Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
“What happened this weekend isn’t who I am,” he urged, making me roll my eyes harder than ever before. “And now, some people look at me as if I’m this jerk who tried to hurt you.”
“You should’ve thought about that before you got on camera and called me all those names,” Hailee said matter-of-factly. “So if you’ll excuse me, I have nothing else to say to you.”
She pushed past him, and I gave him a mocking smirk because fuck that guy. Hailee left him with his tail between his legs like the idiot he had been.
As we began to walk away, I heard some popular kids, including Cara, talking to Carlton. “You’re really going to let someone like Hailee Jones embarrass you like that? Oh my gosh, I didn’t know you were so weak,” they mocked.
They kept egging him on, mocking him, making fun of how a girl just walked all over him like he was nothing. I could feel the tension building up from the situation as I glanced back and saw Carlton growing more and more intense and nervous from the rude remarks.
“Tell her how you really feel, Carlton! Or are you just a weak little punk?” Brad Gates egged on. And if there was anything about peer pressure, it always engulfed the weakest links.
Carlton cleared his throat, stood taller, and shouted. “Whatever, Hailee, it’s not my fault I didn’t want to fuck you because you got fat over the past year.”
My jaw hit the floor.
Hailee’s footsteps paused, and I saw the color as it drained from her face. Every insecurity that lived within her spilled out of her eyes. The pain of Carlton’s words ran deep, and as she turned to look at him, I saw a moment of guilt flash over him before everyone around him broke out into laughter.
“Hell yeah! You tell that fatty who’s the man,” someone said.
Carlton blinked, released a smug chuckle, and shrugged. “I mean, I couldn’t even find where to put it because of her stomach rolls. Can you blame me for not wanting to have sex between two ham hock thighs? Honestly—”
He hadn’t had a chance to finish his thoughts. I rushed at him, knocking him to the floor within a few seconds. My fist began to pound into his face as a bigger crowd began to form around us. Carlton got one good hit to my left eye, but that was all I would allow him to have. My knuckles ached from the contact to his face, to his gut, to his soul, but I didn’t stop. Because Hailee was hurting due to his words. If she had to hurt emotionally, he had to hurt physically. An eye for an eye or something like that.
Carlton didn’t know what he was signing up for when he decided to bully the good girl with a best friend like me.
Anyone who dimmed Hailee’s light had to deal with her shadows, and I was the motherfucker standing there, all dressed in black.
“Break it up, break it up!” a voice hollered, an authoritative tone to the sound. I wasn’t surprised when I saw two teachers yanking me off Carlton, who was balled up like a jerk.
“Mr. Walters, Mr. Holmes! Principal’s office—now!” Mr. Jacobson shouted, holding me by my collar as Mr. Thompson went and scraped Carlton up from the floor.
My eyes connected with Hailee’s terrified stare as Mr. Jacobson dragged me past her, off to face my doom.
“You okay?” I mouthed.
Her eyes flashed with emotions, and she nodded slightly. “You okay?” she mouthed back.
I gave her a half grin, and it dropped the moment she was out of eyesight.
All I could hear in my head was my father’s voice, telling me that I was a fucking idiot.
“Are you a fucking idiot?” Dad grumbled as I sat in our living room with Mom. Well, Mom and I sat. Dad stood tall with his arms crossed.
“Sam, the tone,” Mom said, cutting in. At least I had one parent in my corner.
“Screw my tone. Your son pummeled his fists into another boy’s face and got suspended for the rest of the week. We’re lucky I was able to talk to the principal into not expelling him. Who do you think you are, huh? Attacking another kid like that? You think that makes you tough? You think you’re a big man on campus because you can use your fists?”
I sat with my shoulders rounded forward and fingers entangled. I didn’t speak to him because I knew whatever I said would’ve been seen as an excuse, and my father didn’t believe in excuses. He believed in the Walters standard. We didn’t act out in public. We didn’t behave like savages. We didn’t create scenes.
We stood in line. We fought for important issues. We obeyed the law and never disrespected authority—my teachers and the administration of my school being the authority in this situation. If we did, the tabloids would report on it, and God forbid that happened.