I turned off the ignition, and the engine died with a loud Pop! I cringed slightly and stepped outside into the humid night air, and though I tried to ignore their presence, my muscles tensed with every step.
The obnoxious sound of JT’s laughter filled the evening air, but I ignored it. Just like I ignored the way Mikey’s hulking form partially blocked the door like he owned the place or the way Topher’s blue polo made his eyes pop.
My heart beat a little faster as my sneakers met the walkway, only feet away from them, when JT’s gaze caught mine and his serpentine smile spread. “Ewe, nice ride.”
He spluttered, holding in a laugh as my traitorous gaze shifted back toward my car. “Did you really think we didn’t notice you pull in?”
Mikey guffawed. “Everyone in Shore County heard her.”
“Where’d you find that thing, anyway? The junkyard?”
A riot of laughter burst among their group. Most annoying was the high-pitched trill coming from Gabby and several other girls among them. Like cruelty was pure comedy and JT and Mikey were a pair of stand-up comedians.
My gaze shifted to Topher and his eyes met mine. His lips twitched like he wanted to say something, while the blue of his eyes turned liquid and soft like a shimmering lake.
He took a small step forward. And for one split moment, I thought he might stick up for me. But then Gabby tugged on his arm, and he bowed his head, gaze on his feet as she whispered something in his ear.
I averted my eyes as we drew closer to the door, trying my best to ignore them, despite feeling the burning glare coming from Scarlett beside me.
“Are you even sure that thing is road legal?” Mikey continued.
“I’m sure it runs real good,” JT said with mock sincerity.
“It’s ‘runs well,’ you jack-hole,” Scarlett snapped back.
Mikey made a choking noise while JT’s eyes flash with anger. “Oh, I’m sorry, nerd.”
“Don’t, Scarlett. It’s okay,” I whispered as I tugged on her arm. But she ignored me, pausing in front of the door to stare them down.
“Either way, the thing is hideous,” JT added.
“Kind of like your face,” she shot back.
JT flushed, his face turning to flames, and I glanced between him and Scarlett, knowing this wouldn’t end well. Knowing we’d be on the losing end of this fight, because that’s how it always worked.
“What did you say?” JT stepped forward, smile gone.
Teeth bared, Scarlett pushed her shoulders back. “You heard me.”
I sighed inwardly and nudged her forward, but she barely moved. Though I appreciated her sticking up for me, it wasn’t worth making a scene, and all I wanted to do was hurry inside before she made things worse.
Several kids I recognized from school stepped past us, staring the entire way. My cheeks heated from the attention while the introvert inside me died a small death.
“Come on. Let’s go,” I whispered, tugging on Scarlett’s arm once more, hoping, this time, she’d listen.
“Why don’t you listen to your little friend?” JT flicked a dismissive hand toward me. “Run along. I’m sure the bridge Ewe crawled out of is lonely without her.”
“Dude,” Topher placed a hand on JT’s chest, “lay off, man.”
“What?” JT turned to him. “Are you kidding me right now? Did you hear how they disrespected me?”
“Let it go.” A muscle in the back of Topher’s jaw twitched, and I used his confrontation as my chance to yank Scarlett through the double doors.
A burst of cool air and the scent of fried food greeted us. I inhaled, gulping for air like a fish out of water as the door behind us whooshed closed, taking with it the sound of Topher’s voice. “It’s not funny, man . . .”
Scarlett craned her neck to get another look, but I pulled her toward the hostess as I signaled we needed a seat for two and she nodded for us to follow.
“I think he’s sticking up for you,” she said.
I hummed in response, mostly because it was hard to believe. As far as attempts at defending someone went, it was kind of weak. Besides, he was King. And Kings rarely turned in their crowns for rags.
“Too little, too late,” I muttered, but as I glanced back one last time, I saw Topher poking JT in the chest.
Chapter 13
TOPHER
“I mean it,” I said, jabbing a finger in JT’s chest. “Leave her alone.”
