Chapter 9

CHAPTER9

“This is definitely an upgrade from public school lunch,” Mikey murmured absently to herself as she took in the lovely selection before her from the salad bar that had everything from grilled steak to crumbled tofu to the pasta selections, burgers, pizza, the sushi bar, fruit, and every side imaginable, before shifting her gaze to the insane dessert selection.

With a satisfied sigh, Mikey took her time selecting a slice of cheese pizza, a serving of steak fries, a lovely chocolate chip cookie, and a chocolate milk before she headed to the cashier, where she discovered that her athletic scholarship covered all of her lunch needs. Once she was done, Mikey took in her seating options, and when she didn’t spot Sebastian, she shifted her attention to Cole, noting that he was sitting with what appeared to be the football team before she found herself looking across the large dining hall to find his sister Elizabeth sitting with a group of cheerleaders.

Since that just wasn’t going to work for her, Mikey shifted her attention back to Cole and decided that was better than nothing. With a heartfelt sigh, she made her way over to the table and stood behind the large boy sitting next to him and cleared her throat. That was followed by the large boy looking over his shoulder and frowning in confusion when he spotted her standing there. That is until Cole reached over and shoved him out of his chair with a bored sigh.

With a muttered grumble, he grabbed his tray and moved down so that Mikey could sit down next to Cole. Sighing with satisfaction, Mikey reached for her chocolate milk, only to wonder why the large boy sitting across from her was glaring at her.

“Why do you look familiar?” Mikey asked as she took a sip of chocolate milk, absently noting that it was definitely creamier than public school chocolate milk.

“Dodgeball,”he bit out between clenched teeth.

Nodding, Mikey mumbled, “Good times,” with a heartfelt sigh that had the boy’s eyes narrowing dangerously on her.

Deciding that she should probably give him a chance to work through his need to glare at her, Mikey took in the large cafeteria that reminded her of the dining hall in Harry Potter and took in everything from the wood beams lining the ceiling to the freshly polished hardwood floor. That was followed by watching students coming and going, the teachers sitting at the long table at the other end of the cafeteria eating lunch instead of patrolling the cafeteria like they did at her old school and watching as Chloe tried to walk past their table.

“What are you doing?” Chloe asked as Cole reached back and grabbed hold of her bag and dragged her closer, giving her no choice but to sit down next to him.

“Making it easier for you to share,” Cole murmured as he helped himself to a bite of her pasta.

“But I don’t want to sit with you,” Chloe pointed out as Mikey went to take another sip of her milk only to find it missing. Frowning, she glanced to her left, only to find Sebastian sitting next to her. Having a pretty good idea why he was glaring at her, Mikey asked, “Is this because the ball slipped out of my hand?”

That question cost her her slice of pizza. “Would it help if I told you that I was sorry?” Mikey asked, only to end up losing her cookie. Sighing heavily, Mikey got up, grabbed her empty tray and got back in line, only to realize who was standing in front of her.

“If it isn’t Latin Scribe’s newest charity case,” the bleached blonde said as she ran a dismissive eye over her.

“And if it isn’t the sophomore that’s obsessed with me,” Mikey said, blinking up at the girl who she had the unfortunate luck of having three classes with as she stepped around her and grabbed a burger before moving on to select her sides. By the time that Mikey was ready to check out, her new best friend was gone.

Wondering how long it would be before she got bored and moved on, Mikey headed back to her seat, only to find a semi-familiar-looking man, whom she’d like to point out didn’t look happy to see her, standing in her way.

“Come with me, Miss Campbell,” he drawled, gesturing for her to follow him.

Wondering what she did now, Mikey dropped her tray off with Sebastian, ignored his questioning look and grabbed her bag and the burger off her tray and followed him, absently noting that Braxton was sitting at a table in the back of the cafeteria by himself. Taking a bite of her burger, Mikey made her way across the hallway towards the administration offices and into a large office with the headmaster plaque outside the door to find Uncle Jason and Coach Jackson waiting along with her new BFF and one of her lackeys.

“What’s going on?” Mikey asked, taking a bite of her burger as she noted that Uncle Jason really didn’t look all that happy to see her there.

“Have a seat, Mikey,” Coach Jackson said with a resigned sigh.

Knowing that she really didn’t have a choice, Mikey sat down in the chair next to her new BFF as the man that she was assuming was the headmaster cleared his throat as he sat down behind the large oak desk in front of her. “We don’t tolerate bullying at Latin Scribe High School, Mikey,” he began, making her frown as she took another bite of her burger.

“That’s good to know,” Mikey said slowly, wondering why he was telling her that.

“We have some concerns about your behavior,” he continued, making her bite back a wince as her gaze shot to Coach Jackson and noted that he really didn’t look happy about this meeting.

