Page 72 of Remember Us This Way

She pauses by the door as if trying to gather the courage to walk across the room, and when she looks at me again, I give her an encouraging nod, letting her know that she’s got this despite my thoughts on the situation. If I had my way, she would have gotten rid of her years ago, but Zoey wants this, so I’ll give her whatever support she needs.

I watch as Zoey pulls her shoulders back and lifts her chin before letting out a heavy breath, her cheeks blowing out, a sign that she’s nervous. Then before she gets a chance to change her mind, she strides across the cafeteria to her usual table.

I’m too far away to hear what she’s saying, but I keep watching anyway, trying to make out what little bits I can. Zoey must ask Tarni to talk, and I grit my teeth as Tarni scoffs and looks away from her, as though she’s somehow beneath her, but anyone with half a brain can see that Zoey has always been a million miles above anything Tarni could ever be. Zoey is a goddess, and Tarni . . . She’s the vermin who tears people apart, who smiles at your face and then plots against you, and that’s exactly what she’s done to Zoey since we were kids, time and time again. When her wicked scheming would break Zoey, she would fall apart in my arms, and I would put her back together every damn time.

Zoey inches forward, her gaze shifting to the other two girls at the table, girls whose names I haven’t bothered to learn, and as she seeks their attention, they both look away.

Despite the distance, I can still hear Zoey’s sharp demand. “Are you guys serious right now?” she says, her back as stiff as a rod as she takes a retreating step as if preparing to run.

Tarni lifts up her water bottle and takes a long sip, acting as though Zoey isn’t standing right in front of her. Knowing Zoey, she probably went into this prepared to grovel and apologize, but my girl is stubborn to the bone. There’ll be no apology now.

Slowly, Tarni turns her putrid gaze on Zoey, and I watch as she flinches, my whole body vibrating with rage. “You’re making a fucking scene,” she says too loudly, gaining the attention of the room, all eyes falling on Zoey.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zoey seethes, her voice now flowing effortlessly through the room as everyone shuts up to hear what’s going on.

“Shannan was right,” Tarni says, getting up from the table, clutching her drink bottle a little too hard as though it could help center her anger. “You are trash. Hell, I don’t know how I haven’t seen it, but now that I do, it’s glaring right at me. It’s always been poor sad Zoey, be nice to Zoey, she had such a hard life, but I’m done. You’re pathetic.”

“I’m pathetic?” Zoey fires back at her. “Look at yourself, Tarni. I came over here to try and make things right, but you would rather put on a performance. Wasn’t the performance you put on for everyone on Friday night humiliating enough?”

The eager spectators laugh, and while I want nothing more than to applaud Zoey, the embarrassment only fires Tarni up. “You want to talk performances?” she spits. “You’re a fucking man-stealing whore. All I wanted was one thing—one fucking thing, Zoey—but nooooooo, poor fucking Zoey couldn’t handle not being her precious Noah’s one and only. You just had to take what wasn’t yours. Newsflash, whore. He’s not into you. Anyone with two fucking eyes can see that.”

Oh fuck no.

“I’m the whore?” Zoey demands. “You’ve spread your legs for nearly every guy in the school. Oh, wait, not Liam, though. But that didn’t stop you from trying on Friday night, did it? Tell me, what were you offering to suck?”

“What?” One of Tarni’s little bitch friends demands, her eyes going wide as she gapes at Tarni. “Tell me she’s lying. You didn’t. You wouldn’t do that to me. You know how I feel about him.”

Tarni gapes at her friend, looking at her like a deer in headlights, but the moment quickly passes, and she turns her anger back on Zoey. In a flash, she tosses the contents of her water bottle right at my girl, drenching her from head to toe. “You’re such a fucking liar,” Tarni seethes as Zoey’s gasp tears straight through to my soul. “As if I would go anywhere near that STD-riddled asshole.”

I spring from my chair as the laughter of the cafeteria rumbles through the room like an endless loop of torment, every last bit of it aimed at Zoey. And as if that’s not bad enough, the chants start, this time with Tarni leading the pack.

“Trash. Trash. Trash.”

Zoey wipes the water off her face, focusing her stare on Tarni as people crowd around her, chanting and tormenting her. “Call me what you want,” she says. “But I’ve been in love with the same guy since I was six years old. It’s only ever been him for me. I’ve never even dreamed of touching another guy, and if that makes me a whore, then so be it. But at least I can hold my head up high and say that I have respect for myself. I bet you can’t do that.”

Tarni just stares at her as I push people out of my way, desperate to get to Zoey, but as the chanting crowd grows around her, she starts to panic. She looks around, her green eyes so damn wide, searching for a way out, but she won’t find one, not this time.

Zoey finds me through the throng of people, and as her terrified gaze rests on mine, her chest rises and falls rapidly. I move faster, forcing people aside.

“Trash. Trash. Trash.”

I force my way through the circle, shouldering past the assholes who think they can talk shit about my girl, putting a few of them right on their asses, and then finally she’s in my arms. I pull her in, my hand cradling the back of her head as I hold her to my chest, my lips brushing over her temple. “You’re okay,” I murmur for only her to hear as shocked gasps sound from the crowd, their chants quickly fading away as they realize how much fucking trouble they are about to be in. “They can’t hurt you.”

Zoey glances up, those beautiful, teary eyes meeting mine. She doesn’t say a word, but she doesn’t need to, everything she wants to say is right there in her eyes, and before she can argue with me, I drop my lips to hers, kissing her deeply as I hold her against me.

Finally claiming what has always been mine feels so right. None of these assholes will hurt Zoey now. I should have done it right from the start and saved her the torment of the last month. I’ll always regret how long it took me to get here, but hopefully, she will give me the chance to make it up to her.

I don’t stop kissing her until her body finally relaxes in my arms and her knees go weak as she blocks out the people around us. It’s only me and her existing at this moment. Then when I pull back, I hold her chin, keeping her gaze locked on mine. “So, you’re still in love with me, huh?”

Zoey’s cheeks flush, and it’s the most breathtaking thing I have ever seen. “Nah, I made it up,” she teases. “Haven’t you heard? I’m a liar now.”

I grin down at her. “You always were a shitty liar,” I tell her, dropping another swift kiss to her lips before pulling back again and curling her into my side, keeping a hand on her at all times. My gaze slowly makes its way around the circle, studiously taking in the faces of every single person who willingly took part in tearing down my girl, but I don’t stop until my gaze rests on Tarni’s.

Her eyes are wide, filled with fear, and I revel in it, hoping it fucking cripples her, just as she’s done to Zoey. “From here on out,” I announce to every last bastard in the room, my gaze remaining locked on Tarni. “Tarni Luca does not exist. Anyone who wishes to object to that will see the same fate.”

Tarni’s eyes go wide, and I watch as her two friends inch away from her. “Let me get one thing straight,” I tell the crowd, shifting my stare away and focusing on the people around us, all too aware of the way Tarni sinks back into the crowd and disappears without a word, suddenly no longer in the mood to fight. “Zoey James is my fucking girl. An attack on her is a direct attack on me. You fuck with her, you fuck with me. If I hear even a whisper of the word trash within the walls of this school, every last one of you will pay the price for the hell you’ve put her through.”

Murmurs immediately fill the cafeteria as people scramble to get away from me, scurrying like a thousand little rodents, but I tune them out, focusing all my attention on Zoey’s wide eyes. Reaching up, I wipe the tears off her cheeks before pulling her right back into me. “You’re okay,” I tell her.

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