Ugly girl

“Believe me, after what happened this morning, no one thinks you’re weak.”

I beam up at him. “Good, then my plan is working.”

Blake rolls his eyes and wisely shuts up but I don’t get peace and quiet for long when a long “Dammmmm

Maze looks up at my brother with a hungry expression and I turn her to face the front of the line. “No one that you’ll be sinking your claws into.”

Blake doesn’t seem to realize what I’m doing and throws his arm over my shoulder while offering Maze his other hand. “I’m Blake Daniels, Trouble’s little brother.”

She grins wide. “Well, well, well. You look like a scrumptious treat.”

“Maze,” I demand. “I’m serious. You can forget about being my little protegee if you plan on getting into bed with my brother. That’s not what I’m about.”

“Chill out, girl. I can look but not touch, right? Besides, what’s wrong with a little shameful flirting?”

“Umm, besides the fact that you’re going to inflate his ego until he can’t be saved, absolutely everything.”

“Oh good, so you approve then,” she smiles before stepping around me until she’s by Blake’s side. She slips her arm through his and beams up at the jock star. “So, tell me about your dysfunctional self. Surely having a sister like Skylah, you must have some pretty dark secrets.”

Fuck me. She couldn’t be more right but I don’t need to worry about my secrets, Blake is more loyal than he is protective. All my secrets, the good and the bad, are safe with him.

Quickly realizing that Blake isn’t going to spill the goods, Maze moves on to giving us the rundown of the school and I listen intently to every last detail, knowing I may need it later.

We step forward in the line as Maze gets lost in her explanations. “So, you met Slade, and as far as Aston Creek High goes, he’s the top dog, the absolute hero that everyone throws their panties at and worships,” she begins, glancing over her shoulder at the guy only to find his eyes already on us, more specifically on me. “He’s an asshole and watching him being knocked down is going to be the highlight of my whole high school years. Though, you better not let me down. If you can’t pull through with this, I’m going to be extremely pissed off.”

“Trust me,” Blake scoffs as though her lack of faith in me is outrageous. “If my sister says she’s going to take his ass out, then that’s exactly what she intends to do, and believe me, she ain’t no quitter.”

I beam proudly as Maze meets my eyes with an excited grin of her own. “Good. Now, after Slade, there’s a mix of Vanessa, his on-again/off-again cock tease and Damian. It’s like a constant war between them, always fighting to be Slade’s number one. But let’s face it, Damian has always had his back whereas Ness only seems to rise up whenever Slade needs his dick sucked.”

“Which I’m assuming is more often than not.”

“You got that right.”

I glance across the cafeteria, sca

“You bet that tight ass of yours, he is. He’s all about being the fu

“What do you mean?”

“He’s not scared to get his hands dirty. Don’t get me wrong, Slade isn’t either, but Slade has a real shot at going pro, where Damian just seems to play for the fun of it. He’s not scared to do the things others won’t and where those two are concerned, those things could be pretty fucking bad.”

Blake steps in close to my back. “Maybe you need to rein it in,” he warns me. “I don’t like the sound of these guys. I can’t have you getting hurt, Sky.”

“I can handle myself,” I remind him, already wondering how I can play Blake’s co

“She’s Vanessa but most people around here just call her Ness or Nessa. She’s an A-class bitch. She’s the mean girl that the cheerleaders couldn’t even handle. She’s either going to see you as a threat and charge full steam ahead or she’ll see you as trash and won’t even bother with you. There’s no in-between with her. If she thinks you’re after her man, then your ass is as good as fried.”

“This gets more exciting by the second,” I say as we finally hit the front of the line. We all shut up and work on getting our lunch and the second we’re done, Blake kisses my cheek. “Stay out of trouble,” he demands before striding away.

I watch after him as he heads off toward the table filled with the rest of the basketball team, everyone except Slade and Damian. Blake drops down in between the guys and they welcome him in as though he’s been a part of the team for years.

Pride surges through me. He’s going to do really well here. Come his senior year, I’m sure he’ll be taking over as Captain and dominating this school just like Slade is. Though hopefully, he won’t take on the asshole tendencies that the current king deems acceptable.

That pride fades away the second some chick steps in front of Blake and drops down onto his lap. “That’s Kathleen Harris,” Maze informs me. “I heard they’ve already been screwing. That brother of yours works fast.”

I shake my head and let out a sigh as Maze pulls me along. “As long as he doesn’t knock her up, I guess it really doesn’t matter.”

“Well, keep your eye on her then. She’s the type to hold on and never let go and something tells me your brother is the kind to use her until he gets bored.”

A laugh bubbles up my throat. “A stage five clinger? Maybe I should encourage this after all. Watching him squirm while trying to get rid of her is going to be fun, it might just teach him a lesson.”

“Oh, geez,” Maze laughs. “I’m so glad I don’t have any siblings.”

With that, she pulls me along to a table filled with girls who spend their lunch break chatting but truth be told, with Slade’s impenetrable glare on me the whole time, I don’t think I heard a single word.