AllFreeNovel
Share Us
9
RAINE
Aripple of awareness goes through me as I step into the cafeteria. Theo watches me like a hawk, making no attempt to disguise the contempt in his eyes.
Wanker.
Today has been fucking awful. So much so, I contemplated skiving off and going back to my dorm. But I refuse to let Keeley and her mean girl bitch friends get the upper hand.
Gum in my hair, vile notes in class, vicious rumours… it’s all child’s play compared to the shit I’ve put up with over the years.
Sure, it stings a little, knowing that they’ve put a target on my back when they don’t even know me. But I’ll never let them see that.
I can sense a group of them behind me. Their cruel whispers and taunts brushing up against me like a cold, bitter wind.
She should just take the hint and leave.
All Hallows’ is no place for a charity case like her.
Maybe we should just take out the trash ourselves.
Anger pulses underneath my skin; roiling like a living, breathing thing inside me. I knew All Hallows’ would be a hellhole full of judgemental bitches and egotistical, entitled arseholes. But Trudy was adamant it was better than the alternative.
Right now, as I glance over at Keeley, I’m not so sure.
She smirks right at me, pressing in closer to Theo, staking her claim.
Doesn’t she realise, she’s welcome to him?
Just looking at his smug grin irritates me. He thinks he’s won. He thinks this little game between us is over. Not that I wanted to play in the first place—I didn’t.
I don’t.
But I can’t deny I’m not wholly in control when he’s around, and I’m not afraid to admit he is easy on the eyes. Tall, dark, and annoyingly handsome. He’s a conceited, entitled rich boy wrapped up in a pretty package. But everyone knows that pretty things can still be rotten on the inside.
With a little huff, I keep my head down and quicken my pace, making a beeline for the queue snaking around the far wall.
I don’t see the boy barrelling toward me until it’s too late.
He collides into me with such force I yelp, losing my footing and slip on the shiny cafeteria flooring, falling right into the cleaning trolley, sending the dirty, discarded trays everywhere. They clatter to the ground like dominoes scattering as a sharp pain shoots through my side. I throw out a hand to steady myself only to take the nearest bin down with me, emptying the remnants of half-eaten lunches all over me as I go down.
I sit there for a second dazed as silence descends over the room. Until someone yells, “Oh my God, look at her.”
Laughter erupts, drowning out the roaring in my ears.
“Shit, I’m sorry.” The boy looms over me wearing an insincere smile. “I didn’t see you there.”
“You didn’t… whatever.” I bite back the urge to lash out. To give him a real piece of my mind.
Fucking idiot.
He gives me a little shrug and moves around me, avoiding the disaster zone as the laughter continues, making me bristle.
As if the embarrassment curling in my stomach isn’t enough, I make the fatal error of looking up only to find Keeley staring right at me, victory gleaming in her eyes. But it isn’t her expression that makes my heart sink, it’s Theo’s.
He looks so bloody smug as if he had a hand in planning my downfall.
Then it hits me.
