“You didn’t have to.”
“I’m sorry I missed the viewing. It really is important to me that we do this together. Was it a nice spot?” I chewed at my lower lip, hoping I defused the situation a little bit.
“It was quite nice. I want to check the others out before any decisions are made though.”
I nodded. “I won’t miss those ones, no matter what.”
She sighed, running a hand through her dark shoulder-length hair. “All right…. Get your shoes on. We don’t have much time to get you a new phone and backpack before the stores close.” She hesitated, frowning as she gave my outfit consisting of a snug blue t-shirt and fleece Snoopy pajama bottoms a look. “Are you going to wear that to Saks?”
I shrugged. We didn’t have time for me to change. Besides, considering I was strutting down the street earlier in a towel, Snoopy pajama bottoms would be a step up in the world. “Looks like it.”
~*~ TT ~*~
New phone. Check.
New bank and credit card. Check.
New backpack—this time a bright yellow Versace one so it stood out more in case they pulled that shit on me again. Check.
School supplies. Check.
I’d have to get new textbooks when I got to school, which of course there’d be a charge for, but more important than all of those things was that there were no videos of photos of me to be found on the internet—yet. There very well still could be, but I couldn’t find any, I was up late into the night scouring social media. Like my mother would say, forewarned is forearmed.
I gave myself one last look in the mirror before giving my appearance in the school uniform a nod of approval. I’d decided to go for the skirt today. I’d go into school as if nothing had ever happened and then sign up for a spot to run for school president. If she was going to play hardball, I was game.
My phone buzzed from inside my new backpack. I didn’t bother to look at it to see who it was, I already knew—it was Jaxson. He showed up at the exact same time every morning, like clockwork.
Grabbing my bag, I slung it over my shoulder and raced down the stairs. We really should be walking to school, I mean really, if I could walk home in a towel then walking to school in regular clothing—including a jacket—shouldn’t be an issue. But whatever, I’d give in on this one thing. I never actually saw him go to the gym, but I assumed he had a state-of-the-art facility in his house that he utilized daily when I wasn’t around. He had to in order to look as toned as he did.
Slipping on my penny loafers I left the house, and as per usual Jaxson’s car was outside with the back door open and his driver patiently waiting by the door to close it behind me. Sliding into the back of the car, a smile spread across my lips at the sight of my man sitting casually on the far side of the back seat with one ankle crossed over the opposite knee. It was like night and day seeing him in jeans and a t-shirt compared to the smart shirt, tie, and blazer he wore for school.
“Good morning.” Leaning over him, I placed a soft kiss on his lips and then sat back into the seat next to him.
“Hey babes, did you sleep well?” He reached out to me and caught a lock of hair and began to twirl it around his finger, watching the strands catch the light as they slowly slipped from his fingertips.
“Could have been better, I got a little obsessed with stalking the internet trying to find something that may have been posted.” The car jolted forward, reminding me that I still needed to buckle up.
“Any luck?”
“None. I’d be stupid to think that I’m out of the woods though. She’s probably holding onto it until she can hurt me with it the most.”
Jaxson grimaced. “I’m sorry to say it’s very likely. Trina is nothing if not an opportunist.”
“There’s nothing I can do about it. I just have to carry on as if it didn’t happen and make sure I don’t let my stuff out of my sight for an instant from now on. Next thing I know she’ll be planting drugs in my locker or something.” I was only halfway joking. Desperate times made for desperate measures and all of that.
“Anything is possible,” Jaxson chuckled.
“She’s going to hit the roof when she finds out I’m going to run for president.” I laughed, relishing the idea of seeing the expression on her face.
His face grew solemn. “Are you serious?”
Frowning, I nodded. “Yeah. Why, is there a problem with that?”
“It’s the equivalent of beating the hive with a stick, isn’t it?” He took one of my hands in his and gave it a squeeze, giving me a reassuring smile that failed miserably. “She’s been gunning for that spot since she was a freshman. Are you prepared for that type of battle?”
I scoffed. “Ever since I’ve gotten here it’s been a battle, why should this be any different? Besides, the students need someone who has their best interests at heart. She just wants to feel superior and pad her application for college.”
“Regardless of why she’s doing it, it seems like you already have enough on your plate. You’re helping your mother open a restaurant. You’re the captain of the volleyball team. There’s only so much time in a day.”
I’m not sure why this was annoying me, but it was. He was my boyfriend—for real now, not just for show, and he was supposed to be supporting the things I did, not discouraging them! “I thought you were supposed to be supportive?”
“Babes, I am. But I’m also a realist. You didn’t even want to run until the prank yesterday.”
“Exactly. She humiliated me. She fired the first shot—again. It’s time to fight back. I tried to be the nice person and guess what—it blew up in my face. And it’s not like I’d completely dismissed it, it just wasn’t on the top of my priority list.”
The car came to a stop at the curb of the school and the driver got out to open the door on my side.
“I just don’t know.” He ran a hand through his hair, which was shaved on both sides and longish on the top, and sighed.
