Trick Me Twice

“Problem?”

I jolted out of my thoughts at Carter’s impatient tone. “No problem.” Swiping my bags from the floor, I fumbled for the door handle. Then I paused, briefly closing my eyes and taking a deep breath to steady my voice. “There is a problem, actually.”

His gaze swung to mine, and he raised a challenging brow. “You…” I swallowed. “Why do you hate me so much?”

The darkness surrounding us grew thick and suffocating, reflected in his eyes. He reached out his hand to my face, and then he suddenly gripped my jaw, his fingers digging into my skin.

“You know what my feelings are towards you? Indifferent. In order to hate you, I’d have to care about you. You’re nothing to me. Insignificant.”

Nothing to me. Insignificant.

I should have been glad of his words, but to my horror I felt tears pricking my eyes, and my lip trembled.

Tearing

away from his grip and yanking my door open, I fled the car.

He roared away from my front gates, turning the corner and disappearing from sight before the first tear fell.

That night, my dreams were haunted by emotions and memories I’d done my hardest to suppress. Even though I’d put my past behind me, Carter’s words had pierced through to the part of me that was still a small, scared little girl who felt worthless and unloved.

2

“Listen up.” I was in the cafeteria with my best mates, Xavier and Kian. “Why don’t we make Fright Night more interesting?”

After the annual tradition of trick or treat pranks got way out of hand and ended up with the tragic death of a student, this year the county council had organised a massive Halloween carnival they were calling Fright Night, in the vague hope we’d hang out there rather than terrorise the locals. Everyone expected Kian, Xavier, and I to plan something, and we weren’t going to disappoint.

“What you thinking?” Kian turned to me, interest sparking in his eyes.

“What if we add some stakes to this game?”

As I outlined my idea, identical devious smiles spread across their faces.

“I can’t fucking wait.” Kian rubbed his hands together.

As he and Xavier began arguing over mask colours, my attention was diverted by a lone student entering the door—Raine Laurent. Anger burned through me as the memory of what had happened yesterday overtook my mind.

I rolled to a stop in the garage next to my dad’s Bentley. That meant he was home. Which meant my English teacher, who just so happened to be one of his old school friends and golf buddies, must’ve contacted him about my grade. Fuck. I’d hoped I might be able to fly under the radar, but I guess not.

Sure enough, when I entered the kitchen, there he was.

“Carter.” So much disapproval dripped from that one word.

“I’ll try harder.”

“That’s not good enough. This is the third time this has happened.” He stayed calm and collected, too composed to show any outward signs of anger, but it was all there in his clenched jaw and the frustrated hand he was running through his hair. “Need I remind you that your future is at stake, here? I can open some doors for you, but without that degree, you’re not going to last five minutes.”

“I know.”

He continued as if I hadn’t even spoken. “Why can’t you take a leaf from Rainey’s book? Her grades are impeccable.”

And there it was again. Raine fucking Laurent. Both my mum and dad thought she was so fucking perfect, kissing her ass and going on about how clever and amazing she was all the time. The constant comparisons were nothing new, but every time I was compared to her and found wanting, it fucking stung.

“Maybe I could speak to Pam, see if Rainey can give you some tutoring,” he mused.

My stomach rolled, and I gritted my teeth. “Not a good idea, Dad. She’ll be way too busy with her own schoolwork.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind—”