by Rina Kent
“Which ones?”
“That you slept with him. Or that you’re sleeping with him.”
I cringed as he said the word ‘sleeping’. Did it really look like that? The guy was tormenting me day in and day out. How was that even a question?
Still, there was only one answer I could think of that would get Sebastian to back off.
“Yeah.”
His lips parted and hurt flashed in his expression. That wasn’t the answer he was expecting… or the one he was hoping for.
He righted himself and gave an incredulous shake of his head. “Okay, well, have fun then.”
Sebastian started toward the sidewalk. He only lived a few blocks away, so he walked to school.
Every part of me wanted to call after him. To correct my lie and tell him the truth. The rumors were bullshit, and Camden Knight was a sociopath I’d pissed off by not lying down and taking his depraved form of ‘punishment’. I hadn’t even done anything to deserve it, but in his mind, I’d crossed him nonetheless.
Rage bubbled underneath the surface as I watched my only true friend walk away from me, hurt. All because of him.
I narrowed my eyes at Camden’s distant form, leaning on the hood of his car and smirking as he observed Sebastian and my squabble. I charged toward the parking lot, pepper spray in hand.
“Whoa, look at you, all hot and bothered,” Camden said as I approached.
I darted for my driver’s side door, and fumbled with the key as Camden came around to my side. With a yank, my door came flying open and I turned to Camden, pepper spray held out and ready. “Stay the hell away from me!”
His eyes widened and he lifted both hands in surrender. “Damn, Eden, calm down.”
Calm down.
Calm down.
Calm down?!
I exploded. The composure I’d managed to keep broke with the last prick to my shields. It shattered like glass and fell to the gravel surrounding me. I threw my keys—pepper spray with them—into my car and slammed the door before directing my rage at Camden.
“Oh, Eden is my name now? Because you and your pack of wolves haven’t called me anything but Easy Eden for over a week! Do you think that makes you cool, Camden? That it makes you tough or funny or whatever the hell it is your trying to hide behind your very pathetic existence?”
“You know you’re the only one that calls me that.”
My mouth hung open to say more, but my tirade came to a screeching halt. He was supposed to be mad. To fight back and say all the stupid, mean things they’d already said to me, or about me. Instead, he was calm, collected. His hands had lowered as soon as I’d tossed the pepper spray and they now rested lazily in the pockets of his letter jacket. His hip leaned against my car.
“What?”
“Camden. No one calls me that. It’s just Cam.”
I stared at him in amazement. “Did you miss everything else I just said? Are you freaking dense?”
“No, I got it all. I just think you’re overreacting.”
“Overreacting?”
In one quick stride, he was right in front of me. His thumb covered my lips, cutting off my intended rant, while the rest of his hand cupped my jaw. He was pressed against me. His body heat filtered through our clothes and warmed my chest. His scent invaded my nostrils, and as much as I hated to admit it, it wasn’t awful. My skin heated more, but I could no longer blame it on the body heat.
It was him.
I’d felt his ice and the chill of my veins, but I didn’t realize he could heat them too.
“I don’t think you’re easy,” he whispered, his breath kissing my nose.
I expected him to smirk, somehow sensing the lack of revulsion my body was having toward him being so close, but he didn’t. He was serious. The golden rings around his eyes caught my attention, and I couldn’t help but see sincerity in them. Sincerity? Really?
“In fact, I think you’re incredibly strong-willed. Maybe a bit defiant… but not easy.”
I shrugged away his hand and retreated a step back from him. “You’re the one that gave me the nickname.”
“And I’m also the one that can take it away.” He was still serious. I scanned his face, searching for some indication he was messing with me, but found none.
A bit of hope flared. He was right. He could stop all this. All he’d have to do was snap his fingers and the torment would be over. It was tempting to ask him to. The question perched on the tip of my tongue, but I resisted. There’d be strings attached.
“Yes, you could,” I said with a curt nod. “And you didn’t have to start all this in the first place, but we both know the kind of person you are, so I think I’ll call it a day.”
I opened my car door, but Camden reached out and shut it. “You started this, Eden. When you poke a dog, be prepared to get bit.”
“I gave you back your stupid jersey, Camden.”
“I’m not talking about that.”
“Then I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Hunter. You accused him of rape, remember?”
I laughed dryly and shook my head.
“What?” He asked, his eyes narrowing.
“Are you really going to pretend you care about Hunter? That you care about anyone? I saw your face when you were extracting your ‘revenge’ and you were the only one not angry. You enjoyed it.” I paused long enough to huff. “And if you cared about Hunter, you wouldn’t be screwing his mom.”
Camden’s glare pushed against my resolve, but my heels were planted firmly in the ground. He wasn’t so amused anymore, nor was he trying to get me to beg for his help. Now, he was pissed.
“You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you Thompson?” His tone was sarcastic, like I was missing something huge that flew over my head. I doubted it.
“Not everything… just you.”
That wasn’t entirely true. I still didn’t have a freaking clue who Camden Knight was or what his motives truly were. I knew he was a jock, and he was an asshole right along with the rest of them, but he didn’t quite fit in. I didn’t know what was different about him, but whatever it was, I could see it hidden beneath the surface of those irises.
