Page 5 of Diem

Someone laughs, another joins in until a chorus of snickers surrounds me. From the corner of my eye, I watch Diem. I’m tired of his beautiful smirk and ugly heart. I’m tired of my life. I’m even tired of my fucking self.

My throat closes to the misery I’ve been drowning under for years and when I shove to my feet, clutching my aching fingers, I push it behind the barrier with everything else that presses at my heart.

Making a show of ignoring Diem, I raise my chin and grab my bag from the floor as my peers trail off into an awkward silence.

Although my brother doesn’t have time to bother with me, he’s usually the one to intervene when I get myself into these situations. A small mercy I suppose, considering that he otherwise avoids me like the plague.

Unfortunately, he’s decided to take a specialty course only offered to geniuses and he’s out of town for six weeks.

Since an incident with Willow that no one will tell me about, Ramsay has been home with her, leaving me with Diem. It’s laughable her comments from before but I could hardly admit that Diem used me and dropped me like a bad habit after.

Whatever she sensed was clearly Diem’s disdain in the aftermath because the boy who was my hero is now the man who ignores my misery.

Swallowing painfully, I swipe my hands down my jeans and turn to leave.

Of course, because I thought it couldn’t get any worse, Hailey steps up and furrows her brows before her plush lips curl into a nasty smile. I’m sure she’s enjoying my humiliation.

For reasons I don’t truly understand, when Sabrina was ousted as queen bee, Hailey was elected to take her place. I guess the assholes who hated Sabrina never learned their lesson. Now it’s another pretty face hiding a blackened soul. Her constant need to bring people down blights her appearance in a way that clouds everything but her shitty personality.

I can see her gearing up for something because her stupid sneer trembles at the corners of her lips. I’m in for it now and unfortunately, my instinct is to look to Diem for safety, although I manage to resist.

Hiding a shiver behind my quivering chin, I raise it in defiance, and she snickers, “What’s the matter? You gonna cry?”

Her words batter my soul, and I look away, inevitably meeting Diem’s stare anyway. His mouth twitches before he raises a brow.

From the corner of my eye, I see Hailey’s head turn and before I can hide my wretched expression, she says, “Whatever, take your mom jeans and your pathetic crush and move on.”

My heart stops but I refuse to give her the satisfaction of a response. Although I do pray, she’s not speaking about things she shouldn’t fucking know.

Diem wouldn’t say anything, would he?

She glances at Diem with a grin, and I follow, studying his blank expression while for the four thousandth time, I wonder what I did to make him hate me so much. It was like a switch; he was a brilliant, beautiful beam of light and the next he was nothing but darkness.

The inevitable tears well but simultaneously, I fight a surge of anger. I don’t deserve his indifference and I’m not going to be the punching bag for a girl whose sole goal in life is how many dicks she can suck before she graduates. No more. I’m done. I’ve crawled through hell to be here and even if these assholes will never know the extent of it, they sure as shit don’t deserve my humiliation.

Picking up the pieces of my broken dignity, considering the douche shared my most painful secret, I raise a brow. My lips may be quivering, and my legs numb but when I open my mouth to respond and Jaxon appears, I deflate like a balloon.

“Maeve,” he says sidling up to Hailey. “You sniffing after McCafferty? Don’t waste your time on pencil dick. I’m here if you need servicing.”

While he grabs his junk, Diem’s brows slam over his eyes, and he turns to Jaxon. Why is Diem even here? And Hailey? I guess with Ollie and Ramsay gone, Diem has created new rules for the Sinners because before now, they would never have associated with the cheer team. Now, apparently, it’s a free for all.

“You—” Hailey says, also turning to Jaxon, who has a shit eating grin on his face.

It slides right off when he meets Diem’s scowl and I take a single step forward, curious to see what happens next. But someone blocks my view, and Hailey gets in my face, shrieking something that doesn’t resonate.

I brace for impact, except in the next breath, I’m caught from behind and picked up as Matt says over my head, “Back off.”

The panic constricting my chest turns to a burning ache, and I exhale quietly when he drops me to my feet and tugs my arm. “C’mon.”

Grateful for the intervention, I follow him when he pushes through the crowd. And when I glance back, Diem is still standing in the hall, a sea of students parting to go around him as though they’re the Red Sea or some shit.

Jaxon says something I can’t hear and Diem’s lip curls into a savage smile. What are they saying? Does it matter?

With a shiver, I turn away. I’m tired of Hailey and her ridiculous bullshit but unless I plan to do something about it…I’m stuck.

“You okay?” Matt says when we pause by the bathroom, and this is when the infernal fucking tears emerge.

“Yeah,” I manage, touching his arm with a solemn smile before ducking into the bathroom. Why can’t I laugh in the face of their taunts?

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