AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Miss Maguire, is there a problem?”
“Uh, what?” My head whipped around and I blinked at Ms. Holland.
“Harleigh Maguire, you will not take that tone with me.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“It’s simply unacceptable young lady.”
I sunk in my chair, trying to disappear. I wasn’t purposefully being rude, but I couldn’t organize my thoughts quickly enough. Not after the bomb Angelica had just dropped.
“Rude and a headcase. No wonder her mom offed herself.”
Someone gasped. “So cold, Ange.” Snickers rang out around me, echoing through my skull.
Without a second thought, I shoved all my things into my bag and stumbled over my chair.
“Miss Maguire, what—”
“Sorry, but I need to go.”
“You will not just leave my class, young lady.”
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” Angelica called after me, driving the knife a little deeper.
She didn’t owe me anything; none of them did. But what happened to basic human decency and compassion?
I burst into the empty hall and made a beeline for the girls’ bathroom, relieved to find that also empty. My body crashed into one of the stall doors and I sank down onto the floor, tipping my head back against the partitioning wall.
Fuck her.
Fuck Angelica and her friends, and Max, and Ms. Holland. They didn’t know. They had no fucking idea what I’d been through. How my life had been turned upside down that night and never quite turned back around.
The bathroom door creaked open, and I held my breath, hoping to God she hadn’t followed me in here to finish the job.
“Maguire, you in here?” Nate’s voice filled the room.
“Go away,” I shouted.
“Afraid I can’t do that.” His footsteps grew closer.
“This is the girls’ bathroom for a reason, asshole.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not leaving until you show yourself.”
“Creeper much,” I murmured as I pressed my nails into my palms, willing the erratic beat of my heart to calm down.
There was a thud to the side of me and Nate appeared over the partitioning wall.
“Oh my God, what are you doing? I could have been peeing.” I clambered to my feet.
“Good thing you weren’t then. Want to get out of here?”
“With you?” I balked. “No thanks.”
“Come on, don’t be like that. I can make it worth your while.”
“How can you possibly—”