He let out a dry chuckle and ran a hand through his hair before slowly strutting his way around my car and back to his Jeep. He opened his driver side door and glanced my way. “See you around, Eden.”
And then he was gone. His Jeep pulled out of the parking lot, and instead of getting in my car right away, I stared until it disappeared around a corner. I was pretty sure I’d struck a nerve, and I should’ve felt victorious. Instead I felt…
Disappointed?
Chapter Four
Eden
The next day, instead of walking past with my chin up and my eyes directed straight in front of me, I chanced a peek at Camden as I made my way into the school. Whatever had affected him the previous day was gone, and on his face was that same smirk I’d come to recognize.
His minions cheered and whistled as they spotted me, and I caught Jade’s gaze next. She was sitting next to Leilani on the bench, both of them mean mugging me.
I forced my gaze in front of me and pushed through the door, headed straight for my locker.
Sebastian wasn’t there like he normally was, but I tried not to think too much of it. He must’ve been catching up on history homework that was due first period. We’d catch up later.
But maybe not. Maybe he hated me for falsely confirming the bullshit rumor I was only mildly aware of. There were so many, and sleeping with Camden was definitely not the biggest one people were talking about. The biggest one was my supposed goal of screwing the entire football team, which was laughable, considering they were the ones tormenting me. Except it originated from Camden, and words from Camden Knight’s mouth were absolute.
Sebastian didn’t think that one was true, did he?
A numbing sensation came over my arms and my chest constricted. What if he did? What if he thought all of it was true? I h
ad to set him straight. He was my only real friend at this point, and the thought of him believing all the rumors along with the rest of the school… it was too much to take.
I promised myself I wouldn’t let them break me, but it was a quarter after eight in the morning and already I wanted to go back to sleep. I was so tired. Bags hung underneath my eyes with the constant stress keeping me up at night. Wondering what was being posted to social media, what awaited me the next day, what was circulating the text chain now.
I grabbed my history textbook and slammed the locker, spinning to head to class and hoping to set things right with Sebastian. A brick wall encased in tan skin and that stupid freaking smirk blocked my path.
Camden was leaning against the lockers a couple spots down from mine. “Are you always in your own world like that? You didn’t even notice me walk up.”
“Just leave me alone, Camden. I’m not in the mood today.”
I tried to step around him, but he shifted again to block me. “You okay?”
I hugged the history book to my chest and peered at the gold ring around his irises. Was he serious? Did he actually care, or did he just want to make sure they’d gotten to me?
I pushed down the emotion I’d allowed to bubble to the surface in one regrettable moment, and was thankful he’d showed up. I might’ve gone the whole day feeling sorry for myself if he hadn’t reminded me that I shouldn’t let my guard down.
Shifting the history book to the crook of my left arm, I dropped my right and allowed it to hang loosely at my side. “Sure thing, Camden. I’m good.”
I stared him directly in the eyes as I spoke, and this time, when I went to step around him, he didn’t stop me. My strides were long and my breathing easy as I sauntered my way to first period. I could feel him staring at my back, and that heat I’d experienced yesterday travelled over my skin again.
Sebastian wasn’t in history class. My eyes kept darting to the door every time someone’s blurred form passed in the window, but he never showed. I texted him after class asking if he was sick, but didn’t get a response.
When I made it to Senior English, he was already in his seat.
“Hey,” I said, sighing as I dropped into the desk beside him. “I thought you might’ve been sick.”
He shrugged. “Overslept.”
He didn’t even look at me, and the twisting of my insides returned. I dug my notebook for English class from my bag and tossed it on the desk before leaning over toward him.
“Do you think we can talk during lunch?”
“About what?”
He had his notebook flipped open and started doodling in it instead of turning toward me. If there was any doubt in my mind that Sebastian was upset about yesterday, it vanished. He was definitely upset.
“About yesterday. That wasn’t what you think.”
“Then what was it?” Finally, he laid his pencil down and glanced my way. His jaw was set in a hard line, but that anger didn’t match his eyes. They were too soft… hurt.
I opened my mouth to tell him how I’d lied, but his gaze darted past me, and I turned to follow it. Camden and Hunter had strolled into the room, and instead of heading straight to their seats like they usually did, Camden paused in front of mine. He flicked his gaze between Sebastian and me and smiled before pulling a folded up piece of paper from his back pocket and resting it on my notebook.
With a wink, he moved on to the back of the class.
Great, more drawings.
I flung the paper into my bag and turned back to Sebastian, determined not to give Camden any more of my attention.
Sebastian’s mouth hung open, his gaze pointed at my bag. With a huff, he shifted in his seat and stared at the whiteboard Mr. Gordon was seconds away from beginning his lecture on.
I cringed as it hit me what that had looked like… a love note.
“It’s probably another drawing of a dead rat above my head,” I whispered in a heated voice I hoped he’d pick up on. I was not interested in Camden. I was not sleeping with Camden. Camden Knight was an asshole.
