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As the days have gone on, I’ve watched Hadley from a distance get sadder and sadder. Usually, I wouldn’t notice anyone else's mood bar my own dark one, but there’s something different about her and seeing her obviously hurting does something to me. Something I don’t want to accept or acknowledge, but fuck, I can’t get rid of it.
“Did you find anything?”
“Nothing that you couldn’t find yourself from a quick Google search.”
“Brilliant. Well, you were a fucking waste of time then.” I’d asked Christian, seeing as he’s clearly willing to break the rules.
He helped Ace and I cover up a little prank a few weeks back. We’d tied Bexley to the volleyball post and gotten Christian to circulate it around social media without any trace back to us. He was also the one who hijacked the homecoming video for Ace, the night he finally knocked Sterling Prep’s Queen Bee off her pedestal. Although Ace still denies all knowledge. He might have convinced Vager and anyone else who’s asked, but Conner and I know him almost better than he knows himself.
“I tried, I really did, but someone really wants to keep whatever it is hidden.” The panicked expression on his face amuses me. It’s like he’s actually scared for his life.
Part of me wants to scare him more, but I don’t really have the energy to make an IT nerd wet himself during third period.
“I appreciate it,” I say before spinning and leaving him to do his thing.
Instead of heading to my class late, I turn toward the library. It seems I’ve got more of my own research to do.
I find a quiet corner and pull my cell from my pocket. I type the same thing into the search bar that I have been all week.
Hadley Dove Rexford.
I’ve been digging for days, but all I’ve managed to unearth is what everyone already knows. She’s from a wealthy family in Gravestone County and she’s an only child. Image search shows them as the perfect family at events, flashing their wealth around with their designer clothes. There are a few others that regularly appear in images—family friends, I guess, but there’s one guy who makes me suspicious. There’s only one interesting fact I’ve managed to dig up, one which I intend to ask her about very soon.
I open everything I can, but nothing I find screams scandal or secrets and it makes me even more curious about what Hadley is hiding.
Now I’ve had a taste of her darkness, she can bet that I’m going to keep digging until I unearth the truth. She knows mine, so I figure that it’s only fair I know everything there is to know about her.
The rest of the day passes as any other this week. Hadley ignores me whenever we pass in the hallway despite the fact that I know she’s watching me out of the corner of her eye. She avoids all of us at lunch, and just like every other day, I see the concern on Remi’s face for her best friend.
By the time I’m in the locker room that evening, listening to Coach’s pep talk to hype us up for the game ahead, I’m about ready to admit that I miss her in some fucked-up way.
We lost our away game last week, putting our chances at the championship at risk. I can see the pressure and tension pulling at everyone around me. They’re desperate to prove that we don’t need Bexley to lead this team to victory, and as much as I don’t want to give the prick the satisfaction, I can’t help but wonder if his throwing arm was the best thing about this team. He might have been a smug fucker, but he was a skilled one at that.
As ever, Coach’s pep talk is like water off a duck’s back. The others latch onto his every word like he’s God or some shit. I’m too focused on the game ahead, or more so my plans for the party tonight to pay any attention.
It’s not until a roar of excitement sounds out around me that I attempt to look like I’m with them.
We run out onto the field while the girls shake their pom-poms for the crowd. My eyes zero in on one of them, but even out here tonight, she’s not her usual self. Her happy, preppy façade is long gone.
By half time the crowd is going crazy with the advantage we’ve managed to pull back after initially being down.
The cheerleaders are almost at the end of their routine when something goes wrong. I have no idea what it was, but it’s clear that it was Hadley’s fault. Lylah, Tia and fucking motormouth Marissa immediately turn on her. The looks on their faces might break a weaker member of the squad, but not Hadley. I watch as her shoulders widen as she holds her own against the trio of bitches.
Pride swells within me as I continue watching her stand up for herself.
“You hoping for a repeat tonight, man?” Aaron asks when he sees what, or who, is holding my attention.
“Erm…I don’t know what—”
“Marissa, man. Word has it that she sucks like a fucking vacuum cleaner. I’ve also heard that she’s not finished with you.”
I groan. It’s not the first time I’ve heard similar words since the party at his house. I’ve even heard it from Marissa more than once. She seems to think that since she’s had a taste of my cock she now owns me or some shit.
It’s my own fault, I know that. I shouldn’t have broken my rule about giving into a cheerslut, but I did, and now she’s stalking me, offering herself up to me as my punishment.
“Nah, I’m done with her. She’s all yours if you want her.”
He blows out a breath. “Might as well, seeing as Hayden’s already marked Hadley as his.”