“Dude, what’s gotten into you? First the butterface freshman, and now Ewe? It’s like you’re getting soft or something.”
I glanced away from him, teeth clenched, mostly because it was all I could do not to sock him in the face. And also because I knew I was at a crossroads. One where I could choose to be a better person or keep being an asshole.
Next to me, I felt Gabby’s gaze burning into the side of my face. I already knew how she felt. She’d made it perfectly clear at JT’s place the other day outside the pool. It was them versus us, and she had no plans any time soon of stepping away from that type of exclusive mentality.
“I mean, look at this hunk of junk. Come on.” JT headed off the sidewalk toward the parking space where Ewe had left the thing she called a car.
When JT laughed and kicked the front tire, I half expected the rusted hubcap to come tumbling off.
I had to admit, the vehicle was hard to defend, and part of me cursed Ewe for bringing it here, for showing up in the first place. It’s like she was asking to get made fun of.
“Dude . . .” Mikey stepped closer to JT. “I just had an epic idea.”
JT’s lips curled into a nasty grin, one I knew well. “What are you thinking?”
“Guys, seriously,” I said, panic swelling inside in my chest, “why mess with her? What did she ever do to you?”
JT turned on me, eyes wide as he snickered. “Do you hear yourself, Elliot? When did you become such a pussy?” Then he steepled his hands and, in a mocking tone, said, “What did she ever do to you, guys? Come on, guys. Stop it!”
A round of laughter surrounded me, and a quick glance at Gabby revealed she was among them.
I took a step back, away from my friends.
“Don’t forget you were the one that spearheaded the charge on our ‘ol pal Skunk Girl, remember?”
Yeah, I remember, I wanted to say, but it was wrong, and I’ve regretted it ever since. Instead of saying that, I dragged a hand down my face and backed further away.
I was retreating.
Maybe JT was right. I really was a pussy.
“Whatever, man. Do what you want, but I’m gonna head out,” I said.
“Wait, you’re bailing now?” JT laughed. “What’s going on Elliot, you got a thing for this chick or something?”
Gabby’s head whipped to JT at the accusation, eyes rounding as she watched our exchange, and I cursed JT. She’d be all over me about the possibility come Monday.
“Just knock it off.”
“No, seriously. You got a thing for P-U?” he asked.
I speared him with a glare.
Gabby crossed the lot, closer to me, as her gaze raked up and down. “You’ve seriously been such a loser lately. If you wanna leave, go.” She nodded toward my car, then she slid her arm into JT’s with a pointed look that said I could be replaced.
Only problem was, I didn’t care.
So I shook my head and spun on my feet.
PENELOPE
Two hours later, stuffed full of sweetbread and ice cream, Scarlett and I left the diner, thankful our evening had been surprisingly uneventful since our earlier confrontation.
After we paid our check, we discussed what movie we wanted to stream, settling on binging a new series instead. As we approached my car, I took it in with fresh eyes. Now when I looked at it—taking in all its glaring imperfections—the only thing I felt was dread. Every day I drove to school would be another day I’d get made fun of. I hated that my father’s kind gesture was ruined by the likes of JT.
I sighed
, and when I opened the driver’s side door and a dark object sprung out at me. I jumped back with an ear-piercing shriek and crashed against the car behind me. A putrid fog filled the air around. It misted my face, went into my mouth, and stung my eyes. Blinded by it, my hands shielded my face as I heard the sound of Scarlett’s gasp, and my mind raced.
Was it a bomb? Some sort of gas leak?
When it stopped just as quickly as it started, I blinked my vision clear in time to see the offending object—a blur of black and white as it zipped past. Most notable was the fluffy black tail with the white stripe.
I gasped for air and tried to gain my bearings as Scarlett reached down and helped me up. Her face pulled into a grimace while her nose scrunched. A few cars down, JT, Mikey, and the entire Royal clan, fell into a fit of laughter.
My pulse pounded in my ears as I brushed myself off, taking in the stench around me, and I realized what just happened.
