6. Chapter 6
Chapter six
Bexley
W armup laps, my ass.
Coach Carter is almost as brutal as our coach from Cedar. For a second, I was taken aback by his appearance. Easily in his prime, he's tall and buff, with light hazel eyes and a bald head. But unlike some men, he pulls it off very well . He reminds me of Arnold Vosloo in The Mummy— the first movie I ever watched that made me question my sanity when I fell in love with a villain.
Except, just like a villain, he made me run. I feel sick. Send help.
Next to me, Sophia is hunched over, groaning. "Someone kill me. Put me out of my misery."
"Hang in there," I laugh while panting, patting her back. "The endorphins will hit soon. And we will feel so good ."
"Not likely," she grumbles. "I'm glad I didn't eat much for breakfast, otherwise I'd be painting the grass and reenacting the vomit scene from The Exorcism ."
When the two of us finally catch our breath, we start making our way toward the locker room, detouring to the pile of bags by the seats.
The cheerleaders finished just before us, a few making snide remarks and comments as we ran past, but thankfully, they all disappeared from the locker room before laps were complete.
Standing over the pile of bags, I do a double take. I remember exactly where I left my backpack—so why isn’t it here?
"What's wrong?" Sophia asks when I stay frozen.
"My bag is gone," I hiss quietly.
"What?" She looks around. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
A wolf whistle catches my attention, the two of us spotting Rylan as he walks past with a group of guys, grinning at me. You can't even tell he just ran several laps of the track, his slicked-back sweaty hair the only indication. I hate him for that. Fuck him and his damn cardio stamina.
"Might want to invest in some new shorts, Spencer," he calls out. "We could see your ass starting to hang out." His friends all make crude remarks and cat calls but I just flip him the bird and turn around.
"Fucking cheerleaders."
Sophia doesn't even try to offer a possible alternative explanation, doing a check of the field to see if they are gone. "Want me to help you look? Mrs. Camerons usually doesn't care if I'm a little late to American Lit."
"Nah, you're fine," I say, waving her off. "I'll see you later no doubt."
Despite just running and near dying, I find my second wind and take off in a jog toward the main building. That bag has all my stuff in it—clothes, cell, textbooks. I swear if they have touched anything, I'm going to lose it.
People are casually strolling through the halls when I enter, my eyes scanning the crowd of people for either wolves in cheerleader costumes or familiar blue faces.
A tall body walks out of a classroom, and I sag in relief, pushing past people to head over.
"Arch!"
He stops in his tracks, looking around until he spots me. "Hey!" he greets. "What are you wearing?" he laughs, but it's not the same tone as Rylan. It's amusement, sure, but more like he understands the ridiculousness of this situation and the sacrifices we are making just to receive an education.
"Former cheerleader shorts that are burning my groin and a shirt that has a stain I'm trying to ignore," I reply, stopping in front of him. "Someone stole my bag."
"What?" he yells, startling a few students passing by. "When?"
I jerk my finger back toward the door I just came through. "Gym. Help me look for a bunch of vapid bitches? You can’t miss them–cheerleaders," I finish, giving my poor attempt at spirit fingers.
He nods, digging into his shorts for his cell. "I'll ask Abby as well. A few of our girls were going to try to meet up with them this week to ask about potential open spots, just to train and keep up their routines."
"Doubt this bunch will be welcoming to the idea," I reply as he clicks away on the screen.
"Agreed," he mutters. "But it doesn't hurt to ask, I guess."
I smile, knowing he's only saying that because of Abby. Deep down, he knows just as well as I do that the attempts will be futile, but it's cute that he wants to remain hopeful for his girl.
When his cell dings, we both glance down at the screen to find a message from Abby.
Abbs: I think they are in the courtyard. I heard there's a cheer performance today.
"Well, there's your answer," Arch murmurs, quickly typing back a reply before shoving the cell into his pocket. "I'll come with you."
The two of us head through the white maze of Willowbrook, navigating the crowd of students and long hallways until we reach a set of open doors. Through them, the courtyard is bustling with students, and when Archie and I step out, I take my first good look around since I didn't get to this section yesterday.
It's a perfect square in the middle of the main building, high glass windows lining the four sides. Students walk past on the other side of the glass, occasionally stealing glances to those outside as they head to their destinations.
Toward the other end of the large courtyard, there's a fountain—an actual working water fountain. Its tarnished bronze metal is shaped into a wolf, water spurting out of its mouth like sound waves as it stands frozen mid-growl.
Strategically placed benches are spaced out along the sides, people sitting and chatting casually, while others lounge on picnic blankets on the grass.
My eyes continue to scan until I find what I’m looking for. Under a large shady tree, the cheerleaders are laughing to themselves.
Arch follows me as I take off across the courtyard, but my gaze is locked and loaded on the laughing brunette as she flicks her hair dramatically, talking to her friends.
As I approach, I finally take a good look at their uniforms. The two-piece outfit perfectly matches the academy colors–a black dual-layered skirt with thick pleated white strips while their tops are white with a black waistband, the word Wolves written across the chest. Well, let’s see if wolves are afraid of wildcats.
The group falls quiet as we approach, drawing Liv's attention. Her laughing face turns into a look of disgust when she spots me.
"What do you want?"
"Where's my bag?"
"How would I know?" she shoots back, but the smug smile on her face tells me that she knows exactly where it is.
I step forward, keeping my eyes trained on her. "I'm only going to ask you one… more… time ," I warn. "Where is my backpack?"
Liv laughs, the shrill sound taking place with Rylan's voice on my list of most annoying noises. "Oh, yeah? What are you going to do?"
"Do you like your acrylics?" I ask sternly.
