Noble Savages: A Dark High School Bully Romance Box Set

by Rina Kent

She ran a hand through her hair and peered away, as if to consider it. She’d caught me off guard today, wearing her hair down. She looked so different with it framing her face. Prettier. I wanted to reach out and run my hand through the strands, but I refrained… for now.

  “And if I say no, you’ll show people that picture?”

  “Correct.”

  She paused a few more moments, her eyes darting over my face to study me. Her face had relaxed some, her hands no longer in fists at her sides. “Why do you want me to go?”

  I didn’t respond.

  “If you don’t tell me, honestly, then I’m not going. Period. I’m not walking into a trap, so you can just forget about it.”

  I still didn’t respond. Instead, I shoved my hands in my pockets and lifted my chin. She wanted an answer that I couldn’t give. I didn’t even know it.

  Her phone dinged and she pulled it from her back pocket, glancing at the screen before putting it away.

  “My step-dad’s here…”

  What the?

  She must’ve sensed my confusion because she answered my unspoken question. "I texted him the address when you left me in the garage.” She said it like she was proud, but I was just annoyed. I wasn’t ready for her to leave, and I was confused at how she knew my address in the first place.

  The memory of her staring out the Jeep window at the property flashed through my mind. She wasn’t admiring the architecture, she was looking for the house number.

  She turned to walk back toward the garage, but I grabbed her arm, gentler this time. She glanced over her shoulder at me.

  “I don’t know why I want you to go. I just do.”

  She gave a single nod, then shook me off. “I’ll think about it.”

  That wasn’t a yes.

  Annoyance surged, but I accepted it for now. There was more than one thing to be annoyed about. I couldn’t believe she’d texted her step-dad and he was already here. What, was he on call or something?

  “You should go out the front door,” I called when she went to walk away from me again.

  She paused, and I was already walking away before she turned around. Her footsteps echoed on the tile, and each inch we came closer to the exit had me more pissed off. When we got to the foyer, I turned. She wasn’t looking around starstruck at the chandelier my mom insisted we hang just beyond the entryway. In fact, she appeared less than impressed with all of it. She was annoyed.

  “See you tomorrow,” I said, my teeth gritted.

  “No, you won’t. Thanks to you, I’ll be spending it in ISS.”

  Thanks to me? Right, Eden.

  She brushed past me and jerked open the door before disappearing behind it. The window rattled as it slammed shut.

  Looks like I have a lot more work to do.

  Chapter Nine

  Eden

  “Easy Eden. Hey, Easy Eden.” The guy a few chairs down from me drew my name out. It sounded gross coming from his lips. Dirty.

  I was beginning to hate my own name.

  Mr. Gordon pretended he didn’t hear the taunting, and I couldn’t say I blamed him. Everyone knew about the picture. Even the teachers thought I was a slut. They all quietly judged me with their pointed looks and disapproving shakes of their heads. No one felt sorry for me this time, not even Sebastian. He’d blown me off this morning in history. Even now, his shoulders were tense and his knuckles were white gripping his pencil. He was doodling in his notebook before Senior English began, but it didn’t hide the anger. The thing that struck me as odd and ripped my heart from my chest was that he was mad at me. Not the asshole behind us who was taunting me. The past couple of days I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Sebastian because I’d been in ISS, but he didn’t seem to want an explanation. There was one thing everyone in school had in common—they all thought this was my fault.

  “I know you can hear me.” The voice came from behind me again.

  I didn’t look back to see who it was. It didn’t matter. People had been taunting me all day. It could’ve been anyone.

  This morning I’d gotten to my locker to find a blue bra dangling from it, similar to the one that’d been in the picture circling the school. Written in black Sharpie across my locker was, of course, my moniker—Easy Eden.

  Somehow, it had gotten worse. Before, people laughed and joked. Some people glared, some shook their heads, but now the looks were more intense. Hungry. The girls still glared, but the guys… drooled.

  It wasn’t even my body.

