Cruel Kisses (It's Just High School #2) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,41

if she’s on something, this girl is hard to read. She’s got anger and hate brimming like a cesspool in her hazel eyes, the cleverness from before is gone, like the light was snuffed out of her.

“You didn’t come here to ask that, right?” she grits out, fighting not to look vulnerable or emotional as she says that, and I know why. She doesn’t want to treat me any differently just because I know one of her biggest issues right now.

“Right,” I mutter, glancing at her swollen belly and she sighs.

“Well, everyone’s saying you’re a Fitz whore. I mean, we all saw how you handled them both, the way they looked at you at that party, it was so clear.”

A Fitz whore? Me?

Jesus Holy Christ.

“Of course, there are so many speculations of what actually went down after the cops came, but now the word is the Matthews brothers are fighting the Fitz brothers over you.”

“That’s not true!” I deny vehemently. I know as much as anyone that high school rumors are vicious, but this is one is disgusting, and I want no parts in it.

“Yeah, I believe you.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” she mutters, eyeing me with a careful eye. “Don’t get me wrong, at first I thought that Shane was in love you and he was going to fight Liam and Julian over you but then no, I realized something.”

My heart starts beating wildly again, the blood in my veins swooshing in a rush above the pounding as I stare at her.

“And? What did you realize?” I question, dread seeping into my bones.

“It’s was more of paying attention than a realization, Mia.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

Kristine pulls her hair up into a messy bun, and that’s when I see the red swelling around her neck, like someone recently tried to strangle her.

Holy fuck!

Chills race down my spine as I stare at the marks. Who would do that to her?

“Actually, I don’t,” I whisper. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Kristine rolls her eyes, making gagging sounds from her throat. “Your naivety isn’t cute anymore, Mia.”

“I’m being honest, Kristine. I don’t know why Shane and his psycho brother are coming after me. I don’t know why you helped them. I don’t know anything at all.”

“But you do know the Fitz brothers,” she accuses, her eyebrow raised. “And they seem to know you, very well from what Liam Fitzgerald said at that party.”

I refuse to acknowledge that so I stay mute.

I knew the Fitz brothers were going to bring a world of trouble to my little, crumbling world. I knew that but urgh, I hate that I didn’t listen to my gut.

I hate that I chose to go along with it just because Liam sent a few charming smiles my way and checked in on me like he cared.

I don’t want to think about Julian and how he faked everything with me. If I do, I’ll start crying. And if I start crying, I won’t stop. There’s too much shit, too much pain, too many emotions that I don’t want to feel.

No, I want to hold on to this numb feeling for as long as I can.

“Oh well, whether you confirm it or not, everyone saw and heard everything at that party and there are two things I know for certain. Either you’re a fool for letting them use and discard you like they have done to legions of girls.”

She stares at me, as if waiting for me to cry and confess that she’s right and that I’m heartbroken that they used me. The truth is, I am heartbroken, they might have used me, but if there’s anyone I’m going to tell about that, it’s the two brothers who will have hell to pay the next I see them for doing all this shit to me. Not her.

“And the other thing?” I prompt.

“You have a death warrant.”

She says the words so cavalier, pushing up from the couch then she starts moving around the messy living room, picking random items and straightening the room like she didn’t just drop a dime on my head with that mess.

“What does that mean?” I whisper.

“I mean exactly that, keep up will you?” she mutters. “Why else would you involve yourself with them, making yourself the most envied and most hated girl ever. At school the boys are calling you a traitor and the girls, well, they’re all in line with the R.A.C.K.”

“The R.A.C.K?” I mutter, thinking back to the dead stare Roxy gave me before