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“I tell you what,” he begins. “Let's have that talk tomorrow. Sit down, map out your new plan for the future…just in case.”
Just in case they rescind my acceptance and I’ve got no offers from any other schools? He doesn’t wanna say it, but I know what he’s thinking.
I shake my head no, just like last time, and the time before that. “Not yet,” I tell him. “I’m not ready.”
His hand drops from my shoulder and he taps his wrist. “Time is ticking, Rome. Graduation will be here before you know it, so you better get ready.”
I rub my temples, closing my eyes for a second. “Yeah. Maybe next week.”
I begin toward the staircase, stopping when he says, “Be nice to Elodie. She’s a good girl, Rome.”
My chest inflates with air, nostrils flaring as cruel words sit on the tip of my tongue. But I hold them in because her time is coming. Soon, everyone will know Elodie isn’t the good girl she wants the world to believe she is.
CHAPTER 7
ELODIE
That’s weird. I really thought I’d be carrying all my books today, just like yesterday. Rome wouldn’t let me anywhere near my locker, so I just stayed away from it to avoid confrontation.
My eyebrows rest high on my forehead as I look left, then right. I spin around in search of Rome, but he’s nowhere in sight. No Rome. No Luke. No Aiden. With my head held high, feeling like this is the start of better days ahead, I walk to my locker.
I twist out the combination and lift the lever, then pull the door open with my sore hand. I still can’t believe Rome shut my hand in a drawer. Only a psycho would do something so cruel.
As soon as my door pops open, a sweet scent wafts out, and I find it odd but the second I look inside, I can see where the fruity smell is coming from. My heart drops, beating rapidly as it sinks further and further into my stomach. And when the laughter all around me begins, my cheeks catch fire.
Inside my locker are dozens—no, hundreds—of multicolored wads of gum stuck to every surface. Layers upon layers plastered on every inch of the metal interior. The shelves, the inside of the door, the walls.
My eyes land on a note hung by the largest wad of them all. I yank the note down, ripping the top piece that remains under the gum.
Then, I read it…
Go back to wherever you came from.You’re not wanted here.
The harsh words pierce my heart like a sharp blade. How can Rome be so heartless? My eyes fill with angry tears as I keep my face hidden from the crowd watching me. They're probably waiting to see me cry so they can laugh more.
I won’t give them the reaction they so desperately crave. Swallowing hard, I suck up a few sniffles with my face inside the locker. When my tears are dry, I hang my bag inside as if the gum doesn’t even faze me. Unzipping my backpack, I pull out my books for my first class, then close the locker and spin around, head still held high.
With a fake smile lifting my lips, I offer up a casual hey and hello to the nosey assholes I pass by. Until I get to Rome.
He’s curled over, busting at the seams with laughter.
I stop directly in front of him, hugging my books to my black cardigan sweater. “Real cute, Rome. Thanks for infesting my locker with the saliva of Willow Creek’s finest. You’re truly a class act. Bravo.”
“Hey, Freckles,” Rome sputters between laughs. “How did the gum cross the hall?”
“Grow the hell up.” I shake my head in annoyance as I walk past, not willing to give him another second of my time.
But as I’m leaving, I hear him holler, “It stuck to your shoe.”
Every student in the hall cracks up laughing at his dumb joke. I act like I didn’t hear what he said, but when I turn down another hall and I’m away from the noise, I kick up my white Converse shoe and see a piece of purple gum covered in debris stuck to it, hanging off the edge.
“Dammit!” I let out a frustrated sigh as I drop my foot and keep moving. Each step has my shoe clinging to the floor. With someone’s chewed gum stuck to it, I take a sharp turn into the girls’ bathroom.
Walking over to the sink, I set my books down on the floor with a thud. My face heats as I quickly peel off my shoe, my no-show sock barely holding on just like my sanity. Grabbing a handful of paper towels from the dispenser, I proceed to pull off a big chunk of the gum.
Gross. I toss it into the open trash can beside me.
My hands shake as I continue cleaning up, and I have to pause to take a breath. I knew Rome hated me, and I thought I was prepared to deal with that. It’s easy to tell someone to just ignore bullying, but when you know it’s going to be your life, day in and day out, for a year, it hits differently.
