by Amy Brown
In spite of his warm arms, a chill goes through me. “Am I going somewhere?”
He releases me. “That’s the goal.” His voice is emotionless. He jumps over the side of the truck, and holds out his arms to me.
I let him help me down, my gut churning. Mason didn’t say any of that just for fun. He has a reason for thinking I’m leaving Longhorn. That fills me with uneasiness. The Elites have something planned. I have no idea what, but there’s always a bullet to dodge with them.
Hopefully I’ll dodge it this time.
“I’ll watch to be sure you get to the house,” he says, leaning on his truck.
I frown. “There’s no need.”
He shrugs, and shows no sign of leaving.
I laugh stiffly, and turn to walk down the road. I feel self-conscious with him watching me walk away, but it’s dark, so he won’t be able to see me for long. Eventually, I reach the house, and when I turn, I see the lights of his truck pulling out onto the main highway.
He threatens me one second, and watches out for me the next. I’ll never understand Mason Johnson.
****
I sleep like a baby. I guess sex relaxed me and I’m able to fall into a nice deep slumber. When I wake up, my first thoughts are of Mason. I sigh happily, remembering what we did last night. God, he makes me weak in the knees just thinking about his mouth and his body against mine. My smile fades as his cryptic words also come to me:
“Never thought I’d say this, but I’ll miss you, Charity.”
He obviously thinks I’m leaving Longhorn. The Elites must have some plan in play. I groan, and force myself from my cozy bed. The sooner I get to school, the sooner I can see what is up. I shower and dress, feeling distracted. It gets old to constantly be on guard against what The Elites will do next.
Mom is waiting near the front door when I come downstairs. “Got your books?”
“Yep.” I pat the backpack on my shoulder.
We head to the car, and soon we’re on the way. When we drive by the spot where Mason’s truck was last night, my cheeks warm. I was definitely the instigator of last night’s hook up. Well, girls should be allowed to get what they need without being slut-shamed. Maybe one-day society will wake up, and start treating us the same as guys when it comes to sex. Might take a while though. Men run things most of the time.
“Fred will be home tomorrow night,” Mom murmurs. “I was thinking, Luke, you, and me should go have dinner at Molly’s Waffle House tonight. Fred doesn’t understand our love of that place, and this way we don’t have to feel self-conscious about stuffing our faces.”
“I’m in,” I say quickly, grinning. What’s not to love about pigging out on golden waffles, smothered in maple syrup? Fred doesn’t know what he’s missing. Molly’s waffles are the size of my foot, and delicious.
“Excellent. I know Luke will be thrilled.”
“I love seeing him so happy lately,” I say softly.
She glances over. “Me too. I wish you seemed happier.”
“I’m happy.” I frown.
“You sure? You seem very preoccupied sometimes.” She turns onto the street where Longhorn Academy is. There are a lot of cars lined up, waiting to pull into the parking lot.
“It’s senior year. I have a lot of stress.” Hopefully she buys my excuse. Truth is, I am stressed because I’m a senior. It’s just that I’m also very stressed out by The Elite’s never ending attacks. They’ve been better lately, lying low, but Mason’s words last night are a warning I won’t ignore.
“You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?” she asks.
“Of course.” I’m lying, obviously. There are just things you can’t bother telling parents. They can’t help you, and might even make things worse by trying. I’d die if she arranged some heart to heart with Principal Warren.
“Kids are too secretive these days.”
“Are you saying kids in your generation went straight to their parents and shared everything?” I lift one brow skeptically.
Her cheek curves in a smile. “I guess you got me there.”
“Parents have secrets too.”
“Yeah.” She shrugs. “I suppose I just want you to know that, no matter what, I’ll always want to hear what’s going on in your life.”
I smile. “Thanks, Mom.”
“You’re welcome, daughter.” She smirks.
It’s nice that she’s trying to tell me she’s there for me. There are a lot of kids who aren’t close to their parents. I should thank my lucky stars she’s more open with me, than Mason’s mom is with him. If Mom slapped me, I’d be heartbroken. I can’t even imagine that happening. But it was obvious from Mason’s pain last night, he’d never expected his mom to act that way either.
“I probably don’t tell you often enough, Mom, but I love you,” I say softly.
She smiles. “I love you too, honey.”
She pulls up to the curb, and I open the door, and get out quickly. She waves and I head toward the quad. I’m about halfway to my friends, when it occurs to me kids seem less friendly this morning. I frown, and meet the gaze of a guy who’s in my Statistic class as we pass each other. We’ve even studied together, but this morning he snubs me. He won’t meet my gaze.
What’s that about?
If I think about it, most of the kids are giving me funny looks. Why? God, is this something to do with Mason’s warning last night? I reach my group, and Paula stands and pulls me aside. Scott and the others glance at me, and begin whispering to each other.
“Did you hear about Coach MacDonald?” Paula’s voice is hushed.
“No.”
She holds out her phone, and I see a blurry photo of Coach MacDonald, with a naked blonde girl straddling him. Shock jolts through me. “What is this?”
“Coach got fired for having sex with this girl.”
“Jesus.” I widen my eyes. “That’s awful.”
Paula nods, but her gaze is odd. “I’m not sure how to say this…”
“Say what?”
She looks around uneasily. “The rumor is that girl is you, Charity.”
“What?” I basically shriek. “Why would they think that?”
“That’s just what everybody heard.”
Anger floods through me. “Heard from who? The Elites?”
She winces. “Not just them.”
