Alpha Bully (Wolf Ridge High 1)

Chapter 1

Bailey

There’s a reason I don’t drive any more. A very good reason.

But moments like these make me wish I didn’t turn into a hyperventilating spaz every time I even think about getting behind the wheel. Not driving means I attend the local Wolf Ridge High instead of Cave Hills.

Cave Hills, the top-rated college prep dream school.

Cave Hills the school I should be going to.

The school I deserve to go to.

The school fifteen miles away.

Without a car, it might as well be a hundred.

And at this particular moment, no car means I’m screwed.

Because the bus just passed by my house.

I hear the ktshh of it stopping on my street. Ten minutes early! Snatching my bookbag off the sofa, I dash out my front door with my teeth unbrushed and my Mexican skull Chucks untied, but it’s way too late.

“Wait!” I wave and chase after it. “Hold up!” I jog a half a block, tripping and hopping in my loose sneakers.

The driver has to see me even if he can’t hear. The students in the bus definitely see me. They stare through the windows at me. Not laughing. Not pointing.

I’m a fish in a bowl. Mildly amusing to them, but they won't feel bad if they have to flush me down a toilet in a week. Racist fucks. You’d think in Arizona being Hispanic wouldn’t get me shunned.

Dammit.

I stoop to tie my shoes and sling my backpack over my shoulder. It slides forward and whacks me in the back of the head. I huff and stand.

Next door, the dynamic brother and sister duo, Cole and Casey Muchmore climb into Cole’s mostly-restored 1950s classic Ford truck. If they witnessed my early morning sprint, they’re not letting on.

Their dad on the other hand sits in the window with a beer in his hand, not even trying to hide the fact he’s watching me. The front window is where he always is, except when he’s stomping around yelling at his kids loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear.

Right now, I swear he’s smiling. Like he just had a good laugh over watching me run after the stupid bus. What an ass. Like father, like son, I guess.

Cole is as cool as his truck and even better looking. And he definitely knows it. Revels in it. He rules Wolf Ridge High like his shit comes out rosy and he doesn’t have wrong-side-of-the-track stank all over him. Like the worn out, ripped jeans he practically lives in aren’t covered in grease and grime from repairing cars.

No, Cole Muchmore doesn’t need nice clothes, a fancy car, or anything else money can buy. He has something seen as much more valuable. He’s got the status of worshipped star quarterback. And at Wolf Ridge High, that puts him somewhere in the vicinity of a god.

I eye my last chance at getting to school on time and weigh the chance of catching a ride with them.

Unlike the rest of the kids at Wolf Ridge High, the Muchmores don’t just pretend they don’t see me. They throw scowls in my direction. Hateful glares, even. I met them the day I moved in—went over and introduced myself because they came out to gawk.

They barely answered, looking at me like I had two heads. Tay Swift has had friendlier interactions with Kanye than I had with the Muchmores that day.

But right now I need a lift to school. Even if I walk, I’ll be late for my Spanish exam, and calling my mom is out. If she has to leave work to drive me, I’ll definitely get an earful about how I need to start driving again.

Besides, she has way too much on her plate with the new job.

Forcing my social anxiety to the background, I jog down the sidewalk to the curb and flag down Cole. He slows but doesn’t stop. His sister Casey, a sophomore with resting bitch-face, rolls down the window.

Cole leans across her. His dark hair is tousled, his full lips twisted in a lopsided smirk. “What’s wrong, Pink, miss the bus?”

Pink.

He’s referring to the streak of pale pink that cuts through the front of my dark hair of course. The nickname and my unfortunate physical reaction to Cole Muchmore’s nearness throws me off for a sec. Ride. I need a ride.

I stand on tiptoes to see into the truck and meet Cole’s eye. “Yeah, any chance I could catch a ride?” I curse myself for sounding like a timid mouse.

He shrugs his shoulders with a mock-rueful expression. “Sorry, Pink. I would offer, but there’s no room.”

Bullshit. There’s clearly plenty of room between the two siblings, and he’s just being a dick. I hear his deep chuckle as his sister rolls up her window.

My face flushes hot as they drive away, and a thick knot forms in my throat, heat burning the back of my eyes.