Chapter 5 First move
Maya's POV
I didn't sleep that night.
Not because I was afraid, though I was or because I was replaying Sarah's words….though I still was.
I couldn't sleep because for the first time since this unfortunate incident, I had a plan. I had a fucking plan.
Let's go cause some trouble.
I must have replayed Justin's voice in my head a hundred times, the way he said it, he was so calm and certain. Like he'd done this before.
I felt adrenaline surging all over me. I couldn't wait to see how the day would go.
I sat up in bed at 5:00 AM and stared at my reflection in the dark window.
Tomorrow…no, today, I was going to walk back into that school with my head up.
You have to stop hiding.
I didn't feel brave, I was a total mess and my stomach was in knots and my hands still trembled when I thought about the photo, about the whispers and about Luke's face when he told me to stay away.
But hiding hadn't helped, crying in a bathroom stall hadn't helped.
So maybe this was the only thing left.
I got to school early.
Justin had texted me that morning, a simple meet me by the front gate at 7:45 from a number I didn't remember giving him. The thought made me nervous and safe at the same time.
I stood by the gate at 7:43, clutching my bag like a shield.
The parking lot was already filling up. Students streamed past me and some glanced, some stared, some whispered but I kept my face neutral.
7:45 and a black SUV pulled up to the curb.
The window rolled down and Justin was inside, wearing a dark jacket over a simple t-shirt, no team hoodie this time. He looked different, older, somehow. More like someone who belonged in a magazine than on a hockey rink.
"Get in," he said.
I blinked. "What?"
"You think I'm going to make you walk in alone?" He nodded toward the passenger seat. "Get in, we'll park together."
My heart pounded; this is it, the first public move.
I opened the door and slid inside. The leather seat was warm and the car smelled like coffee and something clean, cedar, maybe. Justin didn't say anything else, he just pulled into the student lot and found a spot near the front.
"Ready?" he asked.
"No."
He almost smiled. "Good, that means you're paying attention."
We got out at the same time and I grabbed my bag and Justin came around the car and stood next to me, close enough that anyone watching would notice.
"Head up," he murmured. "Eyes forward. You're not walking into a battlefield, you're walking into your school."
I exhaled slowly and then we walked.
The first person who saw us was a freshman girl by the bike rack, her eyes went wide and she elbowed her friend, then a group of juniors near the doors and one of them whispered something and another's jaw dropped.
Justin didn't acknowledge any of them, he just walked beside me, calm and unhurried, like this was the most normal thing in the world.
People were staring, but for the first time, it wasn't just me they were staring at. It was us.
"Maya?"
A voice cut through the noise and I looked up.
Sarah was standing by the main entrance, flanked by two of her usual shadows, Rosie and Sally. Her eyes flicked from me to Justin and back again and I must say, the confusion on her face was almost satisfying.
"Who's your friend?" she asked, forcing a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
Justin stopped and looked at her like she was mildly interesting but ultimately forgettable.
"Justin Chamberlain," he said. "I coach the hockey team."
Sarah's smile flickered. "I know who you are, Coach, I just didn't realize you knew Maya."
"We're dating," Justin said.
The words landed like a grenade. Sarah's face went through five expressions in two seconds, confusion, disbelief, anger and then a mask of sugary sweetness that made my skin crawl.
"Dating?" she repeated. "Wow, Maya, you work fast."
I felt the old instinct to shrink, to apologize or…to explain.
Don't.
I lifted my chin.
"Sarah," I said, my voice steadier than I felt, "you should really stop worrying about my love life. It's starting to look desperate."
Her eyes narrowed and for a second, the mask slipped. I saw the real Sarah underneath, the one who'd drugged me, who'd called me a cheap hooker, who'd told me to go back to Colombia.
Then she laughed.
"Good luck," she said, looking at Justin. "You're going to need it."
She turned and walked inside, her shadows scurrying after her.
The moment she was gone, my legs went weak but Justin's hand touched my elbow and steadied me.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
"She's going to come after me harder now."
"Probably." He didn't sound worried. "But now you're not alone."
I looked at him, he wasn't pretending to be confident; he was confident. Like he'd faced worse than Sarah Dean and walked away fine.
"Let's go," he said. "The first period starts in ten minutes."
We walked inside together, the hallway parted around us like water around a stone.
And for the first time since I'd picked up that photograph, no one whispered slut when I passed, they whispered something else instead.
Who is that guy?
Is Maya dating the hockey coach?
How does she know him?
I didn't answer any of them, but I heard every single question.
I smiled because they haven't seen anything yet.
