Page 10 of Chaos at Westbrook High

Morning, beautiful.

Chapter 4

HAILEY

My hands are shaking as I put my lipgloss on. The first day nerves are getting the better of me, and I won’t be able to open the shop and get to school on time if I don’t leave in…two and a half minutes ago.

“Fuck.”

After quickly checking my teeth in the mirror, I rush out of the bathroom and grab my sneakers from the hall. I manage to shove them on without falling over, then I snatch my ball cap and keys from the kitchen counter, frowning when I realize my phone is missing.

“Looking for this?” my older brother asks.

I turn around, narrowing my eyes when I find him lazing back on the couch, hungover and half asleep, as usual.

I’m our aunt’s double—light blonde and blue eyed—but he looks exactly like a twenty year old version of his father—dark hair, brown eyes, and the shitty king of the world attitude to match. He’s the type of guy who expects everything handed to him on a silver platter, and when he doesn’t get it, he lashes out. Mostly at me, because I’m the only sucker left who cares enough to listen to him.

“Who’s the guy?” he asks, waving the phone to show me the text message he’s read from the unknown number.

I cross the open plan space into the living room and take it from his outstretched hand, scanning the words on the screen before I shove it into the back pocket of my shorts. “Stop going through my stuff.”

I’m used to him being a controlling, overbearing asshole, but I’m not used to him having access to all my things like this. We’ve always lived separately, him with his dad and me here with Val, so I’m still adjusting to having him in my space all the time.

“I said who’s the guy?”

“I don’t know,” I say slowly, matching his shitty tone.

It’s the truth. Kind of. He’s never told me his name, so I don’t really know for sure.

Except that I do. I know it’s Kai.

“You give some random dude your number?”

“No.”

“How did he get it then?”

Wren. Wren was the one who used my phone that night in the cemetery not long ago. He’s the one who used my number to call his brother. And I was the one stupid enough to let him do it. I knew I shouldn’t have helped him, but he looked pathetic lying on the ground out there, and my conscience wouldn’t let me leave him until I knew he was okay. That was a mistake, because now Kai has what he’s been trying to get from me for months—the power to contact me whenever he feels like it. And he does. Every goddamn day.

Morning, beautiful. Hey, beautiful. See you soon, beautiful.

Always beautiful.

I’ve never texted him back. I figure the only way I can beat him at this stupid game of his is to ignore him entirely, so that’s exactly what I’ll keep doing.

“You’re really going, aren’t you?” my brother asks, and I blink my thoughts away, swallowing when I catch the look of betrayal on his thin, pale face.

When was the last time he went outside?

“I told you I was,” I mutter, leaning over the couch to whip open the curtains behind him. “Make sure you get some food in you toda?—”

“Damn it, Hailey. Fuck off.”

“You need sunlight.”

“No, what I need is for you to stop acting like a spoiled little bitch,” he bites out. “What, Elijah Kingston gives you a golden ticket to Westbrook High and now you’re Daddy’s little girl? You gonna drop and suck his dick next time you want something?”

The temper I got from him rises inside me, and I resist the urge to punch him in the mouth, snatching the bottle from the coffee table when he reaches out to pick it up. “You’re disgusting. And you’re done,” I add, walking over to the kitchen to pour the vodka into the sink.

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