“Briggs,” Ms. Higgins says, smiling back at him. “Just the person I wanted to talk to.”
“I assume this is about my partner? I heard he dropped the class.”
“Yes, he decided this class was too much with his band commitments and other activities.”
“Let me guess.” Briggs puts his arm around me, his hand squeezing my shoulder. “This is my new partner?”
“Yes,” Ms. Higgins says. “As you may have heard, Rachel’s family had to make a rather sudden move to New York, leaving Ella without a partner.” Her smile drops as her eyes bounce between us. “I trust there won’t be any problems with you two working together.”
“Of course not,” Briggs says, holding me tighter against his side as I try to pull away. “I’m looking forward to this. It’ll give me a chance to get to know Ella better.” He looks at me, his smile now a smirk.
“Great!” Ms. Higgins is beaming, like she just managed to get enemies to be friends. She couldn’t be farther from the truth. Briggs and I aren’t even close to being friends. And he’s not just an enemy. He’s a bully. A bully who almost ruined my life with a bag of white powder he planted in my locker.
How did he do it, and why? Is he really that evil?
As much as he’s done to me, I never thought he’d take it this far, but now that he has, I need to watch my back. This is about more than being valedictorian, because seriously, why would he care? It’s just a stupid title. So why is he doing this? Does he really hate me that much?
What is thisreallyabout?
Chapter 5
Ella
As Ms. Higgins goes back into the classroom, I yank away from Briggs.
He grabs my arm and drags me back to him, putting his face next to mine. “You think today was bad? Just wait.”
“Is this because ofyou? Did you make Nathan drop the class so we’d be forced to be partners?”
He answers with a smirk.
“Why would you want that? We’re supposed to be competing. If we’re partners, we get the same grade.”
“It’s just one class. It doesn’t fucking matter.”
“Then why’d you do it?”
He lets go of me and saunters into the classroom.
What the hell? He’s not going to give me an answer? Why would he do this? He hates me. Why would he want to be my partner?
It must be part of his plan. If we’re forced to be together, he has access to me. He can do stuff, like hide drugs in my bag.
We don’t have lab today, so I’m able to keep a safe distance from him, way up front by the teacher, while Briggs is way in the back.
After class, I glance back at Briggs and see him watching me, a wicked smile on his face. I gather up my things and get out of there.
When school lets out, I go to the office to fill out a graduation form that they apparently had on file but lost. The lady at the desk takes forever to find the blank forms, so by the time I leave, the school’s empty and so is the parking lot.
“Help!” a girl yells as I’m walking to my truck.
I look around but don’t see anyone.
“Please! Someone help me!”
It sounds like it’s coming from around back. The shrill cries for help continue as I get out my phone and follow the voice to the back of the building.
When I get there, I see Scarlett and Aubrey standing there, laughing.
