Page 13 of I Fing Dare You

Holy fuck, that hurt.

Aching all over, I roll with a wince. My knees are badly scraped, and so are my arms. I hurt my wrist, too, though I don’t think it’s sprained—I can move it without adding any pain. Thank fuck it’s the right one. I’m left-handed—I can still draw.

“Serves you right, bitch,” a girl I’ve never talked to spits at me, her expression half disgust, half fury.

She’s downright furious. At me. Although we’ve never interacted. I don’t even know her name.

I’m too stunned to reply.

Two powerful legs in tiny shorts appear in front of me.

“What sort of language is that, Reyes?”

I blink, baffled. I was just pushed, tripped deliberately, and my teacher was upset about my language?

“I fell,” I explain, in case he missed it.

“That doesn’t excuse what just came out of your mouth. Detention tonight.”

My mouth falls open.

What. The. Hell.

“I need to go to the infirmary.” I’m no professional—someone needs to check my wrist, and disinfect the rest. “Sir,” I add as an afterthought.

He can’t deny me that. Right?

“I’ll take her,” Lee offers with a broad grin.

“Hell no,” I shoot back, painstakingly getting to my feet. “I’ll take myself, thank you.”

“You’ll do as you’re told, Reyes.”

He can’t be fucking serious.

“I’m not going alone with that guy.” I shake my head, refusing to budge as I get to my wobbly feet. “But Iamgoing to the nurse's office to see to the wounds I got in your class. Don’t worry—I’ll stop by the dean on my way to give afullaccount of what happened here.”

I’m not a doormat. I won’t be intimidated by any bully—even a fifty-year-old, two hundred pound one.

He grins, showing gray, uneven teeth that make me yearn for mouthwash. “You do that.”

I walk away with my head high, eyes forward, refusing to show weakness to the pack of assholes around me.

Fuck them.

Fuck them all.

And fuck the assholes who had them gang up on me. I have zero doubt that this comes from the four assholes. Mr. Pierson was always a dick, but this? It’s new, and the timing couldn’t be more obvious.

CHAPTER NINE

My wrist’s just bruised, not sprained. That, I expected. The utter indifference of the faculty when I asked to file a report came as a complete surprise, though.

After the nurse, I head straight to the administrative building and ask to see Ms. Casey. Ushered to her office for the second time today, I sit and wait a minute for the young-ish, dark-haired assistant to walk in with a steaming cup of coffee. She smiles at me, but the easiness in her expression of this morning is gone. It’s forced. Something tightens in my stomach before I have a chance to say a word.

“Nadia. Back already?”

I nod tightly. “An incident occurred with my PE teacher that I’d like to report. I was tripped over and hurt.” I lifted my arms so she could see the bandages on my elbows, and I explain how the asshole resisted my going to get some care after that.

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