After Burn (High School Bully Romance) (Diamond Lake High School Book 1)

by K. L. Middleton

  Mattie didn’t reply.

  The teacher stopped in front of Mattie’s desk. “That was also a question that needed a correct answer. How about you try again.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Mattie said, looking like she wanted to crawl under a rock.

  “Good. Now, everyone take out your textbooks and turn to page ninety-four.”

  I had to say, as much as Sara had warned me about this teacher being a bitch, I was starting to really like her.

  17

  Chase

  I skipped school on Tuesday. I didn’t want to deal with the questions about the race or my shiner. I wasn’t in the mood.

  Of course, my old man received a call from the Attendance office, saying that I was absent. In return, he called me again and left an urgent message to get back to him. Having cooled down a bit, I decided to do what he wanted before he filed a Missing Person report on me.

  He answered on the first ring. “Chase?”

  “Yeah. Good guess,” I muttered.

  Considering I was the only one with this phone number…

  “Ha. Ha.” He told me about the school calling. “I was worried when I heard the news.”

  I rolled my eyes. He hadn’t been too worried yesterday when he’d socked me in the face.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Where are you?”

  “At Sonny’s.” Fortunately, his mom had left before us. As we were eating breakfast, he told me I could chill there for as long as I needed. I wanted to get out of there before the cougar returned, however. Especially if she was feeling frisky again.

  “Are you coming home?”

  I stared out the window, toward the lake. The sky was gray and it was starting to rain. It was dismal, just like my thoughts of returning home. “Not sure.”

  He let out a ragged sigh. “Son, I’m sorry that I blew up. It was uncalled for and I promise you, it won’t happen again.”

  I wanted to believe him. I always wanted to believe him. But, he was a broken record. One that had been over-played too many times.

  I took a deep breath and told him what I really wanted. “I’m thinking about getting a place of my own.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he replied sternly.

  We argued about it for a while and when he realized that I was serious, and old enough to do it, he asked me not to jump into anything.

  “I know you’re angry with me but you only have one year left of school and then you’ll be off to college. If you get a place of your own, you’ll have to work longer hours to pay the rent and your grades will suffer. You’ll fuck up your entire future by making such an idiotic decision.”

  “I don’t care about college. I’ll get my G.E.D, work at Lenny’s, and go to auto mechanic’s school.”

  “That’s a horrible idea, Son. You can be more than just a simple grease-monkey.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to be anything more,” I argued.

  “Fine, you want to fix cars? Go ahead. Do it as a hobby. Not as a career. You have so much more potential-”

  “It’s my life! My future. College isn’t everything. Not for me, at least.”

  He was quiet for a few seconds. “Look, we can talk about this later. Just, please, finish this last year of school and forget about moving out. It really is a waste of money. Not when you can live for free, here.”

  He was right about the money… but I was leery about staying at home. I knew that everything would be cool for a while and then he’d lose his shit again.

  “I’ll come home.”

  But I wouldn’t be staying.

  “Good. See you soon.”

  I locked up Sonny’s cabin and took the long way home. I wasn’t looking forward to facing him again after last night. No matter how sorry he was. Along the way, a sign caught my eye. It was in the window of a taxidermy and bait shop.

  Furnished Studio Available For Rent.

  I stared at the building, which had been around for as long as I could remember. I hadn’t even realized that there was a studio above the shop, and I’d purchased minnows there in the past.

  I pulled over and took a picture of the phone number. I had no idea what the rent was, but I liked the fact that it was furnished. It would make things much easier.

  When I arrived at home, my old man acted like things were normal between us, but I wasn’t about to fall into that trap again.

  “I have to go into the office and take care of some business. If you’re hungry, order out somewhere. Maybe get some Chinese Food or something. Use my credit card,” he said.

  “I’m good.” I headed toward the stairs.

  “Chase.”

  I turned around.

  “I, um. I won’t be home until late. If you need anything, call me.”

  “Right.” All I needed was some peace.

  “Hey, are you still pissed at me?”

  I decided to be truthful. “What do you think? Or, maybe you can’t read my expression considering I have a black eye…”

  He stared at my face and sighed. “Did you tell anyone?”

  It figured that he was worried I’d ‘outed’ him.

  “Chase?”

  “No,” I muttered.

  He looked relieved. “You should put some ice on that.”

  Shaking my head in disgust, I walked upstairs to my room, waited for him to leave, and then called the taxidermy shop. A woman answered.

  “Um, yes, I was calling about the studio for rent. Is it still available?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “How much is the rent?”

  She told me and my heart sank. It was a lot more than what I’d expected.

  “Did you want to have a look at it?” she asked.

  “Sure.”

  As expensive as it was, I knew that if I put a lot more hours in at Lenny’s I could probably pull it off.

  “Okay. I’ll be here until six. The studio is above the shop. It just became available and I have a feeling it will go quickly. So, I wouldn’t wait too long.”

  “I can be there in an hour,” I told her.

  “Sounds good. What’s your name?”

  “Chase.”

  “My name is Rae. See you soon, Chase.”

