Chapter 1 #2
“What are you looking at?” Charlotte says, startling me.
I turn and see her leaning against the locker next to mine. “Nothing. I was just distracted.”
“By what? A1 and A2?” she says, rolling her eyes.
She and I are the only ones who call them that.
They’re our code names so we can talk about them without people knowing.
Around here, you don’t dare talk badly about Finn, Parker, and Briggs.
They’re the golden boys who can do no wrong.
You talk shit about them, you become the enemy, and I don’t need more enemies.
“I don’t know why you let those guys get to you,” Charlotte says, opening the book she was holding. It’s a murder mystery, which is all she ever reads. She wants to work in a crime lab someday.
“I don’t let them get to me,” I insist, even though I admit those guys get under my skin, especially Briggs.
He bullied me so badly sophomore year that I almost transferred to a different school.
But then I decided to just ignore his harassment instead of getting upset, which made him lose interest. Bullies only have power if you give it to them, a little tip I didn’t figure out until the end of that year.
Charlotte glances behind me. “A2’s coming toward us. I gotta go.” She scurries off.
Charlotte’s afraid of Briggs, but I don’t know why she ran off like that.
It’s not like Briggs is going to stop and chat.
He doesn’t talk to Charlotte and me unless he’s insulting us, and that only happens when he has an audience, which he doesn’t now because everyone’s in class. The bell’s about to go off.
I grab my books from my locker, and as I close it, I feel a hand covering mine.
My breath catches in my throat as I’m shoved against the locker, my face slamming against the cold metal.
“Guess you’re smarter than I thought,” he says in his deep voice, pressing his body against mine.
Invading my personal space is one of the many techniques Briggs uses to try to intimidate me.
He hasn’t done it all year, so I don’t know why he’s doing it now, but I need to remain calm and pretend it doesn’t bother me.
“What do you want, Briggs?”
“I heard you’re in the running for valedictorian.”
Who told him that? And why the hell does he care?
I try to push away from him, but all my effort doesn’t even move him.
The guy is strong. He spends hours at the gym and has a body to prove it.
If I didn’t hate him so much, I’d be drooling over that body.
Those broad shoulders. Arms lined with muscles.
The guy manages to have a tan year-round, and it doesn’t look fake.
As if that wasn’t enough, his face is perfect too — chiseled and manly, his jaw lined with stubble.
He got the best of the best from the gene pool, which I find really annoying, because on top of all that, he’s filthy rich.
“Let me go,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Is it true?”
“Why do you care?” I turn my head and look back at his eyes.
That was a mistake. I lose focus when I look at his eyes.
They’re this royal blue shade I’ve never seen on anyone but Briggs.
At first, I thought he was wearing colored contacts, but royal blue is the actual color of his eyes.
It’s fitting, given that he thinks he’s royalty around here.
His six-foot-two frame leans down to my face. “I didn’t work my ass off all these years to hand over what’s mine to some piece of trailer trash.”
Is he serious? He thought he was going to be valedictorian? There’s no way his grades are that good. Or are they?
Out of the Three A’s, Briggs is definitely the smartest one.
He takes all AP classes, like me, but I assumed he was barely passing, or that his grades were artificially raised because his rich daddy made a large donation to the school.
At the very least, I assumed the teachers bumped up his grades because he’s an athlete.
Did I mention Briggs plays rugby? He’s our best player — even better than Parker.
He’s also the team captain. That makes him king of the school in the eyes of not only the students but the teachers.
I know he gets special treatment because of it.
“My grades are none of your damn business.”
“You really think I’m letting you have this?” He grabs me, whipping me around and shoving me back against the locker.
“Let me go.” I push against his chest, a solid wall of muscle. “I’m going to be late for class.”
He grabs my wrists in his giant hands and slams them against the locker, so I’m splayed out like a V. I look behind him for anyone who could help, but the hallways are cleared out.
“We need to talk. After school. Meet me by the stadium.”
“Yeah, right,” I say, staring back at him. “Like I’m really going to trust you? I’d show up and you’d rape me, or gang rape me with your disgusting friends.”
He laughs a little. “You really think I want you that way?”
His words slice through me, leaving behind a burn in my chest. Why does hearing him say that hurt so much?
I don’t care that Briggs doesn’t find me attractive, or that when he said that just now, he looked like the thought of being with me repulsed him.
I hate the guy. Why would I care what he thinks of me?
I wouldn’t have sex with him either, even if he does happen to be the hottest guy in school. He’s staring down at me with those royal blue eyes, and I force myself to look away, my eyes wandering down to his full lips and that sharp jaw.
“Three o’clock,” he says. “Be there or else.”
“Or else what ?” I snap.
He backs away. “Guess you’ll have to show up to find out.”
I watch as he turns and goes down the hall.
One semester. I only have to make it through one semester. I thought it’d be easy. I’d just keep to myself, and nobody would bother me. But on my first day back, I’m being threatened by Briggs Chadwick, who I’ve just deemed the newly crowned number one asshole of Devonshore High.