Hallway bully...

~Adeline~

The warning bell for the second period blared. I dragged my feet through the unfamiliar corridors until the bold lettering of the Biology lab came into view.

I pushed the door open, hoping to slip in unnoticed since the teacher hadn't arrived yet.

No such luck.

The whispers of classroom chatter died the exact second my shoes scuffed the floor. I could feel two dozen pairs of eyes latched onto me, tracking my every movement as if I were a new species dropped into their surroundings.

I forced my spine straight, gripped my backpack so hard, and held my head high. I refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing me intimidated.

Once I passed the first two rows of desks, the murmurs slowly picked back up, though the hushed whispers still felt entirely focused on me.

I scanned the room and spotted an empty stool at a table near the back. The only other person sitting there was a girl pulling notebooks from her bag.

She was undeniably pretty, with long blonde hair that featured a single, pink-dyed streak framing her face.

"Is this seat taken?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

She paused, looked up at me with bright hazel eyes. "No, it's free."

I nodded, then slid onto the stool, dropping my bag to the floor. I reached for my zipper, but before I could pull my own textbooks out, the girl leaned into me.

She didn't just lean closer… she leaned in and inhaled. It was a deep, audible breath right near my shoulder. Her nose twitched as if she were trying to catalog my scent.

I froze, turning my head to stare at her.

Her eyes were wide, blinking rapidly as she pulled back.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, unable to keep the defensive tone out of my voice. What is wrong with the people in this town? Do they not know the basic concept of personal space?

"Yeah, it's fine," she said, her voice dropping into a hushed murmur. "You're the new human."

She didn't say it like an observation. She said it like a confirmation to herself. New human.

"Aren't we all humans?" I asked back, forcing a small smile onto my lips.

She blinked. Something like panic crossed her features before she raised her eyebrows and nodded a little too quickly.

"Yes. Sure. Totally."

She quickly went back to fumbling with her stuff, burying her face in her bag.

Looking at her side profile, she was giving spoiled-daddy's-girl energy. Every single item she pulled out… her binders, her sticky notes, even the fuzzy top of her pen, was some shade of pastel pink.

"I'm Adeline Cooper, by the way," I offered, watching her stiff posture.

She exhaled. I watched the tension leave her shoulders as she turned back to me with a much more genuine smile.

"Lily Beckham."

My stomach flipped.

I quickly arranged my expression into something neutral, fighting the shock. Beckham. That was the last name of the infuriating, glaring giant from my literature class. Jasper.

Were they siblings?

Cousins?

Just an unfortunate coincidence?

I opened my mouth to ask, but the classroom door swung open and the biology teacher marched in, immediately launching into a lecture about cellular structures.

The next forty-five minutes dragged on.

We were grouped up for an assignment, and Lily proved to be surprisingly helpful, though she kept giving me these curious glances when she thought I wasn't looking.

"Hey, going for lunch?" Lily asked the moment the bell rang, zipping her pink pens away.

"Umm, yeah, but I actually planned to hang out with someone," I told her, slinging my backpack over my shoulder.

Her face immediately scrunched up into a picture of total confusion. "Who?"

"Josephine Harris," I said, arching a brow at her reaction. "I'm staying with her family for my scholarship year."

"Oh!" Lily’s face cleared, replaced by a grin. "Well, Josie and I are chill. Let's go, I’ll take you to her."

I followed her out of the classroom, letting out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. She was actually cool. Lily was the second decent person I had met in the entirety of Wolfebrooke Crest who managed to make my defensive walls drop a little.

As we walked the hallway toward the cafeteria, a group of three girls stepped into the center of the corridor, forcing the flow of traffic to part around them.

They looked like they had walked straight out of a fashion magazine, glittering with designer shoes and bags.

As Lily and I approached, the girl in the middle sneered, her voice carrying perfectly over the lockers.

"Little human."

My boots stopped dead on the floor. I froze. Lily sighed, gripped my wrist, trying to drag me forward. I took one reluctant step when another girl from the trio snorted.

"Ah, look at those legs. Aren't they a little too long for her body? Jeez, she looks like a stray dog."

That was it.

I ripped my wrist out of Lily's grip and turned, stalking right up to the three girls. They didn't shrink back. Instead, their eyes lit up with malicious excitement, practically shaking with the thrill of a fight.

"What?" asked the leader.

She had long, raven-black hair pulled into a tight ponytail, with bangs framing a face that was undeniably beautiful.