Her face darkens at the threat, hands dropping to her sides. "Fuck off.”
"Right," I mutter, lurching forward and placing her straight into a choke hold. Dragging her body back, I check Arch from the corner of my eye. He does exactly what I hope—placing himself between us and the group of cheerleaders. This isn't their fight.
"Get off me!" Liv shrieks, clawing at my skin.
Pain shoots through my arm but I tighten my grip, pushing my forearm harder into her throat. She starts coughing, and a sharp pain in my arm means that there's blood dripping down from scratch marks, but that just spurs me on.
People are watching us grapple now, the cheerleaders screaming while a few brave ones try to get past Arch who blocks them with his body. Well, shit—I hope this doesn't ruin Abby's chances of fraternizing with the enemy. Not that they deserve her. They would be lucky to have any of our girls on their team—even temporarily.
"Tell me or else you're going to take a nap," I warn, focusing on placing pressure on her carotid arteries to show how serious I am.
I have to hand it to her—she's stubborn. Even as spots start to assumingly appear in her eyes, and her nails retract, she refuses to tell me.
"Tai Beckett has it!" one of the other cheerleaders blabs out.
Looking up, I spot Peyton, watching with wide, frightened eyes. She meets my gaze with a desperate plea.
"I gave it to him," she admits quietly, sounding embarrassed. It’s obvious she was acting under instruction.
"Thank you, Peyton," I reply, releasing Liv and letting her drop to the ground with a thud.
Arch and I step aside, the cheerleaders flocking over to check on their captain who pants and coughs.
Liv glares daggers at me from the ground, clutching her neck. "You'll pay for that."
"And you'll need to pay for nail repairs," I point out, nodding toward her two broken acrylic nails. "But it's okay because you can afford it , right?"
I tap Archie's arm and gesture for him to follow me before she can reply. "Come on, Arch. Time to go find Tai Beckett."
Turns out finding Tai was easier than playing Hide and Seek with the cheerleaders… because all I had to do was follow the paper trail.
The paper trail of my textbooks.
Word must have spread fast about our encounter in the courtyard because the hallways were eerily deserted when we stepped back into the building. But that asshole had left me a trail of torn-up pages guiding us to the computer science lab. How nice of him.
Stepping through the door, I’m met with the sound of ripping pages.
Across the room, Tai sits atop the teacher’s desk, legs parted with the contents of my bag all over the floor and around him.
"Took you long enough," he grins, holding eye contact with me as he shreds another page from my biology book.
Arch slams his hand on the doorjamb, glaring at Tai as we both scan the pile of destroyed textbooks. But despite how much this hurts, because there's no way I'm going to be able to afford to replace them, I won't give him the satisfaction of seeing me angry. Not yet anyway.
"I didn't take you for a toddler, Beckett," I merely say.
He pauses. "Why do you say that, Sexy Bexie?"
Ooft. Double whammy. He's really going for gold in the Olympic sport of being punched in the jugular.
"Toddlers love to tear up paper to entertain themselves. But, I mean, if that's what you like…" I trail off with a shrug.
Tai slams the biology book down, jumping off the desk. "Aw, you're not upset, are you?" he asks with a patronizing tone.
I shake my head. "Not at all. In fact, you've just given me the perfect excuse to leave this shithole for the day. Since I don't have any material for class, I'll have to head home. What a shame.”
He laughs. "Nice try. Maybe try the library—we actually have a decent one here. Most of the books were purchased brand new. Hell, even our second-hand ones are probably in better condition than what you are used to. Consider it a treat for yourself, sweetheart. And you can thank me later."
Archie steps in front of me, fists curled. "Pick her shit up," he demands.
Instantly, Tai's playful face vanishes, replaced by a flare of anger as he glances at Arch. "You going to make me, lap-boy? Must suck knowing she has your balls in a vise. I bet your manhood hates having a woman in charge."
I place a hand on Arch's shoulder, moving in beside him. "Weird flex, but props to you for admitting there's room for improvement among the students here."
Sexist comments mean nothing to me. I've been dealing with them long before schoolyard taunts got thrown into the mix.
"That's funny," Tai shoots back. "Because we outperform you in every measure." He straightens up proudly, tapping the Willowbrook crest on his shirt.
"Except for the dick measuring contest," I quickly reply. "Mine is several inches bigger than yours, even on the flop."
Arch snorts next to me, not bothering to cover his mouth like he usually does. Tai, on the other hand, picks up the biology book and stalks forward.
Without saying a word, he stops in front of me, flicking open the book. Slowly, he rips another page while maintaining eye contact with me, scrunching up the torn paper and dropping it on top of my head.
"Oops," he says as the paper bops me on the nose.
Okay–now my patience is wearing fucking thin. He did not just bop me on the nose with a piece of my destroyed book.
"Arch," I start through clenched teeth. "Can you check my bag to make sure everything is there?"
I block the doorway while he shoves past Tai, barging him with his shoulder. Tai laughs in response, raising an eyebrow at me as if to say, “ You really think you can stop me from leaving? ”
Placing my hands on either side of the doorjamb, I smile, daring the fucker to try. But surprisingly, he doesn't budge, his eyes scanning over my face, then down my chest, before stopping on my bare thighs that show too much skin because of these shorts. Fuck–I forgot about my stupid shorts.
He grins to himself, and I resist the urge to knee him in the dick. Though it’s tempting… So damn tempting.
Fucking creep.
"Cell phone, jersey, skirt," Archie says from the desk. "Anything in particular you want me to check?"
"Nope, that's all good," I reply, dropping my hands from the frame. “Off you fuck now, Beckett.”
Tai's amused eyes flick back to my face. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Peach Queen.”