Ride or Die (Rejects Paradise 4)

I’m not going to lie, the second I drove out of the massive gate this morning, the paranoia swept over me again. I’ve been looking over my shoulder with every step I take. Colton has already called me twice to check in with me. Though I have to admit, I think that’s going to be the new normal now. Not that I mind because, for those few minutes, I feel that familiar safety net wrap around me.

Walking down the hall feels surreal. Everybody is just going about their day as though my world isn’t falling to pieces, yet with every eye that wanders my way, I can't help but wonder if they know. Are they staring at my stomach? Do they know a rapist knocked me up? Hell, do they know a fucking gang is looking for me so they can beat the living shit out of me? How simple their lives must be.

I can only imagine the bullshit rumors that will spread about me. They’ll be worse than the ones Casey and Cora tried to hit me with a few weeks ago, only this time, it’ll be true, and it’ll hurt like a blade slicing through my skin, a bit like what I did to this baby’s father.

By the time I reach my locker, Hendrix is already there bursting from the seams with a cheesy as fuck grin on her face. “Girl, where the hell have you been?” she starts, diving into me and wrapping me in a quick, warm hug. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you since Friday. Have you been sick or something?”

“Or something,” I grumble, glancing away to avoid looking at the confusion on her face.

She stares at me for a quick moment before shrugging it off and putting it down to one of my many weird quirks. “Anyway,” she continues, backing up a step to give me space to open my locker. “Has your mom said anything about my dad? I swear, he’s so smitten with her. Our plan totally worked. We should have hooked them up ages ago.”

I glance back at her, trying my hardest to give her the kind of enthusiasm that she’s looking for. “Umm … yeah, definitely. They’re great together.”

“I know, right. It’s like they’re soulmates or something.”

I resist rolling my eyes. I’d hardly skip right to soulmates. They’ve been on one date, which only came about because we forced it on them. I mean, I totally get it. It's insta love that burns so bright that it’s impossible to ignore, but I’d like to see what happens six months down the track, a year or maybe two. If things are still shining brightly, then yeah, I’ll consider the whole soulmates thing for them. Call me a Debby Downer, but there’s a big difference between being happy for my mom and finding the love of her life after one date.

After getting my books out of my locker, I close it and lean up against it only to find Drix staring at me. “What’s up with you?” she asks. “You seem really off. Like you’re not even excited about it at all.”

I let out a sigh. “I’m sorry. I am excited. I think it’s great that they’re hitting it off. I’ve just had a really big few days, and I’m kinda struggling to focus on everything. My head is just … a bit of a mess.”

“Oh,” she says, looping her arm over my shoulder and dragging me across the hall to where Jess is just arriving. “You should have said something. Do you need to talk about it? I know your life is all bat shit crazy, so I can’t promise to keep up, but I can promise to ooh and ahh at all the right times, especially if it has anything to do with those tattooed gang guys that showed up here last week.”

I groan at her attraction to Nic and Sebastian. I mean, I get it, I totally do. But if she knew the kinds of things those boys got up to, she’d be horrified that she even looked their way. “Those tattooed gang guys are not the kind of guys you want to be getting yourself involved with, trust me. Besides, aren’t you screwing around with Charlie?”

Jess looks over at us as she finishes in her locker. “Wait. What’s going on?”

Drix smirks and leans against the cold, metal lockers. “Don’t change the topic,” she warns me before glancing back at Jess. “Ocean here was just about to tell us what the hell has been going on over the last few days.”

I shake my head, considering for the briefest second actually talking to them about all of this. In reality, doing that would only drag them down into a world that would break girls like them. Besides, even the slightest whisper of a teen pregnancy and I’ll have every school in Bellevue Springs knowing my business before lunch. “I wasn’t about to tell you guys shit,” I laugh before leaning in. “It’s gang business, and you know how they get about bitches who squeal.”