Page 49 of Behind the Bars

I missedher.

She’d been gone for six days, and I missed her more than I’d known I could miss a person. We’d emailed each other, but we were never really able to talk. When she was sleeping, I was awake; when she was going about her day, I was in bed. It was tough, learning about what was happening in her life after it had alreadyhappened.

School wasn’t any easier with Jasmine gone. If anything, it was worse. Katie did her best to watch my back, but Todd and his gang were back to harassing me full steamahead.

A new semester meant a new class schedule, and I was lucky enough to have Todd or one of his friends in five out of seven of myclasses.

The worst one was fifth period gym class, where I had three of them atonce.

“You think you can just get away with breaking my nose, freak?” Todd hissed behind me as I sat in the locker room while two of his followers held me down. “Now that your whore girlfriend is gone, you don’t have any kind of pussy to protect you,” he said, spitting atme.

I didn’t say anything back to him, because words neverworked.

“Just wait for it, sunshine. You’re going to get what’s coming to you. But, it’s kind of sad now. Now that I can’t fuck your whore anymore, I’m gonna need someone new.” He smirked. “I mean, your sister has a great rack, and let’s be honest, everyone’s already seen those titties, so I might as well see what they taste like,too.”

My hands formed fists, and I leaped up, wanting to slug him, but his friends held medown.

I’m not strongenough.

I’m not strongenough.

“If yo-you t-touch her!” I warned, and they alllaughed.

“I-I-If I to-to-touch herwhat?” Todd mocked me. “I’m gonna touch her all right. I’m gonna touch every inch of her, and then I’m going to kick your ass for my nose, loser. You’ll never see it coming. Your life is officially a ticking time bomb, and I’m going to destroyyou.”

I tried again to get loose from the jerks’ grips, but Icouldn’t.

I’m not strongenough.

I’m not strongenough.

“Let him go, guys,” Todd ordered, and the two pushed me backward on the bench, making my head slam against thelockers.

My mind was spinning, and I didn’t have a clue what to do, how to protect my sister, how to make sure nothing happened to her. If anything happened to her, I’d never forgive myself. If anyone touchedher…

I couldn’t stop my skin from crawling as I paced and pushed my glasses up my nose. There was only one thing I could do, and I didn’t care if it made me a loser, didn’t care if it made me look weak. The only thing I cared about was protecting my sister, which meant going straight to mymom.

If there was anyone who could fix this, it was her, and it didn’t take long for her to swoop rightin.

A few days later, Mom, Katie, and I sat in the principal’s office with Todd and his parents beside us. Katie hadn’t looked up once, and my hands fiddled in mylap.

“You do know that this is a big allegation, Mrs. Adams,” Principal Williams warned, sitting back in his chair. “Saying Todd would do something likethis—”

“I wouldn’t!” Todd insisted, looking innocent as ever. “I would never do anything like that to agirl.”

Jesus. He should’ve really considered becoming an actor. If I hadn’t known he was the devil, I would’ve believed thejerk.

Katie huffed, rolling her eyes. Mom was livid. Her fingers tapped against the arms of the chair. “There has to be something that can be done about this, some kind of action that can be taken against him. I don’t feel comfortable having my daughter walking the same halls as this boy, and you shouldn’t either. Frankly, you should be concerned about all of your female students’ safety!” shebarked.

“This is absurd,” Mr. Clause groaned, rolling his eyes. “I can’t believe I was pulled out of work for something so pointless. Todd hasn’t even doneanything.”

“He threatened to rape my daughter!” Mom shouted, ten seconds past pissed off. “If you think that’s absurd and not worthy of some form of discipline, then that’s terrifying, to say theleast.”

“Oh, come on. Are we not going to address the elephant in the room?” Mrs. Clause said, gesturing toward Katie. “Can we really take anything to heart when it’s about thisgirl?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Momasked.

My stomach twisted in knots, and Katie’s eyes widened withfear.

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