Page 57 of Drifting

“Dom, smack him for me.”

Dom reaches out and smacks his brother on the back of the head.

“Ouch!” Mav reaches up and rubs it.

Dom helps me down, and we head toward the school. “I have a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday, and I can’t wait. I should get this damn cast off my leg, and hopefully the one off my arm, too.”

“That would be great. We all know how bad you hate having them on. You know, you never really told us what happened,” Luke states.

“That will have to wait. It’s a long story,” I tell him. “I need to get to my locker, so I’ll see you guys in class.”

Mav captures me, hugs me, then passes me to Cam, who passes me to Dom, then finally Luke. When I leave, a big smile covers my face.

At my locker, I open the door and trash spills out. I can’t jump back quick enough, and some gets on the bottom half of my clothes. Everything in my locker is ruined.

Shit, now I’m going to miss another class.

I slam my locker and storm off toward the office.

After making up a reason for why I missed first period, I tell them about the trash in my locker. The receptionist blows out a breath, then mechanically tells me maintenance will clean up my locker and an email will be sent home explaining why my parents will need to pay for all new books.

Guess this isn’t the first time the Barbie Squad has pulled this.

The receptionist hands me a slip excusing me for being late to second period.

As I limp to class, I fume over all of the notes I’ve taken so far being destroyed. How am I going to get those back? At least I didn’t lose my Chemistry stuff. I had that in my backpack.

When I open the door, every pair of eyes swing toward me.

I head straight for the teacher, glancing over at Luke on the way.

His brows draw together in question.

I shake my head.

“Ew, what’s that smell?” asks a girl’s voice.

Oh, here it comes. The second part of their plan. It’s not enough that they destroyed everything in my locker, now they need to trash me.

All right, give it your best shot.

“I think it’s her,” Hannah says. “You know she comes from trash.”

A wave of snickers and laughs roll through the class.

Oh, Hannah, you have a lot to learn if you want to hurt me.

“All right, that’s enough, class,” Mrs. Murphy says.

I sit in the only available seat right up front. I don’t have a book or any of my notes for this class, but I have a notebook and try to get caught up on what’s on the board.

When the bell rings, I gather my stuff as Luke strolls up. “What happened now? We can’t leave you alone for a second.”

“Luke, why are you talking to that trash?” Hannah comes strolling over, putting her thin, perfectly manicured hand on his arm.

He shrugs her off, his jaw tightening in anger. “What did you do?”

Hannah presses her hand to her chest. “Me? I didn’t do anything.”

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