She hadn’t revealed any of this to anyone—not even her so-called friend, Peyton; she didn’t really consider Sailor much of a friend either. Bottom line—she didn’t trust them with her deepest, darkest, secrets; however, she wanted to keep them close enough without them being too close to her.
The sound of the bell ringing snapped her out of her trip down memory lane.
She was quick to wipe away any remaining tears and then raced down the opposite end of the hall to avoid Peyton and Sailor. She had to find Dill McPhee and fast. He was the school nerd who wrote high school and college level papers and charged a reasonable price.
She tapped him on the shoulder just as he was about to enter his advanced anatomy & physiology class. The shocked expression on his face let her know that he was surprised to see her.
“Hi, Dill,” she spoke.
His jaw tightened. “Hello, Gigi.”
She sighed deeply as she looked into his brown eyes that weren’t framed with glasses today. His shaggy chin length black hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
“I know that we’re not friends but I need to ask a favor.”
Dill crossed his arms. “Why would I do anything for you?”
She stepped closer to him, not wanting anyone to overhear what she was about to say. “I pay well.”
He appeared uncomfortable just talking to her but she couldn’t blame him. She was known as “Peyton’s best friend” which didn’t win her points with many people here. Since a lot of students disliked Peyton, they automatically disliked her also.
“What do you want?” he questioned. She quickly told him what she needed. He was her alibi. He was writing a paper for her and he had given her his cell phone number to give to Peyton so that she’d believe Dill actually wrote Gigi’s paper.
She was about to pull out the cash but he told her she didn’t owe him anything. Then, he watched her walk until she disappeared in the crowd.
Chapter 6
Lunch time was one of the best times for Leighton. It meant the school day was halfway over with. Her heart pounded while her eyes roamed the hallway for any visible sign of Peyton. This was such a sad situation. She was on high alert whenever she was walking to her locker, a classroom, or anywhere on school premises. Leighton opened her locker and removed the heavy textbooks from her backpack and set them inside. She shut her locker and surveyed the hall before resuming her walk to the cafeteria.
She was surprised that she hadn’t run into Vanessa. She already knew that Aidan was already inside the cafeteria saving a table for them.
Following a safe distance behind Leighton was Vanessa. She didn’t want Leighton to spot her; but if she did, she would greet her. Her hand was inside her purse, gripping her cell phone. As soon as she saw Peyton walk towards Leighton, she zoomed in with her phone and began recording while still maintained a safe distance away from her.
Leighton’s sights were set on the door that led to the cafeteria so she didn’t see Peyton until it was too late. Peyton slid a foot out in front of her, causing her to stumble. Leighton grabbed the door handle for support and looked over her shoulder at a grinning Peyton Evers and a laughing Sailor Spencer.
“Next time I’ll make you crack your head open,” Peyton said proudly.
Evil bitches, Vanessa thought while she was filming. She felt someone watching her and locked gazes across the hall with Gigi while other students focused their attention on Leighton, Peyton, and Sailor. Some of the students wanted to help but were too frightened to say anything. Everyone knew who was in charge. Until Principal Evers was fired or resigned Sentinel High would never see change.
Leighton felt a sharp pain go through her side and clutched it with her hand releasing the door handle. To avoid being seen, Vanessa slipped the phone in her purse and headed for the girls’ restroom and hid in a stall. Shortly afterwards she heard two girls enter the restroom. She easily made out Leighton’s voice, but she wasn’t sure who the other voice belonged to.
Leighton sniffled.
“Are you okay?” the girl asked her.
She sniffled again. “Yeah.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Is this what you go through when you’re at school?”
“I don’t want to talk about this,” Leighton said, her voice cracking.
Tears pooled in Vanessa’s eyes; her heart was breaking for her best friend.
Leighton cleared her throat. “Don’t give me that look. By the way, what are you doing here?”
The girl sighed. “Transferring from The Academy.”
“I’m sorry,” Leighton apologized. She assumed that her mother could no longer pay for the tuition since her father passed away.
“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. Besides, I’m more interested in who that girl was who was bothering you.”
“Ariana, please, I don’t want to talk about this now.” She loosened her grip on her side. Now Vanessa knew who she was talking to. It was her cousin, Ariana.
“Alright,” Ariana said, not wanting to push her any more than she already had.
“Where’s Sage?”
“Still touring the campus with Principal Evers.”
Leighton frowned at the sound of that name.
“You hungry?”
“No,” Leighton responded. The small appetite she had earlier had disappeared after Peyton’s antics. “But I need to get to the cafeteria. Aidan and Vanessa are waiting for me.”
“I’ll walk you there,” Ariana offered.
“No, you don’t have to do that.”
“I know but I want to.”
Vanessa heard them leave. Her phone vibrated. She read the message: DONE. And slipped her phone back into her pocket, a smirk covering her face.
Leighton could feel people watching her as soon as she walked in the cafeteria. She could even see Peyton watching her out the corner of her eye but she didn’t bother to look her way. She wasn’t going to give Peyton anymore of her time. She seated herself at a table with Aidan sitting across from her; she was surprised Vanessa wasn’t here already.
