“Madi come on! We’re going to be late!” Nate yells from his Porsche.
“Well, you can wait!” I hiss to myself under my breath, reaching for an apple in the fridge and flicking my long hair over my shoulder. I’ve been wearing a lot of scandalous clothes lately—probably Tatum’s influence—so I decide on ripped boyfriend jeans, a tight white tank top that shows just a smidge of my flat, toned belly and a lot of my boobs—not hard considering the size—and my Chucks. Leaving my hair in natural loose curls that flow down to my tailbone, I pinch my cheeks, trying to get a pink blush to spread across my skin, my leather bangles rubbing across my jaw in the movement, and then walk out the front door, closing it behind myself.
“Calm down!” I scold him, clutching my books in my hand.
He tips his aviators down his nose and checks me out from the driver seat just as I pull open the passenger door. “Well, damn, sis. Do you ever look bad?”
“Yes,” I reply curtly. “Usually after I kill cheating men.”
Nate rolls his eyes and pushes his glasses back up his nose, putting it into first gear and skidding out of the driveway. “Stop being dramatic. She didn’t even care.”
“I call bullshit. She would care.”
“And how do you know this? Maybe she’s just different.”
I grin, a thought popping up in my head. “Well”—I shrug, checking my nails with a slight smirk on my lips—“I mean, if she didn’t care, maybe it’s because she has this super sexy—and when I say sexy, I mean fucking gushing sexy, Nate. Like, one look and I was ready to tear my own panties off and shove them in my mouth just to have his hot body under—”
He slams on the brakes, my head jolting forward.
“Nate!” I scream at his impulsiveness.
“Yo! You hear that, dawg?” Nate hollers into his phone. His phone that is connected to his stereo. His phone that has the Bluetooth light flashing. His phone that—
“Yeah, I fucking heard that,” Bishop growls. So low it sends chills down my spine. Double shit. Fucking me and my unquestionable loyalty to my friends, always getting me into trouble one way or another.
“So who is this friend?” Nate asks, eyebrow quirked.
I laugh. “I’m not telling you shit.”
“Madi!” Bishop snaps. “Who is he?”
“I don’t know! We met him a few days ago when we went to pick her up from school.” Nate pulls back onto the road and continues to drive us toward school. “Anyway, Tatum and a little bit of me were saying how hot he was, and Tillie said how they sleep together. But they’ve been doing it since they were young and it’s just something comfortable between them. Zero awkwardness.” I look toward Nate. “You can’t get mad, Nate the Snake.”
“Did you just call me Nate the Snake?” He narrows his eyes at me.
I shrug. “Well, you know, since you boys like riddles so much.”
“Your mouth... it’s going to land your ass in hot water one day,” Nate replies, pulling into the school parking lot.
Walking into my first class, I instantly know something is wrong. The classroom falls silent as I open the door.
“Madison, you’re late again. Why am I not surprised?” Mr. Barron says, not lifting his eyes off his chalkboard.
“Sorry, sir.”
“Take a seat, Madison,” he replies blandly.
I shuffle to the back of the room, ignoring the hissing whispers that start bouncing off the walls. It’s almost like my first day all over again. I drop my books down onto an empty desk and slide into my seat. I don’t even have Tatum in this class to ask what all the stares are about.
Sinking into my chair, Felicia—I think her name is Felicia—who has black hair, black clothes, and black smudged eyeliner under her lashes, leans toward me, her eyes staying on the teacher, careful not to gain his attention. “Psst.”
I lean toward her slightly, just as my phone vibrates in my pocket. “What?”
“So is it true? You’re like, sleeping with all of them?”
I snap my eyes to her, my heart pitter-pattering in my chest. “What do you mean?”
She reaches into her pocket and then pushes a couple of buttons before turning the phone to face me, hitting Play on a video. The first part shows me and Nate and our embarrassing kiss in our living room, and then skips amateurishly to me and Bishop kissing and hugging at the campsite, before jumping to me and Brantley. And then it goes to Bishop and me having sex in the tent, showing my silhouette dropping my clothes, and the video doesn’t stop. You can hear me murmuring and whispering out my pleasures for everyone to see and hear, my body rocking over his through the shadow. At the end of the tape, a little black box comes up with pink writing:
“You’re next, bitch. Your days are numbered—just like mine were!”
“Oh my God!” I whisper, tears threatening to surface. Shoving my chair back, I catch Ally smirking from the front of the classroom.
“Madison!” Mr. Barron scowls at me. “Sit down, or I will have to refer you to the principal’s office.” Everyone looks at me, their laughs circling around me, echoing in a swirl, pounding through me.
“I... I’m—”
“A whore?” Ally sneers.
The whole classroom erupts into laughter, and I quickly gather my books, my hair falling over my face as I dash out the door and down the corridor.
“Hey!” Tatum comes crashing into me, her phone plastered to her ear and her eyes watering, looking around frantically. “Oh, thank God!”
“Tate?” I break, my tears pouring over my cheeks.
“Come on, let’s get you home.”
I let her pull me under her arm as she takes me to the elevator. Slamming on the button vigorously until I’m sure she’s about to break it, the doors ding open and she pulls me in forcefully. Once the doors close, she swipes the tears off my face and kisses my lips. “It’s okay, Madi. It’s going to
