Tutor To My High School Bully

You know that feeling of staring longingly at something inches away from touching or reaching out to… but can’t get?

That’s how I felt watching the cheerleading team practice.

You might wonder why I couldn’t join them or what was holding me back….well a lot. For starters, I obviously didn’t fit in, or so I was told.

I sighed as Alison’s shrill voice pierced the air, as she yelled unfiltered insults at one of the girls who fell behind in step.

Alison was the queen bee of my school. She was the dream of most boys here. Tall and gorgeous, with long sexy legs and a perfect figure, but she was as mean as a stray cat.

She was one of the reasons I couldn’t join the cheerleading team. Alison had been a thorn in my side, constantly reminding me of how quaint my background was compared to hers. She was the daughter of the most wealthy, renowned, and dangerous billionaire in the city, and she was someone you obviously didn’t want to mess with

And I guess to Allison, those were more than enough reasons to make my own life hell.

Like, how bad could things get?

I watched them practice for nearly an hour and managed to slip away before Alison could notice me staring like a mesmerized deer.

Shit!

In my curiosity to watch them practice, I forgot that Alison and her crew of mean girls just like her loved to find me and bully me. Now that I had the chance to flee, I had waited and had been watching her practice.

This would have been better.

Shit! 

I immediately ran for my locker, hurriedly pulling out my things and stuffing them into my bag.

How could I have forgotten the one thing I hated? 

I needed to get out of here fast. Before she---

I closed the locker, and Alison's face popped up, causing me to scream and drop my things.

“Look at what we have here. Lady Lena of where again….oh, you live in the slums,” she said, and behind her, the other girls laughed.

I held in my breath and tried to step around her, but she blocked my path and grinned, revealing dazzling white teeth.

“Please excuse me,” I said timidly, which only seemed to make her amused.

“Why? There’s nothing at home for you, so there’s no need to rush. We're just having fun, right?” She purred, and I resisted the urge to push her out of my way, because that wouldn't end well.

“I have homework to do, Alison,” I replied, and she pouted.

“Awwww…..genius, no you don't.” She brushed a strand of hair from my face, and I backed off in a panic.

“What do you want with me, Alison? What did I do to you?” I sighed while she laughed in my face.

She smiled as though she was actually concerned, and if I didn’t know her well enough, I would have thought she was

“What do I want, sweetheart….just a little fun,” she grinned, “you know, I saw you watching me practice. Were you staring at my butt?”

I shut my eyes and turned away from her, “No. I swear I wasn't.”

She scowled, “You don’t like my butt?”

“Alison I…”

“You bitch” she shrieked and grabbed me by the collar and slammed me headfirst into the locker. “You ugly piece of junk, do you think you’re better than me?”

My head snapped back against the metal, and a sharp throbbing pain rang through my skull.

Before I could even respond, she yanked me forward and shoved me again. Meanwhile the girls behind her inched closer, blocking any escape route I could've taken.

"Tracy, get your phone out," Alison commanded, not taking her eyes off me. "Record this. I want to remember every second."

My heart dropped into my stomach. "Please don't—"

"Please don't," she mimicked in a high-pitched voice. "Please don't what? Please don't show the world how pathetic you look? How you stuff your face every lunch while the rest of us actually watch what we eat? Piggy!"

Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction. I'd learned that lesson a long time ago, that crying only made Alisson even more cruel.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Alison grabbed my chin, her nails digging into my skin hard enough to leave marks. "What? Nothing to say? The great Lena Hartwell, top of every class, teacher's pet, thinks she's too good to even look at me?"

"That's not true," I whispered.

"Then look at me!"

I forced my eyes to meet hers. Up close, she was even more beautiful, which was ironic considering her evil nature.

The flawless skin, perfect teeth, not a single hair out of place, and those cold, vicious blue eyes that showed how much she was enjoying making my life hell

"You know what I think?" She tilted her head, studying me like I was something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

"I think you need to learn your place. I think you need to understand that no matter how hard you study, no matter how many scholarships you get, you'll always be nothing. You'll always be the stupid girl from the wrong side of town who doesn't belong anywhere near people like us."

The locker room door suddenly swung open.

I felt a small shard of hope—maybe that was a teacher, maybe someone who could stop this—but any hope I had died the moment I saw who walked in.

The football team.

The freaking football team

All of them.

There were at least fifteen guys in their jerseys, fresh from practice, with sweat still glistening on their skin, and leading them was none other than……

Jace Dawson.

Jace Dawson, the quarterback.

The most handsome guy in school, whose posters hung in half the girls' lockers. Jace Dawson, who I'd stupidly and pathetically had a crush on freshman year before I learned better.

Before I learned that guys like him didn't even see girls like me as human.

He stopped when he saw what was happening, and so did everyone else.

Oh the aura

For one foolish moment, I thought maybe he would do something.

Maybe he would tell them all to back off and leave me alone; he was the team captain, and they all listened to him.

Even Alison... because she was already eyeing him like candy.

Instead, he pulled out his phone.

"Make room," he said casually, not even looking at me. "Tracy, angle it better. We want to see her face."

Whatever stupid, foolish hope I had smashed into tiny pieces.