Not being able to control my annoyance over his lack of support, my anger overtook my mouth as my door opened. “Well, if you’re such a Trina sympathizer then maybe you should just get back with her!”
He winced as if I’d physically struck him. I didn’t care. Getting out of the car, I stormed across the courtyard with Jaxson in hot pursuit. I had enough on my plate. If he wasn’t going to stand beside me then to hell with him.
Chapter 4
Immediately upon entering the school I went to the office to see Headmistress Witherspoon. I was in luck: as I entered the office, the headmistress was standing at the reception desk speaking with a teacher that I hadn’t seen before. Standing just inside the door, I waited for her to finish up before approaching.
“Headmistress Witherspoon, I was hoping I could get a nomination form to run for school president.”
She looked a little surprised, even though just a week ago she was the one that suggested it. Had she been just blowing smoke up the new girl’s ass or had she been serious? She beckoned me with two fingers. “Come on into my office.”
Nodding, I followed her into her office and sat down on one of the two chairs in front of her desk. The last time I’d been in her office, I was getting bitched out for fighting with Trina and being threatened to shape up or ship out.
Mrs. Witherspoon sat down across from me and smiled, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the desk. “I thought you weren’t interested in running.”
“I’ve had a change of heart.”
She nodded. “Why?” She held her hand out, “Don’t think I’m discouraging you dear, I just want to make sure it’s something that you want and you’re not just running to get back at Trina.”
“Of course, it isn’t. What do—”
Her eyebrows raised at me. “There’s not much that happens in this school I don’t know about.”
I became angry all over again. “Then you must know about what happened last night. How Trina and her floozies stole my stuff and I had to walk home in a towel.”
She frowned. “That, I know nothing about. Would you like to fill out an incident report? Also, I’d appreciate if you watched your tone.”
“I apologize, Headmistress, and no I’m not interested in filling out an incident report.”
“Student government is a democracy and is open to the whole of the student body. I do think you’d do a fine job as president, just do it for the right reasons and because you have your fellow students’ best interests at heart.”
“Of course I do.” There was a part of me that did have the student body in mind. There was a very distinct hierarchy at play and it was time to level the playing field, but at the same time I did want to put the screws to Trina. I’d been toying with the idea before, but after yesterday’s stunt, I wanted to see her destroyed.
“All right then.” Pulling open a drawer, she leaned down and produced a piece of paper. “This is the form. I need you to get ten students to sign your nomination form and then pass it back to me by the end of the week.”
Jaxson, Damien, Olivia, Gabriel, Preston, Selena… That’s six. Though I may owe Jaxson a little apology. Four more would be a walk in the park; there were enough people at the school who hated Trina to sign off on me. Excitement coursed through my veins. This was going to be good.
“Thank you, Headmistress.”
She nodded. “If that will be all then you’re excused.” Not waiting for a reply, she stood. “It’s time for the morning assembly.”
“Yes, I look forward to it. I do need a new uniform and to replace my books. We had an issue after school yesterday and my backpack went missing.”
She eyed me and I was certain she was going to press me for details, but she didn’t.
“On second thought, how about you walk with me and tell me your plans for the student body if you become elected as president.” Placing a hand at the small of my back she urged me forward. “And we’ll replace your items while we’re at it.”
Plan for the student body. I had no damned idea. Shit. Well, it’s said that the sign of a good politician was to think of things on the fly; this would be my first test.
~*~ TT ~*~
Getting signatures was easier than I had anticipated. The moment I arrived at the assembly, students were coming up to me and offering to sign my nomination form. By the time I sat in my rightful spot, next to Jaxson on the top row center, the page was already nearly filled—I didn’t even need my friends’ signatures.
Sitting down in my spot next to Jaxson, I gave him a weak smile.
He gave me the side-eye but refused to grace me with a straight-on look. “I hope you plan on doing better than a smile if you want me to forgive you for the tantrum you had earlier in the car.”
I wasn’t quite sure if he was messing with me or if he was still pissed. Unzipping the pouch on the front of my backpack, I pulled out a pen and uncapped it. “I left the last spot of my nomination form for you to sign.”
“Is that so.” He still refused to look at me.
Putting the paper in front of him, I gave it a little shake. “Your signature is the most important for me. I can’t do this without you, Jaxson.”
Turning his head to face me, he cocked an eyebrow. “Is that a fact? And why is my signature so important?”
I groaned, rolling my eyes. “Are you seriously going to make this hard on me?”
“Was thinking so, yup.”
“Please.” I attempted to give him my best please-forgive-me look. “You’re one of the most important people in my life. Your support is the most important part of my campaign.” I wiggled the paper again. “I’m sorry I was kind of a bitch this morning.”
A smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he took the pen from me and began to sign the paper, using his knee as a makeshift table. “Fine. Since you asked me so nicely. But I will be expecting that you make it up to me.”
I was about to ask him how when Headmistress Witherspoon began to speak.
Grinning, I accepted the pen and paper back from Jaxson, folded the paper and shoved it into my backpack along with the pen. Placing my backpack on the floor between my feet, I reached over the arm rest and took his hand in mine.
