Page 209 of Tis the Season to be Bullied

My heart stops beating. A cold, dreadful certainty fills me like cement.

“Of us in the woods?” I manage in a too-tight voice.

“The woods?” Addison waves away the suggestion with an annoyed flick of her hand. “You on your knees,” she snaps. Then she lifts her chin, moves in beside me, and urges me forward with an arm around my waist. She snaps a large, pink bubble of gum and then throws a finger to the girls who were giggling behind me.

“Fuck them all,” she states in a loud voice.

In the overwhelming relief flooding me, I let Addy sweep me down the hall. I even manage a sickly smile, purely because the horrifying thought that Briar’s assault had been videotaped and aired to Gen Pop had almost given me a heart attack.

If Briar was pissed about me trying to tell a teacher this morning about what had happened…I can only imagine his fury if it was broadcast to the entire school.

I don’t think I’d survive the fallout.

“Let’s get something to eat,” Addy says.

“Yeah. Let’s.”

We each grab a plate of roast turkey sandwiches and French fries and take a seat close to the windows. Chuckles and the wordvirgin puppyfollow me, but Addison makes as if she doesn’t notice.

I don’t get it. What makes me so interesting to Briar? I mean, I’m a nobody. He’s obviously a somebody—by the time we get to our seats and I hazard a glance around, I see his Majesty taking a seat in the middle of the goddamn cafeteria.

Two benches have been pushed together to accommodate his subjects, who are all currently transfixed by whatever tall tales he’s lathering them with. Surprisingly, there aren’t any girls at his tables, just a bunch of jocks and wannabes.

Leaning on my elbow, I point at Briar’s table. “Him?”

Addy glances at Briar’s table and then back at me so fast I’m surprised she doesn’t get whiplash.

“Yeah?” she asks warily.

“You’re going to tell me what his story is. Now.”

Addy shifts as if the question makes her uncomfortable, and then gives a half-hearted shrug. “He’s bad news, Indi. Just forget?—”

“Bad news how?”

Addy purses her lips around her energy drink’s straw.

“Like, he may look like a fucking god, but he’s the spawn of Satan.” Addy lifts a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Prince Briar destroys everything he touches.”

I lean away from her. “Personal experience?”

Addy sniffs, throws a glare in Briar’s direction, and then turns her back to their bench. “He dated my friend, Jessica.”

I point at her energy drink, and she hesitates before handing it over. I take a sip, grimacing at how sweet it is, as she carries on talking.

“They’d been going out a few months already. Jess said he wanted to get serious, you know—sex?—but she wanted to take it slow.”

My eyes go to Briar. He looks serious as anything, eyebrows drawn together and staring at his cellphone as his subjects make high fives and give each other fist bumps around him.

“Guys do that,” I say dryly, thinking back to every single relationship I’ve ever had. It didn’t matter how many times you said ‘no’, or how creative you got in telling them, they’d keep pushing and pushing and pushing.

I was tempted more than once to lose my virginity just to get it over with. I mean, sex has to be fucking amazing if guys are so hard up about getting laid all the time, right? Obviously I’m missing out. But it was never the right time, the right place, the right guy.

Story of my life.

Damn, but she wasn’t kidding about Briar looking like a God. The day turned out warm, so he’s only wearing his school shirt and a slightly loosened tie. He has his sleeves rolled up to the middle of his lower arms, setting off his dark tan. As I watch, he rakes the fingers of one hand irritably through his long, sandy-blond hair, mussing it up even further.

He should be gloating about the prank he pulled. The one currently circulating through the entire school’s mobiles. Instead, he looks frustrated.

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