Trick Me Twice: An Enemies to Lovers High School Bully Romance Read online

  “Fuck off,” I heard from inside the car, and then Lena was leaning around him to give me a smile. “Ignore my brother. He…gets a lot of female attention, so he automatically assumes everyone wants him.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, get in. We’ll take you home.”

  “I didn’t know you’d be with someone when I called you. I can get an Uber.” I grimaced as I realised I was probably interrupting their plans.

  “You’re not getting an Uber. Get in.” Lena gestured to the door, and with a sigh, I climbed into the car, collapsing against the cool leather seats. Lena turned to face me. “Raine, meet my brother, Cassius. Cass, this is Raine. My friend, not one of your groupies.”

  Cassius laughed and winked at me in the rear-view mirror, and I felt my cheeks heat.

  “Hi,” I managed.

  He threw me another wink, before he started the engine and smoothly manoeuvred away from the school. After I’d given him directions, I sat back again, blowing out a heavy breath.

  “You want to tell me why you were stranded at school? Wasn’t Carter supposed to be taking you home?” Lena kept facing forwards, which I was thankful for because I found it easier to reply.

  “I haven’t been totally truthful about what happened at Fright Night. I…I messed up.” To my horror, my voice wobbled, and tears filled my eyes. Cassius glanced at me in the rear-view mirror again, his aviators hiding his eyes, but the smile disappeared from his face. He murmured something in a low voice to Lena, and she nodded before twisting to face me.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  I nodded, biting my lip to try and hide the trembling. Fuck. This whole thing had hit me harder than I thought.

  “Okay. Hang on for a minute, Cass is going to take us somewhere we can talk. He’ll leave us, unless you want him to stay?”

  “It might be good to get a guy’s input,” I found myself whispering, before I even knew what I was saying. Why not add to my humiliation? Although, it could be a good thing. Lena’s older brother was popular, hot, and experienced with girls. Maybe he could give me some advice from a man’s point of view. Maybe.

  Lena gave me a reassuring smile and a single nod, before turning back to face the windscreen, and I closed my eyes, concentrating on my breaths to steady my nerves.

  Exiting the car, I took a deep breath of the fresh sea air, then followed Lena and Cassius down to the beach alongside the pier. We took a seat on the large rocks that butted up against the sea wall. The waves lapped at the shore, Chaceley Rock with its abandoned lighthouse stood silhouetted on the horizon, and boats heading back from a day’s fishing dotted the water. Seagulls circled overhead, and as the sun moved lower, I sighed, a little of the day’s stress disappearing.

  “Tell us what happened.” Lena touched my arm.

  I let the entire story pour out, purging it from my system. I told them everything, not holding back. Tears fell as I spoke, but it felt so good to get it all out. By the time I came to a stop, the tears were running down my cheeks and my throat was raw, but I felt free.

  “Let’s wipe those tears away, babe.” Cassius gently smoothed his thumbs across my cheeks, then squeezed my arm gently. I found myself relaxing. There was something about him, about both of the Drummond siblings. There was no judgement from either of them, just concern and acceptance.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t straight with you.” I turned my gaze to Lena. “The whole thing…I just felt so…” Trailing off, unable to articulate my feelings, I shrugged helplessly.

  “First of all, do you like Carter?” Lena studied me closely.

  “Yes,” I admitted, my voice small. “Stupid, right?”

  “We want who we want.” Cassius gave me a shrug as if to say, what can you do?

  “Um, Raine?” Lena interrupted whatever else Cassius was about to say. She waved her phone under my face. “Did you check the gossip account again?”

  “No. I try to avoid looking on there. Especially after today.”

  Her phone was thrust into my hand, and I stared down at the screen.

  There was an image of a masked Carter, holding my hand and leading me towards the Ferris wheel. The accompanying caption said:

  WHO’S THE MYSTERY GIRL WHO MANAGED TO CATCH CARTER BLACKTHORNE’S EYE?

