Chapter 2

Blaise

After picking up my skateboard from the dirty tiled floor, I held it by my side and sauntered into Redwood’s main building for lunch period. I walked alone in the chilly fall air because I didn’t give a fuck about the fakers in this town.

Nobody cared about anyone else. And nobody gave a fuck about me.

Except Vera now.

Vera had barely spared me two glances over the past four years, but the way she had looked at me today when I dragged a chair over to her desk and told her to meet me later was the best fucking thing I had seen all week.

With her brown eyes wide as fuck, her staring up at me like she actually gave a fuck about what I needed to talk to her about, as if she really, truly feared me, fuck, it had done something to me. People in Redwood only cared about themselves, but Vera … well, she now cared about what I had to say to her.

It was comical, laughable almost.

And it brought me joy in this miserable place that everyone called Redwood, so I wasn’t going to just scare Vera off. Tonight, I wanted to see what she had to say for herself for the sex-filled story she had written in her notebook.

Vera had rushed down the hallway so fast before World History that she didn’t notice the pages that had slipped out of her notebook. Thankfully, I had. And tonight, I wanted to steal her entire notebook from her, so I could read more.

“Mr. Harleen,” Principal Vaughn said right before I slipped into the cafeteria. He stood in front of the doors and crossed his arms over his long and scrawny chest. “What did I tell you about skateboards at this school? They’re prohibited.”

A low chuckle escaped my throat. “And what did I tell you before, Steve?”

He gritted his teeth. “It’s Principal Vaughn to you.”

“I believe I said, ‘Go fuck yourself, Stevie.’ So, leave me the hell alone.”

Deciding that I really wanted to get on his nerves today, I tossed my skateboard onto the ground right in front of him, hopped on it, and slid right through the open doors and into the cafeteria. He grabbed my shoulder as I passed him, but I kept my balance and shoved him away.

“Remember who pays your fucking bills, Vaughn,” I snapped.

That was the only thing Mom and Dad were good for. Threatening teachers.

Principal Vaughn clenched his jaw and stormed down the hallway, back to his office, where that fucking creep belonged. I wouldn’t see him for the rest of the day until I finally pissed him off enough to where he called my parents. Even then, they wouldn’t give a fuck.

“Blaise!” Skylar shouted from our usual lunch table.

I stopped the skateboard and picked it up off the ground again, sighing through my nose. I didn’t want to deal with her right now. I didn’t want to deal with fucking anyone anymore. None of my fucking teachers seemed to give a shit what I did in their classes. They ignored it and me.

But Vera … 

That look of fear in her eyes earlier… God, I fucking loved it. She cared about what I did, who I told, how I talked to her in front of the rest of the students and teachers. Vera Rodriguez didn’t want me telling anyone anything.

As I scanned the cafeteria for her, Skylar pranced over to me in a white spaghetti-strap tank top, which did nothing to hide her breasts, and a short little skirt. 

“What time do you want me to come over tonight?” Skylar asked, clutching my bicep

“Later.”

“Nine? Ten?”

“I don’t care,” I said, spotting Vera sitting with one of her friends in the cafeteria. 

She glanced up at me, her cheeks flushing bright red, then quickly turned away, gulping. Fear was written all over that pretty face of hers. 

“Just come over.”

“Fine,” Skylar said, releasing my arm and walking away. “I’ll be there whenever.”

I followed Skylar’s departing figure with my gaze and clenched my jaw. We were never nice to each other. We only fooled around. And I didn’t like her, but … fuck, I didn’t know. She wanted to have a good time. She didn’t give a fuck who it was with.

After stealing an apple from some kid named Akio, I sat on the lunch table with my feet on the seat. Some of my friends—if I could even fucking call them that—nodded to me but continued on with their own conversation. I only hung out with them because they skateboarded too. Otherwise, I would sit by myself or be stuck with Skylar or whatever other girl wanted to throw herself at me.

Once I opened my backpack, I pulled out two sheets of paper that I’d found on the ground earlier in front of Vera Rodriguez’s locker. The pages were completely filled in, from top to bottom and written on both sides.

And it was filled with nothing but pure, filthy sex.

My eyes scanned the sheet for the second time today, my dick twitching in my pants. 

Vera might not have given me a second glance ever in her life, but after tonight, she would. 

Vera Rodriguez was about to care about every single thing that I did to her. I would make sure of it.