Chapter 21
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
LAINEY
I’ve spent the past week avoiding Madden, so much so that I’ve even let my mother take me to school. Other than our lunch, where Cori serves as a nice buffer, I haven’t really been around him. It’s the only thing I knew to do after our fight.
Now I have developed some kind of determination to stay away from him.
If he can’t be happy for me, I don't want him around. I suck in a ragged breath as I try to picture my life without my best friend. I can feel the potential tears stinging my eyes as I focus back down at the notebook in front of me. It’s too hard to think about that right now, so I pull out my phone, focusing on Dray.
Drayton
You okay you’ve been quiet today?
Lainey
Yeah, just been a weird day.
Drayton
Because of Madden?
Lainey
Yeah, this whole school is out of whack.
Drayton
I have baseball after school, and then Nathan said we needed to have a family meeting, but maybe I can swing by and see you after that?
Lainey
Maybe, Cori is coming over tonight too if I can pry her from Nash’s filthy hands.
Drayton
Gotcha, well I’ll text you later, and we’ll figure it out, and smile! That frown doesn’t suit you.
Lainey
How do you know I’m frowning?
Drayton
Just a guess, perk up. I’ll see you later.
His messages make me smile, and I rush to put my phone away before the bell rings, knowing if I want to speak freely with Cori, I need to get to her before Nash does.
The electronic sound of the bell echoes through the building, and I scoop up my bag, darting down the hall on a mission. The second I bust out the doors to the parking lot, I spot Cori in some sort of stand-off with Jovie.
What’s even more surprising is Nash standing between the two like a referee. I make my way through the crowd of kids circling to get a glimpse of what’s going on.
“Ugh!” Jovie screams, “Don’t be ridiculous. We all know it’s a lie!”
Nash doesn’t speak, but Cori looks furious as he attempts to hold her back. Crew claps slowly, stepping right in the middle of the scene, “Alright, alright, ladies. That was quite a show, but let’s put the claws away unless you’re gonna use them on me cause I like it a little rough.”
Jovie pushes him out of the way, rolling her eyes, “Just go back home where you belong, Cori! You lost all your friends there, and you won’t have any here either!”
The entire student population falls silent, waiting for Cori’s response. I expect her to use some witty comeback or punch her square in her overly contoured jaw, but instead, it’s better.
So. Much. Better.
She snakes her hand in Nash’s hair and pulls him flush against her lips, earning the shock of the entire student body. I hear a few gasps before the sound of Jovie’s footsteps pounding to her car.
Seeing one of the queen Sharks on her knees while Cori dangles the treat over her head is priceless.
Cori is determined. I give her that. Except they don’t separate after the initial shock like I thought, almost like she’s enjoying it. He plays right into her, lifting her up by her thighs as she wraps her legs around his waist.
“Gross, Cor. That’s enough,” I gag, causing her to giggle and jump down from Nash’s grip.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t little Miss Daddy Issues,” Nash clicks his tongue, trying to get a rise out of me.
“Shut up,” Cori demands, causing Nash to surprisingly fall silent. Completely out of character for him.
“I need you tonight,” I demand. “So tell your fake lover boy that he’ll have to lock you in his creepy dungeon another time.”
Nash’s eyes fall dark, the same look I’ve seen a million times. The one right before he strikes. “I prefer closets, remember?”
I feel my face pale, and the bile begins to rise in my throat when I think back to how sore my voice was from screaming, how my fingertips bled from clawing at the door.
I grab Cori’s hand, pulling her a good distance from him, “She’s coming with me.”
Nash smiles, invading my space and cornering me between his Jeep and tall frame. “She goes where I say.”
Cori’s hand reaches Nash’s shoulder, “That’s where you’re wrong, boyfriend. I go where I please.”
Nash and Cori share a few looks, having an unspoken conversation. Only when I’m ready for the regular Nash to get his way, he steps back.
“I have baseball until 5:30, be done with Wednesday Addams before then. I’m taking you out.”
“Out?” Cori questions.
“Yeah. Out.”
Oh, this is good. Has Nash ever been on an actual date?
Carson strides up, bat bag slung over his shoulder, causing everyone’s attention to shift.
“What’s going on?” he asks, noticing the tension.
“Nash is attempting to ask Cori on a date, but he’s rambling like a loser,” I laugh.
Carson’s eyes travel down to Cori like he could devour her and then over to his best friend.
“It’s not a date,” Nash confirms.
The three of them standing there awkwardly makes dinner with my parents look like a piece of cake. No one budges.
“Well,” Carson huffs. “Coach T will have our ass if we’re late.”
Nash grabs his bag of catcher’s gear from his Jeep, “5:30, Corinne.”