She had a killer hourglass figure that commanded attention, standing around five-foot-six. From the arrogant tilt of her chin and the way the other two flanked her, she was clearly the queen bee of the group.

"You were talking about me," I stated, locking my eyes onto hers.

"And?" she challenged, taking a slow step away from the lockers to close the distance between us.

"Camila," Lily warned from behind me.

Camila ignored her, her dark eyes focused on my face.

"What, Lily?" she drawled lazily. "Are you her new protector? Can't we have a little fun with the little human?"

She leaned forward. Her sculpted nose twitched the exact same way Lily’s had in biology.

"Smells weird," Camila snorted, her lips curled in disgust.

"Excuse me?" I asked. I was beyond baffled.

First the 'little human' comment again, and now she was telling me I smelled weird? It was bizarre. I could sense she was the typical high school mean girl who thrived on tearing others down, but her insults were just strange... Josie was right. I had only been here for a handful of hours and the students were already turning into my biggest nightmare.

"I have some advice for you, new girl," Camila whispered, stepping so close I could feel the heat pushing off her skin.

"Act like you don't exist here. You are not supposed to be here, you…"

"Camila!..."

Lily's voice roared with an unnatural authority that sent fear through me, I watched in shock as Camila snapped her mouth shut.

She bowed her head, took a step back as if a force had pushed her.

I spun around to look at Lily.

For a split-second, I swore Lily's bright hazel eyes flashed gold, I blinked hard. When I opened my eyes, Lily’s gaze was normal again. I was too derailed by Camila's threatening words to process what I had just seen.

‘You are not supposed to be here.’

What on earth did she mean by that? I was given this scholarship. I hadn't asked for it. I didn't beg for it.

I opened my mouth to demand an answer, but Lily's hand dragged me away.

"Ignore her, Addie. She just gets off on bullying people," Lily muttered, pulling me toward the cafeteria doors.

I glanced over my shoulder to see the three girls watching me go. Camila was smirking, casually twirling a lock of black hair around her finger, her dark eyes promising retaliation.

Great.

The list of people trying to ruin my life was growing by the minute. I didn't pack up my ruined life, move a thousand miles away, just to become the punching bag for a bunch of small-town rich kids.

I just wanted to survive. I wanted to keep my head down, save whatever cash I could find from a part-time job, and escape to college so I never had to rely on my greedy uncle again. Was that really so much to ask?

But as I looked at Lily walking beside me, her jaw clenched tight in irritation, I felt a tiny relief. At least I wasn't alone.

As soon as we entered the cafeteria, I heard my name loud across the room, i spotted Josie waving from a corner table.

Lily and I wove through the crowded aisles and dropped our bags onto the chairs.

"You met Lily?" Josie asked, her eyes moving between the two of us.

"Yeah," I sighed, dropping into my seat.

My voice sounded as exhausted as I felt. "In biology."

"Are you okay? You look pale," Josie frowned, leaning forward.

Before I could answer, Lily jumped in.

"Camila and that ridiculous gang of hers tried to corner her in the hall, but thankfully I was there to shut it down." Lily puffed her chest out, looking so proud of herself that I couldn't help but smile.

They both linked their arms through mine, hauling me back up so we could join the lunch line.

By the time we paid for our trays and settled back at our corner table, the entire cafeteria went silent.

It wasn't a gradual fade of conversation; it was a collective holding of breath. I looked up from my food to see a group of guys strolling through.

Leading the pack was Jasper.

I instantly rolled my eyes, a scoff escaping my lips. ‘Of course.’

Behind him walked six other guys, moving with the same grace that commanded the room.

The only faces I recognized were Caleb and Dylan, my host brothers. They were trailing near the back.

I turned back to our table and caught Josie staring, transfixed. Her cheeks were flushed a deep red, her eyes glued to a guy walking at Jasper's right shoulder.

He was almost the same height as Jasper and really good-looking, with a bad boy aura. I looked at her again; she looked too sweet to be going for a guy like that.

He had almost the same haughty air as Jasper. I don't know if it was because they looked like literal models, but everyone I have seen so far in the school looked really good, all of them mostly.

They had killer bodies and muscles. The girls had big boobs and full round hips, like people who didn't bother about diet. It suddenly made total sense why the Harris family consumed enough meat at the dinner table to feed a small army.

I watched as Jasper led his entourage directly toward our side of the cafeteria. The students occupying the table directly across from ours ran out of their seats, grabbing their trays and scattering the second Jasper stopped in front of them. He didn't even have to say a word.

I gritted my teeth.

Out of the dozen empty tables in the room, why did he have to choose the one sitting exactly three feet away from me?

