Page 6 of Savage Devil
It’s not like I owe him my fidelity or anything but … I don’t know. A part of me feels like the idea of pursuing something with anyone else would be a betrayal.
It’s been eighteen months since Monique and I crashed a Sun Valley Party, and unless he was a lot older than he looked and already graduated, there is a chance he still goes to Sun Valley High.
If he does, I’m going to find him. And if he doesn’t, maybe I’ll finally be able to put that night behind me.
Two
High school is the same hell I remember it being, only somehow worse. At the academy, people at least smiled my way before they ignored me. It was like church where everyone is nice to your face for the sake of appearances. They keep their pettiness and bullshit for moments behind your back where you can’t hear them.
Which is all fine. There, I had a solid friend group already in place. I knew who to trust. Who was a real friend, and who was fake and should be avoided. As a scholarship kid, I wasn’t Miss Popular by any means, but I had Monique and that added a layer of protection. No one fucked with the Price family. If their money didn’t intimidate you, Dominique Price, the town’s football legend, star quarterback and self-proclaimed Devil would. It only took one time during freshman year for the entire school to realize that Dominique would always defend his sister’s honor whether he attended Suncrest Academy or not. And he did one hell of a job using his fists to accomplish that.
Here, there is no mock politeness and there is zero common courtesy in these hallways. I’m the new girl and everyone has already decided to hate me on sight. I’m greeted with looks of disgust or ignored entirely.
It’s infuriating and not the reception I’d been hoping for, but there isn’t anything I can do about it. The best I can hope for is to skate through and not cause any waves while drawing minimal attention to myself. The school’s administration know I’m a breastfeeding mom. They’ve made some accommodations for me, and my teachers have been made aware that I’ll sometimes arrive a few minutes late if I need to pump before class. Thankfully, the school is letting me duck into the nurse’s office when I need to, so I don’t have to resort to using the girl’s bathroom.
I’d rather keep my single-mom status a secret if I can help it.
I’m not ashamed to be a mom. Luis is the best thing that ever happened to me. But I don’t want to broadcast it to everyone in the school either. Teenagers are assholes. I would know. And I refuse to give anyone here ammunition against me.
I make it through my first two classes without incident and spend the second half of lunch—after pumping—alone in the library, which is surprisingly pleasant. There’s something about being surrounded by worn books that I take a special sort of comfort in. I’m skimming through a fantasy novel when voices a few book stacks away draw my attention. Setting the book back on the shelf, I edge closer, curious to see who’s there. The library had been empty when I arrived. I wonder if maybe there are others like me who don’t blend in with the crowd hiding out in here.
“Why are you doing this to me?” a girl’s voice whines.
I peek my head around the shelves, spotting a blond with her arms folded across her chest. Her hair is a tangled mess of curls thrown into what I’m assuming is supposed to be a bun, but instead is a riot of crazy that she somehow manages to pull off. She’s wearing red basketball shorts, white sneakers, a black Sun Valley High Red Devils t-shirt, and an annoyed expression directed at whoever it is she’s talking to.
“Kasey, I’m just trying to be supportive,” another girl says, though I can’t quite make her out from my position.
“Liar. If you come to my game, the Devils will come and you know it.”
A snort. “And that’s a bad thing because…”
“Because they’re assholes.” A pause. “Okay, fine. Roman isn’t as much of an asshole, but Emilio and Dominique totally are.” Devils and Dominique can only mean one thing. The Sun Valley High mascot is a Devil but no one talks about just anyone like that.
“I don’t see what the big deal is. Aaron goes to your games.”
“He’s my brother and he does actually want to support me. The Devils want to go hoping I mess up so they can make fun of me for it later.” I pause at the mention of the Devils and consider what I know about Monique’s older brother. Yeah, I could see him doing that. He can be a real asshole when he wants to be.
Despite going to Suncrest Academy, I know all about the Devils. Hell, even without for Monique I would know about them. They’re legend in these parts. A group of four best friends. Three football gods and one skateboarding king. The Suncrest Academy Saints have always hated the Devils because when they showed up freshman year, the Saints began losing. Every single football game against the Devils from that year on has ended in defeat. As far as I know, the score is still the same.
“Oh, so for the same reason you go to their football games?”
Yep. Definitely those Devils.
“That’s not the—”
Having stepped too close to one of the shelves, I accidentally knock over a few books. They make a loud clatter and the voices cut off from what they’d been saying. I silently curse as I rush to pick them up, kicking myself for not paying closer attention to what I was doing.
Footsteps grow closer just as I place the last book back on the shelf. I turn to head in the opposite direction as a voice calls out, “Hey!”
Shoot.
I spin around, hands raised and a grimace on my face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just, uh…” I’ve got nothing. No valid reasons or excuses come out of my mouth as I stand there like an idiot faced with two girls I don’t know. God, I hope they’re not the catty type. I’m not prepared for an in-your-face confrontation on my first day back.
The blond I spotted initially looks annoyed but the other girl—a petite brunette with distinctly Hispanic features—eyes me curiously without any anger or annoyance in her gaze.
“You’re new here, right? I don’t think we’ve met before,” she says, offering me a kind smile that takes me by surprise.
“Yeah, sort of.” I tuck my hands into my back pockets. “I lived in Sun Valley growing up, but I went to Suncrest Academy before.” I wince. Probably should have left that part out. There’s no love lost between the two schools. “I moved and did an online school thing for a while. Now I’m back. And here I am.” I cringe. “Sorry. I’m rambling. I do that when I meet new people. Just ignore me.” Why can I not stop talking? Oh my god, Bibi, get it together.
