Silence.
And then the ringing of the first bell.
“Fine, don’t tell me.But I will figure it out,” he growled, a warning but also maybe a promise.
Ali
I wentinto the locker room and changed into my workout clothes, those ridiculously small black shorts and the T-shirt with the school emblem on the front.A few of the girls from cheerleading were in the class with me.I stayed close as we entered the gym, going over to the section of the floor where we were supposed to stretch and warm up.
As the other girls laughed and talked animatedly about upcoming plans for the weekend or summer break, I nodded along, pretending to pay attention.From the corner of my eye, I saw Gaviria standing by the bleachers, tablet in hand, eyes flicking toward our group often.
His hair was pushed back from his brow, a smirk on his face that I’d only recently started noticing.One of the girls to my left giggled like the besotted idiot she was when she glanced over and saw Gaviria was watching us.
“He’s so hot,” Mercedes said, biting her lip in an effort to be seductive.I swallowed the bile that rushed up into the back of my throat.“Look at all those delicious muscles.”
“If he breathes wrong, that shirt will be in tatters,” Kyla agreed, fanning herself with her hand, her gaze trained on the young teacher.“I want to lick him so bad.”
“Where would you lick him?”Mercedes asked with interest.
“Anywhere.”Kyla made a little whining noise.“Everywhere, as long as he returned the favor.”
“I bet he would be into taking us both,” Mercedes mused, her cheeks pinkening.
“You two could have any guy at this school, and you’re panting over that creep?”Moira huffed, disgust dripping from her voice, and I found myself scooting a little closer to the other girl.
There were people I was friendly with, but my tribe was small.It was then that I realized the closest girl friends I had were Hayat and Abi, maybe Charlotte.I limited my interactions to my friends in cheer and gymnastics because of how most of them acted when Sixx was around.Some might call it jealousy, but being jealous meant a lack of trust, and I trusted Sixx with my whole heart.
I labeled it territorial.He was mine, and I made sure people were aware of that fact.
Moira was only into cheer because her mom made it a requirement.Her family had expectations, and she toed the line of compliance, only giving the bare minimum of what her parents commanded.She was the black sheep in her family.We weren’t besties or particularly close, but we’d hung out enough through sports to bond a little.
She was the girl who would rather have a book in her hand than a pom-pom.Her ideal man was more of a thick, barrel-shaped guy with grease beneath his nails.On the rare occasions we had to travel for games and we spent a night in a hotel, I bunked with Moira and covered for her when she snuck out to meet with her boyfriend.
He was two years older and went to public school.His dad owned a garage somewhere in Santa Ana, and he planned on eventually taking over the family business.Moira’s parents allegedly didn’t approve.Her family were old-money snobs.Once she graduated, she’d have to make a choice.Her inheritance and family or her boyfriend.They were confident she would pick them and not the guy who, in their opinion, couldn’t provide Moira with a good life.
I really hoped Moira told them to fuck off.
After warm-ups, a few of the jocks joined our group.Gaviria blew his whistle and started shouting commands, splitting us up into smaller groups.I ended up with Moira, Kyla, and two basketball players.Both guys were friends with Evan and had met Sixx enough times to be aware that flirting with me was a quick way to a broken face.
For the next hour, I tried to keep our group on the opposite side of the gym from Gaviria.Kyla had other plans, though.At some point, I’d gotten distracted and turned my back on the teacher.Moira said something that made me laugh for the first time all day, but it was abruptly cut off when I felt a hand at the small of my back.
Jerking at the unexpected contact, I looked up into Gaviria’s smug face.Acid churned in my stomach, my skin crawling with fear and disgust and anger at the audacity of this motherfucker.I took a huge step away from him, and he moved with me, brushing his fingers over my arm before blowing his whistle.“Hit the showers!”
Groans of relief filled the gymnasium as everyone turned toward the locker rooms.Linking my arm through Moira’s, I shook off the dread building in my gut.She gave me a weird look as we entered the girls’ locker room.
“You good?”
“I…” With a grimace, I shook my head.“He’s just creepy.”
“Right?The way he looks at you sometimes is weird as fuck.”She stopped in front of her locker.“Christ, I stink.I wish I could take an everything shower, but I don’t even have time for a quick rinse since I’m meeting Jake for an early dinner.My father is in Portland, so my mom won’t notice I’m late until eight-ish.”
“Have fun,” I told her, grabbing my shower stuff.As much as I wanted to throw on my school uniform and run, Evan would ask more questions if I got in his car still smelling ripe from class.He was the last person I wanted to throw red flags at.
“Talk to you later,” she called, already jogging toward the exit.
A few of the other girls were already heading out the door as well, laughing and talking about the movie they were going to watch before going to Simone’s house later for dinner.It was just background noise to me, not registering given all the other stuff already swirling in my head.
I rushed through a shower, washing away the sweat and body odor.My focus was on getting in and out as fast as possible, and I didn’t notice when the locker room went completely quiet.Pushing back the shower curtain, I grabbed for the towel that I’d hung on the hook outside the stall, still thinking of a hundred other things.
