The beat of my own heart thuds with adrenaline when I hear her succulent voice call out, “Hello?”
She knows.
One second…two…three.
Her footsteps pick up pace, and it exhilarates me.
I begin to trace her movements once more, bringing my hood further down my face to keep me shrouded.
Steam pours from my lips as I quicken my steps and she hears them.
Imagining the pounding of her heartbeat and fear soaking into her pores, threatening her existence, makes me exceptionally hard.
She moves with haste now, her hands no longer in her pocket, instead fisted at her sides.
I sense her movements as she suddenly turns abruptly, stealing my breath.
Panic is evident in her huge eyes and parted mouth.
What I wouldn’t give to grasp her face and take those lips into a punishing kiss.
In time, my little bird.
Instead I slip across the road moving past her without making eye contact.
As if I was never following her in the first place, just going in the same direction.
Paranoia, Alice. Nothing more.
I sense her eyes on my back as she watches me pass.
I can almost taste her breath coming out so fast, fear chasing the air from her lungs.
Perfect.
You’re fucking perfect.
Eight
Chapter
ALICE
Yearbook photos drive me crazy.
Everyone being fake, with fake messages wishing people they’ve treated like trash for the entire school career a, “good life”.
Fuck you very much asshole.
I hope you contract genital warts.
The halls are abuzz with chatter and gossip, and for once I’m not the source of it.
“Alice,” a girl from my lit class calls out, coming over to me with her phone in hand.
“Did you see what Reese Winters posted on Facebook? They’re saying he may not get to graduate over this.”
Scoffing, I pretend to look at her phone which shows the video of Gemma dancing naked.
How the hell is this still up? I thought it would be taken down almost straight away.
Just goes to show what a bunch of fucking bitches these girls are that go here.
Who goes around showing other people this shit?
Everyone, that’s who. They make me sick.
I’m about to open my mouth and say something but my eyes stray to the account name, and I see it’s not Reese’s account she’s showing me from.
Someone else has downloaded the content and shared it on their status.
“It’s viral!” The gossipy bitch laughs then catches herself, holding a hand over her mouth.
“I doubt Reese’s dad will let the school stop him from graduating,” I roll my eyes, unlocking my locker and pulling my books out.
“Reese is saying someone stole his phone,” she winks then waltzes away when the bell shrills through the corridor.
The humming of people whispering in class causes the teacher to bang a ruler on her table.
“Look, I know everyone is having a good time with this awful video circulating, but be warned. The police are involved, and if anyone is caught sharing this or watching the video there will be fierce consequences. This is a girl’s life. Your peer. Show some empathy, and try to move on from this.”
“Police?” I ask the boy sitting opposite me, Jasper Bennett. He’s a football jock who knows everyone.
His top lip lifts into a smirk, and he shrugs.
“Reese is at school and says it wasn’t him, so what can they do?”
True. No one will ever know it was me.
They can’t do anything.
After lunch the hype had all but died down, and when I happened to see Reese in the lunch hall, he didn’t say anything to me, so he must not suspect me either.
I was hoping he would suffer from my little revenge trip, but Gemma is the one absent from school due to everyone on the Internet having seen her naked.
Oh well.
I leave school late, my locker got stuck, and it took me ten minutes to jab at it to get it to finally open.
Aside from Reese’s truck, the car park is empty when I get outside.
Fuck. I ignore it and carry on walking until I’m out the gate.
A nervous flutter begins in my stomach, and I can’t explain why.
Reese doesn’t scare me, so even if he accuses me I’ll just tell him to fuck off and if need be, get Asher to give him a warning.
His truck pulls up next to me, and he winds the window down, leaning over the passenger seat to speak to me.
“Alice, you want a ride?”
“No.”
“Come on, don’t be a bitch.”
“Fuck off, Reese.”
He stops the truck and gets out. Perfect.
I stop and wait for him because it’s pointless walking away for him to just follow me.
He reaches for me once he rounds his truck, but I pull back.
“What are you doing?” I snap.
“I’ll give you a hundred dollars. I need to relieve some stress,” he pleads, and I want to kick his fucking junk.
“I’m not a fucking whore, you asshole,” I snap, and he scoffs. He actually fucking scoffs at me.