Chapter 12
Ella
Briggs turns to face me. “Did you really miss me, or was that just an excuse to get me to come out here with you so you weren’t all alone in the dark?”
“Damn, you figured it out.” I look up at the sky. “I asked you to come here because I thought you’d be able to fight off a pack of wolves or coyotes or whatever else is out here.”
He chuckles. “We’re in the city. There’s nothing out here but squirrels and raccoons. And maybe an owl,” he says as we hear one make a noise.
I look at him. “I missed you. That’s why I wanted to see you.”
He leans over and kisses me. “I missed you too.”
“What are we doing, Briggs? I mean us. What is this?”
“I don’t know. We keep asking that question and we never seem to have an answer.”
“Whatever it is, it’s not going to last. We’re both going to college soon and will probably never see each other again.”
“Do you know where you’re going?”
“No. So far I’ve had two rejections. I’m still waiting to hear from Stanford but I’m applying to other schools in case I don’t get in.”
“Stanford,” he says. “Is that really where you want to go?”
“If they accept me, then yeah. I was kind of hoping to leave California just to try something new, but I don’t mind staying here. What about you? Where are you going?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Where did you apply?”
“A lot of places. I don’t want to talk about it.” He lies on his back. “I thought we came here to look at the stars.”
“And do other stuff,” I say in a flirty way.
“Like what?” he says, looking up at the sky.
I move so I’m straddling him.
“You’re kind of blocking my view,” he says.
“You want me to move?”
“Hell no.” He reaches up and cups the back of my head, gently pulling me down to his face to kiss me.
It’s a slow, deep kiss that causes tingles to go through me.
God, I’ve missed this. I’ve missed it so much.
I’ve missed everything about him. Feeling his lips on mine.
Feeling his strong arms around me. Feeling his hands move over my skin.
It’s like we’re right back to where we left off, like the time we had apart never happened.
I lower down, extending my body over his, moving up just enough so that the length of him is between my legs. Even through my denim skirt, I can feel how hard he is, and it fuels my desire, sparking an intense need to feel him inside me again.
“Ella,” he groans as I move my hips, grinding against him. I love that I’m turning him on. It makes me want him even more.
His hand slides up the back of my shirt. He flicks open my bra and runs his hand over my skin, softly, gently, up and down my back. It feels intimate, loving, like he truly cares about me. I don’t know if he really does, but I don’t want to think about that right now.
He slides his other hand under my skirt, quickly discovering that I’m not wearing panties.
“Fuck,” he groans, breaking from the kiss. “You’re killing me, Ella.”
“I thought it’d make things easier.” I kiss his cheek and notice him tensing up. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He flips me over on my back and lies on his side, facing me. “Maybe we should wait.”
“Briggs Chadwick wants to wait to have sex?” I smile. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I want to do it, but not if we’re just going to go back to being enemies tomorrow.”
I turn to him. “Briggs, I’m done being angry. I know you didn’t do those things. It just took me awhile to believe you. And now we have the whole valedictorian thing behind us so we won’t be fighting about that anymore.”
He looks down.
“What is it? Is there something you’re not telling me?”
He sighs. “My father still thinks it’s going to happen. He’s told everyone I’m valedictorian.”
“Just explain to him you’re not.”
“It’s not that easy. If you knew him, you’d know why.”
“I don’t know what that means. Will he punish you? Yell at you? What?”
He looks to the side and blows out a breath.
“Briggs, what’s going on?”
He doesn’t answer.
“I wish you’d just tell me why this is such a big deal.”
“He’ll take away the car,” Briggs blurts out.
“Yeah? So? Buy another one. Don’t you have a trust fund?”
“No. My dad gives me money when he thinks I deserve it.”
“Deserve it? What does that mean?”
“It means I do what he says,” Briggs says, his jaw tightening.
“What does he want you to do? You’re already the perfect son. You get good grades. You’re good at sports. What else does he want?”
“For me to be valedictorian.”
“He’s just going to have to accept that you’re not. He should be happy you’re in second place. Devonshore is a really hard school and you’re second in our class. You even beat out all the smart tech guys.”
“Only because they suck at English.”