God. What a dick.
I can breathe a little easier now that the ego monster is gone, and we head across the lot to where my mom is parked waiting for us.
I haven’t brought any girlfriends home since middle school anyway, so the surprise on her face is expected when Cori climbs in.
She attempts to nose her way into our conversations, but I’m quick to shut her out.
She's my mom, but that’s it. We’re not close anymore, so why pretend?
Plus, I’d never want any advice from her.
When we finally make it to the confines of my room, Cori collapses on my bed. “I didn’t picture your room like this.”
“Yeah, well, my mother would have a stroke if I hung Machine Gun Kelly on my wall.”
I look around, trying to remember the girl this room belonged to. The girl who liked pink, the one who went to church on Sundays, the one who thought her parents hung the moon. Feels like a lifetime ago.
“I know what you mean,” she sighs. “My room back home didn’t feel much like mine anymore before I left. That girl that I was from before feels like a ghost to me now.”
“Why did you leave?” I ask, jumping straight to the point.
She sighs, sitting up on her elbows, “Because staying there meant I had to live in a world where everyone thought they knew me. What I’d done. Strangers. People that I’d pass in the grocery store, the lady next to me at the red light.”
“Your parents just let you leave?”
She shrugs, “I lived at school, so they’re used to me being gone. It was necessary for everyone involved.”
Everyone involved in what, though? What is she hiding?
“Surely you have friends that miss you?” I add, knowing that I’ve known her a few weeks and already like her, so she had to have been popular.
“One. Benson.”
I smile, “Is he your boyfriend?”
She laughs, “No. Just a friend, we used to take baths together when we were little. His mom and mine are besties.”
“So, you miss him?” I ask.
“All the time.”
“Well, there must be someone else?”
Her eyes dim a little, “Not really.”
The silence gets thick, and I feel she’s holding back, not because she wants to but because she feels she has to.
“You can talk about it if you want.”
“I’m not really supposed to,” she sighs. “My dad is pretty adamant about it.”
“Better your dad than a lawyer,” I laugh, earning a hesitant smile from her.
“Everything just happened pretty quick, and now I’m here having to deal with Nash.”
“Girl, I saw the way Carson was looking at you, it seems like you have the eyes of both of them.”
She rolls her eyes, “Shut up, what about you and Drayton?”
I fall back dramatically on my bed, “He’s ah-maze-balls.”
“You are totally falling for him,” she squeals.
“Ugh, I am. I think I’m gonna ask him to hoco.”
“You should,” she smiles. “You guys are so cute together.”
“Wish Madden thought so,” I growl. “He’s being such an ass.”
“That’s so weird. Drayton seems great.”
“Exactly my freakin’ point!” I spit.
“He’ll come around,” she shrugs. “Especially if all these rumors floating around about him and Avery Sinclair are true.”
“That’s a load of crap,” I add. “Madden has crushed on Avery since the first time he stepped foot in this school. She would never give him the time of day. He doesn’t fit into her Instagram perfect life.”
“Like Carson does?”
“Exactly. Carson is influencer royalty.”
Her eyes dim a little before she changes the subject, “So how are you gonna bring homecoming up to Drayton?”
“I have no idea. Who are you going to ask?”
“What do you mean?”
“The girls ask the guys. It’s a tradition at Legacy.”
She rolls her eyes, “Great.”
“Nash has never gone with anyone. He’s always rolled up like a boss, acting like he’s too good for any girl at Legacy.”
“What makes you think I’d ask Nash?”
“I don’t know, maybe it was the public claiming he did in the lunchroom, or that kiss you planted on him right in front of Jovie. Which was brilliant, by the way. Did you see her face?”
She rolls her eyes, “Like I needed another reason for Jovie to hate me.”
“She’s a bitch. She’s just threatened by you.”
She rolls from her back to her stomach, “Luckily, I am fluent in bitch.”
I smile, “You have to be at Legacy.”
“Wait,” she gasps. “What public claiming are you talking about?”
“Last week, when I sent out that SOS, the sophomore girls were raving about how Nash stood on the table in the cafeteria and basically called you off-limits.”
Cori’s face turns murderous, “He did what?”
“Yeah. That’s why I was so worried, and then when he kidnapped you and tried to drown you out in the storm…” she trails off.
“So, that’s what Carson meant when he said Nash was acting weird.”
“Weird? No, that boy is acting insane. Even more reckless than usual, and why on earth does he feel the need to drag you into it? Why does he hate you so much?”
Cori’s face turns pale, “I need to tell you something. Just promise me you won’t overreact.”
Am I that dramatic? I huff out a laugh. I guess I am.
“Spill it. Anything for any of this to make sense would be great.”