  Camden and Hunter strolled into the room as the bell rang. What did they do, wait outside for it? Too cool to be on time, or—God forbid—early?

  I stared up at Camden as he was walking by and waited for him to put that day’s note on my desk. My notebook was opened, and I moved my hand off of it to give him space.

  He didn’t look at me. He didn’t pull the note from his pocket. He merely sauntered to the back of the class.

  Hunter was the one to pause today, and he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. He winked after pressing it on the desk and slid it toward me.

  “Let me know.”

  With a smirk, he continued toward his seat, leaving me there staring at the folded up sheet of paper.

  My arms tingled and started to feel heavy, and a sickening feeling occurred in my stomach.

  What was this?

  Was Camden mad at me?

  Damn it, Eden, why do you care?

  Mr. Gordon began the lecture, and I glanced over to see Sebastian taking notes. My hands felt so heavy that I didn’t think I’d manage. I went back to staring at the folded paper. I should open it. My curiosity would only be clawing at me until I did… but it wasn’t really curiosity. It was dread.

  It could’ve been anything, but the thing I feared most was a line in Old English. That’s what Camden did. If they switched it up, then I really was just some game. I wasn’t special, all of this was a joke. The notes. His interest. Me.

  Don’t you already know that?

  I let out a frustrated sigh and picked up the note. Lead fingers clumsily unfolded it, and I stared down at the unfamiliar writing.

  Homecoming?

  I dropped it on the desk and slumped my tense shoulders. Homecoming—those were the wise words of Hunter O’Reilly. Nothing Shakspearian about that. His words earlier—let me know—finally made sense. He was asking me to go to homecoming with him.

  The relief I’d gotten stifled. Hunter O’Reilly was asking me to homecoming? My brows knitted together, and I sank lower in my seat. That was a joke, right? Was Camden in on it?

  I glanced behind me at Camden and Hunter. Both were staring at me, but only Hunter was smiling. Camden looked kind of… pissed.

  I turned back around and tucked the paper into my notebook. They were messing with me again. That’s all it was. It’d mostly been Camden, but he’d decided to bring Hunter in on it. No big deal.

  Liar.

  Nausea settled in and I leaned forward with my hand over my stomach. Fuck, I couldn’t take the both of them.

  “Are you okay?” Sebastian whispered, snapping my attention to him. I nodded and forced a small smile.

  “When is homecoming?” I mouthed to make sure no one heard me. The last thing I needed was another rumor. I wouldn’t be going to homecoming with anyone, but it suddenly occurred to me that Camden might’ve already asked me to.

  “Two weeks from Friday,” he whispered.

  That wasn’t the same game. Were they taking shifts fucking with me? I’m certain Hunter was actually asking me to the dance homecoming night, but it still raised questions. They were best friends. They also hated me.

  What the hell was going on?

  Before I could wrap my brain around Hunter’s actions, the bell rang and everyone shuffled from class. I put my notebook away and peered up at Sebastian who was waiting for me, despite the newfound information that I was indeed a slut. I guess he’d gotten over being angry about it.

  I stood and threw my bag over my shoulder
before walking out of the classroom, with him following behind me.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, falling into step beside me.

  I glanced his way. “Talk about what?”

  His eyebrows rose and he tapped on my bag. “Hunter O’Reilly.”

  We made it to my locker, and I shoved my bag inside. “He just asked me to homecoming… because, you know, I’m the school slut and all.”

  “You’re not a slut.” Sebastian gripped my arm and tugged me to look at him when I went to walk toward his locker next. The action surprised me coming from him, and my eyes shot to the hand wrapped around my arm.

  “Sorry,” he said, pulling back. “But don’t talk about yourself like that. It’s bad enough hearing other people say it.”

  Huh? It’s bad for him?

  “Right.” I shook my head and blinked. “Sorry.”

  “I’m not even going to ask you about the picture.” Sebastian’s Adam’s Apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Just promise me you’re being smart.”