“Still, it’s a big accomplishment. Your dad should be proud.” I run my hand up and down his back like he did to me.
“Don’t,” he says, jerking away.
“You don’t want me to touch you?”
“I do, but I’m sore from the game. I got beat up pretty bad.”
“The game was almost a week ago.”
“Guess I haven’t healed yet.”
“Did you get hit in the face?”
“No. Why?”
“You tensed up when I kissed your cheek.”
He shifts onto his back and looks up at the sky. “We’d see the stars better if we drove out of town.”
“I can’t go out there again, not until all this is over. I may never go on that road again.”
“You will. It’ll just take some time.”
I look at him with concern. There’s something he’s not telling me. I think he wants to, but he won’t.
“Briggs, you know you can tell me anything, right?”
“I know,” he mutters, his eyes still aimed at the sky.
I lay my head on his chest. “You really don’t want to do it?”
He puts his arm around me. “I just want to do this.”
Something’s definitely wrong. Briggs turning down sex? I didn’t even think that was possible. Something’s obviously bothering him, but what? Did he go back to Aubrey when he and I were apart? Did they have sex, and now he feels guilty and doesn’t want to do it with me?
There I go again, thinking the worst. I need to stop doing that.
I need to give Briggs a chance, at least the one I’m with now.
This is the guy I missed. He comes and goes, but when he appears, I can’t get enough of him.
And now that I have him lying beside me, I’m not going to let my mind wander to all the bad places it wants to go.
“I like this,” Briggs says, kissing my forehead.
“I like it too.”
We stay there for an hour before going home.
I’m worried about Briggs. He wasn’t himself tonight.
He was really quiet, and he kept tensing up when he moved.
He seemed to be in a lot of pain. I know rugby’s a tough sport and the guys get hit a lot, but Parker never acts like he’s in pain.
Maybe the other team goes after Briggs more than anyone else because he’s our best player.
I have no idea what he even does in the game. I should go to one and see him play.
* * *
In the morning, before I leave for school, I text Briggs. I’m going to your game tonight.
I thought you didn’t like sports.
I don’t, but I want to see you play.
Can you meet me before class? I forgot to tell you something.
Ok. I’m leaving right now.
Does he really want to talk, or does he want to finish what we started last night? I’m still worked up from that. I can’t believe Briggs stopped us. I know he wanted to do it. I could feel how ready he was, so why’d he stop us?
When I get to school, I go down to the bleachers. Briggs is already there, looking at his phone.
I walk over to him, stopping right in front of him, my face tilted up for a kiss. “Hey.”
He smiles and puts his phone away, then leans down to kiss me.
“Did you really want to talk?” I ask. “Or was that code for something else?”
“I’d like it to be something else, but I don’t have much time. I have to finish a paper before class. I was going to do it last night, but I got distracted.” His arms go around me.
“You should’ve told me. We didn’t have to meet.”
“I wanted to. I needed that.”
“So what did you want to talk about?”
“Ms. Higgins.” He checks to make sure we’re alone. “The other day I saw Ms. Higgins yelling at Jason for punching that tech geek, Donovan.”
“Why did he punch him?”
“He said Donovan looked at him the wrong way. Anyway, Ms. Higgins gave Jason this speech about how she’s sick of guys on the team picking on geeks like Donovan.
She has to be the person sending the texts.
Telling us to eat lunch with someone we make fun of?
That’s totally something Ms. Higgins would do.
And she didn’t include you because you get bullied, like the geeks.
She knows I’m a bully, and Finn and Parker.
It makes total sense she’d make us do that shit. ”
“I don’t know if that’s enough proof to say it’s her. Maybe I should try to talk to her again. I need to ask better questions to get her to tell me stuff.”
“What are you going to ask her?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’ll figure it out.”
His phone dings. We both look at each other like we’re thinking the same thing. It’s another text with another demand. I don’t know why we’re both thinking that. Briggs is constantly getting texts, but it’s like we could feel this one was different.
He looks at his phone and reads it. “It’s definitely her.”
“Why? What’s it say?”
He shows me the text, which reads, Greetings, boys.
