9. Haley
9
HALEY
M ost days, I brought a lunch so I wouldn’t have to spend money and so I wouldn’t have to count on Aunt Cindy to drive into town. Inconveniencing her didn’t seem fair. Besides, in these cold months before spring would ever show, once I was on campus, it seemed wiser to just stay there and be warm indoors.
Spending money in the food court didn’t seem like a good idea when I wanted to save every penny I could for moving to the city after graduation. But I pulled in some income by tutoring online or proofreading students’ work here and there.
Today, on the Wednesday after that damn sociology class with Eli where I had to accept a freaking C as a grade, I took a break from helping at the student tutoring desk at one of the smaller libraries to get a burger and fries—a fresh-baked brownie, too.
It felt like a splurge, one I wouldn’t try to get used to. Aunt Cindy and I were frugal by nature with her limited income on disability. When I moved out of Marsten, the cost of living would shoot up astronomically.
But today… I smiled before eating my burger. Today, I will enjoy what I can.
Ketchup and mustard dripped from the burger. It was too hot, heated by the meat, and I flinched at the burn on my lip. As I set it down and guzzled some water, I winced some more.
Ow. Ow. Ow. I am not enjoying that, but ? —
“What a slob,” a girl said from the next table, laughing at me.
Oh, grow up.
They weren’t even Marsten locals, just others I’d seen on campus. All the students I’d gone to high school with judged me, but the newcomers who came here for college didn’t wait to join in on the biases. Rumors spread and took root all too easily, and as much as I hated it, I was used to it.
“I can’t believe anyone would find you attractive,” another one said from the neighboring table.
“Well, Amber, no one does.” Her friend laughed. “I heard no one wants to get near her.”
“Which is weird, considering her mom was a whore.”
“Hey, Haley. Do you have, like, fifty brothers and sisters out there?”
They all laughed and laughed.
With a sigh, I ate and kept my face down.
Ignore it.
They don’t matter.
One day, you’ll be out of here and they won’t be around to talk like this.
“Her sister’s just the same. Another whore.”
“I heard she has, um, like six kids now. All different dads.”
“How pathetic.”
“Haley, how many baby daddies are you going to have?”
Ignore it.
Ignore it!
My blood pressure rose. My heart beat faster as the dormant need to fight back rose within me. I wouldn’t fight back. It was smarter to ignore and let it go. They only had power over me if they thought I was listening and affected by their words. If I didn’t give them any power, they’d eventually stop. For the day, at least.
“I heard her sister was sleeping with someone here at the college.”
I exhaled a harsh breath through my nose. Natasha hadn’t even stayed in town long enough to go to college. Idiots.
“Maybe that’s how she gets such good grades.”
Not this again.
“Yeah, you notice how she gets all As. Perfect scores?”
“Sounds fishy to me.”
“I bet she’s fucking all her profs. Sleeping with them to get all those As.”
“She—”
The clank of a tray sounded.
I jerked up at the thunk of the metal slab as it landed on my table. Everyone flinched around me, looking at who was taking a seat at my table.
I sat here alone. Always alone. And that was how I preferred it if everyone was just going to talk shit about me.
But someone else decided they wanted to sit with me.
Not just someone.
Him .
The last damn person I wanted to face when I was already being bullied like this.
“She doesn’t get all As,” Eli said as he dropped into a chair next to me.
As he settled into the seat, shifting his bag onto the next chair over, I froze. With my burger between both hands, my mouth hanging open, I stared at him and tried to understand what the hell was going on here.
What is happening?
Why is he here?
I glanced around, suspicious and on edge.
“She got a C on her last paper in sociology.” He grinned, not looking at me but at the table full of gossiping girls. “Isn’t that right, Haley?”
“What…” I furrowed my brow, scoping the food court and trying to determine why he was sitting here or even talking to me. Or for me. It had to be a prank. Someone had to be videoing this for fun.
“We got a C on our paper and Haley seems okay with it.” He ate his Chinese takeout, as though he had not a care in the world. Mr. Popular often had that air about him. Cool, at ease, like nothing could go wrong in his charming world.
“No. I’m not okay with it,” I muttered to him.
