All the Little Truths (English Prep 3)

Hayley sparred off with him. “So what? You’re the only one allowed to be mean to me?”

He nodded with confidence. “That’s right.”

Hayley rolled her eyes, dismissing him quickly. “I’m just saying, I feel bad for her. There’s a reason she’s mean to everyone. I can see it.”

“I don’t know about that,” Christian bemused. “I think she’s just a cold bitch.”

I swallowed my soda slowly, shifting my eyes to Madeline at her lone lunch table by the trash cans and then back to Hayley and Christian arguing about her.

“You can’t judge a book by its cover, Christian. You should know that by now.”

He chuckled. “I’ve been in between her pages. She has no excuse.”

Piper gasped as Hayley turned to look at him once more. I waited with a slack jaw to see how Hayley would retaliate. Those two had a weird relationship. They fucking loved each other, but sometimes their little playful fights got dirty.

Christian was a dick, but Hayley didn’t take his shit.

It was entertaining, to say the least.

“But”—she leaned in close to his face, her mouth almost touching his—“did you happen to read those pages, Christian?”

I watched him gulp back a feral growl. Hayley knew how to press his buttons and how to make him swallow his words. Leaning back in my chair, I crossed my arms and grinned.

Hayley’s hands clamped down onto Christian’s thighs, really fucking close to his dick, as she waited for his answer.

Piper was smashing her lips together as she glanced up from the crook of Ollie’s neck, who was barely keeping himself from laughing.

Christian licked his lips before smirking. “I didn’t read her pages like I read yours…”

Hayley smiled before pecking him on the mouth. “Good answer.”

A few seconds went by with everyone laughing at their show before Hayley turned her attention to me. “What are your views on it, Eric? You’re awfully quiet over there.”

My mouth slammed shut as I flicked my eyes up to Piper. She quickly glanced away, not meeting my eye.

Unfortunately, Piper knew there was something going on with me when it came to Madeline. She was observant. Too observant. She knew I watched Madeline like a hawk. She knew that Madeline dove underneath my skin and made me itch with unease. I was guessing that Piper had told Hayley.

Those two were trouble sometimes. But not the type of trouble that Madeline was.

I huffed out a breath, pushing my tray away with force before announcing—very loudly, might I add—what I thought about Madeline. “I think Madeline is a selfish bitch who only thinks of herself. She deserves every bit of what she’s getting.”

Something flew through my veins with my words—something similar to unease, guilt even. But I pushed it away as I found her stoic, yet soft face staring at me from her lunch table.

We kept a hold of each other’s stares for no more than a passing second, but in that second, I saw a whole lot of emotion pass behind her blue eyes.

“Damn straight,” Christian grunted, throwing up his fist to pound mine.

When I dropped my hand with a smirk, I glanced back at Madeline, but she was quickly leaving the lunch room, her plaid skirt swaying and her shoulders bunched up to her ears.

Before she walked through the doors, she paused and glanced down at her phone. Her shoulders dropped in a whoosh with what appeared to be relief.

I couldn’t help my eyebrows crowding in together, wondering just what was on her phone that seemed to make her relax.

My jaw popped as I glanced away, ignoring all the weird signs that Madeline was giving off the last few months.

I don’t care.

She didn't deserve the amount of thoughts I gave her. Madeline was like a passing season, changing every so often, only to leave you longing for more. But I was through longing for Madeline. That boat shipped out years ago.