I start to slink away, but Lucas holds my hand tightly. Meghan’s jaw ticks. “Listen,” she says, lowering her voice. “I know you guys are new, but—”
“What a mess,” a cold voice says from behind me. Stone’s presence pricks my skin. “Care to tell me what I’ve missed?”
Meghan puts her manicured hand on her hip, tossing her hair over her shoulders. “Blue’s Clues walked into my friend.”
Stone smirks. He comes up on the other side of me before placing his hand on my shoulder. “Dakota, are you okay?”
Everyone in the lunchroom looks on. They would be looking anyway because of Wyatt, Stone, and Lucas, but right now, there’s a line being drawn. Meghan and her high school bitches on one side, and the most significant thing to happen to Clary for a long time on the other.
With the way Meghan and Lucille stare at the guys, they think they have this in the bag. They think the hot guys will just realize how stupid they’re being and suddenly remember I’m the social pariah here, not them.
Stone moves in front of me. He has the same hard face as this morning when he told me he disabled my truck. I don’t trust him. Not at all. If it weren’t for Lucas’s steady hand in mine, I probably would’ve shriveled away by now.
“I’m fine,” I say, putting more confidence in my voice than I usually do. “Lucille was just going to replace my food that she knocked over. An accident, of course.”
Stone’s gaze twinkles. He clearly loves this shit. He’s in control, and he has the spotlight. It’s a Jacobs’s wet dream.
“The fuck I am,” Lucille says, scoffing at what I’ve just said.
Lucas squeezes my hand again. I take a deep breath, and with everyone watching, I drop his hand and step forward. “I think you will, Lucille,” I say, giving her a broad smile. My heart is pumping a mile a minute. I’m so scared I think I might throw up, but at the same time, there are three assholes behind me, and those three assholes don’t mind being that way to anyone. Not just to me. I reach my hand up and pat Lucille’s head. “Go ahead. Be a good little pet and do as you’re told.”
She growls and steps forward, her shoulder knocking into mine again.
Wyatt steps between us, and I’m thankful my feet don’t move. My limbs tingle. I’ve kept my responses to their bullying inside my head my whole life. My snappy comebacks were held in, reserved for just me, myself, and I. My father was always inside my head saying, “Just be a good girl.” Or “Those dumbasses don’t matter.” And he’s right, they don’t. Not in the grand scheme of things, but in the halls of high school and college, they matter. They’ve been walking over me my entire life because I felt like I could never stand up for myself.
Not anymore.
“Lucille doesn’t have to,” Meghan says, keeping all the bravado. She’s grinning, but I can see the fear underneath her mascara. Her gaze keeps darting between the guys as if any moment now, they’ll wake up and realize what they’re doing.
Stone steps up to her. He places his finger under her chin and tips her face up to his. My breathing halts. I’m transfixed. Jealousy burns through me because I clearly have some issues when it comes to Stone Jacobs. I hate him. I really fucking do. But the thought of him kissing Meghan right here in front of everyone burns my ass. Stepbrother be damned.
Like me, it looks like Meghan is having a hard time breathing too. I get it. Stone is drool worthy. If it weren’t for the natural contraception of his personality, I’d be putting him in my spank bank every fucking day. My skin turns to fire. Just the thought of him has liquid lava singing through my veins.
Stone hovers over her lips. Meghan moves onto her tiptoes. There’s barely any distance between them. I want to look away. I need to look away. The whole cafeteria is waiting to see what will happen though.
“Tell your little dog to do as Dakota says.”
Meghan blinks. “Lucille,” she says. Her voice is almost angelic. She’s caught in Stone’s gravitational pull. “Do as Stone says.”
“Meghan...”
She turns her head. “I said fucking do it,” she snaps. Lucille still hesitates, so Meghan bites out. “Do it or I’ll tell everyone what you thought you did with tampons.”
Lucille’s jaw snaps shut, and the whole cafeteria erupts into laughter. I have to hand it to Lucille. She pulls her shoulders back and crouches to pick up the tray. She crosses the cafeteria, discards the trash, places the tray back in the return window, and then gets in line.
“You had a chocolate milk, right?” Wyatt asks.
I shake my head.
“Get her a chocolate milk!” Wyatt calls out, ignoring me. “There were also two slices of pizza on that tray. Napkins, silverware, and one of those chocolate cupcakes.”
Lucille shakes her head and tips her chin in the air some more, but she does as he says. I barely restrain a laugh, but when I gaze over at Stone and Meghan, they’re still transfixed with each other. My stomach curdles. I can’t believe he sees something in her. He sure as hell is eating her up right now.
Meghan is someone Lance might approve of. No one in Clary is rich, but her family fakes it the best. That’s how she got to be the queen bee. Isn’t that always the way it goes? I mean, I only have books and Mean Girls to compare to real life, but I’m fairly sure that’s how it works more often than not.
“Here,” Lucille says as she walks back up to us. She thrusts the tray at me, and I start to take it, but Stone interrupts.
“One more thing,” he
