Caught between my bully and my step brother

Chapter 9

" I can't wait for lunch, I am starving, I need brain food. That lesson zipped all my mojo out of me," Lacey whined as we headed down to the dining block. I laughed at her dramatics as she raised a hand up to her head and laid it on thick like she was close to fainting.

"Maybe it has everything to do with you hardly getting any sleep all weekend, not lack of food seen as I watched you scoff down two muffins on the way to classes this morning, "I smirked at her. She looked at me with mock offense.

" Well, seeing as I had a very active weekend, I am feeling extra famished, so there for it is a lack of food. Erghhh, that boy was a stallion. I am going to be recuperating calories all week to gain back what I burned off" she swooned. I laughed as she pushed open the doors and practically ran to the food line. Leaving me to catch up.

When I did she handed me a tray.

" So will you be seeing him again ? " I asked her.

She grinned, a smile I hadn't really seen on my friend's face so far in our friendship. I had seen her have a fling with a guy by the next day. She was kind of over it.

" Yes, I would be daft not to Addie. He is just wow in that department. Plus, he is hot and funny, it's nothing serious, just fun, but damn its good fun. Noah wants to meet up tomorrow night for food, which is code for more naked fun I hope, "she gushed.

We piled our trays with food. I opted for a grilled chicken salad with a brownie on the side plus a raspberry lemonade. Heading over to a table towards the back, I noticed the douche table was empty. Good. I hoped that meant I wouldn't have to see them.

" What about Liam ? " She asked after she had shoved three forks fulls of tomato and basil pasta she had opted for into her mouth.

I felt my cheeks heat at the mention of Liam. He had messaged me the last two days since the chill party thing and the almost kiss after he walked me home. He was sweet and funny. " What about him ? " I acted coy.

I kept my eyes on my plate, and my face down so she hopefully wouldn't see my blushed cheeks.

" Are you going on a date with him ? " she asked.

I shrugged a shoulder: "Maybe we have been talking. He seems nice "I try and give a brief answer, hoping we could move on from the conversation. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to her, she was my friend. It was just I don't know. I didn't want her to push me into meeting him. I wanted to just let it unfurl naturally. Plus, I hated to admit it. I was really nervous, and I wanted to do it at my own pace. Plus, there was the other reason I still feared it was all just a joke.

" Addie "she called my name, but as she did, the cafeteria got real loud, cutting her off. I looked up and saw the i***t crew entering the room.

Toby walked in first. Tammy by his side, her hand on his arm. Then her cronies trailed behind with some other guys. The last one to walk in was Trent. His hands were shoved in his jeans, and on cue his head turned, and he looked directly in my direction. His eyes looked cold as they glared in my direction. I felt a frown set on my face. What have I done now ?

I expected him to carry on walking with his tribe of douches, but my heart rate spiked when he suddenly changed direction and started heading straight towards me, his eyes never leaving mine, pinning me in my spot.

" The f*ck is he doing coming this way ? " Lacey snapped at the side of me, voicing what I was thinking.

I felt my body tensing up. My survival mode was kicking in, and my mind was already getting itself ready to deal with whatever emotional or embarrassing scar this interaction was going to leave on me.

I felt my fingers curl tighter around my fork. He was a few steps away from our table now and the whole cafeteria was like it had held its breath. People had stopped to look, and I glanced past him to see Toby had too. He looked confused himself as to what was going on. His arm was now slung over Tammy's shoulders, and she looked on too, but her expression was one of fascination, a sick excitement, no doubt happy I was about to be targeted once again and embarrassed.

I looked to see he was there now at the edge of the table, his eyes looking down on me, his face blank , he just paused and looked at me , not moving not doing anything but what studying me ? The more he stood there just watching me, the more my pulse raced. What was he doing ?

Then his eyes closed slowly , he turned his head and looked away his jaw clenched. You could tell he was gritting in his teeth , I looked to see what he was looking at, and there was nothing. He was just staring off into emptiness. Looking back , I saw his hands clenched at his sides, he clenched then unclenched them. Then I heard him sigh, which snapped my eyes back up to his face as he turned his head to look back at me. His dark lashes blinked. Then he sucked his lip into his mouth before he let it pop back out. My eyes got stuck there for a moment on his too red lips.

When I saw them smirk I ripped my eyes away and thats when Lacey broke this weird silence.

" What do you want ass hat ? Is you standing there like a silent killer freak meant to mean something? " She snapped.

He flicked his eyes at her, but it was brief, then looked back at me like he had dismissed her.

His tongue came out and swept his bottom lip, and then he smiled at me. Trent hardly ever smiled, only cruel ones. They are all I had ever seen anyway, or they were full of mischief or sarcasm Trent had only ever shown an evil kind of smile. Even to others, they looked fake or sarcastic. The only people I had seen him laugh or smile with were Toby and a few guys occasional. Trent was the dark, moody one, but this one was different, charming, almost blinding.

" You look really pretty today, doll "he said, then letting his full strong accent out. One I noticed they both masked a little since being here. Who knows why? Probably ashamed maybe , or scared to be branded a hillbilly hick or something not that we were, but others would assume because of the twang we were. Even I scaled it back so I didn't blame them.

With that he turned and walked off , towards Toby. Who looked p*ssed. He was frowning at Trent , I was confused , but still hyper aware I was waiting for him to turn back and hit me with the punchline of the joke. I watched his back and I watched how Toby's eyes followed him as Trent just walked past him and went and sat down at the table. Toby's eyes snapped to me and narrowed. Then he turned around and practically dragged Tammy to the table, but from there he let her go and went to the food line, his shoulders tight.

Tammy and the rest of the school cafeteria looked as confused as I felt too. He hadn't said it quietly.

" What was that ? " Lacey asked.

I ripped my eyes away from them, a little scared to do so. I'd rather see danger coming than be oblivious.

" I don't know " I tell her, looking back, not able to stop myself at him. He was watching me, his eyes glued to me.

Then Toby sits down directly in front of him and blocks his view of me and me to him, and I blow out a breath. My nerves were zipping round my body.

" Probably something horrendous though "I whispered. What was he doing? He acted weird the other day too.

Whatever it was, I wasn't looking forward to it. His words rang in my ears, my appetite gone. " You look really pretty today, doll ".

" He had better not be trying anything. I'll castrate him" Lacey grumbled, her good mood gone too.

I picked at the food after that, and left as quickly as I could. I felt like eyes were staring at me from all directions.