Tainted Souls

Chapter Twelve

Today was officially going to be the worst day ever. I just knew it.

First of all, due to it being the cold winter season, something bad happened to poor Keisha. The girl had gotten sick with pneumonia to the point where she announced to me that she wouldn't be able to go to school for over a week.

There was also other breaking news that made life worse. Sasha and Hunter were not only just back together, but were back together in a way that was completely public to the entire world. On Gossip Con, Hunter had profusely apologized to Sasha about cheating on her with Charlotte Evergreen, making up excuses that I didn't believe at all.

This half-assed apology had gone viral, with girls fawning over Hunter for doing the bare minimum. Actually, this wasn't even the bare minimum, considering that he had made up invalid excuses for his cheating and blamed it entirely on Charlotte. In reality, it was both Hunter and Charlotte's fault.

However, other people seemed to buy it, considering how many times they had broken up and gotten back together. People found this behavior to be empowering and a cute couple trait. Personally, I found it toxic and unbearable to even see.

Charlotte was humiliated by Sasha and Hunter to the point where the girl decided to drop out of college indefinitely. She was known as a stripper in training now to the public. I felt bad for this girl, even if I hadn't personally known her. Even if she had contributed to the cheating, this still went too far. I was also terrified that I could be next. What if the two devils left a permanent mark on my record to the point where I could never show my face in public again?!

Rumor had it that Hunter and Sasha were more powerful than ever due to them having more of a fresh start than they did during their previous one hundred and seventy-two breakups.

That was how many times they had broken up. I wasn't even kidding. I only knew because a crazy shipper slash couple stalker fangirl uploaded this onto Gossip Con. Keisha had sent me screenshots of this with a throwing up emoji.

Speaking of the evil devils, they were heading in my direction. Shockingly, it wasn't Maverick and Taj that I was referring to.

"It's such a shame that you don't have your loudmouthed slut friend by your side. People have been saying on Gossip Con that she has pneumonia. Shame," Hunter said in a tone that didn't sound the slightest bit sorry.

I didn't know what to say. Usually, Keisha was there to back me up. I had...well...no one right now. I felt weaker than ever to the point where my standard for a good day just meant one thing: surviving bullying.

"Cat got your tongue, loser? Why don't you just go back to being Maverick's whore?" Sasha sneered. "It still doesn't mean that you'll ever get the fortune from those that are a part of my bloodline. My cousin is a reject and a black sheep, anyways."

I was still frozen without any words that I could conjure up in my mind. But that was when I remembered what Keisha had said.

"Fight them the way you would fight with your sibling. You are real with Liam and don't try to care about presenting a certain image around him. Who cares what they think?"

I wished that I could follow her advice. But the sibling fights between my older brother Liam and me were different. Plus, still hearing the comments saying that I was Maverick's whore were still getting to me.

"Keisha is...not a slut". That was all I could say as a stupid retort. Any retorts I had thought of just...went down the drain.

Now that I thought about it, Maverick was just as perturbed as I was about this fake rumor. He and his cousin were enemies, so there had to be something that could convince him to form an alliance with me for once than to go against me like he usually did. But the question was, how?