His parents returned from their trip on Wednesday, so his mom is back to roaming the house like a ghost on Prozac, and his dad seems to be everywhere, his overly jovial voice filling the large rooms. I notice him chatting up Mom on the terrace on Sunday afternoon, but the groundskeeper is out there too, so it’s not like they’re alone.
My mom was smart enough to end things with the guy she was seeing when he turned out to be a dud, so it’s not like she’s helpless. But I do need to give her a heads up, just so she knows to keep her wits about her around Samuel Black. Things that might seem totally harmless if you assume a man is happily married and faithful take on a slightly different meaning when you know he’s a philanderer.
On Monday, all four guys are back to sticking to me like glue, but I don’t complain about it anymore. I doubt someone would attack me on school grounds, but I honestly don’t know where the line is anymore—whether there’s anywhere truly safe.
Savannah, who’s hated me since the minute she met me, seems to have taken Iris’s death as an excuse to completely unleash her inner bitch. We play volleyball in gym, and she somehow convinces everyone on the cheerleading squad and several of the football players to forgo strategy and points in favor of trying to smash my face in with the ball.
Mr. Wartenburg gives several of them penalties when he realizes what they’re doing, but I still spend most of the period trying to fend off their attacks. It’s exhausting, and it pisses me off. Someone actually attacked me over the weekend, came after me with the intent to do me serious harm. Compared to that, this is nothing, but I’m sick of having to be on high alert all the time.
It only gets worse in the locker room. I don’t know what kind of bee crawled up Savannah’s vagina, but she’s pissed as shit today, and she’s not backing down.
As I emerge from the showers, she and a group of three other cheerleaders converge on me, following me to my locker as Savannah’s angry, high-pitched voice rings out behind me.
“I bet you’re happy Iris is dead. Aren’t you, you skank? You always hated her. You were always jealous of her, always trying to sabotage her.”
I open up my locker, trying to ignore her as I pull on my clothes. God, she’s such a fucking bitch.
“Don’t think we don’t know you’re glad!” She turns to her minions as she speaks, and they all offer sounds of disgust to back her up. “You knew Trent would pick one of us, not a poor maid like you. And you were jealous she had a chance with River when you didn’t.”
My eyes roll unintentionally at that. River hated Iris. He shut her down hard at that party, and judging from how he looked when I found him outside that night, she was about the last person on earth he ever would’ve gone out with.
The red-headed cheerleader catches my expression, and it only pisses her off more. She steps closer, whispering more accusations and condemnations in a low hiss. I try to pretend she’s not there as I gather up my things and throw my backpack over my shoulder, but as I emerge from the locker room into the wide hallway, a forceful shove sends me stumbling.
I regain my footing and whirl around to face her. She’s still flanked by her little squad of cheerleading bitches, and the look on her face makes her delicate, beautiful features seem ugly. Apparently, her words weren’t getting the reaction she wanted, so she decided to go on the attack physically.
My skin buzzes with energy, and I can feel my hands curling into fists, ready to fight her.
At least she hasn’t gone after my exams again—although the shitty part is, I’ve stopped studying very hard for my Business and Econ class, since I’m worried any good grades will now be suspect. I’d rather fail one class than get booted from the entire school.
“Just admit it, Pool Girl! The whole school already knows it—it’s so fucking obvious! You were jealous of Iris. You wanted what she had, even though you’ll never be good enough for it!”
Her voice is a loud screech, designed to draw a crowd. The students in the hallway around us stop and gather in clusters, watching and whispering amongst themselves.
Savannah advances on me, her blue-green eyes narrowing to slits. “Maybe you’re the one who fucking ran her over. Maybe you just couldn’t stand to watch her be better than you for another second.”
My heart rate jumps as my stomach turns. I didn’t kill Iris, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone talk about her death as if it wasn’t accidental.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I say, my voice as raspy as it was right after the man attacked me in the parking lot. “I didn’t—”
She steps even closer, her cherry lip balm scent invading my space as she glares me down. “You’re a menace. Who else are you gonna go after, huh? Are any of us fucking safe?”
My hands are still in fists, and on any other day, I would’ve already punched her. But her words have thrown me so far off balance I’m not sure what to do. If I attack her, it will only make the rumors that I somehow had a hand in Iris’s death spread faster. Savannah probably knows that, which is why she had the fucking balls to step up to me like this in the first place.
She opens her mouth to taunt me again when I feel the atmosphere shift in the hall. A second later, four large, tall bodies surround me—Lincoln and River on either side of me and Dax and