I got skunked.
I scrubbed furiously at the upholstery of my car. Foam, an inch thick, gathered on the seats, my hands, and my arms. Tears stung my eyes as I replaced the brush for the wet vac and began sucking it all up for the millionth time.
When I finished, I bent forward and took a whiff. “It won’t come out!” I wailed.
Scarlett stood behind me, helplessly playing with her hands, the front of her jean shorts damp from her own attempt at cleaning the upholstery.
“Are you sure it’s not just you that smells?”
I flashed her a dark look and she raised her hands in defense. “Sorry. But you know what I mean. You got sprayed too. Maybe you just can’t tell the difference?”
I flopped down onto the wet seat and sank my face into my hands, defeated. “No.” I moaned. “It’s both of us. We reek. The car reeks. Everything reeks. They’ll have a blast with this on Monday.”
I could still hear their cacophonous laughter and the voices chanting “pee-yew,” like they were a group of toddlers asking for an encore performance.
“I’d like to say you’re wrong, but . . .” Scarlett trailed off, biting her lip.
“What I’d like to know is how they got a skunk in the first place? I mean, how? Where? And what am I supposed to tell my dad?”
Anger mounted inside my chest, and I lifted my head. “There’s no way I can drive this until I get rid of the smell. I may as well sign my death sentence now. I’d stink to high heavens at school if I even set foot in here.” I glanced around me, then down at my clothes. “That is, if I can even get the smell off me in the first place.”
Scarlett sighed but said nothing, which is how I knew I was doomed.
I stared out into the darkened parking lot of the car wash, gritting my teeth, thinking of Topher and his friends still gathered around a table at Mary's enjoying their ice cream, or whatever it was Royals ate at 10 p.m., while I sat here ruminating in a pool of skunk urine.
Just the thought made my eyes twitch.
“Didn’t Topher put those dead fish in Brady O’Toole’s car last year?” Scarlett asked, and I knew what she was thinking. The skunk in my car had Topher’s name written all over it, further evidenced by his convenient absence at the scene of the crime. This wasn’t the first time a prank like this had been played on someone from our school.
Maybe it’s what he and Gabby were whispering about. Maybe it’s what he found so funny. Heck, it was probably the reason he told JT to leave me alone—not because he was defending me, but because he had something better up his sleeve. Why refer to verbal insults when you could play the ultimate prank on someone instead?
My anger ebbed for a moment as humiliation took its place. What a fool I was, to even think for a moment he was different than I’d thought.
“So what do I do now?” I asked, throwing my hands up.
Scarlett’s mouth flattened for a moment as she stared at me in silence before she nodded like she made her mind up and stabbed a finger toward my chest. “I’ll tell you what you’re gonna do. You’re going to do whatever it is you need to do to get the stink off of you. Then, you’re going to let me take your car to my dad. You know he has connections. He’ll hook you up, and I’m sure they can do something to get the smell out—”
“Scarlett—”
“You can tell your dad that mine saw the car and offered to have a friend fix the taillight at cost. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Then you’re going to waltz into school on Monday with your head held high because you have nothing to be ashamed of. And when those jerks say something to you, you’re going to let it roll off because you have a wild card up your sleeve. You hear me?”
I frowned. “What wild card?”
A grin spread over her perfectly symmetrical face. “Topher, remember? Did you forget already?” She sighed and shook her head like I was the most exasperating person in the world. Stepping toward me, she reached down and plucked my phone from my pocket. “I suggest you get texting. Julie isn’t going to earn the king’s trust by sitting around and waiting for it.”
I grinned and grabbed the phone. Of course. How could I forget? I let my guard down for one second, thinking maybe Topher was different than he let on and look at what happened?
Well, not again.
He could act like a decent human being all he wanted and talk about how much of a jerk his father was and how great his GPA was and act like he was being nice to me, but I wasn’t buying it. Not again.
I opened our texts and typed Whatcha doin?, then hit send.
