Page 42 of King

Lea scoffs and I hear it from where she stands. When I look, she crouches, getting into position with a snarky smirk on her face, “Great, let’s play.”

Even before the game begins Lea bops the ball at my head with an unbelievable, “Sorry! I'm excited.”

Rolling my eyes, it's hard not to retaliate. Repeating my current mantra I exhale, “Just one more class.”

When the game gets going, I’m about to dive for the ball but Lea pushes me to the ground, losing us a point. I glare at her, the smell of grass in my nose. “What the fuck, Lea?”

“Lost my footing.” She smiles, giving Georgina a high-five.

This is only the start of the physical attacks Lea gives during the game. She’s playing dirty. Literally. After about thirty minutes my new uniform has a collection of grass and dirt stains, the white now more of a swamp green.

Another serve from the other team and the ball comes my way again. After getting battered around by Lea for half the period all it takes for her is to whisper, “Slut” before I’m batting the ball at her face.

Her head swings back, the entire court gasps, ball dropping to the floor. She’s stunned, her body frozen and when she moves her hand from her face, I see blood.

Fuck.

Lea looks at her hand in horror before she lets out a scream into the air. Her head moves back, arms to the side like a fucking dinosaur.

“Miss Huang!” Coach Roberts jogs over.

“She fucking hit me!” she squeals, pointing to her nose with a straight finger. “I’m bleeding!”

I smirk and Coach Roberts hangs her head. “Get to first aid.” She turns to me before glancing at her watch. “Jo, showers. We're almost done here anyway.”

“I’ll go with Lea, Coach! She’s traumatized and in shock,” Georgina pipes up, hand in the air. Coach Roberts has two fingers on the bridge of her nose as she waves her off. While walking Lea off the field, Georgina glares back at me. “Watch your back, whore.”

“Miss Dupont.” Coach Roberts drops her hand to the side. “Quietly, please.”

Once they’re off the field I head back to the locker room, grabbing one of the towels off the stack near the shower doors. I didn’t mean to hit Lea so hard with the ball but I’m not exactly sorry. The bitch had it coming to her and had this been The Grove, she would have gotten much worse.

Letting the water stream down my back, I scrub off the dirt and grass on my arms. The shower is refreshing and I can't wait to get home and binge on movies and fancy snacks with Willow all weekend. She’s been spending way too much time with the freshman in-crowd. I’m happy for her, but I don’t want her to be anything like these fuckheads. A sister-sister weekend watching Sister, Sister is exactly what we need to recharge.

Taking a few extra minutes in the shower is necessary after my week. It’s nice having a moment to myself again without crude whispers coming from left, right and centre. When I get out of the shower I reach for where I thought I’d hung the towel, but nothing’s there.

Shit.

A giggle comes from nearby and I follow it, attempting to cover my exposed bits. When I peek into the locker room I let out a breath when I see that it’s empty. But when I get to my locker, my heart stops. My gray bralette and cotton gray panties are there. So are my Docs but my uniform isn’t. I check the one next to it, above it, and underneath it before I open everyone that I can.

Where the fuck are my clothes?

Without anything to dry off, I whip on my underwear before I hear the click of the door from the field. Students enter with one of Lea’s minions leading the pack. The one with the short blonde cut.

She smirks, pulling out her phone and snaps a picture, light blinding my eyes. “Nice underwear. Where did you get it? Thrift Village?”

Twelve

The girls behind the blonde start laughing and giggling. Some even point at the hole in my old bralette.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I demand, reaching for her phone.

She puts it behind her back and before I can pounce her for it, Coach Roberts walks in, getting between us. “What’s going on?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” My teeth chatter as the cold settles onto my wet skin. “S-Someone stole my c-clothes, and she wants to document the whole fucking thing.”

“What?” Coach looks confused. She looks down at me. “Where are your clothes?”

So I clarify, “They took them.”

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