Embarrassment and fury ripple through me. “Paula, I swear, I’ve never even been alone with Coach MacDonald.”
She sighs. “I believe you.” She glances at the photo again. “It really does look like you though.”
“Okay, but, it’s not me.” Please tell me at least Paula knows the truth. If she knows me at all, she would know I’d never sleep with a married man.
“There’s a video circulating too.” She bites her lip. “It’s not going to be easy to convince everyone it’s not you. Her body and especially hair…”
I touch my curls, feeling sick. “Paula, I swear on my life that is not me.”
She seems to shake herself. “No. Of course it’s not you. I’m sorry. I think the mob mentality is getting to me.” She pulls me back over to the group.
Scott gives me a weak smile. “It’s always something, isn’t it?”
“Definitely.” This must be what Mason was warning me about. Judging by the looks I’m getting, a lot of the kids believe I’m the girl in that video, who got their beloved coach fired.
A few kids walk by, and one of them spits near my feet. Ethan watches with Mia about ten feet away, their expressions are impossible to read. Something tells me he won’t want me to make any speeches for him anytime soon. Mia looks sad, her lower lip trembles as she stares at me, like I’ve failed her.
“What should I do?” I ask, looking at Paula nervously.
She grits her teeth as another kid spits in my direction. “Um…”
I meet Gregory’s blank stare. “It’s not me. I… I swear,” I whisper.
“It’s hard to know what you’d do, Charity,” he say
s gruffly. “I heard you fucked Mason in my parent’s gazebo the night of my party.”
My face is hot as I move my mouth wordlessly. I can’t exactly defend myself by saying we didn’t actually fuck. He just gave me oral sex. Besides, who told him about that? I sure as hell didn’t tell anyone. The only other person who knows what happened in the gazebo is Mason.
He probably told The Elites. He probably bragged to them.
“Mason of all people? You flirted with Patrick all night, and then had sex with Mason?” Gregory looks like he wants to be ill.
“I… I can explain that.” No I can’t. Even if I could, it’s obvious Gregory doesn’t want to hear it.
“People hook up all the time at your parties,” Paula says, putting her hand on my arm protectively.
He looks annoyed that she’s defending me. “But Mason? That’s disgusting. He’s been a complete asshole to her.”
“That’s none of our business,” Paula mutters, looking depressed.
The last thing I want is to come between her and Gregory. But it’s obvious he’s not convinced I’m not the star of that sex tape. He doesn’t know me that well, I suppose I can’t blame him really. That chick could be my twin from the back.
A woman comes out of the administration office, and I recognize her as Mrs. Perth, Principal Warren’s secretary. She scans the crowd gathered at the quad, and then strides in our direction with determination.
She could be coming to talk to any one of us, but my gut tells me she’s coming for me. When she glances up and meets my wary gaze, I know I’m screwed. This is nuts. I didn’t sleep with Coach MacDonald. I barely spoke to the man my entire time here at Longhorn Academy.
As she nears, her mouth thins. “Charity Ballard?”
“Yes.” My heart is banging so loudly; I swear the others should be able to hear it.
Her nostrils flare as she stands in front of me. “Principal Warren would like to speak to you.”
“Oh, well…” I grimace. “I need to get to class.” Mrs. Perth pinched expression tells me she doesn’t give two shits about that.
Her smile is brittle. “This is important.”
Paula squeezes my shoulder, but the others back away from me, like I have the bubonic plague. “It’ll be fine,” Paula says, but her expression says I’m doomed.
I hear Sophia’s high pitched laugh, and when I glare in her direction, sure enough she’s pointing at me, almost doubled over with laughter. Jeremy wears a smirk, and Travis looks resigned. Jules’s smile is gloating, and she covers her mouth with her hand, shoulders shaking.
There’s no question this is their doing. It’s obvious they’re enjoying my humiliation way too much for this to be coincidence. Mason sits next to them, his head down, as if he’s trying to pretend this isn’t happening. When Jeremy punches his shoulder, he hesitates, but then he rises, and stands beside his pals. His expression is impossible to read, but there’s definitely no mercy there.
“Charity, I need you to come with me this second,” Mrs. Perth hisses.
God damn The Elites. Is this actually going to be the thing that gets rid of me? It’s one thing to be dragged over the coals for something I did, but I’m not the girl in that video. I can’t possibly be expelled for sleeping with Coach MacDonald when I didn’t do it. Right? Surely the truth will prevail? Justice will be served, and The Elites will be the ones kicked out of school for framing me.
I meet Mason’s stare again, but he no longer looks conflicted. His arms are crossed, and his chin is lifted. He’s picked his side, and doesn’t give a shit what happens to me, so long as I disappear. He came to me for comfort last night, and now he stares at me like we’re strangers.
“Do I have to get security to make you come with me?” Mrs. Perth asks shrilly.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I say to her. “This is all just a big mistake.”
Mason’s laughter reaches me, and I feel as if my heart is literally shattering. I can barely breathe as I follow Mrs. Perth to the Administration Office. Some of the kids start jeering me, and spit wads zip past my cheek. Mrs. Perth does nothing to help me.
If I somehow survive this nightmare, I’ll get back at The Elites if it takes the rest of the school year. When I got here, my goal was to get good grades, and enjoy my senior year. This was going to be my year because I wasn’t poor and afraid anymore. I was going to blossom and flourish. The world was my oyster. Nothing could keep me down because I was certain life was finally turning around for me.
The Elites will be sorry they fucked with me.
Mason most of all.
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Copyright (c) 2020 by Amy Brown
Revenge
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This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.