Make Your Move (A High School Bully Romance): Hannaford Prep Year Two

by J Bree

  “Is it you or the twins?” I say and he stops to stare at me.

  “Neither. It’s Morrison.”

  I frown at him and put my phone down. “What about him? I thought his family was clean.”

  I hear a key slot into the door and Avery bursts in, Ash hobbling behind her carrying an absolutely trashed Blaise.

  “Sit him on the couch! I’ll grab the bed out and then I’ll deal with this.” Avery snaps and I wave her off, rolling the spare bed out from under her bed and setting it up myself. Avery collapses on her bed and starts furiously texting.

  “Can someone please explain to me what the fuck is going on?”

  Harley shoves a bucket under Blaise’s nose as he starts to heave and Ash sits beside him, an arm slung around his shoulders casually.

  “Didn’t you read it? See the photos?” Ash snaps and I glare at him.

  “Obviously not. If it’s personal then I’m not fucking looking.”

  Blaise groans and vomits. Avery gags and stalks over to hide in the bathroom while she furiously sends text messages. Harley grabs a bottle of water out of the fridge and presses it into the back of Blaise’s neck.

  “It’s Annabelle right? It has to be, she’s the only one who’s been in our room. Dammit Morrison, I told you not to let her in there! She’s a fucking snake.” Harley says as he starts to pace again.

  Ash groans, “Drop it. It’s out now, all we can do is deal with the fallout.”

  A shrill ringing starts and everyone stops to look at Blaise. He loses the little color he had in his face and looks like a corpse instead.

  “Just leave it, you can speak to him tomorrow.” says Ash, in a tone he usually only uses at Avery. A knot forms in my stomach.

  “I’ll get it out of the way now. No use putting it off.” mumbles Blaise and he answers the call.

  To give him some privacy I grab the bucket from him to empty and Harley follows me to the kitchen.

  “Annabelle found a stash of letters from Blaise’s dad. He writes to him weekly and for some stupid fucking reason Blaise keeps them. She took photos and now the dumb bitch has posted all of them on the gossip site.” Harley clears his throat and continues, “She also had photos of him and she’s posted them as well. The letters…aren’t good and he’s drinking and smoking in the photos which, to his parents, is worse than nudes. His dad is going to fucking kill him.”

  I stop scrubbing and cut him a look. “As in be very angry or actual murder? Do I need to adopt him too?”

  Harley smirks and shakes his head. The smirk slowly slides off his face as he watches Blaise over my shoulder. “He shouldn’t go home. His parents are fucked. Not like the Beaumont’s but just fucking shitty humans who shouldn’t be trusted with a kid. How fucked is it when I’m the only one with good parents and they’re mobsters. Decent and loving, dead and fucking gone.”

  I swallow roughly at the emotion in his voice and then whisper, “I’m not going to look at the site. He didn’t look at my naked photos and I’m not looking at… whatever this is. Is there anything I need to know? To keep him safe?”

  Harley hesitates before answering and Avery stomps out of the bathroom. When she spots Blaise on the phone she moves towards us instead.

  “I got the photos taken down and a trace on who posted them. It’s Annabelle, which we know, but the dumb slut is saying she was hacked. I pointed out to her that she didn’t just trip over the letters and they certainly didn’t take selfies!”

  Harley snorts and Avery nods at him, “Blaise is officially moving in here until we’re sure he’s not going to try and kill himself over this.”

  I jerk away from the sink in shock. “Is that a real concern?”

  Avery grimaces. “He’s jumped off a bridge while drunk and morose before. And the last scandal his dad caught wind of ended with him having his stomach pumped because he tried to drink himself to death. The boys dorm isn’t as secure as ours and everyone has extracurriculars except you. If you can get out of your tutoring session with the Mounty boy then you can make sure he’s safe here.”

  There’s a sharp crack noise and I find myself shoved against the sink by Avery’s body as Harley pushes us both behind him. Avery squeals and shoves him out of the way. “It’s his phone! He’s thrown it against the wall, it’s not a terrorist attack, for god’s sake!”

  I meet Harley’s eyes and see the shadows there. I lean in to whisper to Avery, “Some things are ingrained. Some things are unavoidable.”

