Diamond - A British Academy Rich Boy Bully Romance (Atherton School Crest Club Book 1)

by Belle Roberts

  “I’m Sebastian, by the way,” he said filling the gap quickly as he sensed me close up. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced before.”

  No because you think I’m beneath you.

  “I’m Ally,” I croaked instead, and I followed Sebastian out into the corridor and through the main door into the sunshine. I squinted against it as we walked across the courtyard and up the stone steps to the main school.

  A few girls walked past and one of them smiled at him as he stopped and turned to me.

  “Sure you don’t want the school nurse?” He asked, concern smashing the bad boy persona I’d labelled him as having.

  “Um… I’m fine. Thank you again…Please…”

  A chorus of laughter erupted beside us and his expression changed when we noticed a group of Cresties coming toward us.

  “Filling in for Harry now?” one of them joked.

  “Didn’t have you down as the type who gave to charity,” another one howled and I felt him mentally retreat away from me.

  Our eyes met and I saw a hundred things he wanted to say to me behind his stunning stare. He was the complete opposite of Harry. Dark where he was light and brooding where Harry was full of smiles, but despite all of that, the overwhelming urge of feeling drawn to him was too strong to ignore and I wished the others would bugger off so I could thank him properly, but they weren’t budging.

  “Come on Seb,” someone said. “We’ve got two minutes before Polo starts.”

  He kept his eyes on me for a little longer than needed.

  “I’ll never be able to thank you enough,” I whispered so the others couldn’t hear. “Can we just…”

  “It’s fine. I’ll see you around.” He cut me off and wandered down the hall with the others leaving a trail of his cologne as he went.

  I stood and watched him leave, speechless at how he could turn so quickly. The Sebastian that had come to my rescue had been gentle, caring and considerate, but the one that walked away had gone back to his bad boy persona and I felt a sinking disappointment in my stomach once he disappeared from sight.

  There was something about him that had stirred excitement in me from the minute I’d first laid eyes on him whilst I was sat on the steps with Tre. Something in the way he walked and moved that just made me want to get to know him and back there in the Crest quarters, I’d really thought I’d be able to make that start. I thought I’d finally be able to find out what made him so special, but instead of intrigue me further, he only reminded me of why the guys in this school weren’t worth my time and the sooner I got back to the London, the better it would be for everyone.

  Chapter 14

  That afternoon once classes had finished, I managed to get back home and up to my room before my dad got back.

  Beth had been sitting in the lounge balancing a bowl of something on her bump and she barely had a second to look at me before I disappeared. I wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. I knew for my dad’s sake and for providing a better living environment for all of us, that I had to, but I was still hurting from her comments.

  I put my earphones on and curled up on the bed, facing out towards the window, watching the few scattered clouds as they slowly made their way past me.

  I’d opted for upbeat music, anything to stop myself from wallowing in my own self pity and to prevent myself from thinking about James.

  When I closed my eyes, I saw his face inches from mine and I felt his breath against my cheek. It made my skin crawl to think that he’d touched me.

  I forced myself up and spent the next ten minutes under Beth’s fancy rain fall shower head. Letting the water cascade over me while I cried and then, after I was finished and changed into my pyjamas, I crept back into bed and buried myself under the covers, hoping that Tre would forget I’d ever agreed to go to the beach with most of our class.

  The only thing I wanted to do was erase this sorry day from my memory and tomorrow I was going to start over.

  I must have fallen asleep as when I woke up, there was a plate of pasta on my table and my curtains were closed and the soft light of the early sunset peeked through the edges.

  I looked at the alarm clock. It was 5.07pm. Either my dad had been in or Beth had taken pity on me. Either way I was glad I didn’t have to get into too much conversation with them.

  I put my music back on and ate my dinner alone, anything to drown out the growl I kept overhearing in James throat. The growl of arousal and it was only when my dad stepped in front of me that I realised he’d entered the room.

  I pulled out my earphones, biting my lip to stop myself from revealing everything that had happened.

  “Ah!” He exclaimed, pointing to my phone. “I was knocking for a while. I didn’t realise you were listening to music.”

  “Sorry,” I could barely make eye contact with him. Keeping this secret, I felt, was a massive betrayal. Even though we hadn’t properly known each other for long, hearing what had happened at school would have broken him, but I had to remind myself that he risked losing everything.

  James’ family were high on the board. The money they donated was keeping Mr Creswell eating out of the palm of their hands.

  He’d sooner force my dad out than bite the hand that fed him, so this was how it had to be and the sooner I put the mess with James behind me, she easier I could project the illusion that I was okay. Fine and dandy.

  My dad sat down on the bed and looked at me, his eyebrow raised.

  “Everything okay? Feeling well?” he asked and pressed a hand against my forehead.

  “I’m fine,” I lied. “Honestly. Just a little tired that’s all…”

  He shifted his position.

  About last night, Ally…”

  “I’m sorry!” I interrupted, cutting to the part where I wanted him to know that I wasn’t a handful kid. “I had a momentary warped sense of judgement,” I continued. “I knew I shouldn’t have gone without permission or at least letting someone know where I was…”

  He sighed and nodded.