Clearing her throat, Mikey shifted in her chair as she said, “I was told that I wouldn’t get in trouble for dodgeball.”

“What are you talking about?”

Blinking innocently, Mikey asked, “What are you talking about?” realizing that he had no idea what she was talking about and deciding that it was probably for the best if she kept it that way.

“I’m talking about the way that you’ve been treating Nicole and Heather,” he said, making her frown.

“Who?” Mikey asked as he gestured to the girls sitting next to her.

“What exactly did I do?” she asked, nibbling on her burger only to grumble when Uncle Jason reached over and stole it, finishing it off in one bite, all while glaring at her.

“She wouldn’t leave us alone during Mr. Bailey’s class,” the girl, who she was assuming was Heather, said, making Mikey frown as she asked, “Who’s Mr. Bailey?”

“English,” the headmaster said, noting that she was still frowning in confusion and added, “Your third-period class.”

“Oh…” Mikey mumbled with a slow nod. “Wait. Is this because I took a nap?”

“You took a nap during English class?” the headmaster asked with a frown matching hers.

“That depends,” Mikey murmured as she cleared her throat.

“On what?”

“On whether or not I’m going to get in trouble,” she said, nodding solemnly.

“We’re here to discuss the way that you treated Heather and Nicole,” he said, gesturing to the two girls watching her with smug expressions.

“Wait. Which one will I get in more trouble for, bullying or sleeping?” Mikey asked, deciding that it would probably be in her best interest to clear that up before she said anything else.

“There’s no sleeping allowed in class,” Uncle Jason drawled as he watched her closely.

Nodding, Mikey said, “Which is why I wasn’t sleeping. I was bullying Jessica and Karen,” as she gestured absently to the girls that clearly had way too much time on their hands.

“Our names are not Jessica and Karen!”

Blinking, Mikey asked, “Then, why did he just call you that?”

“He didn’t!”

“Mikey,” Uncle Jason said, sighing heavily as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “What happened?”

“I decided to treat high school like prison and went after two girls bigger and older than me and bullied them to the point that they cried to establish dominance?” Mikey said with a hopeful smile.

“We didn’t cry!” came the outraged denial that had her wondering why they were making this more difficult than it needed to be.

“Shhh, there’s no shame in crying,” Mikey assured them with a pitying look that seemed to piss them off more.

There was a heavy sigh, and then, Uncle Jason said, “Give me your phone, Mikey.”

“Because I tormented two girls until they ugly cried?” Mikey asked, really hoping that would be enough to get them to drop this.

“We didn’t cry!” Nicole snapped.

Grumbling, Mikey pulled out her phone and handed it to Uncle Jason. He glanced down at her phone, swiped and-

“She was sleeping,” he said with a heavy sigh.

“No, I wasn’t. I was building a reputation as a vicious bully,” Mikey assured them.

“How do you know?” the headmaster asked, frowning as he glanced at Uncle Jason.

“Because her watch recorded it,” Uncle Jason said with a pointed look at the smartwatch on her wrist as he held up her phone, making her wince.

“Bullying relaxes me?” Mikey said with a hopeful smile.

“What’s the punishment for filing a false bullying report?” Uncle Jason asked with a pointed look at the girls, who really seemed to have it out for her.

“Detention for a week,” the headmaster said, leveling a look on the girls that had Mikey wincing in sympathy.

“What? That’s not fair!” Nicole snapped.

“That’s unfortunate,” Mikey said with a pitying shake of her head, only to wince when Uncle Jason asked, “And for sleeping in class?”

“Running laps after school,” Coach Jackson drawled as his eyes locked on her.

“But the bullying exhausted me,” Mikey mumbled sadly.

“Mr. James will be expecting both of you after school,” the headmaster said with a pointed look that had her two new BFFs getting up and storming out of the office without another word, but they made sure to glare at her every step of the way.

“For some reason, I don’t think they like me,” Mikey mumbled as she watched them go.

“What did you do to piss them off?” Uncle Jason asked, handing her phone back to her.

“Exist?” she said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

“That’ll do it,” the headmaster said, sighing heavily. “Do yourself a favor, Mikey, stay away from them.”

“That’s the plan,” Mikey assured them with a firm nod as she moved to leave, only to go still when Coach Jackson gestured for her to sit back down.

“While I have you here, I want to talk to you about what’s expected of you this year. Starting is a big responsibility, you’re going to have a lot of competition this year and you need to work hard. It’s important that you don’t slack off. High school baseball is harder and more intense than what you’re used to,” Coach Jackson said while Mikey sat there, nodding in agreement, only to go still when Uncle Jason said, “Don’t worry. We’ve got it covered,” with an unholy gleam in his eyes that actually terrified her.

“Wait. What does that mean?” Mikey asked, trying not to panic as Uncle Jason headed for the door with a chuckle that she found deeply disturbing.