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Chapter Thirty-Two

As Pierce and I walked through the halls hand in hand, I assumed we'd be getting all the stares. Especially after the incident with Ally. Instead, everyone was focused on the girl that looked as I did every day growing up. She got a little taste of what my old life was like ever sense my fists collided with her face.

Just like me, Ally got no pity. Ally's perfect life was crumbling around her. All our peers were beginning to see all the cracks she had tried to tape together. She should have tried super glue; tape doesn't hold forever. But then again neither does glue.

A part of me felt bad for the devil, because I had been there. I knew the feeling of being alone. The huge difference was she knew what it was like to be on top her entire life, I didn't know that feeling until now. I had single handedly taken her place in the school hierarchy. I never had to try a second I was around to even get there. Again, something she had to do every day, try.

"You okay Baker?" Pierce looked down at me from his staggering height.

I smiled up at my boy.

"Always with you by my side." I looped my arms around one of his before resting my head against him.

"You weren't expecting this return, were you?"

I shook my head at Pierce's question.

"You may think rich people are dumb because they're handed everything. But Charlee, we are a pretty good judge of character. She is still queen bee, but right now the queen bee has been knocked off her pedestal until she proves she's worthy of being queen bee again. Which you know Ally will do. Ally can't function without being the girl on top."

I stayed quiet after Pierce finished his little monologue about his ex. I didn't really want to hear about the girl he called his for way too long. Ally's words were still running wild in my mind. Both from the New Year's party and the parking lot.

Would Pierce ever cheat on me with her?

My silence took Pierce by surprise. I could tell by the tenseness he held in his body. He wanted me to talk I just wasn't ready. I knew he could only take my silence for so long though. His patience with my emotions was always on a short fuse. I would always be the cannon ball loaded inside his barrel, waiting to explode at any moment.

Pierce and I didn't speak at all until lunch. We met each other between classes but no words were exchanged. The annoyance running though him was evident. I just didn't want to explode, not again. We didn't speak our first words until we sat at the full lunch table, Ally sat only one seat away from me.

I felt a grip on my thigh tighten to my left. I looked over at the blonde haired boy sat to that side. He simply nodded at me, letting his grip fully loosen as he looked away. A comfort grab if you may.

Pierce instantly pulled my attention back towards him by leaning back in his chair, resting his arm on the back of my chair. I watched his eyes studying both the blondes as I looked back at his relaxed state. My focused attention didn't pull his away. He was dead set on whatever gears were turning in his mind.

I ran my hand down his thigh before returning my attention back to my food. It felt so good to be regularly consuming food again. It was a great feeling to feel full all the time. I don't think it was sensation I had ever felt before living in the Leighton residence. Even when I got given meals by neighbors or concerned parents, it was never enough.

"How do you get a nice home packed meal from mom but I can't even get her to touch a piece of bread for me?" Reece said as he lifted a fork full of school lunch to his lips.

"Mom didn't make it for me. I made it last night." I shrugged as I lifted my sandwich to lips. "Be less lazy and you'd have good food too." I winked at my brother, pushing his button as always.

"Or you should just double what you make. You're already there doing it surely it can't be that much harder." Reece leaned into the table, closing the distance between us.

"Sorry bro, I'm not your mother." I took another big bite of my sandwich, further rubbing my nice meal in his face.

"I can't even say anything to make you do it either. I can't say I'd do your chores or anything because you actually like doing yours. It's a lose-lose for me all around."

"Pretty much. No winning this one Reece. You just have to be less lazy." I smiled as I placed my sandwich against the paper bag that once held my lunch.

"I'd make Grayson lunch if he asked me." Ally's voice filled my ears. It was like a metal fork sliding against a glass plate.

"No one asked for your input." I shot back as I whipped my face in her direction. My short hair spinning outwards with my quick movement.

"Freedom of speech Baker." An evil grin flew to her still swollen lips.

That name leaving her mouth sent me from a stead twenty to one hundred in milliseconds. I pushed my chair out with the back of my legs as I stood up. Shoving the table towards Reece's with force as I stood up.

I felt arms wrap around my waist. Pierce had to stop the cannon from exploding.

"I love how much that hurts you Baker." Instead of a grin this time, a full on witch laugh left her mouth.

"Actually Ally, I am no longer a Baker. I'm a Leighton now. Sorry that you're no longer cued in on what's going on in this group anymore. That's what happens when your cracks begin to show. People can only take fake so long." I spun in Pierce's arms clasping my fingers around Pierce's.

"Hi beautiful." Pierce said as my face came into his sight.

"Are you seriously calling her beautiful Pierce? Just a few nights ago you said she looked like a monster. You were so happy to finally fuck a girl you could look in the eyes without wanting to puke."

The instant her words entered my mind I felt tears coming. I bit my lip to hold them in. Inflict pain somewhere else to distract. I could not let this girl see how much her words hurt me.

I pulled at Pierce's hands causing him to stand. I brought my lips to his, kissing him in front of her despite her words.

"I hope I taste good Charlee. His tongue felt great last night." I gripped at the leather fabric encompassing the metal zipper on Pierce's jacket.

"That's enough Ally." My brother finally stepped in. A girl really could only take so much. Damn.

"I really don't think it is Reece." I heard the screeching of her chair across the cafeteria floor. I just knew it was her chair without even looking.

My barrier broke at that sound. A tear slid down my cheek along my nose. I couldn't stop the emotions over taking my mind. I didn't know what to expect from her. With my father it was easy. I could predict the pain, prepare for it. There was no way to prepare for the devil herself.

I felt breath against my neck that I knew could only be hers. I closed my eyes as tightly as I could. Just as tight as when my father would take his fist to my skin. The tighter I held them together, the faster I hoped it would stop.

"You are so good to me." Pierce's breathy voice filled my ears.

"I want to make you forget her baby." Ally's voice followed his.

"When you feel like that," I heard a moan, a moan I knew all too well, there was no doubt it was his, "Fuck."

Pierce's zipper was practically embedded in my skin from how tight I had been squeezing it in my hands. When I let go, I had to rip my hands free from the metal. I took a step away from the two of them. The boy that I loved just stood there, saying, doing, absolutely nothing.

"Believe me now, Baker."