Have you missed me? I hope by now you’ve realized your futures are in my hands.
Two of you don’t seem to care. One does.
There’s still a chance to save yourselves but only if all three of you cooperate.
Your assignment? To defend someone you usually pick on. Do it at school today. Or else.
“It has to be her,” Briggs says.
“It does sound like something she’d do, but I can’t imagine her not turning us in, even if you did as she asked. She’s not going to let us get away with killing a guy.”
“The guy raped women. Maybe she thinks he deserved to be killed.”
“I don’t think she thinks that way, but I could be wrong.”
Briggs looks at his phone. “Shit, I don’t have much time left. I need to go finish this paper.”
“Yeah, go.” I give him a kiss.
He takes off, running up the hill with speed and perfect form. I’ve never had a thing for athletes until I started hanging out with Briggs. I’m actually looking forward to seeing his game tonight.
When I’m back in the building, I walk down to Ms. Higgins’ classroom and see her at her desk, reading something on her tablet.
“Ms. Higgins?” I walk up to her.
“Ella.” She smiles. “Did you need something?”
“Yeah, do you have a minute?”
“Of course.” She sets her tablet down.
I pull up a chair and sit down across from her. “I need you to keep this between us. I don’t want people knowing. I wouldn’t even be talking about it, but I need some advice and I thought you’d be able to help.”
Her brows draw together. “Ella, are you sure you don’t want to talk to the school counselor about this?”
“No. I’d rather talk to you.”
She nods. “Go ahead.”
I sigh. “I think you probably know that I’m kind of an outcast here at school.”
“Ella, don’t say that,” she says, frowning. “You’re not an outcast.”
“I am, and I’m actually okay with it. I don’t need people to like me. That’s not what this is about.” I pause. “I need some advice on how to stop someone from bullying me. It’s been going on for years and I need it to stop.”
“Who is it that’s doing this to you?”
How could she not know? The whole school knows Briggs bullies me, or that he used to.
“I’d rather not say.” I lean towards her, lowering my voice. “I’ve read all the advice online that says to just ignore the bully, but that doesn’t work in real life. What I need, and what I’m asking for, is a way to get back at him.”
“So this is a boy?”
“Yes.”
“Ella, if you’re asking me for ways to get revenge on someone, I’m not the person to ask. I don’t believe in violence as a way to solve your problems.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I don’t want to hurt this person.
I want to teach him a lesson. I want to teach him to show compassion for people instead of threatening them or making fun of them in front of the whole school.
This isn’t just for me, but all the people he picks on. Do you have any ideas?”
“I’m sorry, but I really don’t. I don’t think bullies change unless they want to.”
That wasn’t the answer I was hoping for.
“I really think you should talk to the school counselor,” she says. “He’s handled situations like this in the past and would be better suited to giving you advice.”
“Yeah, okay,” I say, getting up.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No. That was it.”
Her phone dings, and she picks it up. “Oh, good!”
“What?” I say.
She looks up at me. “Oh, I was just reacting to a text I just got. My astronomy club is having an event tonight.”
“You’re in an astronomy club?”
“Yes. I joined a few months ago. I’m loving it so far. Tonight’s event was going to be canceled for weather, but their text just now said the weather forecast changed so we’re back on.”
“What’s the event?”
“It’s something we do twice a month. We meet at different locations with our telescopes and look at the stars. Everyone brings food to share. It’s like a party. It’s a great way to meet people.”
She’s into astronomy, which means she could’ve been on the road that night, up on the hill where the person took the video.
“Where does your astronomy club meet?” I ask.
“Usually someplace outside of the city so we can get a better look at the stars.”
Outside of the city. Like on that road. But she would’ve been alone that night, not with a group.
“Do you ever go out alone to do this? To look at the stars?”
“Sometimes, although I prefer to go with a group.” She glances at the clock on the wall. “It’s almost time for class.”
“Yeah, well, thanks for the talk.”
“Anytime.” She stands up. “Ella, I wouldn’t let that boy bother you. You’re a strong girl. You can handle him.”
“Thanks.” I smile, then head out of the classroom. When I’m in the hall, I text Briggs. I talked to her. I think you might be right.