An innocent childhood friend that hides his intensely possessive tendencies and his equally unstable older brother with no sense of boundaries.
Dominic and Jake Truven are both troubled teens that have their sights set on their family friend, Nicol...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
--Nicolette--
Luckily, my locker was only a few steps away, so I pretended to be occupied and ignorant of their presence by taking my time to open my padlock. Meanwhile, my ears tuned in meticulously to their conversation.
"She's kind of okay-looking? It looks like she'll be an easy target."
"Not the type I'd expect to hang around someone like Dominic though..."
I huffed out a weary sigh. I knew it. I had it coming. But it's fine! I'm prepared! Being friends with Dominic will be a struggle but it's worth it! I'll work hard to earn my own respect around here! Hopefully then, the bullying will stop one day...
But until then, I expect there to be a long and hard journey.
"I heard she and that loser seemed pretty close this morning, though."
My thoughts stalled. Oh?
Her sentence echoed around in my mind a couple of times, racketing off the sides and bouncing about my conscious. A faint frown settled on my face at the words I had just heard; my eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
'Loser'
Loser? What loser? Who were they talking about? If not me, then who? I'm sure I didn't talk to anyone else this morning, so what the heck wer-
"Who knew a fucking retard like Dominic could get some as well? Honestly, freshies these days have such low standards."
I perked up in shock, lips slightly parting and eyes bulging from their sockets. What? Did I hear right? Retard? Yeah, I heard right...right? Retard. They really just called Dominic...a retard?
Their corresponding snickers to the trash-talk huddled me defensively closer to my locker as I fumbled about my lock code, flustered into getting it wrong. Just what were they talking about?
"Apparently they skipped orientation together as well. And, I heard she lives in the dorms, so you know what that means."
"So, they're an item? They're fucking?! Fuck off, no way that fugly limp-dick is actually getting some!"
Hushed cackles chorused over the top of their vicious comments, but they all just faded into a distant echo in the back of my mind.
I pulled hard on my locker's lock as the dial finally clicked onto the last digit of my code. The strength exerted onto it resulted in a prominently loud and aggressive clang. My hand was shaking.
Calm down, Nicki.
I let go of a quivering, hot breath – heated from the fire beginning to roar inside my chest. My skin felt sultry – like the blood right beneath it boiling like lava. Enough to make my palm sweat and almost drop the padlock as I unhooked it from the locker.
