Page 196 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

“Look, Annie,” I say, turning on my heel to face her.

She stops abruptly, her hair shifting like silk. “Addy.” She shows me her teeth, and I feel like punching her because they’re so damn perfect.

“Addy,” I amend, starting to talk through my teeth in an attempt to remain civil. “I’m more of a loner kind of person, so if you could just?—”

“Don’t be such a fucking grouch,” Addy says, rolling her eyes. She rummages in the pocket of her gold-trimmed blazer and pulls out a joint. “Not a lot of people around here smoke, and you kinda look like you might, so?—”

I lift my hand, and she stops talking. “Addy? I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

“You’re obviously not a morning person, are ya?” Addy says, her words punctuated with puffs of smoke.

We’re in Addy’s car—a cute little sportster that probably costs more than my mother’s life insurance policy will pay out—with the windows wound up and our minds melting down.

I stare at her, and then burst out laughing. “It’s that obvious?”

“Duh,” Addy says with another exaggerated roll of her eyes. “You should come with a warning label.”

“Yeah…sorry,” I mumble around the joint. “It’s been a short, yetveryshitty morning. Week, actually.”

I get ready to tell her to fuck off, knowing she’s going to ask what happened, but instead she waves her hand in the air between us.

“So be glad it’s over, and let’s get our asses inside before they lock us out.”

“They lock kids out?” I turn to stare ahead at the school building. “For real?”

Addy laughs as she kicks open her door. “You don’t know the half of it. Come on, punk.”

Chapter Five

Briar

Dylan, Zak, and Marcus are lounging in our regular spot by the front steps of the school when I arrive a few minutes before the first bell rings.

I pull my Mustang into my parking spot. It’s always open; no one dares to park here anymore. Marcus steps closer, toking at his slim, silver vape as he sticks out his hand to shake mine.

Dylan yells out, “You cut yourself shaving or something?”

Shit. I’d been blasting metal on my car stereo, and it had taken my mind off everything—including my run-in with last night’s little trespasser and the brazen memento she left me with. If Marcus had noticed it last night, he hadn’t commented on it but now he’s staring at it with a deep frown.

I grin at him, trying to ignore the aching cut on my cheek. “You know what happens when I look for trouble.”

“You find it?” Marcus says, hitting his vape again.

Zak and Dylan stick out hands for me to fist bump. Dylan even goes as far as to tip his white baseball cap at me, and laughs when I cock an eyebrow at him. Then Zak and Dylan go backto talking about last night’s game. We usually hang out on the weekends but with finals coming up, the three stooges’s parents had grounded them for the weekend.

Bad things happen when parents start talking to each other.

Marcus doesn’t join in on the conversation. He’s staring at nothing, one hand draped over his knee, the other toying with his vape when he’s not hitting it.

I click my fingers at Marcus, and he holds out his vape without looking. It could just be that he’s hungover, but I know him too well. He’s in a slump, and it’s gonna take concerted effort to get him out of it.

I draw deep, grimacing around its sweet taste, and take a long, slow scan of the kids streaming into school.

A pair of girls come closer. I recognize Addison Green from my AP Literature class, but I don’t know who the hell’s with?—

“Prince!”

I snap out of my trance, and throw Zak a scowl. The fucker knows better than to use my first name, but he doesn’t even have the decency to look abashed.

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