“Whatever, Eden.” Sebastian flipped his notebook to a fresh page with a bit more force than necessary. It was clear he had no intention of even looking at me.
I slumped in my seat and faced the board.
A dizziness came over me as I tried to pay attention to Mr. Gordon’s lecture, but my mind was everywhere but on Shakespeare. We had moved on to studying A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I think Mr. Gordon was going over the required reading we’d had last night.
I glanced toward Sebastian who was furiously taking notes. His brows were knitted together, and I tried to decipher if it was from anger or concentration.
Probably anger.
Damn it, Camden.
He’d managed to turn my last friend against me. Because, of course, all the others weren’t enough. It wasn’t enough to have the whole school talking about what a slut I was or the STDs I’d supposedly contracted last year when I’d gotten with a bunch of college guys at a frat party. The fact that their king would dare to even admit he’d had sex with me was rather head scratching, but no one questioned any of it.
In one week, I’d become the school slut while still being a virgin. While still never even having my first boyfriend.
The dizziness morphed to anger. My cheeks flushed and the lead of my pencil broke as I pushed too hard on the paper.
They were chuckling behind me like school girls with a secret. Whispers, then chuckles, over and over, until I just couldn’t take any more of it.
They were laughing at me.
They had the whole school laughing.
I dropped my pencil and whipped around in my seat. My eyes locked onto Camden as he was leaned over with a grin on his face, whispering something to Hunter.
“Shut up!”
The entire room froze, including Mr. Gordon. His mouth hung open mid-speech, and his dry erase marker hovered in the air.
Everyone’s eyes all trained on me at the same time, and my cheeks heated even more, only this time, it wasn’t due to anger.
Camden leaned back in his seat and tilted his head while Hunter remained hunched over on his desk, resting on his elbows. I turned back in my chair, ready to pretend I hadn’t just yelled that in the middle of class, but Hunter’s voice ruined it.
“Do you have a problem, Easy Eden? Tourette’s maybe?”
Mr. Gordon piped in before I had a chance to respond. Not that I was capable of forming any more words right then. “There will be none of that in this classroom, Mr. O’Reilly, and I don’t want to hear another peep from you or Mr. Knight the rest of class.” He turned to me with a pointed stare. “See me after.”
I swallowed and nodded, shrinking lower in my seat. A few snickers sounded around me, but so much blood was rushing in my ears, I barely heard them. I did, however, feel their stares the rest of class. All of them. Even Mr. Gordon glanced over several times during the rest of his lecture.
“Psst.” I peeked over at Sebastian.
He tilted his notebook to show me what was written in large letters on the side of his notes—I’m sorry.
My stomach flopped and my eyes began to burn.
No. I was not about to lose my shit in Senior English. Not anymore than I already had.
I nodded and forced a small smile before going back to staring at the electrical outlet below the whiteboard.
This would be the new hot topic before lunch let out. I could already see the rumor spreading about how I’d lost my mind in English and Mr. Gordon had to keep me after class to ask about my mental health. Spoiler alert—it wasn’t good.
The bell rang and the horde of students jumped up from their seats, eager to get to the lunchroom and resume their gossiping. Many tossed me a look as they walked by and whispered to their friends, who then laughed like I wasn’t even there, but I didn’t look up from my desk.
When Camden walked by my desk, he gave it a tap. “Hang in there, kiddo.”
Fuck you.
Internally I screamed it, but externally I just lifted my head long enough to glare. He smiled before following Hunter out of the classroom.
It was only me, Sebastian, and Mr. Gordon left.
“I’ll wait for you outside, okay?” Sebastian pulled the straps of his bag over his shoulders and paused by my desk. His entire demeanor had changed from angry to concerned. If I hadn’t been so mortified, maybe I’d have felt more relief from my best friend once again having my back.
“Thanks,” I said, forcing another small smile and shoving my notebook in my bag. I zipped my bag and stood just as Sebastian shut the door to the room.
I shuffled over to Mr. Gordon who was staring at me like my dog had just died.
“You rang?” I joked, hoping that would ease some of the tension. It didn’t.
“Is everything all right, Eden?”
Is everything all right? Absolutely not.
“Yeah, of course, I just… Sorry, I don’t know what came over me today. It won’t happen again.”
He gave a sympathetic smile and nodded. “You know, when I was your age, I wasn’t exactly considered one of the ‘cool kids’.”
No way. A mental image of myself with my hands on my cheeks and my mouth forming an O flashed through my mind.
“In fact, I remember very vividly thinking the majority of my peers were a bunch of self-righteous pricks.”
Did he really just say pricks?
“But, and this is the part I really want you to pay attention to, high school ended, and none of that even mattered afterward. The actions I took while I was in high school, though, those mattered. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”
That my classmates are a bunch of self-righteous pricks, but I shouldn’t do anything about it?
“I think so.” I shifted my bag on my shoulder. “I’m sorry for interrupting class, Mr. Gordon. It won’t happen again.”
“Just take the high road, Eden, okay? Next year, none of this will matter.”
My face flushed at his words. Even he had heard the rumors. He knew exactly what ‘Easy Eden’ meant.