Samson

Chapter 9

Mackenzie~

After we'd eaten dinner last night, I had spent an hour trying to calm Charlie down and talk her out of slashing all of Raiden Cruz's tires. She'd been channeling her inner Carrie Underwood, and not because he had cheated on her, but because I think that she had a little crush on the gorgeous football player and didn't want to.

We had also scoured every social media account that Samson Maddox had, and we'd seen that he had changed his relationship status on every single one, publicly naming me as his girlfriend; I'd been freakin' floored.

It'd also seemed as if the entire state had been tagged with this new information, and that's when Samson's popularity had really begun to sink in. Everyone was interested because Samson Maddox was going to be someone someday, and even if he didn't make it into the NFL, his family was loaded. So, he'd still be rich, no matter where he went in life.

It'd been rather sobering.

I had also spent half the evening returning texts and talking to Shonda and Ella to explain, and I'd been in a battle between telling them the truth or confirming Samson's social media claims. In the end, I had sided with Samson. Now, while I wasn't sure what all he was doing with me, I knew that embarrassing him by denying his claims would have been a bad move.

So, I'd ended up telling Shondra and Ella that we had run into each other over the summer and had immediately connected, then had made it official at school yesterday. From there, both conversations had gone downhill. They had immediately warned me about how Brayden wasn't going to like it, especially considering who Samson Maddox was. I'd done my best to assure them that it would all be okay, but I'd done a poor job of it. However, they had both promised to have my back, and I knew that they would. Shondra and Ella were the type of friends to always have your back, even when you weren't around.

Now, with Charlie pulling up to Eastwood High for the second time, I wondered what the hell I was getting myself into.

Ignoring the feelings of dread and confusion, when we got out of the car, I looked over at Charlie as she hiked her backpack over her shoulder. "Are we good, or am I going to have to protect Raiden's innocent vehicle?" Her lips twitched, and I smiled. "Good. Me sitting on the top of his hood all day would have been a little bit hard to explain without throwing you under the bus."

Charlie rolled her eyes but laughed good-naturedly. "I promise, his precious car is safe," she grinned.

As we walked towards the entrance of the school, people started to stare again, and it really was ridiculous. "Is it weird that I'm nervous?"

"Hell, I'm nervous, and I'm not even the one in the middle of all this drama," she grimaced, no help to me at all.

"Thanks, Charlie," I deadpanned.

She grinned again. "Well, it can't be any worse than yesterday, right?"

I reared back to stare at her. "Are you crazy? Of course, it can."

"Well, then...fuck it. Let's get this over with," she said, sounding like she was preparing for a police interrogation.

I shook my head but fell in step with her anyway. Charlie and I had never had a lot of time to hang out outside random holidays, but she was turning out to be a spunky little thing.

Looking at the school's entrance, Eastwood High had an open campus design that was really inviting. However, you had to go through this reception lobby of sorts before you could get onto the actual campus. Supposedly, it was a way to keep people from trespassing on school grounds. You had to walk through the front doors, but then swipe your school ID to get through another set of doors. If you forgot or lost your ID, then there was a reception window to the right where you could sort your shit out.