Saint (Angelview Academy #1) - E.M. Snow Page 0,16

the International Space Station can probably see it.” She emphasizes this by spreading her hands wide in front of her, earning snorts of laughter from her lemmings.

I count to ten in my head to keep my temper from exploding. It won’t help my reputation if I beat the living shit out of this queen-bee-wannabe on the first day of class.

“Don’t you people have anything better to do than bother me? Kill some dalmatians? Suck the life out of children? Get landed on by a house?”

She slants her head until the blunt ends of her blond bob brush her bare shoulder. “Little else that’s quite so much fun as ruining a trashy little poser.”

I drop my backpack on the bench between the lockers and face her with clenched teeth. “What do you want from me? Hmm? Wanna try and kick my ass? Hurt my feelings? Sorry to disappoint you, Laurel, but I’ve dealt with nasty bitches like you my whole life. It’s gonna take a lot more than some half-baked insults to fuck me up, got it?”

To my annoyance, a chuckle passes through her pursed lips. “Oh, sweetie, you misunderstood. I’m not the one who’s going to break you.”

I cock my head. “What the hell does that mean?”

She grins, and it’s pearly white and evil. “You’ll see.”

Without another word, she and her posse make their way out of the locker room, leaving me alone and more confused than ever.

It’s not until I emerge from the locker room that I understand what Laurel meant. As soon as I step into the gym, I understand who it was she was talking about when she said she wouldn’t be the one who would break me.

Saint Angelle.

In my fucking gym class.

“I’m being punished,” I murmur under my breath, tucking a strand of hair back into my slowly unraveling braid. “God is punishing me.”

Gabe is with him, but I’m not as concerned about Archie Andrews’ muscle-bound twin at present. Saint’s eyes find me immediately, and he stares at me with glacial coldness. I keep my expression neutral, trying hard to hide the fact that I’m shivering with dread.

What fresh hell does he have in store for me?

Laurel and her friends are gathered near Saint and Gabe, though the boys don’t pay them much attention. They don’t seem to mind though, as they fire me looks of sadistic delight and giggle behind their hands to each other. When the gym teacher appears and whistles for us to begin running laps, I huff out a breath of relief. They wouldn’t try something in front of an adult.

Even they couldn’t be that arrogant.

Once we finish our laps, Mr. Norris splits us into teams and tells us we’re playing basketball today. The boys will be on one half of the court, and the girls on the other half. Despite my height, I’m a fan of the sport, so I try to have some fun with it, telling myself over and over again that I’m safe until the bell. Nothing can happen to me, especially with Saint and Gabe securely on the opposite end of the gym.

I end up guarding one of Laurel’s friends—a tall brunette named Nadia who’s rolled up her gym shorts until her ass cheeks hang out—as the game begins. She’s being overly aggressive right away, and my hope that I’ll get out of this class unscathed quickly diminishes. This bitch is out for blood, and when I step in her way to block her from driving the ball to the hoop, she lowers her shoulder and knocks me over. My elbow slams into the floor as I fall.

Mr. Norris blows his whistle and shouts at her to ease up, and Nadia bats her eyelashes and sneers an apology down at me. Pain radiates up my arm from my elbow, but I bite my lip and push to my feet. When the teacher asks if I’m all right, I shake his concern away and reposition myself to start playing again.

I don’t see the ball coming, but I suppose that’s the point.

It slams into my face, knocking me back to the ground with a painful thud.

I hear Laurel’s distinct cackle as stars burst into my vision. Mr. Norris blows his whistle again, it’s shrill sound pinging around in my skull.

“Ellis, you good?” he barks.

“She probably just got some sense knocked into her, Mr. Norris,” Laurel replies in a baby voice that might be oddly amusing under any other circumstance.

Something in me snaps. The pressure that’s been building up all