Ten Years Ago
G rowing up as the son of the underboss starting St. Theresa’s was always the plan. After all, nearly every Four Points man started as a St. Theresa’s boy including Headmaster Smith who used to be a member, up until he lost his left arm in an attack- making him a lousy shot. After that, they set him up with a cushy job as Headmaster here with one rule: turn a blind eye to any Four Points related activities or injuries.
Hear no evil, see no evil.
Starting a new school is scary as shit. So when I see the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, with long blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, I pretend we’re in the same class and lead her to it before dashing to mine. Although I’m late, seeing her face light up as she grinned at me makes it worth it.
Matt, my best friend since before I could crawl, spends the rest of the morning quizzing me about why I was late, and while I normally share everything with him, this time, I don’t.
Something about my mystery girl feels too precious, too fragile to expose to his ribbing.
Instead of telling him about the girl with the smile fit to break a million hearts, I smirk and change the subject to his current obsession—rugby tryouts. Fuck knows why he wants to join, but I lost a bet, so here we are.
The day passes in a blur of wondering how I can track my mystery girl down while Matt goes on and on about when we’ll find out if we made the rugby team and what prank he wants to plan first. It’s only when I’m in the canteen that I get my second glimpse of her, being dragged along by the bundle of energy that is Abigail. Before I can even think of an excuse to make my way over to them, Abigail is throwing herself at me and doing the introductions.
Cora Montgomery has a sweet ring to it, but Cora Jameson sounds better.
Abigail fills the silence with a rundown of her day and plans for the weekend. Cora looks like a deer caught in headlights, not meeting my gaze. But that’s okay. I’ve already memorised my new favourite colour: sky blue with a darker ring around the outside.
“Hey Owen, maybe you and Matt could join us on Saturday?” Before either of us can respond, a rugby ball comes flying towards Cora. With a shout for her to duck, I jump up and intercept it, glaring at the guy who nearly just whacked her.
“Watch what you’re doing, dumbass,” I growl, but my atten- tion shifts back to Cora. Even as I glare at him, I can’t ignore the ache in my chest from losing her attention.
From that moment, I made it my mission to spread the word that she was off-limits, and if anyone dared hurt her, they’d have me to deal with. All the while, I did everything I could to keep her attention where it belongs—on me.