“Yeah, but she’s, like, perfect. Always top of the class. Always acing every test,” one of the girls said. “That’s totally sus.”
“Sus,” the others said.
“The only way anyone can be that good at all their classes is if they’re fucking the prof,” the loudest one said.
I clenched my teeth, struggling with the urge to defend myself against this baseless accusation. This was the kind of stuff that ruined students’ prospects. All it took was one person to hear this and tell someone in charge and that was it. The rumor would spread. No one would believe me. And my reputation would be ruined, destroyed more than the already shitty reputation I had from the association with my family members.
“I’m not?—”
Eli cut me off, speaking louder. “Wait, are you jealous of her, Amber?”
“What?” She grimaced. “Jealous of Haley ? No.”
“Then shut up and back off,” he warned, serious and gruff.
“Damn, Eli.” Another girl at that table smirked. “Amber’s just telling it like it is. Haley clearly is just another ho like her mom and sister.”
“If you try to say that one more time, I’ll make sure no one on campus wants to get near you.”
One girl scoffed. “Oh, yeah, right.”
Eli looked up, locking his stare on her. “Try me.”
I blinked, taken aback by his tone. And that he was… he was…
Is he standing up for me?
Did he come here to defend me?
Lowering my face, I turned slightly to whisper, “What the hell are you doing?”
He shrugged, hearing me but not facing me. “What does it look like?”
I lifted my head to narrow my eyes at him. “It looks like you’re trying to trick me into thinking you give a shit about me. It looks like you’re pretending to stand up for me.”
He glanced at me, mischief evident in his cocky smile and deep-blue eyes. “I am.”
“You are tricking me into thinking that?” I asked, needing the confirmation.
Rolling his eyes, he sat back and sighed. “No. I am standing up for you.”
I scrunched my face. “No, you’re not.”
“Uh, yeah, I am.” He smiled again, like I was just being silly now.
“No.” I shook my head. “You’re not. You don’t give a damn about me. Or what people say.”
“Sure, I do.”
I set my napkin on the table, hating that he’d have to torment me now, too. I went out of my way to avoid all the bullies here. I didn’t get myself into situations where they could target me.
Ignore. Avoid. Keep my head down. Mind my own business.
That was my strategy to endure this crap until I could graduate.
But him seeking me out like this?
“I… I don’t trust this.” I shook my head and scooted my chair back to get up. “I don’t trust you.”
“What?” He frowned up at me as I gathered my things. “That’s not nice to say.”
“Oh! Like you’ve got room to talk. You never say anything nice about me.”
He laughed once. “That’s not true.”
“Then you live in an alternate reality.” I closed the book I had open for studying, then I shoved it into my bag. Shoving my arms into my coat sleeves, I frowned and hated him just a little more to play games like this.
“Where are you going?” He put his hand on my tray before I could slide it away. “I just thought I could eat here and?—”
“And pull some trick on me. What is it? A prank? Who’s videoing this time? Mr. Popular pretending to be nice then humiliating me. Is that it?”
He scowled at me. “No. I’m just trying to be nice.”
“Huh. That’s cute.” I tugged my coat on all the way. “I have news for you, Eli. Too little, too late.”
“Jeez. Isn’t that kind of harsh?” he asked as I pulled the strap of my bag over my shoulder.
“Harsh? You bully me my whole life and think that my not trusting a supposed good deed from you out of nowhere is harsh ?” I laughed once and grabbed my tray.
There was no way in hell he cared to change his colors. He was definitely up to something, and whatever it was, I wanted no part in it.
Taking my food outside, in the cold, I avoided him—again—and damned him for making my life that much more difficult.
I sat on a concrete bench just outside the doors to the food court. Instantly, I shivered at the chill of the coldness seeping through my jeans.
At least it’s not snowing.
With my back to the wall of windows into the food court, I set my bag next to me, positioned my tray on my lap, and tried to reclaim that little peace and enjoyment I’d had in my solitude.
I couldn’t.
As I finished my now-cold lunch, I wasted the entire break between classes trying to figure out what game Eli was playing with me.
And why.
Because I was right.
He didn’t give a damn about me.
He never had and never would.
Just like every other judgmental and biased jerk in this town.