Page 1 of One Twisted Christmas

Prologue

Helena

I grasp the hem of my dress, stumbling over it as I run. My fingers clutch the fluttering fabric as I race through the echoing halls, fighting back the need to cry. The stubborn hem of my dress seems determined to hinder my efforts to escape this suffocating place.

“Stop, Helen!”

My eyes fill up with angry tears. That asshole! He doesn’t even know my name. I have corrected him a thousand times, but he keeps getting it wrong. My name is not the only thing he’s gotten wrong tonight! I let go of my dress to swat angrily at my wet cheeks, hating the tears that spill.

“Helen!”

“Stop following me!” I cry out, my eyes locked on the exit. I push open the double doors, nearly tripping on my way out but I manage to catch myself. Barely. Then I am back to running, but I don’t make it far before a hand grabs my elbow and I am spun around, my teary eyes locking on the man set on making my night hell.

A day ago, if someone had told me that I would look at this man and hate him with every fiber of my being, I would have firmly denied it. Nico is the most popular guy in our school and for months, I have been hiding my crush on him. When he asked me out to Prom a week ago, I was over the moon.

The most popular guy in school asking the school nerd out to prom felt like a novel. Naïve as I was, I thought he had feelings for me too. Up until a few minutes ago, I was sure this was the man I was going to give all of me to and it seems he was banking on the same outcome. In the most literal way.

How stupid of me to think Nico would go out with me simply because he liked me. How… naïve.

“Can you stop and listen to me?”

“If you don’t let go of me, I am going to scream!” I threaten him and he quickly pulls his hand from mine to run it through his dark hair in a show of frustration.

“What the hell is your problem?”

“My problem?” I sputter at the nerve of the man to ask why I’m reacting this way! “You think I don’t know why you asked me to prom?”

His face goes stony and something dark crosses his eyes.Annoyance?Not guilt for ruining my senior year prom and embarrassing me but… Annoyance! Is he seriously annoyed that I found out about his little bet with his friends?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, his voice suddenly cold, showing me a side of him I’ve never seen before.

I’ve heard things about Nico. That he was a jerk and bully who cared little about other people’s feelings. I just never believed any of that because he showed me a side of him that was charming and kind. He would open doors for me when I walked to class and sometimes surprise me with my favorite drink. Nico was always attentive to my needs, offering me his jacket when he thought I was cold, and sometimes he would offer to drive me home after school. He was charming and I dropped my guard. I ignored all the rumors of him being a jerk and fell for him.

I fell for a lie.

Learning that all those beautiful moments we shared were calculative sends bile climbing up my throat. This man played me like a fiddle. He never meant all those things he said to me. Not a single one of them.

“Just leave me alone,” I whisper, turning around to leave but he grabs my arm this time and spins me back around to face him, annoyance plain on those cold eyes I thought were beautiful when they picked me up from my house earlier in the evening. They are ugly now. Cold and ugly.

“I don’t know what you’ve heard…”

“Everything but the price,” I choke out, tugging my arm from his grip but this time, he doesn’t let me go. “I wonder how much you bet on my virginity, Nico. Ten, twenty bucks? Fifty?”

“Helen–”

“That’s not my name, Jesus Christ, Nico! My name is Helena. When will you get it right?” I rage, welcoming the anger that takes the place of self-pity. “If you and your asshole friends are going to bet on someone’s virginity then at least get their name right!”

“Fine, whatever, but don’t you think you are overreacting? Leaving the party like that because your heard about some stupid bet?”

I didn’t think I could get even more surprised than I already am, but Nico just keeps outdoing himself. “At least try to deny it,” I plead. “I won’t believe it, but could you at least try and look sorry?”

“Look Helen…”

“Helena for Christ’s sake!”

“…If I didn’t do it, someone else was going to. People have been betting on you since junior year and maybe if you weren’t so stuck up, then guys wouldn’t have to bet on you to get in your pants.”

"Junior year?" I stutter, my eyes shifting to the doors as if expecting someone to storm out and tell me that he is lying. They've kept this going for two years? Betting on me like I am some kind of sport. How many people know about this? I bet they've been whispering about it behind my back.

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