Page 14 of The Pawn

As I turn the corner, walking beneath the shade of the live oak trees, I hear a voice. It's sharp and high pitched; a girl, crying out in frustration. She makes a quiet sobbing noise.

"Just get it back!"

As the tree trunks around me part, I see her: short, blonde, curvy for a girl our age. She jumping up towards the tree branch far above her head, reaching with the tips of her fingers towards a bag looped around the branch—and failing.

"This isn't funny," she snaps to someone I can't see, hidden behind a tree trunk near me. I pause, wondering if I should go back to the path. "I've never done anything to deserve this."

"That isn't true, though, is it?" A boy strolls into view, tall and lean, blonde hair dappled with sunlight filtering through the thick branches overhead. "You've done plenty to deserve this,Chrissy.Or should I call you by your real name?"

I stare at him, torn between my two options for another reason entirely now.

The boy is Cole Masterson.

And he's bullying a girl right in front of me.

Chapter 7

Blue eyes. Chiseled cheekbones. A kilowatt smile. I've seen Cole Masterson in plenty of photographs, just like the other Elites.

This is different.

He's not smiling now.

"That was a long time ago." The girl, Chrissy, is glaring at Cole now, her voice no longer high pitched. "You should really learn to move on and forget, Cole. Grudges give you wrinkles."

"What about you?" He paces close to her, his height twice as menacing in the shade of the thick old trees. "You changed your name, your clothes, your hair—even your nose, by the looks of it now. All to try to run away from what you did. You know what they call that, Chrissy?"

"A makeover," she snaps.

"Lying." He reaches out and tugs on a strand of her bleach blonde hair. "And I don't abide by liars, you little bitch. So your purse stays in that tree until you find someone who can take it down."

I don't even think.

The words just come out of my mouth without bothering to ask my brain if they're wise.

"I'll do it."

Their heads both whirl towards me, faces comedically shocked. Chrissy takes the moment to break away from Cole's touch and back up, still glaring sullenly at him.

"Who's this now?" Cocking his head at me, the leader of the Elites drags his brutal green eyes up and down my body, his gaze like fingers trawling through my clothes. "I don't believe we've met before, which means you must be new here. Which means you don't know the rules."

"I know you wouldn't be doing this where no one can see if itweren'tagainst the rules." I dare to take a step forward, another, the fire of my anger raging inside me like a living thing. "I may not have read the Coleridge Academy handbook cover to cover, but I'm willing to bet there's something in there about not bullying your fellow students. Or taking their stuff. You seem to have ticked both boxes."

"So youarenew here." Cole smirks at me, his handsome face twisted up by the cruelty of his crooked smile. "We haven't met. I'm Cole Masterson. Around here, I do what I want—especially to bitches like this one."

I'm opening my mouth to say something furious in response when Chrissy cuts in. "Leave her alone. She has nothing to do with this."

"She does if she's stepping in." Cole cuts his eyes at me. "So, what'll it be, new girl? Are you getting yourself involved in other people's business?"

I look up at the bag, dangling from the branches. "I can get it."

"If you do," Cole warns, "I'll make you regret it."

Staring him down, I say, "Go ahead. There's nothing you can do to me that I can't survive."

I've lost everything already.

I have nothing more that matters enough to worry about losing.

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