Page 35 of I Hate You More

I let out a groan. “This isn’t funny. Everyone at school is considering how I earn my pocket money right now. What am I going to do?”

Tessa rubbed my back to comfort me. “I think we just have to wait for this to blow over. Everyone knows there’s no way you’d actually work as a stripper.”

“Just keep your head down, and ignore everyone,” Mia added. “I’m sure the worst is already over.”

I nodded and let out a breath, desperately hoping they were right.

11

Ally

My friends could not have been morewrong. They said the worst was over, but the worst hadn’t even begun.

I decided to brave the rest of the day at school, but I immediately regretted the decision when lunch arrived. I walked into the cafeteria with Mia and Tessa at my side, and the moment we entered, I felt every eye in the room watching me. It was like I’d walked into a den of hungry lions and I was their prey.

I wrapped my arms around my body as the three of us made our way across the room to the lunch line. I was halfway across the large hall when a set of speakers started blasting a song through the room, and the whole cafeteria erupted in cheers and whistles.

The rhythmic bass of the music was deep and gritty, and the lyrics quickly became sexual and suggestive. I recognized the song from one of the striptease scenes in the movieMagic Mike.

If anyone wasn’t watching me already, they certainly were now, and Tessa and Mia huddled in close to me as the room descended into an uproar. I tried to work out where the music was coming from and zeroed in on Chase’s table. His blue eyes were hard and the color of steel as he stared back at me. He had one eyebrow raised as if he was daring me to break down in front of the whole school.

There was no way I was giving him the satisfaction though. I wasn’t going to let any one of the idiots jeering at me from the safety of their lunch tables win this battle.

“Let’s get out of here,” Mia said, gently touching my arm.

I shook my head. These people had been ridiculing me all day. They’d laughed at me and mocked me with their cutting words and tried to use a stupid prank to make me feel small and unworthy. I’d never been ashamed of my dancing before, and I wasn’t going to allow these people to make me feel embarrassed of it now. Dancing had always been an expression of my emotions, and I refused to let these kids morph it into something dark and twisted. I might not have a game plan, but this was one fight I wasn’t going to lose.

I stormed toward Chase’s table, my friends quickly following after me. My blood was pulsing with adrenaline and fear as I weaved my way through the packed cafeteria, ignoring the wolf whistles of students as I passed. I was a girl who lived her every moment by the plans she’d made in her diary. I didn’t like to go off script or make waves, but when someone disturbed my tranquil waters, they better believe I’d be coming for them like a tsunami.

Chase’s stare grew more intense as I came closer, and he seemed almost angry with me for not fleeing from the room. Thankfully, I knew my brother was at football training, or he’d be sitting right next to his best friend, and I felt somewhat braver without him there.

I placed my hands on my hips as I came to stand at the end of Chase’s table. “Nice song,” I said. I was practically shaking, but I somehow managed to appear confident.

“I hear it’s your opening number,” Jenna said, and my gaze darted in her direction. She was staring at me with a superior look in her eyes, and I got the feeling she was the one who had put the music on.

So, Chase had gotten his little girlfriend to do his dirty work for him. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. She kept staring at me like she was waiting for me to object or collapse into floods of tears at any moment. But Jenna had underestimated me. They both had.

I gave Jenna a sly smile. “Even if Iwasactually a stripper, this wouldn’t be my opening number. But I must admit, I can never stop myself from dancing when I hear it.” Without another word, I slowly climbed onto the table. My stomach fluttered with nerves as I considered what I was doing. Every eye in the room was focused on me, but my anger and irritation with the kids around me spurred me on.

As I stood tall on the table, the jeers in the cafeteria quieted, and the faces looking up at me from the seats around the table dropped with surprise. Chase and Jenna both seemed particularly horrified by my refusal to back down, but their reactions only made me feel braver. Any triumph they might have felt was completely shattered when I started dancing to some of the moves from the song.

Yes, I was guilty of having taught them to myself after seeing the movie—with a few alterations. I didn’t get nearly as down and dirty as Channing Tatum did on the screen, but I was dancing suggestively enough that there was no doubt I was imitating the movie.

The noise levels in the room slowly started to increase again as claps filled the air and people started shouting my name in support. Like a forest catching fire, the cheers of encouragement gained quick momentum until the entire cafeteria was going wild. Guys were whistling, and girls were cheering, and the sound of them chanting my name became even louder than the music.

I’d barely gotten a minute into the routine when I felt a pair of arms around my waist. I gasped as I was flung over someone’s shoulder. The cafeteria erupted in boos, but as I was carried farther and farther away from the table, the chants of my name returned even louder than before.

“What are you doing?” I shouted. I couldn’t see my captor’s face, but I could tell from the dark blue T-shirt that Chase had grabbed me and was hauling me out of the cafeteria.

He didn’t say a word in response, but I simply smiled and waved to passersby as I was escorted from the room.

It wasn’t until we were out in the hallway that he let me down. Chase didn’t seem in a rush as he eased me off his shoulder, and my skin prickled as my body roughly brushed against his. Our closeness sent a strange and unexpected thrill through my body, and I was surprised by how much I liked it. His hands lingered on my waist, and as I looked up into his troubled eyes, I felt that powerful electric feeling course through me once more. His gaze was magnetic, and as we silently stared at each other, I had to wonder: did he feel the same thing too?

I quickly shook my head and stepped out of his grasp. What was I thinking? I knew Chase hated me, and that fact was even clearer after his actions today.

“Is this our thing now?” I asked. “You throwing me over your shoulder…”

He ignored my question. “What was that in there?” His voice was filled with accusation—like I was the one who had done something wrong.

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