  I let Blaise spend all of Thursday drunk because I’m a fucking saint like that. Friday he wakes up so unbelievably hungover that I hide every drop of alcohol in our room. When he breaks into Avery’s closet to find it while I’m in the toilet I call Harley to come pick it up.

  By Saturday he’s climbing the walls and I consider killing him to get some peace.

  “Fuck this. Let’s go out.” He snaps while I cook.

  “No. Drink your coffee.”

  “Fuck coffee, haven’t you ever heard of the hair of the dog? I need tequila.”

  I shake my head and Blaise flicks a pen at me like the spoilt brat he is. When the others get back from their extracurriculars I’m ready to throw Blaise out of the room and Ash smirks when he sees the look on my face.

  “How is suicide watch going? Have you hidden the bed sheets from him yet? Why are you still using real forks, you should switch out to plastic until he’s come down from the ledge.”

  Harley walks in with arms full of Blaise’s crap I’ve asked him to bring to try and keep him busy. He drops it on the roll-out bed and then waves me over to him.

  “He’s better. He spent all morning whining before I left so progress is being made.” snipes Avery.

  Blaise rolls his eyes at them both and slumps back on the couch. “I wouldn’t be whining if you let me fucking drink. The Mounty is practically a fucking AA sponsor and she needs to lighten the hell up. Let’s go to the bar in Haven, they do the best cheese fries.”

  I glare at him as Harley hands over the notes he’s made me for our classes. I rummage around in my bag and give him all of my assignments. “Drinking is making it worse. Harley brought your guitar, write a song and chill the fuck out. Eat ice cream. Watch your shitty movies. Do homework. Do not drink and do not get high.”

  Blaise kicks the coffee table and Avery cusses him out. He’ll be dead by dawn it he keeps it up. She marches over to him and jabs him in the chest sharply. “Just so you know, you ungrateful little shit, I’ve had the posts taken down and I’ve contacted your agent to release a statement on your behalf claiming the entire thing was a slanderous hoax concocted by a jilted ex. He doesn’t give a shit about the photos and the press are lapping it up. You’ve even had a spike in sales! I’ve also burned the letters and sent your father a gift basket with a lovely note telling him to choke on the fucking pretzels. Ash and Harley will now be opening, reading, and destroying any correspondence from that man before you see it. So get up. Eat something substantial, have a shower, do your homework. No one fucking cares that your dear old daddy is scum. I don’t, Ash and Harley don’t, and, if she were honest, Lips would tell you to tuck your vagina back into your jeans and get over it.”

  On Sunday morning Avery leaves for ballet practice and I force Blaise into the shower. I threaten to drag him and then scrub him myself but I’m lying through my teeth because there is no way I’d survive a shower with him. No way. My panties would disintegrate. Eventually we come to an agreement where I’ll let him smoke a joint if he takes the damn shower. While he’s busy I open every window to get our room to stop smelling like a bar.

  I cook him pancakes and when he’s finished eating I hand him a coffee and a bowl of ice cream. He pulls a face but takes them. I sit with him at the kitchen counter and enjoy my own cup quietly until he breaks the silence.

  “What’s your earliest memory, Mounty? No wait, don’t answer that. It’s probably really fucking bad and I’ll feel like a pussy for comparing.”

  I chuckle at hi
m and shove the bowl of ice cream at him. He lights his joint and sucks on it like it’s the answer to all his problems, blowing the smoke out the window. The smell of it sparks the memory he’s asking for.

  “My mom rolling joints on the back steps to our house. It was too hot to move and I kept crying and pissing her off so she filled a bucket with water and dumped me in it. I think she was trying to be cruel but it was the best feeling ever.”

  Blaise smiles and huffs out a breath. “My father’s office. A modernist nightmare of cold steel and crisp white boxes. I’ve fallen asleep on his weird couch, that doesn’t even have cushions, under his suit jacket. I wake up but I keep my eyes shut because even at five years old I know that when my parents talk in that hushed secret way they’re talking about me. My mom is telling my dad that ‘normal’ children can’t read by age five and to lower his expectations. My father says he’s sure I’m actually retarded. His ethics board would shit themselves if they knew how he speaks to me. He has a whole list of words he likes to use in my direction because he was born with an IQ of 190 and I’m…so fucking average. I remember I cried and he looked so disgusted at me. Said I’d probably turn out to be a faggot too. Imagine every derogatory word in the book and that man has thrown it at me and the worst part…the fucking stupidest thing is I still care. I still hate that I don’t measure up.”

