Chapter 4

"Bella!" my mom yells "your gonna be late if you don't leave now!"

"Ahhhh!" I yelled. It was the first day of school and she was already getting on my nerves. I woke up to her staring down at my face with a smile, she had a list of all the extra classes I would apply for, for extra credit.

I looked down at my short black dress, thigh-high boots and the white Chanel beret. I had to wear a long sleeve shirt underneath the dress, don't want to get kicked out for showing to much skin.

I picked up the white Prada bag my mom bought or me. I got a lot of presents from them, not that I didn't have money to buy shit myself. Don't get me wrong anytime they piss me off, I love making a mark on their accounts. But they never notice, I can come home with a whole new wardrobe and they wouldn't notice.

"Keys darling!" She yells when she saw me walking past her. There go my plans for ignoring her.

"I already have my keys mom" I rolled my eyes looking for the keys to my White jeep in my bag, but it wasn't there. I looked at her smiling face, she was holding a set of keys in her hands. Why did she take my keys?

"Why do you have my keys?" I asked looking at her suspiciously. She laughs and throws me the keys. I caught it before it could hit the floor. This wasn't my keys?

"Oh god!" I yelled "mom!"

"What sweetheart, your father and I thought you needed a new car"

"Mom!" I looked at her "I liked my Jeep" it was my style

"Oh honey, you will grow to love the Tesla too" she pinches my cheeks.

"I have to go, I have a meeting with Grace about the gallery" she grabs her bag "Melissa will have dinner ready for you, we won't be home for dinner tonight," she tells me grabbing her Fendi jacket. My mom was very pretty, she had gorgeous long brown hair and green eyes. We almost look like sisters, except I had my fathers nose and dull brown eyes.

"Make sure you text me when you get home, no staying out late school night" she warns me as we stood in the driveway.

I looked at white Tesla that was parked there, they must have delivered it this morning cause it was there last night or on the weekend. It was smaller than my Jeep but it was cute. My mom got in her white Lambo truck and drives off. Her and my father were hardly home on weekdays, they had their business in the city. My mom owned her gallery and my father had his tech company.

The sound of my phone ringing brings me back, I look down at the caller. It was Knight. I let it right getting in my new car. I haven't spoken to him since the night of Ash's party. I still wasn't ready to face him after what went down that night. He has been calling and texting me non-stop apologising but I still felt betrayed and confused.

~~~~~~~~~~

The drive to school was long, it took me 20 minutes to get here. Most of the parking spots were talking, I knew people knew not to park in my spot unless they were looking for troubles I pulled into my post; it was far from the front doors but not too close either it was the right distance.

Knight and Ariel's cars were already packed in, I could see them sitting, chilling on there hoods with some girls and boys I knew around them. I fix my hair before I got out of my car, I had an image to uphold.

People heads turn as they saw me, girls looked at me with hatred, the boys looked with lust. I made my way towards my group, some of the football boys whistled as I passed them. Typical behaviour.

"Hey Bells," Luna says not moving from her stop on Ariel's lap

"New car," Sun asked looking at the Tesla

"Yeah, my parents" I rolled my eyes. Yeah, I was spoiled. I know it.

"It's cute," Sun says till looking at it, I knew what was coming next.

"Can I take it for a spin!" She yelled pushing off her hood

"Sure whatever, later," I say smiling

"How comes we haven't since you since the party?" Liam, one of Knight friend asked

I avoid making eye contact with Knight while I answer.

"I had shit to do, you know a life" I smiled at him, I heard some chuckles

"When will you finally let one of us tap that ass!" one of the jerk yelled smirk

"When your man enough which will be never, I don't date little boys" I smirk at him

"Oh really so Knight is man enough for you," Ash says making the guys give him a high five

I looked at Knight, my face turning red. What did he tell them?

"Yeah, he is, unlike you," I tell Ash and the smile falls off his face. Not waiting for his response I made my way to class, can't be late anyways.

I can't believe Knight told them, he promised he wouldn't. I trusted him. Well, see how that turned out. I knew I shouldn't have gone to that party, I was too emotional and had too much alcohol. After seeing Tyler I couldn't get him out of my head so I went to look for a distraction.

Opening my locker angrily, I shoved my books in. Another year in this shit hole before I leave.

"Bella" I refuse to look at the coward in his face

"Look I didn't say anything, Ash saw you leaving my room that morning and he assumed."

"And you let him talk to me like that. In front of that pig", I close my locker loudly making the girl next to me look at me alarmed and annoyed.

"What bitch?" she looks down before running away.

"Don't start" Knight warns me

"Well maybe you shouldn't have pissed me off" I cross my hands, he was the only one who knew how to handle me.

"I'm sorry Bella, you know I wouldn't go around bragging about you like that. You're not like other girls"

"That night was a mistake and it won't happen again" I shoved against his chest as he came closer.

"Really?" He asked a smile forming on his lips.

"Yeah, I couldn't get that Tyler guy out of my head." The smile fell off his face. "I needed a distraction, so I found the next best thing"

The slammed his fists into the locker making me jump, he looked ready to kill. I shouldn't have brought out the ugly side of me, but I couldn't stop her once she was out.

"I know you didn't mean that"

"Oh you see but I did, while your dick was in me and I picturing Tyler's. While I was screaming your name in my head I was screaming Tyler's" I shove past him making my way to class. I had a victory smile on my face when I heard him punch the lockers again, the principal won't be happy about that. Not that he could do much, our parents particularly owned this town.