  “Sebastian, I…”

  My mouth hung open, and once again I was struck with the inability to speak. They weren’t of me, just my face. That sounded so lame. So implausible. I would’ve had to explain, and I was just too exhausted with it. It was almost easier to go with the lie. Nothing about that picture looked off, so if I told people it wasn’t me, they would’ve just found me pathetic. And Sebastian didn’t seem to want an explanation anyway. He wanted to move on, and so did I.

  “I promise,” I finally finished.

  He gave a curt nod and walked the twenty feet to his locker before putting away his bag. It was just me, Sebastian, and a couple of stragglers in the hallway. Everyone else had gone to lunch. My stomach rumbled, and I cursed myself for oversleeping and not having enough time to pack a lunch.

  Now was as good a time as any to practice that whole ‘moving on’ thing, I guess.

  “Do you want to eat in the lunchroom today?”

  Sebastian was walking back toward me, and his steps slowed as he approached. His eyebrows rose like he couldn’t believe what I was saying. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.” I shrugged. “Can’t hide forever, right?”

  Yes, you can.

  Before I could chicken out, I started making my way toward the lunchroom with Sebastian at my side. Loud voices and slamming trays reached my ears as we drew closer, turning my rumbling stomach. My appetite was nearly gone as we made it to the doors, but I took a deep breath and pushed through them anyway.

  It was true. I couldn’t hide forever.

  A wave of energy hit me as soon as we stepped through. All around us was loud, people were everywhere, body heat warmed the room. It was shocking compared to the peace I’d found outside on the benches, and I almost turned around and ran.

  But then I spotted him.

  Camden’s eyes locked onto mine from across the room. His lips were still in a tight line and his hardened expression didn’t match the lit-up faces of his friends, talking and laughing all around him.

  I didn’t know what he was mad about, but something sparked in me. Courage—maybe that’s what it was. Or maybe even excitement. Whatever it was, it pulled my lips up into a grin and had my feet carrying me to stand in line.

  He’d scared me out of the lunch room before, but I was back. He hadn’t fully won.

  He never would.

  “What are you smiling about?” Sebastian asked, his own lips tipping into a grin. I had a feeling he’d been missing our other friends, or at least the normalcy of eating lunch with them. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it too, until my eyes drifted to our table and the familiar trivia game was in play between Jacob and Louisa. Louisa’s stack of cards looked bigger, so my guess was she was winning. Again.

  I returned my gaze to Sebastian and ignored my moniker being said by a guy a few places in front of us in line, pointing me out to his friends. I shouldn’t let that shit bother me. They were just words, and none of them would matter in a year. Sebastian, though, he would matter. Even some of my other friends might. “It’s just good to be back.”

  His smile widened and we shifted up in line. The smell of chicken pot pie entered my nostrils as we moved closer and I inhaled deeper. It was one of my favorites.

  When we made it to the front of the line, the lunch lady scooped food onto Sebastian’s tray and handed it to him. Next, she handed me one that was already prepared and sitting on the counter.

  Odd.

  I smiled and took the tray, following behind Sebastian to our table.

  “Hey, Eden,” Jennifer, one of my friends from orchestra, said as I sat down next to her. Sebastian picked his usual—or what used to be his usual—seat across from me.

  “Hey,” I said back.

  A few people tossed each other looks before getting up. My smile fell, but I looked down at my tray and pretended not to notice.

  “Ignore them,” Jennifer said, taking a bite of the pie.

  Ignore them? Pretty sure they were trying to ignore me.

  I glanced over my shoulder at Camden, who was still watching me intently. With the way we were positioned, with him to my right at the table behind me, he could see me while I couldn’t see him unless I turned. He wasn’t even eating. He still had a tray full of food.

  He was the one I should be trying to ignore.

  I turned to face in front of me, noting Sebastian’s disapproving frown. Picking up my fork, I spoke to Jennifer. “So, how have things been?”

  “In orchestra?” she asked, not turning to face me. Louisa giggled and hopped up and down excitedly at the end of the table. Judging by Jacob’s somber look, she had just won the game.

