Page 13 of Vendetta

I forced my feet to move, glad that they couldn’t spot me lurking in the darkness of the parking lot. I was halfway back to campus when my music paused, a call coming through from Olivia. I slid the phone and brought it up to my ear.

“Whatsup?” I asked by way of greeting.

“What are you and Bex doing on Saturday?”

“Not sure, I don’t think we’ve talked about doing anything in particular. Debbie has all of the shelter shifts covered, so I figured that I would stay in and catch up on some studying, or maybe binge watch some TV. Why?”

“Okay, so you know how Zayn and Kaptan have that wakeboarding boat that I was always on this summer? Well, they want to take it out one last time since it’s the last weekend that the weather will be nice enough! And I’m totally dragging you and Bex with me.”

I thought about it for a moment, ready to jump at the idea but hesitant about the close quarters that it would mean for Cashton and I.

“Who’s all coming?” I asked.

“Just our little group—We talked about keeping it pretty chill. So it would be you, me, Bex, TJ, Nate, Zayn, and Cashton most likely. Kaptan will be out of town on business for his dad, so he won’t be able to make it.”

Of course.

“I don’t know Liv, Cashton is close with Zayn, and I don’t want to intrude since he clearly doesn’t seem to want me around. Coming over to your house is one thing, but on Zayn’s boat, I don’t want to crowd him.”

“It’ll be fine, I promise! I don’t know what Cashton’s deal is, I still think you need to talk to him, and this could give you the perfect opportunity to do so. And either way, you’re my friend, and Cashton can get over it. Besides, Zayn is the one who just called and asked me to invite the both of you, and it’s his boat, so it’s his call!”

She wasn’t wrong, technically. If I wanted to keep spending time with the group, I’d have to get used to beingaround Cashton since he was clearly an integral part of their tight-knit circle. Still, I couldn’t shake the discomfort. Being disliked—especially for no apparent reason—was one of the worst feelings in the world to me. It gnawed at me, no matter how much I tried to push it aside. For now, I’d suck it up and pretend he wasn’t there. Hopefully one day he would come around.

“Okay, count us in.”

—

Saturday arrived faster than I expected. I’d aced my European Literature exam, which boosted my confidence, and I was finally starting to feel more comfortable in Chemistry thanks to Bexley’s help.

In Communications, Cashton and I had received details about our midterm project. Professor Lee had decided to assign class presentations instead of a written exam. The topic was entirely up to us, as long as it was something worthy of debate and could be supported by facts from reliable sources. Essentially, we were tasked with choosing a subject we were passionate about and building a compelling case for it.

I had debated my options for a bit, eventually deciding on BSL, standing for Breed Specific Legislation. There wasn’t much that I felt passionate about these days, but I had come across a few stories on social media that had sparked the idea.

Basically, certain states in the US banned certain breeds that they deemed too dangerous to own as pets. And though I wasn’t a dog expert, I stood firm in my beliefs that dogs such as Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and so on, were a product of how theywere raised and trained, and didn’t deserve to be banned or put down just based on their breeds.

After starting some preliminary research, I even discovered that Pit Bulls aren’t even technically an official breed, they were made up of three or more different breeds, explaining why they all have slightly different appearances. This also meant that some of the states with these laws decided to essentially discriminate against these dogs because they ‘look like a Pit Bull’. The whole thing had lit a fire into me the more I had looked into it, and I was ecstatic about the opportunity to stand up in front of my classmates and bring some awareness to a situation that they might not know about.

I had been deep into a discussion on the matter with Bexley, telling her all that I had discovered in my research when the text from Olivia had come through to let us know that they were here to pick us up.

Knowing I would hopefully be trying my shot at wakeboarding today, I had opted for more of a sporty bikini, still cute but minus the little bow ties on either side of the bottoms and the top to lessen the chances of coming undone if I had a bad spill. The pastel pink set was made up of a simple top and bottom, showing just enough under-boob and cheeks to still look a little bit sexy.

Bexley had borrowed another swimsuit of mine, this time going for a royal blue one-piece that looked stunning on her model-esque form and pale skin, contrasting beautifully with her strawberry red hair and making her locks look even brighter.

The sun beat down on us, and I felt a burn bloom across my shoulders. The ball cap I had adorned kept my face shielded, and the spray of the lake water every time we hit a wave acted asa cool reprieve, along with the chilled seltzer currently in my hand.

Bexley sat to my right in the back of the boat, Olivia across from us recording TJ as he flipped and showed off his tricks, Zayn driving the boat and Nate and Cashton sitting on the back platform ready to grab the rope if needed.

Everything was going great so far, and I had managed to keep my distance from Cashton as he was mostly preoccupied with his friends and wakeboarding himself. It had taken everything in me to not drool at the sight of him jumping the waves, throwing out some insane tricks that I couldn’t even imagine attempting, his tan skin dripping with droplets of water once he had climbed back onto the boat. Instead, I focused on the girls, Bexley talking over the blaring music about the latest book that Olivia had recommended where apparently some guy stalked a woman, killed her abuser, and proceeded to fuck her in the pool of blood. I mean, I wasn’t one to judge. I can’t say that I had read anything quite on that level but I was willing to give anything a try.

Nate turned from his position sitting on the rear platform, lifting a hand in the air in a gesture to ask for another beer, his long brown hair blown back by the wind. I got up and grabbed a cold one from the cooler, tossing it to him as he caught it mid-air. Cashton turned, and figuring that he might need one too, I extended a tiny olive branch by yelling over the music “Cashton, need one too?”

It was such a simple thing to ask but my heart raced none the less, anticipating how this would play out. But to no surprise, he didn’t as much as acknowledge me, giving me hisback as he returned to his conversation with Nate. I stood there looking like an idiot, and my heart sank to my stomach.

The interaction didn’t go unnoticed, I realized, as I turned to find Bexley and Olivia watching me with a look of pity in their eyes. Wonderful.

“I’m sorry babes, I really don’t know what his problem is. He’s never usually like this. I can try talking to him if that helps? I don’t typically see him much throughout the week so I haven’t gotten the chance yet, but I did ask TJ and he has no idea either. You know how guys are, though, I doubt they talk about that kind of stuff.” Olivia said, placing her hand on my knee in consolation.

“It’s fine” I lied, “I probably need to just grow a pair and talk to him myself.” I still hadn’t told them that I had already tried to do so and how miserably it had failed. A part of me was too embarrassed to say anything, and the last thing I needed was to relive the altercation. I felt as though if I didn’t say anything, I could pretend it never happened.

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