Saint (Angelview Academy #1) - E.M. Snow Page 0,37
in the girl’s locker room after gym. Just about everyone is already gone, which is just how I like it. I pad my way to my locker and open it to grab my clothes. I tense when I don’t find them on top of my bag inside. My heart begins to race with panic as I frantically search for them, even upending my backpack onto the floor in case I stuffed them inside and forgot.
They’re nowhere to be found.
My clothes are gone.
And I know exactly who took them.
“Looking for these?”
My shoulders tense and I slowly turn to face Laurel. She’s standing by the locker room door, my uniform clutched in her hands, an evil grin plastered on her face.
“Give those back,” I snarl.
She laughs. “Like hell. You want them? Come and get them, whore.”
Rage blurs my vision, and I charge forward. I think I take her momentarily by surprise, because her mouth drops into a shock “O” shape. She gathers her wits enough to turn and run out the door, but I chase her without thought all the way back up to the gym. Her friends are waiting, howling like monkeys as I rush after her in nothing but a towel. She comes to a halt in the safe circle of her minions and waves my uniform over her head, taunting me.
“What’s the matter, Mallory? Don’t sluts prefer being naked?”
“Drop them, Laurel.” The urge to hurt her is overwhelming, and I want to make her feel as humiliated as she’s making me in this moment.
She throws my black knee socks at me, then tosses the rest of my clothes in the air, piece by piece, like fucking confetti. When there’s nothing left put my panties, she swings them over her head before launching them at me. Her friends act like this is the most hilarious thing they’ve ever seen in their damn lives.
“Come on, Mallory, give us a peek of the goods,” she sneers, stepping forward to grab at my towel. “What’s got Saint and the boys so goddamn hot for you? What’s so fucking special about you?”
I don’t think. Instinct takes over completely, and I throw my fist at her as hard as I can. I connect with her nose and she goes flying backwards, landing on her ass on the floor, blood streaming down her face. She releases an ear-shattering scream as she cups her hands over her nose and begins to cry. Her friends all appear horrified, hovering around her, but not a single one of them is certain what they can do to help.
“What on Earth is going on here?”
I jump at our teacher’s thunderous voice. Glancing over my shoulder, I feel the blood drain from my face as he storms toward us, face flushed red.
“Ellis!” he barks, taking in the scene. “What did you do?”
I stare at him, my mouth hanging open like a fish, unable to speak. This is bad. This is really, really bad. I just hit Laurel, the student council president. I may have even broken her nose. And that motherfucker must have cost a fortune.
They’ll expel me for this! They’re going to expel me, and I’ll have to go back to Georgia.
“Mr. Norris, I…” I don’t know what to say. I can see my future flushing down the drain right before my eyes, all because I couldn’t keep my damn temper under control.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“Ellis, you’re in so much trouble, I—”
“Mr. Norris, hold up!” I blink as Gabe suddenly appears at my side, slightly out of breath, his red hair spiked with moisture. Where the hell did he come from?
“Carlson? What do you want?”
Gabe holds his hands up. “I saw the whole thing, sir. You can’t blame Ellis for this.”
What. The. Fuck?
Have I stepped into a different dimension?
Did Laurel punch me instead and this is all a side effect of my concussion?
“What’d you see?” Mr. Norris asks, folding his arms over his wide chest.
“Laurel stole Mallory’s clothes and wouldn’t give them back,” Gabe quickly explains. “She was taunting her with them, sir. Mallory was just defending herself.”
Our teacher glances toward Laurel, who’s sobbing as though she’s dying, and arches a brow as he looks back at us.
“Defending herself? Seems a little extreme of a defense, don’t you think?”
Gabe looks at me for a second, then gives a one-shouldered shrug. “Maybe, but can you really blame her? I mean, Laurel’s not the best example of Christ-like behavior and she’s supposed to be president of the Student Christian Fellowship, so…”