Oh my god. He’s walking toward me. My heart is beating so fast I worry he can hear it.
“Hey, Lana,” William says, sitting down next to me. I am all alone in the library, working on a creative-writing assignment for my English class.
“Hi,” I squeak, clearing my throat and risking a glance at him.
He smiles, something flashing in his eyes. “You look pretty today.”
My eyes widen. That isn’t something I ever expected to hear out of his mouth. While I know I’m not unattractive, I’m also nothing exceptional. Especially compared to the stunning, curvy, blue-eyed blondes he usually goes for. “Oh. Umm. Thank you.”
He leans forward, and I don’t stop him.
This is like a fantasy come true.
His lips graze my cheek before he whispers in my ear. “Do you want to come for a drive with me?”
“Wh-where to?” I ask, swallowing hard.
He pulls back, shrugging as he runs his hand through his messy brown hair. “I was thinking of going to the beach. Weather is good.”
“Oh, umm,” I look down at my assignment, which really needs to be done, but this is the William Dean. “Okay.”
I collect my things and stand up. When he wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me to him, a thought occurs to me. “Wait, what about your girlfriend?”
He suddenly looks amused. “Old news, babe. We broke up. Now are we going or what?”
I nod and let him take my hand in his.
Anna isn’t going to believe this!
* * *
The next morning, with a huge smile on my face, I walk to my locker with an extra spring in my step. Yesterday, William had kissed me. He’d tried to go a little further, but I told him I wasn’t ready yet. He seemed frustrated but agreed, stopping his wandering hands and concentrated on just kissing me.
It was my first real kiss. Games and dares don’t count.
Today, he is going to take me out again.
Stopping at my locker, I drop my bag to the floor.
What the hell?
Someone has written the word whore in black marker. Underneath it, the words home wrecker are written. I am confused. And hurt. I double-check that this is indeed my locker. I mean, I’m a virgin with no dating record. How the hell can I be a whore? I am pretty sure I was one of the last few virgins in the whole damn school.
A throat clears behind me, an impatient noise.
“Thought you could steal my boyfriend away, did you?”
I turn to face William’s ex-girlfriend, flanked by two of her friends. Does she still think she is his? He’d told me in detail yesterday about how they weren’t together anymore, how he was single and interested in me.
“He said you two b-broke up,” I whisper.
What is she going to do to me? It isn’t my fault that they had broken up; she can’t hold it against me.
“We didn’t. We’re practically engaged,” she sneers, flashing me a plain, cheap-looking ring. “And you knew it. Everyone knew it. We usually ignore you because we think you’re a loser, but now, Lana, I’m going to make sure the rest of your life is a living hell.”
With that parting shot, she storms off, her two friends trailing behind her like loyal servants.
They are still together.
He lied to me.
He thought I’d be easy. He thought I’d sleep with him on that beach, and he liked the idea of being able to tell everyone he’d had sex with a virgin, but I had refused him.
And I know she’ll keep her word. She will make my life a living hell. I can see exactly how it will play out. No one will want to cross her, so everyone will ignore me, not wanting to replace me as her number one enemy.
In that moment, as I watch her and her friends strutting down the hall, I know I’m doomed to spend my senior year alone, lost in my books, my studies and writing. William won’t care that he made me a social outcast. He’ll just go back to ignoring my existence.
I wish Anna would come back. She is strong. If I had her, I wouldn’t need anyone else.
I have learned many important lessons in such a short amount of time.
Number one. Men can’t be trusted.
Number two. Sometimes you have to learn to enjoy your own company.
And number three. I will never be vulnerable again. I won’t let people make me feel insecure and like less of a person because of their own cruelty and small-mindedness.
In that moment, the soft, nervous girl I was just minutes before developed a core of steel.
Sure, people will still call me a nerd.
But I’m more like Supergirl, because underneath these glasses is a woman no one wants to mess with.
I shake my head, staring at Allie, coming back to the present.
“Don’t threaten me, Allie,” I snap. “You’re right, this isn’t high school. I’m not that girl anymore, but it looks like you are. You still think you’re the queen bitch and nothing can touch you. I let you bully me before, but I’m not fucking scared of you now. And it’s not me who takes your men. William came to me, and Tracker and you aren’t even together. If they really wanted you in the first place they wouldn’t have left.”
I hide my trembling hands, hating myself for the nasty words, but I want her to see I’m not weak anymore. I’m not going to let her or anyone else walk all over me.
She smirks. “Grew a backbone, did you? Don’t say I didn’t warn you about Tracker.”
“Yes, I grew a backbone,” I fire back. “I’m not scared of you, Allie. I can handle whatever you try to throw at me. Hell, I’ll even catch it and return it tenfold.”