Page 9 of Every Broken Thing

“I’d rather fuck a cactus,” I muttered, barely noticing the few responding chuckles as I caught sight of Eric Boyt.

His face was bruised, the area around his eyes a deep purple like a raccoon, and he wore several bandage strips on his busted nose. No wonder he needed a cover story. It was impossible not to notice his stupid, broken face. Evil pleasure surged through me at the sight.

Fingers wrapped around my wrist, and I jumped, jerking my arm away as I refocused on the table. Kim matched my startled jolt, and I took a deep breath, willing my heart to stop racing. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

“Silas, are you okay?” she asked, and I nodded past the panic inching its way up my throat.

Kim was nice, probably the closest thing I had to an honest-to-God friend, but she was too observant for her own good. She rested her hand on mine, and though it was an attempt at support, her touch made me cringe.

“He’s not worth getting suspended over, so whatever revenge plan you have cooking up, I strongly advise against it.” She patted the back of my hand. “No one believes him anyway.”

“He’s full of shit,” Jordan agreed as Harris and Caroline nodded along. “No one would touch him with a ten-foot pole.”

Everyone laughed, and they spent several minutes verbally abusing him in hushed tones. It was nice having people on my side, though they talked out of their asses. Whether most of the students believed him or not, they would still talk about it. Every person in this school was a gossip whore, and I was in for weeks of torment for this.

“Asshole alert,” Kim warned, and I braced myself as several guys from Boyt’s usual lunch table walked past us.

“So it begins,” I muttered, groaning inwardly. Things were about to get unpleasant.

“Yo, Brigs!” Jake Thompson called out as he swaggered past. “When are you gonna beg to suck my cock? I’m feeling left out.”

Without missing a beat, I gave him a sugar-sweet smile. “Aw, sorry, Thompson, but I only suck dicks I don’t need a magnifying glass to find.”

Jake’s face flushed as the surrounding students laughed. To add fuel to the fire, I sent him a flirty wink and leaned back in my chair with a smug smirk.

“Better watch that mouth of yours, or it’s gonna get you into trouble someday.”

“Oh, I’m so scared! I’m shaking in my homosexual boots.”

Sneering in disgust, Jake moved on without offering a comeback, and his lackeys followed diligently behind him, tossing a few stereotypical insults my way as they went.

“Show’s over!” I barked at the students still gawking at me. “Don’t they have better things to do than stick their noses into my business?”

Caroline patted my shoulder as Kim grimaced in sympathy then shrugged with a flippant, “People are assholes.”

I snorted humorlessly. Wasn’t that the understatement of the century?

Thankfully, the conversation shifted away from me and the newest rumor. I pinched the bridge of my nose as I fought off a headache. I was always anxious to hear the new stories being spread about me, most of them ridiculous enough it was easy to laugh them off. But this one hit too close to home.

It wasn’t hard to shake off a stupid story about me blowing the whole soccer team on a dare or letting the principal fuck me to keep me from getting expelled. It was gross that complete strangers acted like they knew more about my love life than I did. Or rather, lack of love life, as the case definitely was.

According to the school’s rumor mill, I was quite the active slut, desperate for every and all dicks I could get my hands or mouth on. Odd, seeing as my sexual history consisted of my right hand and a total of one boy.

But it didn’t matter because the rumors weren’t true, and I didn’t give two shits about what these hypocritical socialites said about me. I would be graduating this year, and hopefully leaving for a college far away from here. I would never see them again, and silly rumors about me selling sex for money wouldn’t matter. Itdidn’tmatter. At least, I told myself that. Most of the time, I believed it.

“Psst,” Kim hissed, and I blinked away the depressing thoughts and angled my head in her direction.

Her dark eyes danced with mirth as she sing-songed, “Someone has a secret admirer.”

“What?”

Pointing behind me, she barely smothered her excited smile. “Behind you. Swimmers’ table.” Dread flooded my gut. “Oh, he’s cute, Silas. Isn’t he the new diver?”

“Yeah, that’s him.” Harris checked too, nodding as he brushed his brown hair from his forehead. “My cousin’s dating one of the swimmers. Apparently, he’s really good. Everyone hopes he’ll carry the team to State this year.”

“Oh my God, Kim, he is cute!” Caroline gushed, ignorant of Jordan’s frown behind his hipster glasses at her comment. “And he’s staring right at you, Silas.”

I buried my face in my hands. “Let’s get the whole table involved. Then we can all stare at him like he’s an animal in the zoo!”

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