Page 47 of Drifting

She glances at the list of homework Liv dropped off, drops her face into her hands, and shakes her head.

Yeah, I want to get involved. They shouldn’t treat anyone as a slave. “Okay, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer it honestly. Do you want to do her homework? Or do you do it because you don’t know how to tell her to shove it up her ass?”

“This has been going on for years. Believe it or not, we were best friends. Then, something changed the summer her mom took her to cheerleading camp. Carrie came back different. I’m not cut out to be a cheerleader. I tried once. Never again.” She shivers. “Boys started noticing her, then her new friends started making fun of me, and she joined in. I figured that was the end of our friendship until, one day, she asked me to help her with an assignment she fell behind on. I figured I was being a sympathetic friend helping her out. About a month later, while I sat in a bathroom stall, I overheard her saying how she suckered me into doing her homework.”

Paige takes a deep breath. “When I told her, I was done being her slave, that’s when the bullying started. Clothes missing after gym class, trash in my locker, nasty rumors. You get the idea. It got bad. I gave in and have been doing her homework ever since. I’m such a loser.”

“No, you’re not, Paige. We’ll end it now. I have a good feeling about you. I don’t like many girls, but I can see us becoming best friends, and I don’t let my friends get sucked into doing bitches homework.” I stand, grab the sheet of homework, and nod at Paige. “Keep extra clothes somewhere.”

I limp over to where the Barbie squad sits with the guys. Conversation stops as I stop next to their table and slam the paper down right in front of Liv. “Tell this bitch, Carrie, that she needs to do her own damn homework. Paige is no longer her slave. And if she has a problem with that”— I glance at each of the girls—“tell her to come find me.”

When I return to our table, Paige’s mouth hangs open.

“I don’t know if you should have gone and done that.” Chewing her lip, she stares at the other table.

“I’m not afraid of her, and you shouldn’t be, either. What makes them better than you?”

Paige’s face lights up, then she frowns. She’s a work in progress.

The bell rings, signally the end of lunch.

“Well, off to Economics,” I huff, grabbing my bag.

Paige follows me. “Do you have Mr. Ross as your teacher?”

I pull out the list of classes and the names of the teachers.

“Yep.”

“You’re in my class. What do you have next?” she asks, appearing hopeful.

“Gym.”

“Thank, God!” Paige says.

I stop and give her a look for acting weirdly.

“I’m in gym, too, and I hate it. All the girls stare at me and make fun of me,” she says, twisting her hands.

We need to work on her confidence. “You don’t need to fret anymore. You just got a personal bodyguard.”

She rubs her chin then glances over me. “I don’t know… Can you fight?”

We laugh as we enter the classroom.

Nick waves. “Shelby, come sit over here with me.”

When Paige starts to walk away, I grab her arm and pull her along with me. I take one seat, and she takes the other.

Nick smirks. “That was quite a show you put on in the lunchroom there, Shelby.”

I scratch the back of my head and smile. “Yeah, I did it for my friend here. Nick, I’d like to introduce you to Paige Mitchell. Paige, meet my stepbrother, Nick Tate.”

“Hey, Paige. I’ve known her since middle school, Shelby.” Nick glances at Paige again in confusion. “You used to hang out with us, then something happened, and you stopped coming around.”

“Yeah, that something was Carrie,” Paige says sadly.

The teacher walks into the classroom and sits down. “Take your seats, everyone.”

---