pussy I won't bomb dive."

Bellamy grabbed my hand, yanking me up from the table while he snatched his books up. "I can't deal with this neurotic shit anymore today."

"How the hell did you even become friends with Hendrix?"

"I blocked it out." He said before sinking to a stool a few tables over.

"Like a traumatic event?"

"Exactly."

The late-afternoon sun poured through the cafeteria windows like a greenhouse, and with no air conditioning in here, the air felt stuffy and oppressive. I shrugged out of my jacket before taking a seat beside him.

"What happened to your arm?" He glanced down at the bright-blue Band-Aid across my forearm.

"Um…"

"Holy shit, Bell," Hendrix shouted.

I glanced across the cafeteria to one of the cheerleaders now sitting beside the idiot.

"Psycho Bitch got expelled for trying to shank Psycho Bitch Number Two!"

When I looked back at Bellamy, his jaw was tight. Eyes narrowed.

I flipped Hendrix off. "Shank makes it sound so overdramatic."

"Seriously?" Bellamy reached for my arm, and I yanked it away. "You thought you'd just not mention that?"

Years of spoiled-brat syndrome kicked in, and I bristled at the idea that I had to tell him anything. "Did I need to?"

"Don't know, Drew? Do you think you do?" He ripped off the Band-Aid, skimming a finger over the razor-thin cut.

"I handled it," I said. Not well, but still.

"And Drewbers pepper-sprayed her?" Hendrix cackled. "Sprayed her like a cat, Bell! Ole' Salami Tits got seasoned with mace."

I groaned and pointed at Bellamy. "Don't say a word."

His gaze held mine prisoner for a beat before he opened his textbook. "Next time someone does shit like that, you better tell me."

I fought the little spark of indignation that rose in me, and I should have kept my mouth shut. "Or what?"

All he did was smirk.

God, he was annoying. "Fuck you."