  Oh no.

  I examined the picture closely, but there was no way to tell it was me. My face was completely obscured by my own mask, and no one would believe I was at Fright Night anyway.

  A sigh escaped me as I handed the phone back to Lena. “What am I going to do?”

  “Here’s how I see it, yeah?” Cassius’ eyes met mine, his expression thoughtful. “From everything you’ve told me, it sounds like he’s into you, but for whatever reasons, he doesn’t like the fact, and he’s pissed off that you tricked him.”

  “I didn’t mean to.” Balling my fists at my sides, I prodded the sand with the toe of my shoe, feeling the crunch of tiny stones and crushed shells under my foot. “I just…I know it was wrong.”

  “I know.” He gave me a reassuring smile. “People like Carter, though, they like to have the upper hand. Not only that, they’re stubborn as fuck, so it can take a while for them to realise what the rest of us already knew.” He turned to Lena and rolled his eyes. “Remind you of anyone?”

  She snorted, nodding her head.

  “Anyway.” He leaned forwards, swiping three small pebbles from those scattered in the sand below us. Placing them on the rock next to me, he pointed towards them. “Three things you need, right?” He picked up one of the pebbles, handing it to me. “You need to stop his dickhead behaviour towards you.” Another pebble was handed to me. “You need to find out for sure why he doesn’t want to like you.” His eyes gleamed as he passed me the final pebble. “And you have to get him to admit that he wants you. Gotta fight fire with fire.”

  “What does that mean?” I ran my thumb across the cool, smooth surface of one of the pebbles, eyeing him curiously.

  A huge, blinding smile spread across his face. “We’re gonna make him jealous.”

  I stared at him.

  “How are we going to do that?”

  “Leave it with me.”

  11

  Tuesday brought more of the same. Another photo appeared on the AHS gossip account, this time of the same girl with a different guy from the football team. The first I’d heard of it was when I opened my locker and found a printout of the photo that had been slipped inside, along with a phone number written in biro. As soon as I’d found it, I navigated straight to the gossip account, knowing that the image would be there as well.

  Why was Carter doing this to me? My behaviour didn’t warrant this kind of reaction.

  All day I was propositioned by guys, hearing whispered insults wherever I went, “slut” being one of the nicest. Not to mention the increasing number of texts from unknown numbers, and yet again, the hateful comments on the AHS gossip account photos. Every single time I opened my phone I had another alert.

  Do u swallow?

  Touch anyone else from the football team & there will be consequences

  How much for a BJ?

  Meet me round the back of the library at lunchtime

  UR A SLUT

  I hope u choke on a dick and die, whore

  Did she pay them to let her suck their dicks?

  The library and the costume storage room became my two places of refuge. Despite Lena urging me to stay strong, the weight of all the attention was almost too much to bear.

  I was in the bathroom between classes, washing my hands, when Anastasia Egerton entered. As I turned from the sink, intent on making my escape, she stalked across the bathroom to me. Shoving me backwards, she stared down at me, her lip curled with disdain. “Working your way through the football team, are you? Is that how you’re paying your way through school?”

  I threw out my hands to avoid smashing into the wall, more shocked by her words than her actions. “How did you know?” My voice came out as a shaky whisper. I hadn’t realis
ed that she knew anything about me, let alone my financial situation. Too late, I realised that my reply had sounded as if I’d admitted to being the one in the photos, even though I was referring to her second question.

  “Everyone’s seen the photos. And Carter told me about your uncle leaving you high and dry.”

  Wait, Carter had told her?

  She must’ve read the confusion and hurt on my face, because she rolled her eyes and muttered, “I saw you in his car a few weeks ago, and I asked him about it.”

  Great. My aunt had wanted to keep the news of her messy divorce quiet, knowing how people would gossip, and now, thanks to Carter, the gossip queen of Alstone High knew.