  “You frightened the hell out of me,” he responded. “I was about to bring the police in, but Beth said to just wait for you to come back…”

  Good old Beth, I thought to myself with frustration, because she knew that her words had been the last thing I heard.

  I decided against filling him in on the reason I’d made the split-second decision to skip my classes for the day and instead I wrapped my arms around him in the best way I knew how to apologise.

  It took him a moment of stunned silence before he slowly reciprocated and held me into him.

  “Whatever you’re going through, Ally, you can talk to me about it.” He pulled away and held the top of my arms so I faced him. “This place is supposed to be home while everything back in London falls to chaos. Beth and I, we’ll do everything in our power to make you feel as though you belong here, but in order to do that, you have to open up to us. To me.”

  I saw the sadness in his eyes, and it hit me like a ton of bricks to think that perhaps he thought he’d failed in any way.

  “Thank you,” I croaked.

  “Don’t mention it, hey?” He gave me the same lopsided smile as he had in the photo of him that I had. “I might not have been in your life for the past several years, but I’m going to make up for that now, I promise….”

  I reached up and squeezed his hand making him jump up suddenly.

  “Ah! Ally, I forgot. You have a visitor downstairs. I was supposed to come up and tell you…”

  Tre. It had to be. I got up and walked to the window. There was a black VW Beetle parked outside the door.

  In all my sorrows, I’d forgotten that she was supposed to be picking me up at 5.30pm.

  I looked back at my dad who was now loitering by the door.

  “Are you coming down?” he asked.

  I had a split-second panic. There was a part of me that wanted to remain defiant and turn up, but the shrinking violet deeper down wanted to hibernate and hope that tomorrow wo
uld be a better day.

  My anxious side won.

  “Can you tell her I’m in the bath please? Or that I’m asleep? Or, or tell her I’m not well…?”

  He looked at me as though I were mad.

  “Ally…”

  “Please dad? I don’t know if I feel up to it and look at my hair, it’s wet from the shower and I…”

  “Fine, say no more,” he laughed and closed the door behind him. I heard his footsteps going down the stairs and I flopped back on the bed with a sigh of relief.

  I’d apologise to her tomorrow and maybe even explain to her about what had happened.

  I heard the knock at my door just as I was about to put my music back on, but I ignored it, hoping that my dad would get the hint and go back downstairs but he didn’t.

  “Come in!”

  Tre poked her curly head around the edge of the door and her eyes scanned the room until they rested on me.

  “Ally Hughes!” she demanded coming further in. “How dare you send your dad down to get rid of me. I wasn’t born yesterday, you know. Up you get, we’ve got a gathering to go to.”

  I groaned, unable to keep the smile from my face and she laughed.

  “I haven’t got anything to wear and my hair looks like I was just born.

  “Nonsense!” she exclaimed though the look on her face told me otherwise. “Okay, we can work on that. First, where are your clothes?”

  “Petrece…”

  “Only my mother calls me Petrece,” she said marching over to my wardrobe and her face fell when she opened it. “You weren’t wrong,” she whispered when she saw my lack of anything decent.

  “I had to leave very quickly,” I lied, but the truth was that there hadn’t ever really been any budget for clothes. We’d always been stretched out with making ends meet by paying bills and buying food. Clothes had been an added luxury that we just couldn’t afford.

  “Okay what about this?” she asked standing back with a navy-blue knee length summer dress with a spattering of flowers.

  My mother had come home with it once and she’d been made up that it was designer and only 99p from the charity shop.

  I’d worn it to death two summers ago, but now all I saw when I looked at it was ‘young’ and ‘frumpy’. Especially compared to Tre’s neat little black dress and long shimmery cardigan. Just looking at It I knew it was expensive. Probably more than we’d ever owned in a week and she looked gorgeous in it.

  “Or this?” she held up a white oversized floaty shirt. “It would go perfect with some light blue jeans? Tuck in the front perhaps, with a sandal foot?”

  I opted for the dress instead and Tre teamed it with some flip flops, a smattering of her lipstick, and I was ready.

  I looked at myself in the wardrobe mirror. Despite my slightly wild hair, plump-ish figure and immature dress, I’d scrubbed up well and I could almost have passed for one of them.

  “Beautiful.” Tre said coming up behind me. “The red lip really makes your eyes pop. You don’t even need any more make up than that!”

  I turned to the side to get another angle.

  “I think you’re a miracle worker…” I breathed and she laughed.

  “Thank you! But really I just watch too many makeover shows coupled with a slight fashion obsession.”

  Someone outside below honked the horn and she rolled her eyes.

  “Come on, lets go before everyone ends up coming home before we’ve even turned up.”

  I followed her out of my room and down the stairs where both Beth and my dad stood and looked at me as I approached them.

  “Wow,” he said putting down his mug of tea. “I mean, you look lovely. Where are you going again?”

  “The beach,” Tre answered for me. “And we’ll be back before ten. Thanks Mr.H. See you later!”

  I mouthed sorry to my dad as she pulled me out the door and over to her waiting Beetle. Crammed into the back were a couple of her friends and we greeted each other and exchanged pleasantries before I sat in the front and we drove off.

