“Do you live under a rock? Have you at least got your tablet on you?”
“Susan? Sure.” I pull her out and hand her over to Slate, reluctantly. “Be gentle with her.”
He snorts then pulls up my Spotify account and types the song, adding it to a new playlist entitled “Slate & Amelie’s Duets”. He also quickly adds the song we sang together at the concert, and at the last minute before I snatch Susan back, “A Whole New World” too. The memories make the butterflies in my tummy dance.
I plug in some headphones and hit play on the song for today’s duet. It’s good. Manageable. A little challenging maybe, but I can sing this. The lyrics though...the butterflies get choked by the twisting sensation in my stomach. Sure I can sing this, but can I sing it withSlate?
“We’re going to need to practice this week before we perform.”
“I can do that. I’ll be ready.”
“I meant together,” he clarifies.
“Oh.” Yay.
“Listen, Amelie?—”
“Stop, Slate, I don’t want to hear your apologies.”
“That’s not fair.”
“You want to talk to me about fair? Really?!”
“Amelie, I am so sorry, you need to know?—”
“I don’t ‘need to’ anything. Sorry is just a word that means nothing if the actions don’t match. If any of you were as sorry as you’re making out, you never would have done it in the first place. We have to work together on this duet and that isallwe will be doing.”
“If that’s how you feel,” he says begrudgingly a moment later. I can tell he isn’t happy, but I don’t give a fuck.
“It is,” I simply say. I can’t get wrapped back up in this bubble; lines get blurred so damn easily, and I won’t be one ofthosegirls who falls at a guy’s feet because he says sorry.
Chapter Fourteen
Amelie
The rest of the week gets somewhat easier. Once I complain to Monty that Kalen’s behaviour is distracting me from my studies, he stops gate crashing my classes. Only, he still finds ways to piss me off. It starts with a delivery of a ridiculously huge dildo, signed with the note “For my best sister whore, because I know you must be missing me”. Hilarious right? Except he made sure it was delivered to me in the dining hall, at breakfast, in front of the entire school! I shit you not, this thing is the size of my forearm, and it’s even named ‘The Monster Dildo’.
Then, large and over-the-top floral displays are delivered to me every single lesson for the rest of the week. If I wasn’t hated before for the shit I pulled spilling everyone’s secrets, I was certainly hated now for the attention I was getting from Kalen Knox. Hated by the female population at least, though I’m pretty sure some of the guys were suffering with a little green-eyed jealousy too.
As if Kalen’s...kalenishness (Yep, I’m coining that phrase. He’s so annoying he now needs his own dictionary entry) isn’tenough to deal with, I’m getting pounded pretty hard by haters in the hallways: petty name calling; trying to trip me over; a few girls have tried pulling my hair or shoving me from behind; and even throwing food at my uniform to try to land me in detention. I’m not overly bothered by the bullying, after all, I’ve experienced worse at the hands of my so-called mother. It’s more that I’m worried what will happen once Kalen finds out what’s going on. So far the bullies have managed to keep it pretty low-key, but I’m sure once they get bored of my lack of retaliation or reaction, they’ll amp it up.
Thankfully, today is Saturday, and I wake before my alarm with determination. Today I am going to get some peace from Kalen, by doing what he hates: running. At 6:00 am I head down to the sports oval. There’s a surprising number of students gathered for detention, and I’m a little surprised. We’ve only been back a week and evenI’vemanaged to avoid detention.
It all becomes clear when the teacher turns up though. It’s Miss Evans. And...yep, every single student in detention is a boy.
“Fucking weird if you ask me,” I mutter under my breath as Miss Evans begins to warm up for their run by bending at the waist to touch her toes, facing away from the crowd and giving everyone an unmissable view of her ass. Her Lycra-clad ass that clearly shows she’s wearing a thong. She needs to invest in some better leisure wear because that cheap shit is nearly see through.
Next to me Onyx chuckles darkly and I jump, not having noticed his arrival.
“I’ll take her over the last teacher that ran detention, any day,” he murmurs, giving me a sly sideways glance. Jealousy prickles down my spine and I scrunch my face up in distaste at both his suggestion and my own emotions.
“I’m not running with them.”
“Of coursewe’renot. Those idiots will be so focused on her pert round ass, they won’t watch where they’re going.” Hisdescription of her ass annoys the hell out of me, but I say nothing. Holy shit, I really am jealous. “Besides, I’m not giving anyone the opportunity to get you alone again.” His expression is dark, but his tone is soft. I had almost forgotten about Onyx’s softer side. I guess the depths of his betrayal overshadowed the occasional good I saw in him.
“Shall we go?” I don’t look at him, knowing it’ll be too dangerous for me. He doesn’t reply, we both just begin to run in stubborn silence and he soon pulls ahead. His ass is mighty fine. I admire the way his muscles move under his shirt as he moves. Failing to watch where I’m going, I stumble over my own damn feet and fall to the ground, eating dirt on impact.
“Shit!” I complain and instantly Onyx spins on his heel to return to me. Before I can move he’s scooped me up into his arms, swearing softly under his breath. I stiffen in his arms and he tugs at me.
