Chapter 4
“Where are you going, Piggy?” James was holding the top strap of my backpack. He leaned closer, his breath brushing against my cars. “The parking lot is the other
way.”
“W–what?” I stuttered. My whole b*dy went clammy, and my stomach fluttered unnaturally at his closeness. That was probably the first word I’d said directly to him since the first day.
“You’re dumber than I thought.” He let go of my bag, and I stumbled before regaining my balance. “Didn’t Lucas invite you to join us for ice cream‘!”
He said “ice cream” like it was
the dumbest thing.
Do you even want me to join you? I wanted to ask, but I was too much of a coward to confront James, so instead I settled for a quick, “I’m not going.”
Without looking back, I took a step forward, but was dragged back again by my bag. James had pulled harder this time, and I tumbled back, my backpack landing on his chest.
His arm immediately wrapped around my waist to rescue me from falling farther, causing my head to drop onto his shoulder.
I looked up and he looked down, our wide eyes meeting each other’s.
My stomach wasn’t just fluttering; it was full–on somersaulting, and tingles pricked all over. I was too aware of the parts where our bodies touched.
Isn’t there any ungle he doesn’t look perfect from? As if he had heard my thoughts, James’s eyes went back to their normal size and his lips quirked up into a teasing smirk.
“Trying to kill me, Piggy?” he said. His fingers on my belly twitched, and I was instantly reminded that he could feel my flab. No. “I am too young to be squeezed to death under you.”
Immediately, I pulled away from him and stood face–to–face, my cheeks redder than a fire truck. I looked around to hide my blush from his taunting eyes.
The hallway had started to empty, but the few who remained were throwing curious glances at us, adding to my embarrassment.
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Well back to MICHI HOLümü size un mis tips quiken up mo a teasing smink.
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“Trying to kill me, Piggy?” he said. His fingers on my belly twitched, and I was instantly reminded that he could feel my flab. No. “I am too young to be squeezed to death under you.”
Immediately, I pulled away from him and stood face–to–face, my checks redder than a fire truck. I looked around to hide my blush from his taunting cycs.
The hallway had started to empty, but the few who remained were throwing curious glances at us, adding to my embarrassment.
“You pulled me.” I cringed mentally at how whiny I sounded.
“With all that weight, you should be able to withstand some push and shove.” The world would end if every sentence out of his mouth didn’t have to insult me.
“Just let me go,” I sighed, finally looking at him. His black eyes stared back intently, making my knees buckle. I realized how much taller than me he was when I had to crane my neck.
“I can’t do that.”
“Why?“”
“Because I’m having fun,” his smirk returned.
I gaped at him.
“And also, you’re coming with us to the ice cream parlor. I can’t have Lucas mad at me because of you when our game is just two weeks away.”
“Do I
get a say in this?” I weakly objected. Seriously, how much of a pushover are you, Keily?
“No,” James simply answered, grabbed my hand, and started to drag me toward the school doors as if it were an everyday thing. He didn’t seem slightly troubled about bullying a girl into following him.
At first, I followed his advice and resisted silently by digging my shoes against the floor and using my weight to stop him, meanwhile ignoring how warm his fingers were wrapped around my wrist.
But my strength was nothing compared to his. James was a football player, and his training showed when he kept on walking without even looking bothered by my feeble attempts.
When we reached the parking lot, there was no sign of Lucas or his car, or the others who were coming. They had already left. I sighed with relief at not having to face Lucas, at least for a day.
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“f**ker left without me,” James cursed.
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He still held my wrist, so I gave it a small tug to make him let go. Instead, his grip tightened, and he looked down at me.
“Looks like our lover boy doesn’t care about you.” He smiled, and I would have found it genuine if not for his eyes, which had a wicked glint. “But I do. Let’s go.”
My hand was yanked, and once again I was dragged, this time to a black Chevy Camaro on the other side of the parking lot.