Operation Dirt Retrieval was underway.
Chapter 14
PENELOPE
I stopped in front of my locker just before lunch, took one look at the picture of a skunk someone taped to it, and rolled my eyes.
So original.
I tore the paper off and rolled it into a ball, then tossed it behind me when Scarlett appeared by my side. “So, how’s the rest of your day going?” she asked.
I glanced over at her. The optimism in her expression was admirable, given the moment we rolled into the student parking lot, JT and Mikey made it a point to zero in on me and ask where my new ride was.
“It must really stink not being able to drive yourself to school,” JT said before they laughed like a pair of hyenas.
So hilarious, they were.
All in all, though, it hadn’t been too bad. Other than obnoxiously sniffing the air every time they passed me in the halls, asking “What’s that smell?” and the skunk photo on my locker, they’d left it mostly alone. Still, that didn’t stop me from eyeing Mikey as he approached, practically burying my head in my locker in the hopes of going unnoticed.
When he strolled by without so much as a glance in my direction, I breathed a sigh of relief, and the ball of muscle fisting at the base of my spine released.
“What?” I asked.
“Your day? I asked how it’s going.” Scarlett stared at me, worry creasing the space between her brows.
“Eh, it’s fine.”
“And what about ODR?”
I frowned.
“Operation Dirt Retrieval?” she said like I was slow.
“Oh, right.” The reminder gave me hope. “Nothing so far.”
“Darn. I was hoping for better news.”
“Pah! Be patient, grasshopper.” I grinned. “Do you really think Royals get their positions on the court by airing their dirty laundry so easily? They keep that stuff locked up tight. But don’t worry,” I said, slamming my locker shut. “I’ll get something, even if it takes all year.”
My pencil moved furiously over my paper as I worked on my literature assignment while Topher sat across from me, staring a hole through the side of my head.
“So . . .” He tapped his fingers on the table. “Aren’t we going to work on math or something?”
I said nothing.
“Physics?”
I pressed my mouth into an even tighter line.
“Literature?”
Finally, I glanced up at him with a gaze so cold it could turn a hot spri
ng into an iceberg. “I’m going to work on literature. You can do whatever you want.”
“We had math homework.”
“Great. Do it, then. You have a 4.0, remember? You know what you’re doing, so figure it out.”
Still, he sat there, unmoving, and his forehead creased.
“Did I do something to make you angry?”
I huffed out a laugh, but kept my eyes trained on my paper and continued writing.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He drummed his fingers. “Is this about Saturday night?”
I pursed my lips, trying to keep my expression neutral. If he really didn’t know, I seriously questioned how he managed his grade point average. He must cheat.
“Because, for the record, I told JT I thought he was being a jerk and to leave you alone.”
“Was the skunk thing his idea of leaving me alone?” I snapped.
My eyes met his, hard as steel as he blinked like he had no clue what I was talking about. It had taken me all Saturday night and Sunday, scrubbing myself endlessly with peroxide and dish soap just to get the smell out of my skin.
“What skunk thing?”
I bit the inside of my cheek, impatient with the innocent act. “The skunk they put in my car,” I ground out.
“Wait,” he placed his palms on the tabletop and leaned closer, “they put an actual skunk in your car?”
When I nodded, he glanced away from me, his gaze fixed on something in the distance. Even I had to admit his innocent act was convincing.
“I heard them talking today, but I thought all the jokes were just more of the same old dumb thing about your name,” he said.
“And even if they were, that makes it okay?”
“Well, no, but—”
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to be me? To dread going to school? Or hate your name? To be so embarrassed you want the earth to swallow you up? Do you know what it’s like to have your heart beating out of your chest, your palms sweat, and a frog in your throat just because you have a class coming up where you know your tormentors are just waiting to torture you some more? Most days, I want to disappear, to be completely invisible. Do you know what that’s like?”
Hate Notes: A Sweet Enemies to Lovers Young Adult Romance (Lakeview Prep Book 1) Page 10