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“I figured I’d give you another shot at what you think literature should be,” I shot back just as quickly. Her face turned from smugness to annoyance in no time flat. She knew she couldn’t send me to the headmaster so she focused her attention on someone else.
Sloane was looking at me, as I shot my gaze over to her. She wasn’t giggling like the other girls in class, in fact, she was looking at me like she was trying to figure me out. I almost felt uncomfortable with the way she looked at me but as the teacher moved to the front of the class, she broke our gaze.
I grimaced through the entire class as Ms Alden butchered her interpretation of Shakespeare. My mother would be horrified so hear this. She’d all had us taught before high school about Shakespeare. The bell rang to signal the end of class and we all headed out the door. Sloane was waiting for me in the hallway when I finally left.
“You didn’t have to be so mean to the teacher,” she chided me.
“Why are you so worried?”
“Are you just trying to be a bad boy and you have to offend everyone you see?” she asked me.
“I won’t offend you,” I told her before I pushed off the wall I had been leaning on and headed to the exit. My fascination with the new girl was over and it seemed my charm was wearing thin after too long in this damn place.
SLOANE
My father slidthe money into my hand to go in and pay for our dinner. He hadn’t bought food or kitchen appliances since we returned to this town and this was the fourth night we’d had takeout. I was getting over the greasy burgers and cold fries but food was food. I headed past the group of kids from school who were mucking about in the parking lot, acting like they were king shit, and headed inside. I saw a few of the kids from school working the counters and the kitchen behind them. Ignoring the will to run and hide, I made my way to the counter and delivered my order.
My bored fellow student gave me the total in a monotone voice and took the cash. I moved to the side just as he called out to me.
“Wait, what’s your name for the order?”
“Sloane Carpenter.”
“Weird,” he shrugged. “There’s a Sloane Carpenter in my class.”
I shrugged off the eye roll and wanted to shrink away before I responded. “Yeah, that’s me.”
He didn’t have time to react before the next person was ordering. I waited in the corner of the room until he called out my name and handed me the bag.
“You sure you’re in my class?” he asked me, with a sly smirk. “I would have noticed you.”
“I guess the uniform makes me invisible to your kind,” I replied, taking the bag and making a beeline for our car. A stranger stepped out in front of me, blocking my view. My father had always parked on the outskirts of the parking lot so it was easy to get home. But his view was blocked as to where I was at the moment.
Great.
“Where you going, pretty girl?” he slurred. I looked up into his eyes and could see the familiar glassy eyes of a drunkard. My uncle and grandfather had both been Grade A drunks so I knew this could get bad and fast.
“I’m heading to meet my father, he’s just over there.”
“He sends his little girl to fetch dinner alone?” he asked, moving closer to me, and causing me to back up. “That’s not a good daddy. I’ll look after you, little one.”
The fear was rising in my chest and I felt my heart begin to hammer hard in my chest. I looked around for someone to help me but no one was daring to come and aid the new girl. The school kids had disappeared from before and the guys inside were busy. I could probably back up and head inside until my father came to look for me but I didn’t want to give in like that.
“Problem, buddy?” I heard a familiar voice. The drunk turned around and backed up slightly.
“No, I was just asking the lady if she needed help.”
“She doesn’t,” Killian said. “Beat it.”
The drunk all but ran away from us and left me reeling. My heart rate was still racing as I looked at Killian. Those dark eyes drawing me in.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, you shouldn’t have needed help though.”
He looked around at the other students who had started to come out. One of them, a boy I recognized as being on the school’s football team, came over to us at a slight jog.
“Killian, I was just coming to her aid.”