  “Yeah,” I answered. I was lying. I’d meant with her and the rest of the friends who’d abandoned me, but that wasn’t really fair. She wasn’t ignoring me now, and she’d continued talking to me in orchestra… when none of the jocks could see.

  “It’s good. Mr. Hines is getting a little carried away with the practices, though. Yesterday’s ran three hours.”

  “Whoa.” I scooped a piece of pot pie onto my fork and shoved it into my mouth.

  “Yeah, I know. I wonder if he’ll want you to stay later today since you’ve been missing practice.”

  She said it as if I kept missing practice. As if I was just like Paige. I swallowed and took a drink of water before replying. “Well, I’d be happy to make up the lost time. I’m just as committed as anyone else.”

  “We know,” Sebastian interjected before the snootiness could go too far. It was obvious in my voice that I’d taken offense to Jennifer’s remark. The cello was my life. I wasn’t skipping practice on purpose, and I wouldn’t let them down. I was ready for the fall concert.

  Jennifer glanced my way but didn’t say anything else. I could feel the blood filling my cheeks and just knew they were turning red. I didn’t want to be angry. I just wanted things the way they were before… but it couldn’t be that way, could it?

  I picked at my pot pie and stilled when something caught my eye in it. My brows knitted together as I forked the piece of rubber and pulled it from the dish. A condom dangled on my fork in front of my face and a roar of laughter sounded behind me at Camden’s table.

  I shot around and locked eyes with him again. Joshua and Trey were the ones laughing the loudest, but Camden just smiled. He’d been watching me because he’d been waiting for that. Waiting for one more stupid prank to go according to plan. How many days had he paid the lunch lady to set a tray aside for me, just in case I came to the cafeteria?

  I really was a joke to him.

  I dropped the fork and picked up my tray, not looking back as I stood and made my way toward the trash cans. Laughter spread through the cafeteria, Camden’s friends as its source. Laughter aimed at me.

  Don’t run from them! My brain screamed it at me, but my heart wouldn’t listen. I don’t know why I thought things might be different. When I’d been with Camden, when he’d taken me to his house�
�� I thought maybe he was serious. Maybe he actually was interested in me, and all this was his fucked up way of showing it. The way he looked at me made me feel like there was more there than just getting off on tormenting me. Maybe he was even sorry.

  I’m an idiot.

  Correction... I’m a joke.

  “Eden, you okay?” It was Sebastian. And only Sebastian. The rest of my ‘friends’ were still seated, avoiding looking at me.

  Did I expect anything more?

  “I’m fine.” I dumped my tray and put it in the bin before turning to him.

  He had a sorrowful expression that reeked of pity, but it wasn’t necessary. The whole school was right. I had done this to myself. I looked around at all the eyes directed toward me, just waiting for something. Probably for me to cry. That was Camden’s goal after all, wasn’t it? To break me?

  I turned toward Sebastian, my face a hardened mask of determination.

  “We’ll try again tomorrow.”

  Chapter Ten

  Eden

  “What do you mean I can’t play?”

  Mr. Hines blew out a sigh and rubbed his temples. We’d just had a three hour practice. Despite my fingers going numb around the two hour mark, I’d given it my all today. I gave it my all every day, and now he was telling me I wouldn’t be in the fall concert.

  This couldn’t be happening.

  “Mr. Hines,” I said, shaking my head. “I know I missed practice, but I’m ready to go. I’ll stay later, I’ll come in on the weekend, I’ll—”

  “It’s not practice, Eden. It’s your math grade… You’re failing.”

  My chest throbbed with the beat of my heart. I could hear it in my ears, feel it pulsating in my veins.

  No.

  “Mr. Hines, I—”

  “Do you think I’m happy about this, Eden? You’re first chair cello. Do you really think this is my decision? It’s school policy that includes all extracurriculars… What the hell were you thinking? Failing math.”

  My eyes burned. A lump formed in my throat. My hands were trembling, and I knew if I spoke, my voice would too.