~~~~~~~~~

Now, in the cafeteria, I'm almost done with this day. "Artists aren't team players. Only a true individualist can give birth to something of their own. You need to be both the egg and the sperm to create a masterpiece." Lisa says

"What do you know about artists?" Ariel snorts, tossing half his egg and tuna sandwich at Lisa. He's sitting on the table with his feet on the bench. It's gross and unnecessary, but I'm not in the mood for an argument. Lisa catches the sandwich and plops down with a grin, tearing apart the plastic wrap.

"I know they're good with their hands. Something you're not." She rips a bite off the sandwich and rolls her eyes. "Hmm, so good." Luna curls her black hair over her finger, popping her gum.

"Not to be impolite, but you guys bore me to death. Ash, go tell Knight to come here." Busy scanning the room for Luna, Ash neck is still craned as he answers her. "Damn." He pats the pockets of his jeans, then checks the pockets of his golden Gucci jacket. "I can't find it."

"Can't find what?" Luna blinks. "The memo where I start taking orders from your sorry ass." Everyone laughs. Even I have a smile on my face.

"C'mon, Ashy. We just want to hear about Knight summer." Lisa tosses her hair and bats her eyelashes. I swear she would flirt with the priest officiating her funeral. What they didn't know was that Knight was avoiding me.

Bitch is unreal. "Please, girl. Miles from the chess club could take a trip to outer space and make a historical stop on the sun, and you still wouldn't give him a minute of your time."

Lias laughs. She and Luna are

best friends.

"Yo, Bella," Liam hollers, and my head snaps from the salad I've been abusing with my plastic fork for the past ten minutes.

"You're quiet." And you're surprisingly observant for once in your miserable life.

"Miss Linde is all up in my grill." I shrug. It's not even a lie. Bitch hates my guts. And I loathe sitting in her class.

"Do you want to make yourself useful?" Liam licks his lips. Did I mention he's gross? Oh. Right. A second ago.

"To you?" I asked

"Only if it involves a huge makeover followed by a nice feast of humble pie." Liam is a beefy, brown, all-American dudebro with a superhero jaw and wide-set, generic blue eyes, making him look like a shaved alpaca. If this were a '90s movie, he would be the villain. Come to think about it, he already is. . A straight-up bully with no direction or reason.

People snicker at my comment. The table is full of football players and cheerleaders. Ariel finally spots Rose across the room and slides out of our bench. "See you later, assholes. It's been real. Well, other than Lisa's tits." He ambles away. Lisa's mouth goes slack, and she cups her boobs, clad in a colourful D&G dress, shifting her gaze from them to him.

Rose Rexroth refuses to sit with us. One time, when Knight was away, Ash made fun of her at the table for not talking. I didn't stop him, and I still feel bad about that. She's a persona non grata and isn't worth fighting over, but she still didn't deserve his wrath.

"Useful how, Liam ?" Lisa munches on the tip of a carrot, shifting the conversation from her fake tits, her eighteenth birthday gift from her parents, back to me.

"Word is Tyler Carter is visiting us after school to warn us off from pulling any shenanigans ahead of the game. Last year, All Saints killed the grass in Las Jun field, and the broke-ass pussies didn't have anywhere to play for weeks. I figured Bella can play Judge Judy since she wants to tap it."

My heart starts pounding so hard and fast, I feel it in my toes. Behind my eyeballs. God, God, God.

"Tyler" I snort. "Hmm, no thanks."

"Is that why you screamed when Knight knocked his ass to the ground?" Ash cocks his head.

"He passed out. I was just worried about Knight getting in trouble." Ash runs his brown eyes over my face, his smirk unwavering. He leans forward and taps my nose with his finger.

"I don't believe you."

"Good thing I don't exist to live up to your expectations." I open an invisible mirror, giving him my middle finger.

More laughter. It might look as if I'm in my element, but I'm flustered underneath my dress and boots.

"Prove it today at three."

"Pass, jackass. I have cheer practice. Also, a life."

"The whole point of cheer is to help the football team," Via argues, simply to defy me. She's still butthurt about me getting cheer captain. But the thing about Via is she fat-shames everyone into believing they can't consume anything more than Diet Coke. Nobody wants her to be in charge of the homecoming snack menu, let alone the cheer team.

"No can do, señor douchebag." I grab an apple from his tray and take a bite before I realize what I'm doing.

"Cheer practice is at three-thirty. You'll make it." Lisa munches on her lower lip. God, I hope teenage girls grow out of the need to form alliances with The Boys Club.

"Fine. Whatever." I stand, grabbing my red plastic tray. Sauntering out of the cafeteria, I swallow the ball of tears in my throat. I don't want to face Tyler. I know it's stupid because but I hate the look on his face when his eyes land on mine. He sees past my exterior and that scares me.

The rest of the school day is a dud even though I keep my head up and my smile extra glossy. It doesn't help that Luna and I show up in the same Reformation dress, and all I could think was that we also share the same taste in guys.

My heart clenches with every tick, tick, tick of the clock. It's like a ticking bomb, and when it hits three, the ring of the bell explodes in my ears. Liam waits outside my class, his elbow slumped against the doorframe, his ball cap backwards. He pops his gum in people's ears as the pupils file out of class, and when I slip out.