AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why should I?” she shouted, fury raging in her eyes now. She looked around and stepped closer, poking me hard right in the center of my chest and lowering her voice to a loud whisper. “All you’ve done these past few days is blackmail me and fuck me.”
“That’s not true. We didn’t do that shit last night.”
“If I hadn’t told you no, then you would’ve.”
“Because you’re hot as fuck, Sunshine.”
“No,” Vera said, cutting me off and gritting her teeth. “First of all, don’t call me that anymore. I don’t like it and don’t want someone likeyougiving me a nickname. Second, don’t fucking lie to me anymore. You could have anyone in this freaking hellhole of a school. I’m not hot as fuck. I’m not cute as fuck. Go fuck Skylar.”
And with that, she twirled around and hurried down the hallway again.
I rushed behind her. “You don’t get to say whether I think you’re attractive or not, Vera.”
“Yes, I do because guys likeyoudon’t ever think girls like me are attractive!” she said, loud enough this time that I bet everyone in the nearest classrooms had heard it. “That’s not how this life works. It only happens that way in books and movies. And even then …” She paused, her chin quivering. “Even then, it’s all fake, fiction, and make-believe.”
While I wanted to grab her hands and tell her that … that it wasn’t fake to me—because Vera was undeniably the sexiest girl here at Redwood—I knew that she wouldn’t believe me, nor would she let me touch her again.
“You have lipstick on your fucking mouth,” she said, her voice softer again. She stared up at me, at the lipstick that must’ve been smeared all over my lips because Skylar couldn’t take no for an answer. The tears in Vera’s eyes wavered. “All over you.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Every word that came out of her mouth hurt more and more. I didn’t know what to say or how to make her believe me. I didn’t want … I didn’t want to lose her. She was the only person who paid attention to me and the only girl who I …
Who I actually kinda, sorta fucking liked.
Even though I hadn’t done anything, all I could feel was shame and guilt, emotions that I’d thought I didn’t have anymore, not since Mom and Dad had stopped caring about me and I’d stopped caring about the fucking world.
One last time, she turned on her heel and walked down the hallway.
I should’ve done more to stop Skylar. I should’ve pushed her away the moment that she dragged me into the janitor’s closet.
“Please,” I whispered as she disappeared into her Biology classroom.
But it was too late.
I needed to do more. I needed her to see that, no matter how hard I tried to hide my emotions and feelings behind this blackmail shit, I fucking couldn’t. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Vera since the day my parents had fired her mother.
ChapterTwenty-Two
VERA
Rain poured outside. I stood behind the counter at the library and aimlessly checked out books for people while Sue talked my ear off about her sister in the nursing home. Usually, I loved chatting with her, but I couldn’t focus today.
Not when Blaise sat on the black couch across from me, waiting for my shift to finish. He had already tried to talk to me twice today while I worked hard for my money, and I had done my best to ignore him. So, now, he sat there, doing nothing.
Nothing.
I didn’t want to see him anymore.
All day, I hadn’t been able to stop feeling like a complete loser for believing that there had been something more between us. Last night, I had … thought I felt something more, something happy. But it was all a fucking lie. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the image of Skylar’s red lipstick smeared all over his lips out of my head.
“Next!” I called, staring at the monitor and clicking through a few screens.
“Busy today?” João Rocha said.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him, raising a brow. “I can’t babysit now.”
João placed a couple of princess books in front of me. “Checking out books for my sister.” He placed a tattooed forearm on the counter, leaned against it, and looked over my shoulder at Blaise, who looked pissed off now. “I heard what happened.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, scanning the books.