  When we arrived at the beach, the sun was just starting to get as low as it could without disappearing and the sky was a hazy orange and yellow.

  There were several cars already parked up and I noticed that it was a different parking space to the one Harry had taken me to.

  Just saying his name made my heart thump and as we all got out, I saw his big black Range Rover over at the other side, so I knew he was there already.

  We made our way over the dunes to where we heard voices and as the beach came into view, I saw the cluster of our classmates. Some were sitting admiring the view and others we stood together talking.

  I saw Pen immediately amongst a group of her friends laughing. She had a simple pink top on tucked into light blue jeans with her pumps in her hand. From afar, she looked like a lovely girl, one that I’d been excited to get to know on my first day and it gave me a jolt of sadness to think how far wrong things had gone. How had we gone from planning to have lunch together to being sworn enemies. When was it going to end?

  Almost as though she heard me, she glanced up and the smile on her face fell as we approached the group.

  “Who the fuck invited her?” I heard her snarl even from our distance and it caused a number of other people to look up in my direction.

  I felt my stomach drop and suddenly all I wanted was to turn around and go back to my room. Perhaps I was right all along. Maybe it was too soon to go out after everything that had happened.

  Tre must have sensed my hesitation, and also heard Pen’s comment, as she linked her arm through mine.

  “You have just as much right to be here today as they do. Come on.” She gave me a reassuring squeeze and lead me down the other side of the Sand dunes. The rest of Tre’s friends disappeared as soon as we reached everyone and instantly my eyes homed in on Harry.

  He looked just as he always did. Handsome and well chiselled and he smiled slowly when he caught me looking. I wanted to make amends. I wanted to…

  “You shouldn’t have come!” Pen’s voice beside me interrupted our little moment. “It was via invite only!”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but Tre jumped in there first.

  “She was invited!” she snapped. “By me. Now just go and enjoy the night with your friends. Leave her be.”

  Pen laughed nastily.

  “Leave her be?” she echoed. “Seriously? Tre, our fathers might have done business together in the past, but I don’t take too lightly of my friends cavorting with the enemy…”

  “I’m…” I started, but Rupert, the head boy who was standing beside her cut in.

  “Pen. Just drop it.” He looked at me, the deepness in his crystal eyes shimmering slightly against the light and for the first time I looked at him properly. Not just because he’d stood up for me, but because out of his uniform, his casual jumper and jeans managed to reveal the real Rupert hidden underneath.

  She huffed, ready to launch another attack, but he took her arm and her pulled her away just as Harry came up to my side.

  “Can we talk?” he asked. Partly at me and partly at Tre who still had hold of my arm. We both nodded and laughed, and I allowed him to lead me away from the group, grateful to have some distance between Pen and me.

  He waited until we were away from the group before he stopped and turned to me.

  “I don’t think you need a degree to know that I like you, Hughes,” he said quietly.

  The slightly cool breeze blew across my face and I closed my eyes for a second, taking in the sounds of nature around me. The sound of the waves crashing against the sand and the soft hum of people’s voices that we’d just left.

  I nodded and looked down at the ground, not wanting to look into his eyes in case he saw through mine and saw the truth, that I was still confused and conflicted about what had happened with James.

  “You can’t pretend that nothing happened between us yesterday.” His voice came out as a low growl and he moved closer towar
d me. “It’s driving me insane not knowing what went wrong…”

  Geri’s face popped into my mind again. Her vacant, brain washed stare and sorrowful eyes that hid so much. I thought of her name on his phone, calling him and then I thought of her with James and Elliot in the Crest offices. Harry had known about it because he’d said she wanted to be there, but after earlier, I wasn’t so sure.

  I pulled him to sit down with me, knowing that I owed him an explanation. We couldn’t avoid each other forever. It wasn’t fair on him just as much as I would have hated for a guy to have sex with me and then disappear.

  “It’s not…you…” I said slowly, regretting the words as soon as I said them. He raised an eyebrow at me and laughed.

  I nudged him in response, and he wrapped his arm around me.

  “Harry!” I tried to sound firm, but the smile on my face gave away how much I wanted to feel his touch.

  He planted a kiss on my temple and looked across at me.

  “You know, I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I don’t care if to them you don’t belong here, or you’re not rich enough or what your family story is… I’m enjoying getting to know you. It has nothing to do with Pen or the Crest Club.”

  I sighed and pushed my sandaled feet further into the sand.

  “What about Geri?” I asked steadily.

  I could have sworn I almost felt his body tense at the sound of her name.

  “What about her?”

  I shifted uncomfortably. The last thing I wanted was to make a mountain out of a molehill and make him think I was possessive when we’d barely spent two days together.

  “I saw her calling you when we were in your room…and then again outside and…”

  “Hughes…”

  “…No, wait. I saw you, Rupert and Seb leading her back into the boarding house and after that time I saw her with James and Elliot, I just…”

  He swallowed and his arm tightened around me as though he thought I would up and run away.

  “And you just thought that we were taking her upstairs to gang bang her in our rooms?”

  The way he said it sounded ridiculous but with everything happening at the school, it was perfectly reasonable.