It seems the students here respect him even more than they do the staff and teachers, which is weird.

Jasper dropped into the chair facing me. He locked his brooding eyes directly onto mine, his intense stare burning straight through the space between us.

Great. Now he gets to scowl at me while I try to eat, I thought, furiously stabbing a piece of lettuce with my plastic fork.

"Oh, shut it, Josie," Lily hissed, leaning across the table. "I have warned you a thousand times that Logan is going to break your heart."

"I can't help it, Lily," Josie whispered. "I just saw him kissing one of the cheerleaders as I was walking in. Like, he had her pushed up on his locker, giving her a full-blown French kiss right out in the open." She rubbed her eyes.

"Shit." I swore.

I know how bad it feels when someone you like kisses another person right in front of you. It stings.

"You should really just avoid him, Josie," I said softly, casting a dark glare toward the boys' table.

"He's a heartbreaker. It's written all over his smug face. Actually, it's written all over that Jasper guy’s face, too."

"Wait, you know Jasper?"

"You've met Jasper?"

Lily and Josie blurted the questions at the exact same time, their voices so loud I flinched, tearing my eyes away from Jasper, whom I had mistakenly caught in a staring contest.

"Yeah," I mumbled, suddenly feeling very defensive under their shocked expressions.

"We had literature together this morning. He is a total weirdo. He just sat in the back and shot me hateful glares for the entire forty-five minutes."

The two girls instantly exchanged a highly loaded look that made my skin prickle with annoyance.

"That's my brother," Lily finally said.

Even though I had suspected it, the confirmation still surprised me.

I stared at Lily. They were nothing alike. Sure, they shared the same striking hazel eyes, and the same sharp nose, but their personalities were opposite.

"He's really cool once you actually get to know him. Everyone loves Jasper," Lily defended, a note of admiration in her voice.

"If everyone loves him, then why do they act terrified of him?" I challenged, pointing my fork at her.

"I've watched students dive out of his way in the halls. Even Mrs. Bert looked intimidated when he showed up late to her class."

"That's... a different thing entirely," Josie hedged, suddenly refusing to meet my eye. "He's umm... just someone of authority around here."

Her stuttering answer only brought more confusion to my brain. Authority? He was an eighteen-year-old high school senior. What authority could he possibly have?

Before I could demand an explanation, the cafeteria noise levels dipped again.

I turned toward the entrance and felt my blood boil.

Camila was strutting through the doors with her two friends. She was sashaying her hips so much her uniform skirt rolled up to an illegal level. I watched in fascination as she bypassed the regular tables and made straight for Jasper's spot.

"Here she comes," Josie muttered under her breath, forcefully tearing a bread roll in half.

"I really don't know what Jasper sees in her."

"She's gorgeous, Josie. Guys like having a pretty, strong woman on their arm, and you know my brother's taste..." Lily trailed off, clearly uncomfortable.

I stopped chewing.

I watched as Camila reached the table.

Logan slid down the bench, clearing a space for her. Camila didn't just sit. She draped herself over Jasper's side, buried her hand into the thick, dark curls at the nape of his neck, and pressed her mouth directly against his in a deep possessive kiss.

"What?" The word slipped out of my mouth before my brain could stop it.

Josie gave a bitter laugh.

"That's exactly how she behaves around him. She uses every single public minute to visually lay her claim."

"Lay her claim?" I repeated, feeling like a complete idiot.

"They're dating," Lily explained gently, watching my face.

The moment the words left Lily's mouth, pain ripped through my chest. It wasn't just shock, It felt like a knife twisting inside my body, stealing the air from my lungs.

I gasped, dropping my fork on my tray.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked.

Was I okay?

Fuck. I couldn't breathe.

Why the hell was I bothered that this glaring jerk had a hot girlfriend?

It made no sense.

Not only was she his girlfriend, but she was the exact same girl who had cornered me in the hallway, threatening me and telling me I didn't belong in this town.

"I need to go. I'm heading early to my last class," I choked out, shoving my chair back.

I didn't wait for them to argue or try to stop me. I grabbed my backpack then walked away from the table.

As I hurried toward the door, I risked one final look over my shoulder toward Jasper’s table, through the crowded room his eyes already locked on my retreating figure.

I didn't know if I was imagining things, but just as I kept walking, I saw his jaw clench. He grabbed Camila's wrist and roughly shoved her hand out of his hair.

I didn't care to wait and see more.

I kept walking, trying to find a quiet place where my lungs would finally remember how to breathe…