As if on cue, Ariana entered the cafeteria and remained standing by the door as she waited for Peyton to spot her. They locked gazes with each other; Ariana refused to look away. Peyton didn’t know her yet but she wanted to give her something to squirm about. Peyton rolled her eyes and looked away from her and at the long-haired blonde who strut by her table. She didn’t know either of these two girls, but she was determined to find out who they were. The blonde and brunette made eye contact without speaking before the blonde gave Peyton a parting grin.
“Who the hell are they?” Peyton asked looking from Sailor to Gigi for an answer.
Sailor shrugged.
“I don’t know,” Gigi replied. “I’ve never saw them before.”
“The bitches…They’re probably new students,” Peyton said, her eyes still glued to the spot the blonde and brunette had been standing in earlier.
Gigi took this time to retrieve Dill’s number from her purse. She was expecting Peyton to ask her about it. Plus, she was trying her best to stay one step ahead of her.
“Here you go,” Gigi said, while handing over the small piece of paper over to Peyton. “That’s Dill’s number.”
“That’s who writes your papers?” Sailor questioned, her tone cold and untrusting.
“Yeah,” Gigi replied, waiting for her to say something negative.
Sailor’s jaw tightened and she crossed her arms. “I’ve heard that he plagiarizes.”
Peyton looked from Gigi to Sailor and set the paper on the table in front of her.
Gigi smiled to herself. She knew that Sailor wouldn’t miss an opportunity to down play her in front of Peyton. If there was anything she’d ever learned in her life it was to not let people push her around. Sailor was pushing her, and she was going to push back twice as hard.
“Since I have been attending this school, I haven’t ever heard anyone express any concern about th
e services he provides. I’ve earned A’s on all my papers. So if he is giving out plagiarized papers, it’s probably because someone didn’t pay up. Nothing in this world is free.”
Sailor glared at her. Who does she think she is?
Peyton picked the paper up with Dill’s number on it and put it in her pocket. Gigi could tell that Peyton was pleased with her answer. And she didn’t care how much it upset Sailor to know that.
Aidan reached across the table and rested his hand on top of Leighton’s. “I heard about what happened with Peyton.”
Leighton looked away from his beautiful gray eyes. This was the last thing she wanted to talk about.
“You’re such a beautiful person, Leighton. You don’t deserve to be treated this way.”
She took a deep breath and met his eyes again. “The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that I’ll be graduating soon and then I don’t have to be around her anymore.”
Leighton felt a gush of wind rush by her and was relieved to see Vanessa taking a seat beside her. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried about you,” Leighton said.
“I’ve been around,” Vanessa replied not wanting to give too much away.
“Around?” Aidan gave her a puzzled look and removed his hand from Leighton’s. She was almost disappointed since she found it comforting.
She turned to face Leighton. “Do you remember when Principal Evers called me out of class this morning?”
Leighton nodded.
“Well, she hates me and she’s going to give me hell until I graduate.” She lightly chuckled. “Everyone is always wrong except for her and Peyton.”
“What did Principal Evers say to you exactly?” Aidan asked.
“She wanted to talk to me about the argument I got into with Peyton this morning. And do you want to know the funniest part?” She didn’t give her friends a chance to respond. “She said that I upset Peyton. No one around here upsets Peyton; she upsets everyone else. But no that doesn’t matter either.”
Aidan and Leighton weren’t surprised by the news.
“I can’t wait until graduation. I want to get away from the city—all of this,” Aidan confessed.
“You’re not the only one,” Vanessa added. We all have something we’d like to get away from. For me that’s Peyton Evers. We’d all be better off without her around, but it’s not easy to make a devil disappear.
Chapter 7
Leighton always tries to start on any homework she has as soon as she gets home. She can eat dinner early without her mother questioning her since she was usually still working at the hair salon late. Zayley would be in her room living in her own world which didn’t involve Peyton Evers. She envied her younger sister for that. She yearned to be invisible to Peyton. If she were invisible, Peyton wouldn’t know that she existed.
She quietly laughed to herself while tears fell down her face. It was easy for everyone else to be invisible but she couldn’t seem to blend in with them.
What is it that I’m doing wrong?
Her back was facing her bedroom door so she didn’t notice Zayley come in. Her quiet footsteps startled Leighton, causing her to cover her heart with her hand. “You scared me,” she said through a choked sob. Remembering her face was covered in tears, she hurriedly wiped her tears away with her hands. But it was too late. Zayley had already seen everything she needed to see. She sat down beside her older sister, feeling worse by the second.
“I’m sorry that I was moody earlier,” Zayley apologized, looking down at her hands as she spoke.
“It’s okay.”
Zayley looked up and reached over to hug her sister, leaning her head against her wet cheek. She hated to see her cry. And she was angry because she knew who was responsible for the tears—even if Leighton didn’t admit the name of the person.
Leighton slowly pulled away from Zayley. She was supposed to be the one taking care of her little sister not the other way around. “I’m okay,” she lied, hoping Zayley would leave so she could finish her crying session.