  “Okay.”

  I hung up the phone, made myself something to eat, and headed over to meet her.

  When I arrived at the shop, Rae, who was dressed in gray coveralls and a black rubber apron, was just finishing up with a customer. She was short and stocky, with wavy white hair and blue tortoiseshell glasses.

  “Aren’t you Jeremy Adam’s boy?” Rae asked, when I introduced myself.

  “Yeah.”

  Her eyes narrowed as they studied my shiner. “What happened to your face?”

  “Fell off my bike,” I replied, forcing a laugh. “Hit this big old rock on a trail I’d never been on before. Lucky I didn’t lose my eye.”

  “No kidding.” She opened up the cash register and pulled out a set of keys. “I’m going to lock up the store and then I’ll show you the studio. Can’t have anyone wandering around the store while I’m away.”

  “Okay.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at me.

  “I didn’t go in. My eye was bothering me too much this morning.”

  Rae walked over to the door, locked it, and flipped the OPEN sign to CLOSE. She turned around and looked at my eye again. “Your dad aware you’re looking for a new place to live?”

  “I told him.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Eighteen.”

  She stared at me for a minute and then nodded. “Okay. Let’s go and see what you think of the place.”

  The studio was larger than I’d expected, with a small kitchen and bathroom. Although the appliances were old, the furniture was decent and there was even a thirty-two inch television.

  “How long can I rent it for?” I asked, getting excited about the idea of living there.

  “That all depends.�
�

  “On what?”

  “Whether you’re a good tenant or not. If you’re going to rent this place, I don’t want you having parties. Also, I don’t want to walk in and find two other guys sharing this space with you. You’d be on the lease and nobody else.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “Also, you’re responsible for any damage that might occur. And, if something goes missing, you’ll have to replace it.”

  “I understand.”

  “Do you have any pets?”

  “No.”

  “If you decide to get a cat or dog, you’ll need to put down a three hundred dollar deposit.”

  “I doubt I’ll get a pet.”

  She was silent for a few seconds and then went on. “The minimum lease is for six months. You’ll need to put down your first month’s rent along with a deposit of five-hundred dollars. It will be returned to you, once you move out, if the studio is in good shape. Otherwise, you lose the deposit and may have to pay for any damages to the studio.”

  “There won’t be.”

  “Good. Now, do you have any plans for college?”

  “I’m going to take an auto mechanics class somewhere here in Diamond Lake.”

  She nodded in approval. “So, you’re finishing up high school?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Do you have a job?”

  “Yeah, I work for Lenny’s Garage right now. I’m planning on putting in some extra hours to pay for the studio.”

  “What about school work? You don’t want to neglect that.”

  “I won’t.”

  “So, basically you’re looking for a place to crash that isn’t at your dad’s house?”

  I thought about lying, but decided not to. She’d been pretty straightforward with me and deserve the same. “Yeah. See, we don’t always see eye-to-eye,” I replied.

  She looked at my shiner again. “That’s too bad. I’m sorry to hear that.”

  I nodded. “It is what it is.”

  “Why not stay at a friend’s?”

  “I don’t want to be a bother.”

  Rae looked around the studio. “Well, if you think you can afford the apartment, it’s yours. I’ll need to have you fill out a lease agreement before you can move in though.”

  “Okay.”

  “Plus, I’ll need to verify your employment.”

  “I understand.”

  She stared at me hard. “Don’t let me regret this later, Chase. I could very easily rent this out to someone older.”

  “I know. You won’t regret it. I promise.”

  I could tell by her expression that she was still unsure.

  “I swear to God, I won’t cause you any problems.”

  Rae relaxed. “Okay. Let me get the paperwork.”

  “Thank you.”

  She nodded.

  18

  Mackenzie

  Chase wasn’t in second hour, which was a relief. Especially after yesterday. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him or any of the other A-squaders.

  The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, although Mattie sat glaring at me all during the lunch period.

  Sara noticed her watching me, too. “Did you tell them what she did during first hour?” Sara asked, when Kara and Maya sat down at the lunch table.

  I opened up my bottle of water. “No. I was hoping to forget about it.”

  “What happened?” Kara asked.

  Before I could say anything, Sara told them the story. Their jaws dropped.

  “What rumor is she talking about?” Kara asked.

  “I have no idea. She wouldn’t say,” I replied.

  “Mattie has a lot of enemies. I’m sure someone else is gossiping about her and she just hates you so much, she thinks it’s you,” Maya said.

  “I just don’t get why she hates me so much. I mean, what makes me so special?” I knew it couldn’t just be about Chase either. She’d had it out for me the moment I stepped into first hour.

  “She’s threatened by you because you’re prettier than she is,” Sara said. “I can remember back when we were friends, she was always jealous of anyone who she thought had something she didn’t.”

  “Thank you but I’m not prettier than she is,” I replied.

  “See, that’s what makes you prettier,” Kara said. “You’re modest and unconscious of it. Mattie, on the other hand, is constantly looking at herself in the mirror.”

  “I know, right? She’s always fussing with her hair and makeup,” Sara said.

