Page 393 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

To rectify this, I don’t attend my last class for the first time since I was a freshman. Ms. Farren has us catching up on our required reading because she always claims she has a migraine,and I’m almost done withThe Scarlet Letter, so I don’t see any reason why I can’t skip class.

I just want to make sure Harper is in her social sciences class where she belongs. Since we don’t have any classes together and I only know a handful of seniors who can spy on her for me without asking too many questions, this operation needs a more personal touch.

Thankfully Cinderhart’s social sciences teacher always leaves the door open, and when I walk past I can easily scan the inside.

Harper’s not there.

As I’m scouring the rest of the school, I run into Eliza Jackson, head of the Cinderhart Darlings cheerleading squad. If there’s one person who’ll know where to find my stepsister, it’s her. She’s one of the integral gears in Cinderhart High’s rumor mill—which means she always knows what’s going on.

She flips her blond ponytail over her shoulder when she notices me coming over, but there’s a touch of hesitation in her brown eyes when she sees my expression. The two girls standing with her scatter, and it looks like she’ll be tempted to follow suit.

The squad is in their silver and black cheerleading outfits, just like me and the rest of the football team are wearing our letterman jackets. It’s as much a part of our Friday night pre-game rituals as the hotdogs and cherry soda.

Eliza pushes out her chest, but more to project confidence than it is to put her tits on display. She’s on the swim team and runs track, so her body is slender and strong rather than curvy.

I can’t believe I used to want to date her. She looks so catty and vapid, and I can’t figure out why, but the thought of putting my dick in her makes my balls retract.

She looks a little flabbergasted when I snap out, “Have you seen Harper?”

Was she expecting me to ask her to the game tonight?

“Uh...yeah.” She glances aside and shifts her shoulders like she doesn’t want to be here anymore. “Think I saw her by the bleachers.”

The stadium is off-limits during school hours. Too many hideaways where kids can smoke weed or feel each other up. And I guess the janitor was getting sick of picking up used condoms.

“She with someone?”

Eliza quirks a perfectly stenciled eyebrow at me. “Hang on, let me check the camera feed.”

We stare at each other for a beat, and then I tear away from her with a muted growl. Before I’ve gone a yard, she calls out, “Tell her she still owes Talia!”

What the fuck is she talking about?

Forget it. If Harper’s bunking off school to get laid behind the bleachers it’s not my fucking problem.

Itshouldn’tbe.

But instead of heading for the parking lot, I push my way through the guy’s locker room and out to the stadium, hoping Eliza’s intel is wrong because I have no fucking clue what I’d do if I found my stepsister with someone else.

When I turn the corner and see Harper leaning against the steel struts at the back corner of the bleachers, my body goes tight. Even though she’s alone, it’s like someone connects a live wire directly to my brain, because my vision goes white.

I’m barely conscious that I’m moving forward. Barely aware that I’m grabbing Harper’s neck and wrenching her around to face me. She screams, the sound only dropping marginally when she recognizes me.

“Jude?”

“The fuck are you doing here?” But she doesn’t get a chance to answer because a quick scan reveals a half-pint of vodka that fell to the grass when I grabbed her.

“The fuck is this?” I kick it, sending it crashing into one of the metal struts where it explodes on impact. Harper lets out a little gasp, but in a second she’s glaring up at me.

And swaying.

Is she...no.

Is my stepsisterdrunk?

I grab her elbow, wrenching her forward, taking a whiff. But instead of the boozy stench I expected, I just get a nose full of her candy-scented shampoo.

But I’m not wrong. I can’t be. She wasn’t babysitting this bottle for someone else. Harper must have been drinking it. Unless she was busy pouring it into her water bottle or something. She has a pink one that she takes to school every day. I thought nothing of it...until now.

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