Page 48 of Disobedient Pawn

She dropped her hand but stepped in closer until she stared down at me like Nash had. I didn’t know what it was about tall people thinking this was a good intimidation tactic, but it didn’t work with Nash, and it wouldn’t work with Vicky.

“I’m going to ruin you.”

“You already did. I saw you naked, remember? I thought I was going to go blind.” She sucked in a deep breath, and I could tell she was getting ready to go full steam into another rant about how pathetic I was. It was the only song she knew how to sing, and it was already getting old. “I don’t care if you are fucking Nash, just don’t do it in our room. Literally, go anywhere else, and I would cheer you and your stupid ambition of marrying him on.”

Vicky snarled like a dog. “I’m going to make your pathetic life hell. You just made an enemy of the wrong person,” Vicky said. She marched toward the bathroom but tripped on the sheet, and I once more saw her naked tits as she screamed and let go of the blanket to break her fall with her hands.

“Ow,” she whined. I snickered, sauntering over to my side of the room, and pulled out my phone. I didn’t turn it on but pretended I did and was taking a bunch of photos.

“Yup, I’m terrified. Great shot of your bouncing tits.” I pointed.

“Put the phone away! Or else.”

“Or else what? Oh I should post these on the school website.”

“Don’t you fucking dare.” I smiled, as Vicky pushed herself to her feet and gripped the blanket to her chest. An evil smile curled up the corner of her mouth. “You’re a nobody, Davies. No one would miss you if something terrible were to happen. No one would care if you lived or died, and no one would bother looking for your body.”

Now I wished I had my phone on. That threat would’ve been nice to have recorded. “I have an idea for you, Vicky, it’s novel and will be hard for you to understand, but I think you should give it a try. Fuck off and leave me alone. I don’t want anything to do with you, your boyfriend or your life, but if you come at me…” I smiled. “I’ll come for you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Bitch.” The bathroom door closed.

“Try looking in a mirror,” I yelled back.

Grabbing the back of my desk chair, I slowly sucked in a breath and fought to beat down the anger. My tongue had always been sharp, but now I wanted to lash out. I’d pictured grabbing the scissors off my desk and stabbing Vicky with them. That wasn’t normal. I wasn’t normal. Maybe, I never was, but something inside of me was switched off or broken, I could feel it.

It happened to me while I was locked in that panic room, waiting for someone to arrive and let me out. It was like a part of me died, but I wasn’t the same when I got out.

NOVEMBER 8 – TUESDAY 5:49 PM

Ren

“Earth to Ren?”

I jerked at the sound of my name. It was as if I went from complete silence to being in the middle of a concert. Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but Ivy and Chantry did have the music loud.

“I’m sorry. What did you say?”

Ivy tilted her head and stared at me. “What’s going on? You keep spacing out.”

“Nothing, I swear, just tired. My roommate is not exactly the respectful type.” I smiled, and the girls chuckled. Everyone had already heard about the confrontation with Nash and Vicky last night. The place was practically buzzing with the news. There were even a few memes of Nash stomping down the hall with different captions. I’d inadvertently made him into a meme, even I knew that didn’t bode well for me.

Vicky was playing the victim, crying over what I did to her and saying I violated her privacy. But it wasn’t Vicky I was worried about. It was Nash. If he’d come at me in biology class with anger and intimidation, I wouldn’t have been suspicious, but he’d done the complete opposite. He barely spoke, answered any direct questions with respectful, intelligent answers, and was the perfect lab partner. He even had his half of the in-class project done and handed it to me to hand in before class was over. What the fuck?

There was only one thing that I knew for certain…he was up to something. His asshole attitude was easy to deal with, but this sneaky and quiet Nash scared me. I searched every corner for him when I walked into a room and made sure there were always people around when I went to and from the cafeteria or my locker. I had no idea what he’d do, and that was unnerving. He could be planning anything. I could picture him humiliating me, or stealing all my stuff. Hell I could even imagine him beating the shit out of me in a dark corner. He had a ruthlessness that burned in his eyes and every minute that passed that something didn’t happen only made my nervousness worse.

“Are you still thinking about the blow-up yesterday?”

I looked between Ivy and Chantry. “I’m a little worried about what Vicky and Nash will do to retaliate.”

Ivy gave me a sad look. “Any luck on the room transfer?”

I shook my head. “No. They said all the other rooms are taken, and no one wants to switch. That’s a shock. Not even her so-called best friends want to room with the Queen Bee.”

“That’s more like Queen Bitch if you ask me,” Chantry whispered, shocking me as much as it looked like it did Ivy. We both stared at her with our mouths hanging open. “What?”

I couldn’t stop the laugh from tumbling out, and soon we were all in hysterical tears.

“That is very true.” I leaned over and looked at the nail polish Chantry had chosen. It was a pretty shade of pink that I never would’ve expected from her. “I like the polish. It looks so pretty,” I said, admiring the little rhinestone that Ivy had put on.