  I finally see the damage. I always knew he was a lonely sort of guy, his lyrics make your chest ache in a way that can only come from heartbreak, but I didn’t understand how he fit in with Harley and the twins until now. His life may not have been in danger but his soul was. I want to add his dad to the planner. I want to hunt that man down and say hi with my knife but the longing in Blaise’s voice is an echo of my own. It’s the echo of a little kid praying that someday their parents will love them enough to stop hurting them.

  My mom didn’t stop hurting me until she stopped breathing. I have a feeling his dad will be the same.

  “Eat your fucking ice cream, Morrison. Do we need to hug? It’s not really my thing but I'll give it a go for you.”

  He bursts out laughing and finally lifts his spoon. I can breathe again because I have a feeling he’s finally taken a step away from the ledge. When he finishes he slings an arm around my shoulder and whispers in my ear, “How about a song, Mounty? Sing me something with that voice of yours that's so good you can beat me in choir.”

  Ain’t that a bucket of ice over my head. I gulp. “Ah, sorry. I have severe stage fright. Avery and I are working on it.”

  He groans and pulls away from me, I try not to crawl after him pathetically but really . When he grabs his guitar and his lyric book I stop breathing altogether.

  “I’ll have to give you a private concert then, Mounty. I’ve been working on some songs, tell me what you think.”

  Be still my fucking heart.

  Chapter Twenty

  Blaise’s sabbatical ends on Monday and I’ve never been so fucking happy to go to classes. I’m still twitchy from being locked up with him for so long. Not that he was a problem, it’s just hard to contain your hormones when a sinfully hot guy is longing over all of your furniture with too much skin on display. He sleeps in boxer shorts and nothing else, I’d wake up, see the tattoos and the abs, and have to flee to take the coldest showers possible.

  My teachers all ask if I’m feeling better and I play along with Avery’s lies like a pro. It helps that I’m the top of every class, except choir, and I’m still managing to keep six weeks ahead in all my assignments.

  After class I have tutoring with Ash and Lance in the library and my good mood fizzles out a little when I see the cheerful smile on the other Mounty’s face. Ash is nowhere to be seen, thank god, because Lance has brought me flowers. No, not just flower, he’s bought me fucking roses. He holds them out to me and I shake my head at him.

  “I’m not taking these. We’re not friends, I don’t want anything more, don’t buy me flowers.”

  Lance’s smile doesn’t falter as he drops the roses on top of his bag on the floor. “I didn’t think you’d like them but I thought I was worth a try. I have a proposal for you! I’m glad your scowling friend isn’t here so we can talk just between us Mounties.”

  My skin crawls. I don’t know what it is about him that creeps me out so much but I find myself looking around for Ash. Of all the days for him to skip tutoring! I send him an irritated text which he ignores. Fuck him.

  “I’ve heard about the little bet you’re at the center of. I thought it was all in good fun but then I heard about how much money is in the pot and, well, I think we should come to an agreement.”

  I lean back in my chair as I grit my teeth. An agreement? Should we sign a contract before he sticks his dick in me? I’ve changed my mind, I want to stab him. He’s not a good guy, he’s a nice guy. The type that expect sex for basic human decency. Well, you little asshole, you picked the wrong fucking tree to bark up.

  “Fuck no. Are we going to study or can I leave?”

  He leans his chest over the table towards me and I have to fight off a full body twitch at the sickening smell of his cologne. Jesus, did he bathe in it?! The smile stays plastered on his face. “Sex between friends. We can have some fun and get a million dollars each out of it.”

  “I’m choosing to take the high road and not break your arm for suggesting we fuck for money.” I snap and I stand up because fuck tutoring him, he can struggle through math by himself.