  I’m not working my way through the football team, by the way. I didn’t say that aloud, though. There was no point wasting my breath.

  Moving around Anastasia and racing for the exit, I’d just reached the door when her voice sounded again, the threat in her tone clear. It was as if she’d heard my unspoken reply. “The pictures don’t lie, Raine. Remember your place. And don’t even think about trying to make a move on Carter. He’d never be interested in someone like you. He’d never be that desperate.”

  Except he had been interested. And I’d ruined that, and he hated me, and now he was punishing me for it. At Anastasia’s muttered “pathetic,” I’d had enough. Running from the bathroom, I flew through the corridors, escaping to the safety of the auditorium.

  As I entered the backstage area, Dylan and Joey paused in the middle of their set construction to stare at me, before exchanging concerned glances.

  “Hi, guys,” I managed, rushing past them as quickly as I could and entering the costume storage area.

  Footsteps sounded behind me, and Dylan and Joey were crowding into the doorway. I groaned under my breath as I sank into my seat and rested my head on the cool wooden surface of the table in front of me.

  “What’s going on?” Joey spoke up. He worked on set construction with Dylan, but unlike Dylan, I hadn’t really ever spoken to him.

  Raising my head, I glanced between the two of them, biting my lip as I picked up a roll of sewing tape from the table.

  “You can trust him.” Dylan seemed to sense my thoughts. “If this is anything to do with Carter, just know that Joey here likes him probably even less than we do. We, as in me and you,” he added with a small smile.

  “He’s not wrong. I hate the way that Carter, Kian, and Xavier lord it over everyone else. Their whole group of friends, in fact.”

  Dylan nodded, then lowered his gaze to the ground. “We’re not good enough for people like them.” The bitterness in his voice was unmistakable.

  Rolling the tape in my hands, I found myself telling them the story, or at least the part about the gossip that was being spread about me. They were outraged on my behalf, and after I’d spilled everything, I felt like a weight had been lifted.

  “Carter is bad news, Raine. If you want my opinion, I think it’s best to keep your head down and stay out of his way.” Dylan patted my shoulder sympathetically, glancing over at Joey.

  Joey leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms. “I agree. People like Carter Blackthorne thrive on attention. He’ll eventually get bored if he doesn’t get a reaction from you.”

  I could only hope that they were right.

  When I woke up the following morning, my bedroom window was open, and a black mask with glowing blue LED lights was on my desk.

  12

  After the mask had appeared, and with Dylan and Joey’s advice echoing in my mind, I made it my mission for the rest of the week to stay as far away from Carter as possible.

  Wednesday was another day filled with snide remarks and more repulsive texts and comments, but by Thursday, the gossip seemed to be dying down. People were bored, hungry for new drama. Other than the dwindling texts and comments on the photos that I did my best to ignore, I managed to make it through the rest of the week without incident. A photo appeared on the AHS gossip account on Friday morning showing one of the teaching assistants in a very compromising position with a student, and just like that, I was forgotten as the new gossip spread like wildfire.

  Forgotten by most people, anyway.

  On Friday night, my phone buzzed with a message as I lay on my bed, Netflix playing on my laptop as I sketched out a rough dress design in my sketchpad. Placing the pad down, I grabbed my phone, and almost dropped it in shock as I saw who the message was from.

  Carter: Enjoyed your time in the spotlight, Raine? Your moment of notoriety?

  As much as I hated his harsh words, my heart skipped a beat at the sight of his name on my screen. My fingers hovered over the keypad as I debated how best to reply—I didn’t want to antagonise him, not when the gossip had finally died down.

  Me: Please leave me alone. I’ve stayed out of your way

  Carter: Out of sight but not out of mind

  What was that supposed to mean? Eventually, I sent a simple response to see if he’d elaborate on his words.

  Me: ???

