Page 8 of The Venom We Bleed

I rip open my backpack, yank out a worn library book, and flip it open. The words on the page blur in front of my eyes as the talking behind me grows louder. They’re not even bothering to whisper anymore. Instead, they're just outright speculating.

Was she in on it?

Did she know he was stealing money from the town?

Did she laugh when people lost their homes?

A part of me wants to stand up and scream at them all. Of course, I wasn’t in on it. If I was, did they honestly think I’d be here now? And no, people losing their homes isn’t funny—not even to me.

I’m not sure how much time has passed when a hand slams down on the end of the table I’m sitting at. Slowly, I lift my head. The girl standing at the end of the table looks like everything my mother would hate. Her bleach blonde hair is dark at the roots from lack of upkeep and her dark eyes are lined all the way around with black liner. She glares at me as two of her friends hover behind her with their arms folded and their own expressions of loathing evident.

I sigh. “Listen,” I start, “before you do anything, just know, I’m not here to fight.”

“Why are you here then?” she demands. “You don’t fucking belong here.”

Because dropping out of school isn’t an option and I can’t afford Silverwood Prep anymore. I don’t say as much though and simply hold up my hands in the universal ‘I don’t want any trouble’ gesture.

“I’m just here to graduate like everyone else.”

“You think you have a right to be here?” She scoffs and removes her hand from the table, rounding it to move towards me.

Irritation slithers through my veins. Looks like all of my hopes and dreams of managing to get through this day with my head down are dying right here … and first period hasn’t even started yet.Go me.

I rise up from my seat as she stops in front of me. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let her hover over me and put me in a vulnerable position—not when I can see the barely repressed anger shaking through her whole body. She’s skinnier than me, but she’s got years at Silverwood Public—so I can’t take anything for granted. I open my mouth to tell her she needs to walk away when she rears back and spits in my face. A wad of saliva lands on my cheek and then slides down my jaw.

I blink, frozen for a brief second. Reaching up, I touch my cheek, feeling the wetness there. I wipe it off with the back of my hand and stare down at the sheen on my skin.So. Fucking. Gross.

With a sigh, I shake my head. “I really wish you hadn’t done that.”

“Yeah?” Her friends hurry to join her at her back. “What are you going to do about it?”

In my periphery, I see the teachers from before, just as locked onto this dramatic scene as every fucking body else in the cafeteria. They haven’t stopped what they know is coming, though.

Why?

Because they hate me too.

Everyone hates Juliet Donovan—the girl whose dad embezzled millions and ruined thousands of lives. So, what’s a little catfight in the school cafeteria going to do? It’ll give them some semblance of control, as if being cruel to a Donovan will somehow make them feel better about their own sad sack shitty lives.

I wanted to avoid this as much as I could, but now I know I was right to prepare. They think the pretty little prep princess can’t fight and if they continue to think that, then people are going to be coming after me all year.

No one can be trusted. Not even him. Not anymore.

“Listen,” I say, lowering my voice, “just walk the fuck away. Walk away and let it go.”

Internally, I’m shaking. Enraged. Disgusted. I want to scrub my skin clean of her saliva. I want to shove this bitch to the floor and stomp her into submission. I hold it back. I hold it all back—the rage, the injustice, the cruelty that’s bubbling up beneath my flesh.

“Make. Me,” the girl says right before she pulls her fist back and slams it into my face.

First day of school and I’m already taking punches like a pro. My head snaps back, but I don’t stumble. All of Cory’s training and advice is about to come in handy, I realize. For some reason, a small fissure of glee shoots up my spine, filling my bloodstream with adrenaline.

I really hadn’t been hoping for this. I know that for a fact. Yet, I also recognize that after three months of hiding and being treated like the town pariah, I’ve been wanting something to take out all of my rage on. Something that isn’t a punching bag or a sparring partner that doesn’t hate me. Too bad for this bitch, it’s about to be her.

I reach up and run a finger under the side of my nose and it comes away wet with my blood.

“Would you take a good look at that. Looks like the silverbloods of Silverwood bleed red like the rest of us peasants,” the girl taunts, and at her back, her minions cackle. “Why don’t you do everyone a favor and just leave? No one wants you here. S’not like you deserve to even breathe the same air we do after what your family did to this town.”

As expected, the teachers don’t do or say shit. They just watch. Useless bunch of assholes. The girl pushes against my chest hard enough to send me back into the table. The backs of my calves slam into the attached stools, but I remain standing. I finish wiping away the blood with the back of my hand and take a deep breath, clenching my fists at my sides.

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