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Chapter 40: Gloss and Shine
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The Bully Games Chapter 41: Family Honor
[Lily] “Why would you show me this?” As the photographer continues to snap photos of the entire interaction, I fight to hold my anger down as if my family’s dishonor was nothing more than entertainment. “Were you trying to hurt me?” Madison’s shock looks genuine enough, but Evie’s glee-filed leer from across the room ruins the effect as the other Legacies gather around, expressing looks of dour sympathy. “Is this all just some sick joke to you?” “I don’t understand?” Madison looks truly shocked. “We at St. Claire are very proud of this image. It won a Pulitzer.” “That’s great!” I exclaim. There is another flash and I turn on the photographer. “Stop taking my photo!” I scream at him. He takes another photo. I step forward. Atticus steps between us. “The young lady said to stop.” His voice is hard and flat. The photographer takes a step away from the imperious force which is Atticus Preston, growing smaller in his shadow. “I...I’m just doing my job,” he sputters, glancing o
The Bully Games Chapter 42: Headshots
[Atticus] I don’t trust him. There is something about the way he smiles at her that makes my skin crawl. Photographers are notorious flirts. Many of them use their position to take advantage of beautiful young models. Considering her family history, you’d think Lily would know better. It’s embarrassing watching her speak with him, smiling at him, pretending to not see what is happening between the two of them. He’ll play nice, be her friend for a moment, and then once he has her where he wants her, he will make his move. I know what he is doing because I’ve used this tactic myself. On her. I thought she was smarter than this. "Okay everyone, back to work!" Madison claps her hands to get everyone's attention. "Tony quit," she glared at me, letting me know how angry she was at my interference. "So Link," she points at that photographer monopolizing Liliana's attention. "You will get to do it!" Madison is too cheerful as she says this, a nervous edge slipping into her voice as
The Bully Games Chapter 43: Bully-napped
[Lily]Atticus must have lost his mind.Why on earth did he get so angry? He ruined the photoshoot and hurt Link, who was doing absolutely nothing wrong. "Atticus!" I shout. His behavior is scaring me. "What are you doing? Where are you taking me?""Away from those vipers!" He grumbles, holding me tighter, almost possessively. "I just...I don't know Lily." He almost seems to deflate as she says this. "The way that they were looking at you...The way they were having you pose it was...it was wrong."He grows very quiet after that. We had agreed to be friends, secret friends, but this felt like something different. Or like he wishes it was something different. Just like when he kissed me in the woods. This doesn't feel like friendship. This feels like jealousy. But he has Evie. He says he needs her. Is it possible that his needs have changed?Atticus hails a taxi. As soon as it arrives, he scoots me into the back seat with him and gives the driver an address uptown. We drive there in
The Bully Games Chapter 44: Siblings and Servants
[Lily]“Home?” I turn my whole body towards Atticus. “You brought me to your home?” “I’m pretty sure I just said that,” he sighs. “Don’t make such a big deal about it. I just wanted to be able to talk to you without anyone bothering us and this is the only place the Legacies wouldn’t think to look. Don't worry, nobody will be here. This is just our townhouse. My father will be in the penthouse. He prefers to be close to work."My mom always preferred this house to the others," he sighs. "So when I come home, this is usually where I go.” "Do you miss her?" I ask, remembering that his mother, like mine, died several years ago. He doesn't answer. Instead, he gives me a small smile, avoiding the question completely as he reaches down, to help me onto my feet. “We’ll find you some new crutches,” he promises as he helps me by letting me lean on his shoulder. “Thank you,” I let myself relax into his embrace, grateful to be on my feet and not being carried or pushed. “How much longer do I
The Bully Games Chapter 45: Turning Point
"Oh." I'm afraid to speak. My body feels warm at the memory of his lips on mine from the kiss he stole. I hate how I still think about it, how I can still feel him pressing me against the tree. "Kissing you like that wasn't fair," he looks away for a moment, biting his lip, and then turning back to me he adds. "It wasn't kind. You are my friend, and I took my fear, anger, and frustration out on you. I had learned some hard news and then seeing what they did to you and I just..." he pauses, seeing the look on my face, and then looks away again. "None of that is a good excuse for being abusive towards you. You deserved better.”“Yeah, it really sucked,” I snark at him, feeling petty. “Is that the best you’ve got, Ace?” I snap the end of his nickname at him and his nostrils flare in irritation at the sound of it. “Because if that is the best you'll need to try a lot harder. It didn’t feel friendly at all. It felt like an attack.”Silence falls between us again as my words ring out in the
The Bully Games Chapter 46: The Not Quite Date
[Lily]He wants to take me out on a date!“As a friend…right,” I confirm as he pulls me up to meet him, our chests touching. He reaches his arm around my back and my cheeks grow hot.“Of course not,” he laughs. “How am I, how are we, going to work out what we mean to one another if we hold anything back?" he asks honestly and I remember the kiss again, and his confession. "To be honest, Liliana, I might...I'm questioning everything in my life right now." "Atticus," I whisper, my hand reaching out to touch his arm. "What are you trying to do here?""I think," he looks at me and then pauses. "You know what, it doesn't matter what I think right now. The point of all this is you.
The Bully Games Chapter 47: On Top of The World
[Atticus]There is something to be said about seeing a familiar thing through someone else’s eyes. The look of amazement on Liliana’s face, when she peered out over all of New York City, will last me a lifetime.Despite being a New Yorker for 5 years, she had never been to the Empire State Building.“We’re so high!” She grins like a small child showing a miracle. I hold her a little tighter and she leans into me. “This is incredible,” she sighs, and I breathe in her delicious scent underneath the smell of her peppermint toothpaste and the rose blossom smell of her corsage.“My mother loved this view,” I confess, my heart aching as I remember how she held me up, pointing to her favorite landmarks. &ld
The Bully Games Chapter 48: The Atticus Problem
[Lazarus]For the first time in Legacy history, the Legacy Seven are meeting without the leader present. Technically it isn’t a real meeting without Atticus. We can’t have a proper quorum without him. As is tradition, we always work out our differences and problems as a group, with the leader making the final call.So what do you do when the leader is the one who is the problem?Three times in the over 200-year history of the Legacies has this situation ever come up. In all three occurrences, the final decision involved keeping the leader in place and letting them stay in power until the end of their term. Part of the problem is, it takes a unanimous vote to displace a leader. And with the way we are all vying for power and trying to dispose of one another for personal advantage
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