But she didn’t move.
“I know about what happened at school today,” she admitted, her eyes focused on her older sister.
Leighton immediately looked away from her. She was sad and ashamed. “Please, don’t tell Mom.”
Zayley didn’t offer a response. She was battling to keep her own emotions in check. “Is this the first time Peyton has ever bothered you?”
A river of tears began to stream down Leighton’s face in groups. Zayley was blurred from her sight. She rested her head against her pillows and pulled the comforter over her head. She never wanted her sister to find out about any of this. She never wanted to be a part of this hell Peyton had created for her on earth.
Leighton’s lack of a response told Zayley all she needed to know. Leighton had a target on her back. Zayley wasn’t sure how she could’ve missed it. She knew something was up but she never would’ve guessed that it was this.
She slowly rose to her feet and turned around to exit her sister’s room. Leighton’s cries were now a soft whimper. She grabbed the door knob and slightly tilted her head to the side so she could see Leighton. “I love you so much. You’re the only sister I have and…”
Leighton could hardly hear her. Zayley said the last part low so that she couldn’t hear it: “I will get her back for what she’s done to you. I promise you that and I always keep my promises.”
The doorbell rang, startling her. She glanced at Leighton over her shoulder in bed; she was sound asleep. She quietly closed her bedroom door. Then, she walked downstairs to answer the front door.
“Hi,” her cousin, Sage, greeted her.
Zayley tried to mask the pained look of sadness on her face. “Hi,” she said in a low voice that she intended to come out high and cheerful.
Ariana instantly picked up on her vibe. “What’s wrong?”
“Peyton Evers. You know, I wish that my mom could’ve sent us to The Academy so Leighton wouldn’t have to deal with Peyton, but I know that wouldn’t fix anything.”
“There’s a Peyton Evers in every school who walks the halls. It’s not about running away from them,” Sage answered.
“It’s about how you deal with them,” Ariana added.
And they had already made plans for Peyton Evers.
Chapter 8
It was dark outside by the time Leighton opened her eyes. She sighed deeply as she brought herself to a sitting position in bed.
She couldn’t believe that she let Zayley see her in such a broken and fragile state earlier. She’d tried to hide it from her. She never wanted her little sister to find out this way. She just prayed that Zayley wouldn’t share this information with their mother. Who wants their mother to know that they’re being bullied? She rolled her eyes. What’s to keep her cousins, Sage and Ariana, from telling her mother? But she wanted to keep her mother in the dark as long as she could—at least until graduation. She didn’t want her mother to go to the school and speak with Principal Evers since she knew it would only make things worse.
Her eyes stumbled upon several large and small envelopes and brochures on her nightstand. Sometimes she found it hard to think about her future when she felt so miserable in her present life.
She forced herself to get up and walk to the bathroom down the hall that she shared with Zayley. She could hear people talking downstairs and she didn’t want anyone to see her until she washed her face and combed her hair. She was pleased when she saw the bathroom door open and the light still on inside. For once it wasn’t occupied by Zayley.
Leighton closed the door behind her. Then she turned the faucet on and splashed warm water on her face. She grabbed a clean towel from the towel rack to dry her face before combing her hair. She eyed her blonde hair which was full of red highlights. Now she wanted to dye her hair back to blonde, her natural hair color. She opened the medicine cabinet and to her dismay there wasn’t any hair dye in sight. She sighed deeply.
&n
bsp; Just my luck.
She opened the bathroom door with her hand and stood standing by the door. She squeezed her eyes shut, contemplating something she knew she shouldn’t. She opened her eyes and walked towards the medicine cabinet. Her hand was reaching for it…
“Leighton,” a voice called out behind her, startling her. She dropped her hand to her side and turned around to face her cousin.
“Hi, Ariana.” She cleared her throat. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“I know. You were sleeping when Sage and I arrived.”
Leighton was grateful they hadn’t arrived earlier; she wouldn’t have wanted them to see her crying her eyes out because of Peyton.
“Sage is here, too?”
Ariana nodded. “She’s downstairs.”
Leighton gave her a small smile before hugging her, taking Ariana by surprise. “I’m glad you guys are here.” She released Ariana from the embrace. “You and Sage are like sisters to us.”
“That’s because we are sisters,” Ariana added, giving Leighton a smile of her own. Even though they were cousins, they grew up together and were always close.
“I’m going to grab a bite to eat. Are you coming?”
“Just give me a few minutes to freshen up and I’ll join you.”
Leighton’s smile remained glued to her face as she walked out the bathroom and down the stairs.
Ariana closed and locked the bathroom door. She turned her attention to the medicine cabinet and eyed the contents inside
Chapter 9
The loud yelling was enough to give anyone a headache.
Peyton wasn’t greeted by either of her parents when she arrived home. She wasn’t even questioned about why she was coming home after dark. She headed to her room with Sailor and Gigi following closely behind her. Peyton closed her bedroom door to put up a barrier between her and her parents loud arguing match.
Sailor grabbed the remote control and turned the television on.
“What’s your parents’ deal?” Sailor asked with the remote still in her hand.
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