Sluts and Bad Boys

17: Queens and Pawns

To the ones who prove that there's magic in their fingers.

kryptosys

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I kept staring at the picture in my hands - it was a shot of me at the store when I was reaching for a shirt on the upper shelf in order to help a customer. The name tag on my shirt was visible and there was no denying the fact that I worked there. It seemed quite obvious.

I crumbled up the picture and stuffed it in my locker. This explained all the staring and the whispering when I came in. My secret was out. Did the entire school know? Were they given a copy of the picture as well?

There was only one person who could've done this and with clenched fists, I went to find him.

It didn't take me very long to locate Ace in the parking lot with a group of guys. He was laughing about something and my blood boiled. He found this funny, did he now?

I practically jogged to where he was and pushed my way among the guys surrounding him. He blinked as soon as he saw me but I wasn't falling for his poker face.

"Wilson, what's t-"

I reached out and slapped him. Hard.

Everyone went silent and when Ace turned to look at me again, he raised a serious eyebrow. His cheek had turned a light shade of pink because of the impact. "And what was that for?"

"Don't fūcking play with me!" I snarled. "I know you did it!"

"Did what exactly?" He asked so calmly, tilting his head that it took everything in me not to slap him again.

"You know what I'm talking about," I said through clenched teeth and he frowned at me for a while without saying anything.

"Come with me," he said abruptly, grabbing my elbow and dragging me towards a corner in the lot. His friends started mumbling amongst themselves but again, I wasn't falling for that. I knew that they were probably in on the whole thing too.

"I know you're not a decent guy," I started before he had even let go of my arm, "but it was fūcking sick of you to do what you did."

He rubbed his head. "Okay, Wilson, what is it that I've done apparently? Because I'm currently suffering from a hangover and I don't have the energy to deal with you right now."

"Oh? A hangover, huh?" I scoffed. "I bet that's why you did it in the first place. You got drunk and thought you'd have some fun by telling every fūcking one in the school about what I did."

"What are you talking about?!" He raised his voice, visibly annoyed.

"I'm talking about you telling everyone about my part time job!" I said, matching his tone.

"What? I never told anyone." He shook his head.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right. Now you're going to lie to my face? I know you did it so save the effort."

He leaned back on the wall, closing his eyes and sighing. "Megan... I really haven't told anyone. And why would I? What would I get out of it?"

"I don't know. Maybe payback for what I did to your girlfriend."

He opened his eyes to look at me but continued leaning. "You mean that Abby girl, right?"

"Don't make it sound like you don't care about her because I saw that you very much did when you destroyed my phone like that."

He straightened up but looked even more annoyed now. "Look, there's two things. First of all, Abby's not my girlfriend nor do I love her as you so well put it before."

"Yeah, tell th-"

"Second of all," he continued, cutting me across, "I'm not the one who leaked out the information about you killing time with a part time job. I don't give a shìt, to be frank. You could be making out with other lesbians because you're bored, for all I care. I did not do it."

I took in what he said and even though, I tried to ignore it, the fact that he literally didn't give a shìt about me hurt a little.

"But you're the only one who knows," I pressed on. I did believe him for some reason and if Ace hadn't done it, then who had?

"I wouldn't be so surprised if I were you," he said. "You've made some real enemies here. One of them was bound to get lucky and have a chance at getting back at you."

I looked away, trying to recall if there had been someone from school that I had not seen because I had been busy. It was totally possible for someone to have seen me and taken a quick shot when I wasn't looking. The question is who was it?

"Why is it so important to keep this a secret?" Ace asked, interrupting my thoughts. "Like so what if other people knew about your job?"

Because then people will never let me live in peace. I'd become a victim of all the mean taunts and the bullying. My role would be switched and I didn't want that to happen.

"It's...." I sighed out loud. "You wouldn't understand. It's complicated."

"Are you sure that you're not just making it complicated?" He shrugged.

"You said it yourself, didn't you? That high school's a game. Imagine it as a game of chess. A queen can never be reduced to a pawn, right?"

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