Looking down at our fingers entwined, my brow furrowed upon noticing bruises on his knuckles. Leaning into him, I whispered, “What happened?”
“Huh?”
I nodded at our hands. “Your hand. What happened?”
He gave a little shake of his head and nodded toward Headmistress Witherspoon. As if he was super interested in what she had to say, which was complete bullshit given that he usually ignored her morning monologues. Chewing at my lower lip, I promised myself I wasn’t going to let this go. There was a big chunk of his life that he wasn’t sharing with me and if you didn’t have trust then you didn’t have anything, right?
The assembly wrapped up and we all stood, slowly filing out through one of the two sets of double doors. With backpacks over our shoulders we started to make our way to English lit when I stopped. The events of the previous night came to mind and I had the undeniable need to confront Trina. “One minute. There’s something I have to do.”
As if sensing what I was about to do, he slung an arm around my shoulders. “Nope.”
“What?” I didn’t fight too hard, allowing him to guide me down the hallway. “If I recall correctly just a few weeks ago you wanted me to put a certain ex of yours in her place and now you want me to back down?”
“No, what I want is for you to not provoke her until you know for sure whether or not she has certain photos and videos of you.” He leaned over and kissed me on the temple. “Rule with your noggin, babes.”
“Did you rule with your noggin when you beat the shit out of Kevin at the Hamptons party?”
“First off, until I’m convicted it’s ‘allegedly’ beat the shit out of him.” He made air quotes with his fingers. “And by the way babes that was a below-the-belt hit right there.”
Laughing, I placed my head on his shoulder and snuggled in closer to him. Since moving here, life had been so up and down it was giving me whiplash, but one thing was a constant and that was Jaxson. As long as I had him by my side, I could get through anything, even walking home in a towel.
“Besides, just because you are the king doesn’t make me the queen, Trina has a very strong hold on the students here. It’s something I still have to earn on my own—that is if I even want it. This election could be just the thing I need.”
“Or it could be just the thing—” he stopped in mid-sentence and gave me a squeeze. “I’m sorry. I’m being an asshole, if being president is what you want then it’ll happen.”
English literature followed by chemistry went by quickly enough. Chemistry was my favorite class, I found it fascinating. It certainly helped that I had the best lab partner on earth, my bestie, Damien. Unlike Jaxson, who wasn’t fully behind my campaign for school president, Damien was over the moon excited for me, insisting that he be my campaign manager. While we should have been working on our experiment, we spent the class planning my campaign. Damien was brilliant, with ideas firing over and over. As his ideas compounded, the more psyched I was getting. By the time class was over we had a good idea of where my campaign was going.
Campaigns ran for two weeks, with voting taking place exactly two weeks from now, which meant we had a lot of work ahead of us over the weekend. No doubt Trina already had all her campaign material ready and poised to go for Monday morning.
The bell rang, dismissing us.
“Okay class,” Mr. Morzetti yelled over the chatter of the students gathering their belongings. “Remember the test on Monday, so you should start studying now.”
I barely heard what the teacher was saying. My head was spinning with the possibilities, and it wasn’t going to hurt that it was going to piss Trina off.
“I’m starving; all this planning has given me quite an appetite.” Damien stuffed his books into his messenger bag as I slung my backpack over my shoulder.
�
��I don’t think I could eat if I wanted to, you’ve got me pretty stoked. We haven’t had the time to plan like Trina has, but I think we can still kick ass with your ideas. Have you heard of anyone else running for president?” We followed behind the class and exited the classroom, turning right and heading to the cafeteria.
“There’s rumors, but honestly once everyone knows you’re running I doubt anyone else will run; it would be a waste of time and money. It’s pretty much a guarantee it will be either you or Trina.”
The thought made me happy. I wanted this to be a head-to-head against her. I wanted to win once and for all.
By the time we made it to the cafeteria it was already quite crowed, not that it mattered, as our seats at Jaxson’s table were guaranteed.
I was heading for the food line when I heard Trina call my name. I was halfway tempted to ignore her but turned toward her voice anyhow. She was already seated at her table with her flunkies surrounding her.
“Don’t let her get to you,” Damien whispered as we strolled our way to her table.
“Trina, so nice to see you. Had any luck cracking the code on my phone yet?”
She inhaled placing a hand to her chest. “I don’t know what you’re asking. Are you accusing me of something?”
I shrugged. “I’d never accuse you of anything Trina, you’re a saint. You’d never steal someone’s belongings. Surely you can afford your own or is your family falling on hard times?”
The students within earshot gasped.
She waved a dismissive hand at me as though my stuff was unimportant. “I just thought I’d give you a heads up that running against me in the election would be a very silly thing to do.”
Cocking my head to the side, I stared into her deceitful blue eyes. “Why would that be?”
She tapped her French manicured index finger against her cheek. “Let’s just say that politics can be very cutthroat. You never know the kind of secrets or dirt that could come out.”
Power Play: Upper East Side (Greisbach Academy #2) Page 3