  “Did you see her eyelashes? I’m pretty sure those are extensions, too,” Maya said.

  As they continued talking about Mattie, which was exactly what she’d been accusing me of, I almost felt sorry for her. She obviously put in a lot of effort to feel better about herself. But, she was a bitch and not just to me. I almost felt like all of the money she spent on clothes and makeup needed to be applied toward a therapist.

  “Oh, hey. I heard that there’s a party this Friday at Jason Sharkey’s. His parents are out of town. You guys going?” Maya asked.

  “I heard. I don’t know.” Kara looked at me. “You wanna go?”

  “I wasn’t invited,” I replied. “Plus, I have no idea of who he is.”

  “Jason is on the soccer team,” she answered. “And is actually pretty cool. You don’t need an invite.”

  “Will Mattie be there?” I asked.

  “Chances are she will be. Although, you heard Chase last night. They broke up so he won’t be bringing her.”

  I didn’t like the thought of her being there, but I also couldn’t avoid every party because I was worried she’d be there. I’d never go to any of them.

  “I’ll go, I guess, if someone can give me a ride,” I said. “My grandmother is going to try and help me buy a car, but I doubt we’ll have anything by the weekend.”

  “That’s cool,” Kara said. “Until then, I don’t mind driving. You coming, Sara?”

  “I’ll have to see. I might be going away with my parents this weekend,” she replied.

  “Maya, what about you?” Kara asked.

  “Actually, I have plans this Friday,” she replied. “I’m going to see a movie.”

  Kara looked at me. “It could just be the two of us. You still in?”

  “Why do you sound worried?” I replied.

  “It’s just that there will be A-squaders there,” she replied. “I just want to warn you now.”

  An image of Chase popped into my head. “Do I need to be worried?”

  “No. If anyone starts giving you any shit, we’ll leave. But, Jason is a good guy. He’ll shut it down right away.”

  “Okay. I’m in then.”

  “Good. It’ll be fun,” Kara said.

  After I finished eating my lunch, I headed to the nearest bathroom, but noticed Mattie and her posse go in first. Not in the mood to deal with her, I decided to use a different one. One that was closest to my next class, but on the other side of the school. As I was going down the stairwell, I overheard some guys talking, but didn’t think anything of it. When I saw who was at the bottom, I groaned inwardly. One of them was Bruce. The other was also a friend of Chase’s, although I couldn’t remember his name.

  Noticing me come down, Bruce blocked my path. “Well, if it isn’t Gus’s little girlfriend.”

  “I’m not his girlfriend,” I muttered.

  “You sure about that?” he replied with a smirk. “Because it looked like that to us.”

  “I really don’t care how it looked. We’re just friends.” I tried moving around him but couldn’t. “This isn’t funny.”

  “What’s the password?” Bruce asked.

  I clenched my teeth. “Fuck off.”

  The other guy laughed.

  “Are you a bitch to everyone, or just Diamond Lake guys?” Bruce said.

  “I bet the password she uses for them is ‘Fuck Me’,” said his friend.

  I growled in the back of my throat. “Move or I’ll…”

  “
You’ll what? Tell on me?” Bruce taunted.

  I was so angry now, I was shaking. “Hurt you.”

  The shorter guy burst out laughing. “Whoa, did she just threaten you, Heinz?”

  Bruce grinned. “Sounds like it, Tyler.”

  I was three seconds to kneeing him in the balls, when the bell rang.

  “Oh, shit. I forgot my notebook in my locker,” Tyler said. He took off, leaving me and Bruce alone.

  I tried stepping around him again, but he still wouldn’t get out of my way.

  “What in the hell is your problem?” I asked, hating the way my voice cracked.

  “Problem?” He backed me up against the wall and placed his hands on both sides, barricading me. “You are my problem. See, we don’t tolerate anyone talking shit about our friends. And, if you’re going to root for another school during a tournament or any other event, then you’d better not even show up.”

  “And if you’re going to threaten someone this close, you should at least pop a mint. Your breath fucking stinks,” I replied with fake bravado that sounded surprisingly calm.

  His eye twitched. “I doubt it’s as smelly as your cunt, Bait Girl.”

  It was a struggle to keep my voice steady. “That depends on whether you prefer the smell of your friend’s ass to the female anatomy. I guess we know what you’re into.”

  Bruce’s face turned bright red. He looked so angry, I thought he might actually hit me. Fortunately, a group of students started descending the stairwell. One of them was Sonny.

  Still glaring at me, Bruce backed away.

  “What’s up, Heinz?” Sonny asked, approaching us.

  Not waiting for him to answer, I raced around Bruce and headed to the bathroom. Fortunately, it was empty.

  I quickly entered a stall, locked it, and sagged against the door. Fighting tears, I squeezed my eyes shut and started counting backward like my therapist had suggested when things became too much.

  One-thousand.

  Nine-hundred-ninety-nine

  Nine-hundred-ninety-eight.

  Before I could get to the next number, the bathroom door opened and I heard two girls talking about Chase and Mattie.