  After waiting for over fifteen minutes with no reply, I rolled onto my stomach and pulled up the conversation thread again, staring at his last message to me, before I closed it with a sigh. My eyes strayed to the Fright Night mask, taunting me from the corner of the room where I’d thrown it.

  Before I knew it, I found myself reopening the conversation thread and texting Carter again.

  Me: Did you leave that mask in my bedroom?

  This time, he responded instantly and my stomach flipped as I read his response.

  Carter: Yes. A reminder of what you did and how I won’t forget it. You can’t escape me, little trickster

  Me: Breaking into my bedroom is a criminal offence

  Carter: You sure about that? Who are you going to tell?

  There was nothing I could reply to that. Whatever I said, I knew the outcome wouldn’t be good. Instead, I turned off my phone and attempted to lose myself in my drawings.

  On Monday, walking into school with Lena, no one looked twice at me. In fact, it was back to normal. I was my usual, invisible self. Could I dare to hope that Carter had given up? Even lunchtime, which was the one time of the day I was dreading, was fine. It was an unseasonably warm day, and I sat outside in the courtyard with Lena and her friends, aware of Carter’s presence but successfully ignoring him for the most part.

  I actually attempted to join the conversation instead of letting the conversation flow around me, like I normally did, and managed to hold up a conversation with Sammy, a girl in my textiles class, for almost twenty minutes, discussing the costumes I’d been making for the school production. Who knew, after the initial five minutes of awkwardness, I was surprised to realise I was actually having a good time.

  “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Lena whispered, nudging me as we headed back into the school building after lunch.

  “No. No, it wasn’t.” A smile spread across my face.

  “Ready for later?” We stopped by our lockers, exchanging the books we needed.

  I closed my locker with a bang. “As ready as I’ll ever be. Are you sure your brother doesn’t mind? I’m sure he’s got loads more important things to be doing.”

  Lena smirked. “My brother lives to interfere with people’s lives. Trust me. He wants to fuck with Carter just as much as you do.”

  “If you’re sure. I’m not convinced that any of this is a good idea, but I guess it’s too late to change the plan now.”

  All the air left the hallway as cedar and spice hit me, and my world shrank as my eyes met a pair of brown and gold ones. A dark look appeared on his face as he held my gaze silently, and then he stalked in my direction. I held my breath as he brushed past me, and that small movement, combined with the look he’d given me, sent a chill down my spine.

  “Do you think he’s given up?” I whispered to Lena, once he was gone, already knowing the answer.

  “People like Carter don’t give up that easily.”

  At the end of th
e day, I found out exactly why he’d been so quiet.

  13

  “Raine? A word?” I glanced up from my sewing machine with a start to see Mrs. Whittall, head of the drama department, standing over me with pursed lips.

  “S-sure,” I stammered, taken aback by the severe look on her face. After gathering up my things, I followed her out of the backstage area and into her small office next to the auditorium. She indicated the seat across from her desk, and I collapsed into it breathlessly.

  Taking a seat opposite me, she opened the drawer and pulled out a familiar red metal box with a number 5 stamped on the lid. The cash inside was used to purchase materials for the costumes needed by the drama department.

  “I was counting up the receipts earlier, when I noticed that they didn’t tally with the amounts in the cash box.” One long fingernail tapped on the lid. “Not just by a small amount, either. Over four hundred pounds is missing.”

  I gaped at her in horror. “Wh-what?”

  She sighed heavily, placing the box back in the drawer before returning her attention to me. “Only a small number of trusted students have a key to this room. You are the only student who is aware of the combination that unlocks this particular cash box. The only person, in fact, other than me.”

  Was she implying—surely not!

  “You don’t think it was me, do you?” My voice was shaky.

  “Is there something you want to tell me, Miss Laurent?”

  “No. It wasn’t me, I swear! I would never.” Nausea rose up in my stomach.

  Her voice softened. “Raine. I’m aware of your…change in circumstances. If you’re in financial trouble, there’s help available. You don’t have to resort to theft.”