Wicked End Academy

I walk down to the girls' locker room (which is under the gym) and change into black booty shorts with a tight red T-shirt. Definitely wouldn't have brought these if I knew Rodney was in this class. I look around and see Marissa, who also spots me.

"Hey, Charlotte," she calls with a big grin. I walk over.

"Hey," I say smiling. "What are we playing?"

"Volleyball, but we're not playing a real game yet." A whistle blows so we all walk up to the gym. The guys are already there.

"Charlotte," Matt exclaims, running over and picking me up to spin me around. After a full 360º spin, he puts me down.

"Get in line for attendance," one of the teachers yells. Guys stand about five yards away from the girls' line, and I end standing across from Matt. He smiles as he looks me over, and, unlike when Rodney does it, I am completely comfortable. About a minute later, the teachers tell us to get partners and stand next to them. Of course, Matt runs over. Rodney starts walking over, but Zacky stands in his way.

"You know what I want, Charlotte," he yells. "Stop getting these fuckers to protect you!" Matt looks at me.

"What's he talking about," he murmurs, resting his hand on the small of my back.

"N-nothing," I stutter.

"Stay away from her," Zacky growls.

"Or else what, Baker," Rodney tempts. "What are you gonna do?" My heart pounds in my ribs as I run over and wrap my arms around Zacky, pulling him back.

"Matt doesn't know about it, remember? If you fight Rodney, I won't have any protection," I hiss against his back. He turns around and walks with me back to where Matt is standing.

"Why is he going after you," he demands, almost glaring at me. I look down and cross my arms over my chest.

"No groups of three! Sanders, you're with Merriweather! Baker, you're with Glasko," a teacher booms. Zack pats my back reassuringly before jogging over to where Avery Glasko is. The teacher throws a volleyball at us, but Matt catches it.

"Tell me," he says sternly.

"I can't," I say as we walk to the end of the gym. People run around us with their partners.

"Yes, you can. You can trust me." I look up at him, and then take the volley ball out of his hands.

"You can't get angry, okay? No matter what."

"All right... is it something Rodney did?" I nod. "Will I wanna kill him?" I nod again. He waits for me to say something.

"Can we play the guessing game," I ask. "Or 20 Questions? It'd be easier for me to tell you."

"Okay, as long as I figure it out." We stop and stand about four feet apart. I throw the ball to him and he bumps it back.

"DId he hurt you?" I throw it again.

"Yes," I answer, staring at the ball. He catches it.

"What kind of hurt?" He lightly throws it so I bump it back.

"That's for you to guess, hun." He smiles the slightest bit at what I called him.

"Physically?" He gently serves it so I can bump it.

"Yeah." It goes on like that, the bumping and serving.

"Emotionally?"

"Mhmm."

"Mentally?"

"Yeah." He catches the ball so I look at him.

"Sexually?" I swallow back my pounding heart and close my eyes. I nod. I don't hear anything, so I open my eyes back up. He's staring at me, not sure what to say. He looks over his shoulder at Rodney, who is glaring at us from across the gymnasium. He turns back to me. "That's why Brian has been so protective? Zacky, too?"

"And Johnny and Jimmy." He looks down at the ball in his hands.

"They all knew and I didn't." It's not meant as a question.

"Only because I knew you liked me," I answer anyway. "I knew you would want him dead."

"I don't want him dead, baby girl." I smile a little. He notices.

"Then what do you want?" He sighs and cracks his neck.

"You really wanna know?" I nod. He looks at the teachers, who are paying no attention to us whatsoever. He walks over to me and takes my hand, pulling me under the bleachers. Luckily, these bleachers don't have spaces between the steps so we couldn't be seen. He sits on the ground with his legs in a V. He motions for me to come over to him so I do. I sit, but he turns me around so I'm sitting against him and his legs are on either side of mine. He wraps his arms around my waist and I lay my arms on his.

"Tell me what you wanna do," I whisper.

"There are a lot of things I wanna do, Charlotte," Matt chuckles.

"To Rodney," I say, laughing a little. He looks down at me and I look up.

"I wanna beat the living shit out of him. I wanna watch him suffer like I am." I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"How are you suffering?"

"By looking at you and knowing how much he hurt you... that hurts me, too. But I'm never gonna hurt you like he has." I look away and instead look down at his tattooed arms.

"Besides beating Rodney up, what else do you wanna do?" He arms slip out from around my waist but I feel him move my hair from neck. He puts it over my shoulders as I feel his lips against my skin.

"I wanna be with you. Forever." He kisses the back of my neck as his hands travel down my arms to hold my small hands in his.

"You really mean that?" He chuckles darkly, sending chills up and down my spine.

"More than anything else in the world."