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“Off you go,” I say airily, flicking my fingers in their direction. “Go kick a football or something.”
“Oh you’re new,” the guy with the dark brown man bun says, watching me as if he’s memorizing my face. “I heard my dad say we were getting a new girl.”
“What’s her name?” the guy who called me ‘twinkles’ asks.
“Moo,” Man bun sneers.
“Gross,” I mutter. “That’s not even original.”
Deciding I have to get up, I suck it up and roll up slowly with my knees closed. The three guys watch me silently, though one hasn’t spoken yet.
Now, don’t ruin this by doing something awful like passing out, please.
“I hope this school admits people for more than their ability to play a sport,” I say, taking a step forward. Adrenaline is flooding my system as I talk shit, which will hopefully get me to the nurse’s office. Rachelle made sure I knew where that was too.
Man bun’s eyes glance down at my knees before flicking back at my eyes.
“You’re too fragile to talk shit, Moo,” he says.
“You’re too forgettable for me to care,” I reply, staying on the grass as I walk past them. They really don't bother me. I’ve faced bigger bullies than them in my foster families. At least they’ll keep their dicks to themselves. “Try some new material, Man Bun. Yours is a little tired.”
“You little bitch,” he snarls.
I move my backpack to one shoulder, and slide my hand into the pocket so I can grab the stun gun easily. I’m not a doormat, I’ve only pretended to be one at other schools with the sole purpose to get out of there. Things are different now, and I’m willing to take Ignacio’s words at face value.
“Please,” I say over my shoulder, listening for evidence he might rush me. “All you seem to have are silly little words. Maybe you should expand your vocabulary.”
A teacher is standing by the main door as I limp along toward it, and I force myself to walk as normally as possible. I don’t really want to garner attention. I need the nurse’s office to clean up and move on. Maybe she’ll have some new compression socks for me?
I’ll need to keep some more with me in case this becomes a new trend. I’ve been the new girl at a lot of schools, I should have thought about this.
“You have some grass in your hair,” a voice whispers beside me before he walks past me. It’s the one who hasn’t spoken until now.
Maybe I need to sneak into the locker room and sew bells into their clothes…
I scowl at the jocks before fixing my face and smiling tightly at the teacher. She looks between me and the jocks before her eyes drop to my knees. Sure enough, they’re stained with blood.
“Is there a problem here?” she asks, her hand resting on Man Bun’s chest. There’s barely any pressure, yet he stops still anyway.
“No problem, Mrs. Treasin. I think the girl is kind of a klutz,” he says. “She tripped on air and fell.”
“Hmm,” she grunts. “Then you can escort her to the nurse as a gentleman who failed to help her up, can’t you, Alastair?”
“How do you know I didn’t?” he asks, raising his brow.
“Because you’re no gentleman,” Mrs. Treasin mutters. “I’m sure you’d rather not ride the bench this season. Hop to it.”
Alastair makes a disgruntled sound deep inside before he turns toward me and rakes his eyes over me.
“I can manage just fine,” I say to the teacher. Ugh, those stairs are gonna suck. There’s only five of them, but my knees are definitely not happy campers.
“I’m not doing this for you,” he mutters, his arms coming around me to sweep me up. One wraps around my back while the other sits under my knees to give me a fucked up seat against his chest. Squeaking in surprise, I hold my backpack tightly in front of me. “This is for hockey.”
He likes to beat his meat stick against pucks and fight. Got it.
“Very chivalrous,” I say, pursing my lips at the teacher in unhappiness.
“It’s good enough,” she decides. “Don’t dump her on the ground, run her into anything, or talk to her, Alastair. Is that understood?”