  I make it three steps away from the desk before he calls out to me, loud enough for the entire library to hear, “I looked you up, you know. I know you’re from the south side of the city, near the docks. What’s one more cock when you’ve already serviced hundreds? I’d risk a quick fuck for a ticket out of here.”

  I hear a snort of laughter and death glare the little rich dick at the next table over. When I’m sure my voice will be level, I turn back to him and say, “You’re going to regret that.”

  He just keeps fucking smiling and I walk, with a calm I don’t feel, back to the girls dorms.

  It takes me three tries to get the key to work and once I’m into our room I let my rage out. I fling my bag on my bed and kick out of my shoes so they go flying while cursing up a storm. I rip my blazer off and when my hands grip the bottom of my shirt, ready to yank it off, buttons be-fucking-damned, I hear a throat clearing and find Avery and all three guys sitting at the kitchen bench. Avery arches an eyebrow at me with a little smile but the guys are all gaping at my temper tantrum. Fuck this. I need a shower.

  “Fuck today, fuck this school, and fuck every fucking knuckle-scraping, chest-beating, egotistical piece of shit guy in this fucking hellhole!” I yell and slam the bathroom door. I tear the rest of my clothes off and get into the shower, screaming a little like the dramatic petal I am today. Fuck, maybe the dramatics are contagious and Blaise fucking infected me? What a dick.

  I’m scrubbing my skin like a psycho when Avery pops into the room. She didn’t knock but I also didn’t lock the door. She crosses her arms and leans against the bathroom cabinet.

  “Tell me what’s happened so I can go set the guys on whichever loser pissed you off.”

  I groan and duck under the stream of water to try and cool my head off. Avery taps a foot and I glare at her with no real heat. “Lance tried to convince me to fuck him for the money. Told me it’s our tickets out of here and he’d make it good for me. When I said no he told me he knew I was from the slums and he wasn’t exactly thrilled at having to fuck a well used gash but he’d push through.”

  Avery cocks her head. “And that’s pissed you off? This badly? Ash has probably said worse to you and Blaise definitely has.”

  I grunt and turn the water off. When she arches an eyebrow at me I huff back at her. “Maybe I’m just PMS-ing.”

  She side eyes me as I dry off. I grit my teeth, “Fine. It bothers me because he’s so…nice. He’s never said a word wrong to me all year and now suddenly he’s trying to cut a deal to fuck me. Ash and Blais
e have always been honest. If they hate me, they say it. If they think I’m fucking half of Mounts Bay, they say it. They don’t buy me red fucking roses like it’ll get them a pass into my fucking panties.”

  Avery cackles and shakes her head. “Roses? Seriously? He’s as clueless as the rest of the boys trying to court you.”

  I pause as I pull my booty shorts on. “Who the fuck is trying to court me?”

  “Exactly.” Avery says, pointing at me. “They’re so clueless you’ve missed their attempts. What would it take for you to even notice a guy?”

  I blush all the way down to my freaking toes. Harley’s voice pops into my head and provides me with his little one liner, I had to get your attention somehow.

  I decline a plate of the curry Avery ordered in and go straight for a tub of ice cream, no bowl just a spoon. Harley watches me carefully as I take a seat next to Avery and wallow in my rage.

  “You gonna share with the class whose fault it is you’re pissy or just attempt a diabetic coma?”

  I shove a spoonful of ice cream in my mouth and flip him off. Ash snorts at me and I glare at him. “Thanks for skipping, by the way. I had to deal with the little creep by myself.” I say around my mouthful.

  Ash smirks at me. “I didn’t realize you needed backup, I thought your knife was enough.”

  I seethe. I seethe and eat ice cream, licking my spoon like it has the answers to this shit.

  “Stop tongue fucking the spoon, some of us are going through a dry spell.” Harley grumbles and I flick a cherry at him, ignoring his little jab.

  Avery tucks her arm into mine and says, sweetly, “Lance offered his services to end the bet. When Lips declined his offer he took it upon himself to try and persuade her. Alas, the great and complex mind of Eclipse unknown-middle-name Anderson remains an unsolvable puzzle to mere mortal men.”

  Blaise takes a swig of the beer, the first he’s been allowed, and moans, obscenely. “What a dick. Maybe you should just fuck someone and get it over with. Might lighten your mood.”