Chapter 10: Second Attack.

LEAH's POV.

Three days had passed now and I still hadn't heard from Hardin West. I shoved my phone into my bag before placing it in my locker but alas, when I closed it, there he was.

With his dark glistening hair and a smirk across his lips.

"Where have you been?" I rolled my eyes.

Surely, he didn't think he could merely charm his way out of ghosting me. But he did have a cup of coffee in his hand which I took.

"I've just been swamped with...stuff." Hardin shrugged, digging his hands into his pockets. There was something off about him, the way his eyes scanned the hall. Hardin was never this uneasy.

"Stuff?" I echoed with a scoff, walking away. He followed me behind, flashing a fake smile to the eyes of the scrutinizing students in the hallway. We had just fully hard-launched our relationship to the entire campus so best believe the stares had only grown more intense.

"Yes, Leah. You know I have a life outside all of this." He caught up with me from behind, pulling my hand to him. "Look," I heaved a sigh. "I don't care about all your thousand secrets because I know you keep a lot of them but can you at least give me a heads up if your ex is going to magically show up to school one day?" I said and I immediately watched his smirk vanish from his lips.

"Veronica's here?" He knew her. And he knew I'd seen her.

"The girl from the stands...so you do know her?" I scoffed. "It's not at all what you think." Hardin blurted almost immediately, as if feeling the need to defend himself.

"So she's not your ex or you don't know her?" I asked him. He heaved a sigh. "So then it's exactly what I think?" I added.

"Leah..."

"Hardin!"

"We just kissed in front of the entire school, we're supposed to put on this perfect fake relationship for everyone and I know it's all a lie but the least you could do is be truthful," I said to him. His eyes still scanned the hallway for her before settling on me.

"You're right." He conceded.

"I don't care that your ex is here," I mean mine was everywhere I looked. Ethan, with his new girlfriend. He was in the hallway, in the cafeteria. Even when I closed my eyes, he was there.

"I just need to know if she's going to be a problem...for us," I added. Hardin was a bit hesitant with his reply. "Are you still in love with her?" I remembered what Marcus said.

"No, Leah...it's been three years." He came off a bit too erratic.

"What Veronica and I had is way back in the past and it's over now. You have nothing to worry about." Hardin reached for my hand.

I looked over my shoulder briefly before inching closer to him. I could feel the eyes burn into the back of my neck as they awaited another kiss. I looked into his eyes, enigmatic as usual and full of secrets. I'm not sure I believed Hardin when he said it was done with Veronica. Because she was here for a reason after all.

I had done some digging but all I found out was that she was a former student at Ashwood High before she mysteriously disappeared three years ago and everyone said Hardin's heart with her. They were once so madly in love, like two peas in a pod.

Like mates, Marcus said.

"It's just you, Leah. It's just you for me." He said, his words pronounced loud enough for everyone to hear and his hand wrapped around my waist, pulling me into him.

Our lips crashed and the kiss was short and sweet. Not sweet enough for me to forget that he practically ghosted me for three days.

"Also, learn to pick up your damn phone," I said to him as he pulled away. Marcus was waiting by the edge of the hall before they headed to practice and Hazel was by the corner waiting for me too.

"What was that about?" She asked.

"What?" I turned to her as we walked down the hallway to class. "Come on, Leah. I know that look in your eyes..."

"Besides, what did he say about the new girl?" I had run to Hazel first thing after my conversation with Marcus. She knew nearly everything and everyone in this town. Her Dad was the sheriff and she was just as inquisitive as he was.

"Veronica." She called her name.

"He said it's over," I replied to her but my mind was still a bit uneasy. "But for some reason, I can't help but feel like he's hiding something from me..." I added. Hazel faced me.

"Between his disappearance and the way he's been acting lately. I know it's just typical Hardin but something's off." It was a gut feeling, rooted inside of me. And even though it was there before Veronica showed up, when she did, it only became worse.

Fake dating Hardin West was supposed to cross out some of my problems not add to the list.

I was walking down the halls with Hazel when my eyes caught someone and my mind immediately drifted back to reality.

"It's her!" I muttered, grasping Hazel as we came to a halt. There was a girl in pigtails and a striped-blue pinafore on the opposite side of the hall and I recognized her immediately.

