Page 2 of Playing Dirty

Camilla nudges me in the ribs. “Adrianna?”

“What?”

She shakes her head. “I said we’ll have to find her as soon as this is over.”

I nod in response. “Sure.” I glance back at Coach Daniels to find that he’s still staring at me, making my stomach twist with nausea. Forcing my eyes away from him, I focus on Principal Byrne, but I can hardly hear a word he’s saying.

Coach always sets his sights on one or two senior students a year to have his way with, and I don’t like the way he’s looking at me.

The mere thought of him touching me makes me sick to the stomach, no matter how gorgeous he is.

Finally, Byrne wraps up the welcome back speech, and it feels like my skin is on fire. The entire time, Coach watched me like a dog staring at a bone. A shudder begins at the top of my spine at the thought of Coach Daniels propositioning me. He may be sinfully gorgeous, but there’s no way in hell I’d let a man like him take my virginity.

Camilla hooks her arm with mine. “Come on, let’s find Nat. She’s got to be here somewhere.”

I nod and glance one last time in Coach’s direction to find his eyes are finally elsewhere as he speaks with the principal. Following Camilla, I try to forget the way Coach was looking at me. Perhaps it was a coincidence. Only time will tell.

We walk out of the hall and search the corridors, until finally we see Nat coming out of Nitkin’s classroom.

“Nat!” Camilla shouts her name.

Her cheeks are flushed as she turns to face us.

“You missed the welcome back assembly. Where were you?” Camilla asks.

“Yeah, I text you.”

Nat’s throat bobs as she swallows. “Morales strikes again. He locked me in Nitkin’s classroom.”

Camilla balls her fists. “Bastard.”

I shake my head. “What did he want this time?”

Nat’s cheeks darken. “I honestly don’t know, other than forcing me to miss the welcome back assembly.”

Camilla frowns. “I didn’t see him in it either.”

Nat shrugs. “Maybe he slipped in late at the back?”

I don’t believe what Nat is saying. There’s something that she’s leaving out from her story, but I don’t question her. Nat can be ridiculously stubborn. If she doesn’t want to tell us the full story, she won’t.

“Fair enough.” I check my rota. “We’ve all got gym first, right?”

Nat nods.

“Yeah,” Camilla says, glancing at her watch. “And we’re going to be late.”

I stop in front of my locker next to Nat’s, punching in the combination. “At least Coach is pretty chilled out about people being late.”

We both grab our bags and then make a stop at Camilla’s locker to get hers.

We are five minutes late for gym when we get to the changing room and quickly get changed, rushing into the gym.

Coach notices us the moment we enter and crosses his arms. “Good of you to turn up, girls.” His eyes land on me and they linger for too long, making a shiver skate down my spine. I don’t know if I’m being paranoid, or if he’s actually looking at me as I’m his next conquest, but he’ll be disappointed if it’s the latter. There’s no way I’d sleep with that man.

“Adrianna, since there’s an odd number of students, you’ll be my partner today.” He gestures to stand in front of him with the two tennis rackets in his hands. “Tennis this month. How do you like your chances?” The smirk on his face is irritating as I take my position, swiping a racket out of his hand.

He is without a doubt the cockiest person I have ever met. “I think they’re pretty good, since I took tennis lessons from three years old.” I snatch the racket from his hand. “You should be worried.”

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