"Harrison," Kyle parroted mockingly. "Aww, are you gonna cry?"
For a split second, I thought I had seen a flicker of regret on Harrison's face. But whatever it was, it didn't last long. His mouth lifted again in a sneer.
"C'mon, guys," he called out, shouldering past me so abruptly that I spun and lost my footing. "Let's go see if Jessica and Dee wanna hang out."
I watched, helpless with my hands in the dirt, as Harrison stood on my beloved copy ofEmmaand strolled away without a backward glance. Kyle and James quickly followed behind him.
"Sorry, Grace," James whispered, careful not to stand on my belongings. At least James had a conscience, as cowardly as it was. However, he, too, would be lost to the cutthroat world of high school peer pressure and popularity.
Unfortunately, I didn't wait until I was home to cry.
"Hey, you rolling your eyes at me? Oh, she thinks she's better than us."
Now, here I was. Senior year. On track to graduate with honors and class Valedictorian. Partial scholarship secured to UC Berkeley. Harrison and Co's destructive slurs and shitty behavior no longer affected me. Years of verbal and sometimes physical abuse at the hands of his gaggle of female fans caused a hard shell to form.
I no longer sat there meekly, holding in the tears, head bent, twisting my fingers in anxiousness and trying so hard to appear invisible to them.
Now, I held my head high and gave as good as I got. I was an intelligent young woman who was going places in life. Once I graduated high school, I was off on a road trip with my bestie, Amelia, and then a pit stop back to Hicksville, Kentucky, to pack my bags and fly out to California. I only planned to return for family emergencies, weddings, funerals, and the odd holidays.
Goodbye, Harrison. Goodbye, snooty, bitchy cheerleaders who made it their life's mission to wreak havoc on those they deemed beneath them.
"She does think she's better than us," Jessica, Leader of the Bitches, laughed.
The leggy blonde cheer captain sidled up to Harrison as he approached me. Her eyes danced in delight and anticipation for what Harrison would do. They were all a bunch of fucking sheep.
"Is that right, nerd"?
God, could they at least come up with a better nickname for me? I was fucking proud to be a nerd. My nerdiness got me a 4.0 GPA and a partial ride to college. Suck on that.
I was confident enough to brag about my accomplishments, but I didn't need to. It was no secret that I was smart—Bill Gates smart, as my brother, Teddy, liked to proudly proclaim. Even though I constantly nagged at him that if he insisted on comparing me to an intelligent figure in history, he should at least pick a woman.
Instead of answering the duo, I threw my head back and stared unflinchingly at Harrison's annoyingly handsome face.
His brown eyes darkened and roamed over my features. Over the course of our Junior year and now into our Senior year, I noticed Harrison frequently staring at me. He tried to be subtle about it, but I always seemed to catch his eyes peering appreciatively at my face or figure before shifting away. His brow would furrow as if annoyed at himself, and a red stain would spread over his cheeks.
My best friend, Amelia, rolled her eyes when I casually mentioned this observation.
"Um…have you seen you?" She waved her arm up and down my body.
"You grew legs and boobs. And with your dark hair and blue eyes…shit, if I weren't so in love with Liam, I would do you."
I had rolled my eyes at her and shoved her away in jest.
She tapped her mouth as she stared at my baggy jeans. "I do wish you would dress to your figure, though," she continued. "You have such gorgeous legs, and you hide that beautiful face under a mass of bangs."
So yes, while I knew I had developed and discovered the joys of plucking, I still didn't see myself as aesthetically pleasing.
I arched a brow at Harrison, clutching my books closer to my chest. I still hadn't forgotten that he ruined my copy ofEmma. I had to carefully wipe it down and air it out for two days. Even now, the pages were stiff.
"You wanna take a picture, Harrison, or have the many knocks to your head rendered you stupid? Do I need to shut you off and turn you on again?" My cheeks blushed at the double entendre. Damn it.
Jessica laughed heartily. Well, cackling was more like it. "You wish, loser. Like Harrison would ever wanna look at you. He doesn't want to puke!"
I shifted my gaze to Jessica. No longer did I see a beautiful, confident young girl who took pleasure in bullying. She used to intimidate and scare me, causing anxiety whenever she was near. Now? All I saw was a jealous, male pleaser, pick-me girl who reeked of insecurity.
I knew Jessica's grades were abysmal, and she was staying in Ashburton to work at her mother's hair and make-up salon.
Nothing wrong with that. I just knew from growing up with her how vocal she had been about taking off to the bright lights of New York and making it as the next Victoria's Secret model.
