AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you for saying it.”
I didn’t cry. I wasn’t sad. I’d heard worse things, and being called chubby really wasn’t untrue, so I couldn’t bring myself to care about that anymore.
“I really don’t like that girl.”
I let out a wet laugh. “No, me neither. I don’t think she’s actually jealous of me, though.”
Elena pulled away, holding on to my shoulders. “Agree to disagree, sunshine.”
I tried to smile, but I couldn’t force it. “I think…I think I need to do something about that party. I can’t let it happen to the girls who got invited.”
“You’re right. And obviously,Ican’t let you take that on yourself.” She let go of me, picked up her phone, and started tapping. “Helen will be back in a minute. Once she’s here, we’re going to fuck up some Pi Sig boys and make them wish they were never born.”
I crinkled my nose. “I don’t think I can fuck anyone up.”
She patted my head. “Obviously we’re not going to break bones or anything. It will be thethreatof breaking bones that does it.”
“Give me a minute to gather my thoughts. I think…I think I have an idea that won’t require breaking bones.”
I wasn’t immune to being hurt. The little confidence I had was a fragile thing, something hard won after everything I’d been through. Hearing Kayleigh talk about me, about how Deacon and his friends viewed me, made my confidence waver. The girl I was when I came to Savage U freshman year would have crumbled. But I was so much stronger now, and I was pissed off.
Who were these boys to decide who was attractive? What gave them the right to traumatize girls for fun? How did their self-importance get so grand, they assumed they could hurt people and not face repercussions? If I’d accepted an invitation to that party, I would have been destroyed to find out the true reason behind it. How does someone recover from something like that?
I wasn’t going to run and hide. Those laughing boys wouldn’t be throwing a party this time.
Helen, Elena, and I marched across campus, each of us with a bat in hand. Elena had bought us all pink bats. Helen absolutely refused to carry hers. Her bat was an old wooden one, scuffed from the times she’d used it, and Helen didn’t play baseball, so…
We had a plan. Whether my bloodthirsty roommate stuck to it was yet to be seen, but we had one.
My courage fled as soon as the frat house came into sight. Laughing boys lined the front porch. If I’d been alone, I would have turned right back around and ran home to hide in my room.
Elena and Helen had no such qualms. They charged forward, bringing me with them.
One of the guys stepped out of the group to speak to us. “Can I help you?”
Helen pushed open the front door and stalked inside without acknowledging him. Since Theo lived here Helen knew her way around. Not that she would have let that stop her.
Elena paused with her bat on her shoulder, cocking a hip, scanning the guy from head to toe. “No. I don’t think you can, buddy. Try helping yourself to a haircut that doesn’t look like it originated from a TikTok trend then maybe we’ll talk. I put strong emphasis onmaybe.”
The guy sputtered. Elena ignored him, grabbed my hand, and pulled me along with her. Helen was waiting for us at the base of the stairs. As soon as she saw us, she continued her mission, storming up, us following.
Deacon’s door was cracked. Helen pushed it open with her bat, covering her eyes with her hand.
“If your dick is out, I’m going to scream.”
Elena peeked over her shoulder. “I think his dick is away. I forgot my magnifying glass to be sure, but if I can’t see it, it’s not there, right?”
Helen dropped her hand from her eyes and waved at Deacon, who was frozen on his bed, his laptop on his lap. His eyes were on me, even though I was only peering at him from between Elena and Helen.
“Zadie? What are you doing here?”
My friends shifted, allowing me into the room, and pulled the door shut behind me. This was my show unless I needed them. Gathering up the courage that had tried to do a runner, I found my words.
“I know about the party. The Dogfight party.”
Deacon shut down his laptop and sat up straight. “I was never going to invite you to that. You don’t fit the…um, criteria.”
I swung my bat back and forth between my fingertips. “What’s the criteria?”