I didn’t know much about James’s family, but to own that expensive piece of metal, they had to be rich. James opened the passenger door and raised his eyebrows, gesturing for me to enter.
“You don’t have to take me,” I said, looking down, and I clutched the cell phone in my hand tightly.
“Don’t waste time,” he sounded irritated, like everything was my fault.
Not having the courage to fight back, I slipped into the passenger’s scat quietly and adjusted the
seatbelt.
James closed the door with a loud thud, almost making me jump, before walking around to sit in the
driver’s seat.
When the engine started, any chance of getting out of James’s clutches vanished, so I sent a quick text to Addison, telling her not to wait for me.
Even after the message was sent, I kept glaring at my phone, anything to avoid the Satan beside me. But he wasn’t keen on granting me that wish.
“So tell me, Piggy,” James said, “do you like him?”
“What?” My phone dropped onto my lap.
“Don’t play dumb. You know what I mean.”
I turned my head to look at him. His narrowed eyes were fixed ahead on the road, and his hands were fisting against the steering wheel tightly. He wasn’t exactly a picture of a happy person.
“You don’t have to worry about anything.” I replied. “Lucas said all that because he was angry with you. I’m sure he didn’t really mean it.”
“That’s not the answer to my question,” he said. He pressed the accelerator, and we started
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As Hot swer to my question, ne The pressed the necetem, mid we MADE overtaking other cars on the road.
“Why does it even mattor if I like him
The car’s speed increased, and the buildings outside became blurred. He’s every. I pulped, I was to young to be killed by some crazy teenage boy,
“N–no,” I choked out, fearing for my life. James looked at me, his eyes sharp and calculating. “I don’t like him that way. Seriously, don’t worry about your friend. He’ll never go for me eller wwy”
“Good.” He whipped back his head, and gradually the car slowed down to its normal speed,
I breathed a sigh of relief,
Not a word passed between us after that, and the awkward tension filled the car. At least it was awkward for me; James didn’t seem to care.
By the time we reached Riche’s Parlor, I was ready to burst out of the car and bolt away from him.
As we got out, I spotted Lucas’s and Lola’s cars parked not far from James’s.
Dread once again filled me with every step closer to the glass doors. It looked like my jittery nerves weren’t going to get any break today.
When we entered, I saw Lucas, Sadhvi, Matt, and Lola sitting in the third booth from the front, chatting and enjoying their ice creams.
Matt spotted us first and grinned, waving us over. I smiled awkwardly when the others turned their
heads too.
Lucas was the one who looked most surprised by our presence, more so that we were together. I couldn’t blame him; I would have been surprised too.
“Come,” James ordered as he walked to the counter. I followed. “What do you want?” We stood before the glass freezer containing buckets of different flavored ice creams.
“Blueberry.” I felt very self–conscious.
“And…
“And?“”
James almost rolled his eyes. “You’re going to get two scoops. Do you want both of them to be
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“No, I’ll have only one scoop of blucherry.” I didn’t mind having two scoops, but I also didn’t want to give James more leverage to comment on my eating habits.
“Who are you trying to fool? James shook his head before calling the man behind the counter. **Two scoops of chocolate chip and rocky road, and another with two scoops of blucherry.”
“Make it blueberry and mint,” I corrected quickly. James wasn’t going to listen, so I might as well get what I liked.
“Weird taste,” James muttered, but I noticed a hint of a smile on his lips. When I saw him taking out his wallet, I searched for my pouch inside my bag too.
Today, I was dressed in a knee–length summer dress with no pockets; therefore, my backpack carried everything from my cell phone to money.
“Don’t bother. It’s my treat,” I heard him say as he finished paying the man.
“But-
“Just enjoy your ice cream, Piggy.” He handed me my cup and headed where the others sat with his rocky road and chocolate chip.
thought you two weren’t coming,” Sadhvi said as we took our seats.
Her long black curls swayed on her shoulders as she moved her head, looking between James and me. She was on the school’s cheerleading team with Addison.