"That's the girl who started the rumor. The girl who took Hardin and I's picture that day and spread it online!" I gritted my teeth, readying myself to walk up to her.

Hardin and I had been looking for her since that day. I was filled with anger, knowing that she'd almost ruined my life.

"What are you going to do?" Hazel held my hand back.

The bell rang in that moment so she was headed to class. But I knew I had to find the girl.

"I'm just going to have a word with her." I muttered before walking away, following the girl down the corridor until we got to the gym locker room. I walked in and the door closed behind me.

My converses strode the metal floor with light creaks and I walked up to meet her by one of the lockers.

"It's you." My voice startled her, so much that her phone fell out of her hands and when she looked at me, I could tell she knew who I was. "I'm so sorry." She whispered almost immediately, bending to reach for her phone.

I hadn't come here to attack her but I did have one question. "Why?" I asked.

"Why did you do it?" Of course, I wouldn't say she had no idea that she could've ruined my life. For her and everyone else in school, all of this was just gossip.

It was Hardin West, a hockey star player and celebrity. They didn't see him as a person, not that he wanted it any differently. But it was also my life and this was all new to me.

Over the course of one night, my whole life changed so suddenly that it gave me a whiplash. All because of a stupid photo that she took and posted to the school blog.

"I had no choice." She muttered.

"I was sent to take the picture. I'm sorry, I'm only a freshman...I had no idea who you were I swear." She stuttered and my brows immediately arched.

"You were sent to take the picture?" I echoed. She tearfully nodded.

"By Julia. She's on the cheerleading team and she promised me I could make first team if I posted the picture to the blogs...but I'm so sorry." She said. My ears rang. I had not known a betrayal worse than this. Worse than Julia.

The girl scurried away from and ran out of the locker room while I just stood there with a look of disbelief. Having Ethan wasn't nearly enough for Julia, she was hellbent on humiliating me even more. Had I not turned it around, this all could've gone south fast.

Hardin could've rejected me in front of the entire school, leaving me disgraced or even worse. That was her plan this entire time.

But I had no idea why or what I had done to deserve this level of betrayal from someone I once considered my best friend. It just didn't make any sense but I knew I had to tell Hardin first.

I turned around and there was a creaking sound in the empty locker room. The girl ran and left only me behind. The locker room was large and hollow enough to echo my footsteps and drops of water from a distance.

I threw my head over my shoulder before walking towards the door.

"Oh hell no." I had watched just about enough horror movies to know not to be in a room this dark by myself.

The second there was another creaking sound, I came to a halt. It was a lot closer and the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. It was like someone was watching me.

I glanced over my shoulder but there was nothing. Just tinted dark windows and a line of bathroom stalls.

"Get a grip, Leah." I muttered under my breath, picking my pace towards the door but then I heard footsteps almost immediately, drawing closer to me from behind.

Heat paralyzed my face as I kept walking, afraid to turn around. But the moment I reached for the door, something pulled me from behind. I let out a scream, fighting off what felt like fur, and for a moment I caught its eyes. Two glistening silver eyes in the dark.

Like the animal that attacked the night of my 18th birthday.

Surely it wasn't a coincidence. It was almost like this was the exact same mountain lion. But now, my eyes caught more than a glimpse and it was no mountain lion. It was a creature very wolf-like.

My breath caught as I grabbed the shower from one of the stalls, slamming it against its face and buying myself some time to run. I made my way out of the locker room and slammed the door behind me. The second light hit my face, I let out a deep sigh of relief.

My heart pounded in my chest as I searched the hallway for a janitor and when I saw Jack and I grabbed him immediately.

"There's something in the locker room!" I yelled. "Something attacked me!" Reluctantly, he dropped his bucket and followed me to the gym. He put on the lights but alas, there was nothing there. He turned back to me with disbelief in his eyes.

"What attacked you?" Slightly provoked, he asked.

"I swear..." My voice cracked. "It was right there. It was right there." But Jack only walked away. He didn't believe me. If I hadn't seen it with my eyes, I'm not sure I would've believed it either. For a second, it felt like I had been hallucinating.

But a sting across my wrist forced me to look down. There were three thin red lines scarred into my flesh from what seemed to be claws. I bit down on my teeth as I turned around.

I had heard the horror stories of Ashwood but what the fuck was that and what did it want from me?