From the little interaction that I’d had with her, I gathered she had an outgoing and bubbly personality, completely the opposite of Lola’s. Addison friended every variety of humans.
“We were,” James replied, shifting back to get comfortable. I was sitting next to him, and the little movement caused our thighs to brush against cach other, making the hem of my dress ride up.
I blushed like my overreacting self. It seemed James noticed it too, because I caught him staring at my thighs, probably with disgust at how fat I was. I shouldn’t have worn this dress.
Immediately, I pulled it down, and James whipped his eyes back to Sadhvi, clearing his throat.
“Who told you we weren’t?” he asked, eating a spoonful of his ice cream and turning to glare at Lucas, who sat in front.
“I did ” Lucas plared back licking the his chocolate scoon on his cone. Everyone else looked at Chapter 4 of 34: Chapter 4
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them silently, biting down on their treats.
“So you decided to leave Piggy hanging after begging her to join us.”
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Lucas’s glare dropped, and he moved his head to look at me apologetically. “Keily, I’m sorry. I was embarrassed to see you again after I said all those things, and I left you abruptly.
His cheeks tinted a little. “I didn’t wait, because I thought you weren’t going to come.”
“You guessed right. I wasn’t. I was kind of embarrassed too,” I replied honestly, the burden on my ch*st lifting. “But James insisted, so I tagged along.”
That wasn’t honest. I had been literally dragged here, but I didn’t want to humiliate myself. “I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”
“Absolutely not,” he said, smiling. His smile made me smile back, relieved that our friendship hadn’t been ruined.
“I’m such an asshole that I didn’t even text you that we were leaving. You have every right to be angry with me.”
“You are an asshole,” James interrupted before I could answer. “And she should be angry.”
Lucas’s smile turned into a scowl as he faced James. “And who are you to speak? It’s your fault that this ever happened. You were f**king bullying her!”
“What I do with her is none of your business. It’s between her and me,” he retorted nonchalantly, taking another bite of his rocky road.
“Can you believe this motherfucker?!”
Not again. Wasn’t James here to make up with Lucas?
“Stop it, between the two. “The girl you’re fighting
vou euys,” Lola muttered, noved stepping i for looks terrified of both of you.”
Instantly, every pair of eyes at the table was on me, and my face burned with the attention. I realized I had been watching those two fight with a terrified expression.
I wasn’t afraid of them–okay, maybe a little of James–but seeing them angry at each other because of me was horrible.
As much of a jerk as James was, he was Lucas’s close friend. And I didn’t like being the cause of
their fight
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“I’m sorry,” Laiens sighed.
James just scoffed, looking down at me. Yeah, total jerk.
Fortunately, there wasn’t any more quarreling between them for the rest of our time together. But f noticed the two glaring at each other from time to time,
Matt and Sadhvi took charge of returning the table’s mood buck to jovial by talking about the upcoming football game. They somewhat succeeded, and James and Lucas commented here and
there.
My mint ice cream hnd melted into the blueberry before I even noticed. Nevertheless, I gulped it down, savoring the sweet taste.
“Kelly, wait,” Sadhvi called from behind me as I was about to push the shop’s door open. It was approaching six p.m. when everyone decided to head back home. Lucas, James, and Matt were already outside.
“No, Kelly. Go,” Lola, who was standing beside Sadhvi, said. Sadhvi frowned, but she seemed unaffected.
“She’s just going to ask you stupid questions about what Lucas said in school that made you both embarrassed. And everyone can see you don’t want to talk about it right now, except her.”
“Uh…” She was right. I didn’t want to tell Sadhvi about that. I shot her an apologetic look before walking out.
“Kelly, let me drop you home,” Lucas offered when us girls reached them.
“She’s coming with me,” James jumped in before I could accept. “I brought her here, and I’m dropping her home.”
Once again, the two were in a glaring competition until something akin to realization flashed in Lucas’s eyes, and he backed down. “Whatever.”
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