Chapter 5 My Secret Journal!

Laughter immediately erupted from the crowd. Rita and her squad closed in while they were throwing insults like they were knives.

“ New girl thought she could just show up and steal attention, right?”

“ Stay in your lane, you virgin. Kai would never date someone like you.”

Tears started welling up in my eyes. I tried to hold them back, but the humiliation was crushing. Rita suddenly grabbed a full bottle of champagne from the table.

“This is your warning. Stay away from my boyfriend,” she said as she poured the entire thing over my head. The cold liquid soaked my hair and my dress, dripping from my top to my body while the room was flooding with more and more laughter. Just then, the door busted open.

“What the hell is going on here?” Kai's voice cut through the party like a blade. Rita suddenly turned sweet and showed an innocent smile. “Kai, don't worry. We are just playing some games with Allison. She didn't mind. She didn't mind, right?” She immediately gestured to me, trying to make me agree with her. But his eyes, Kai's eyes, they found me instantly while I stood there, dripping with champagne and my hair plastered all over my face. My clothes were drenched and they were instantly clinging to my body. Humiliation was surrounding me all over. I did not know what to do. The moment Kai saw me, something in his expression shifted from confusion to fury. He immediately dropped his bags of beer and pulled off his sweater in a swift motion that wrapped it around my shoulders. The warm fabric smelled like him. Cedar and sin, and it was far too big on me.

“Rita, apologize right now and do not try this ever again,” he commanded. The entire room went silent while whispers were erupting like wildfire. Everyone knew the dynamic where Rita commanded and Kai obeyed. He was always her puppet. Seeing him raise his voice at Rita over ‘me’ was unheard of.

“Kai, this is just a joke, right ?" Rita said while forcing a laugh. “Why are you getting so hyper over this low-class virgin? It's not like she means anything to you, right?”

“Rita, you need to apologize to her right now,” he increased his voice which was now ice-cold. “Low-class virgin or not, she is under my care and under my protection. I don't know why you are being so obsessive and controlling.” Rita's voice immediately twisted.

“Kai, I can assure you this is just a misunderstanding. We were playing with her. Someone like her does not even fit in your league. We are the real deal. We rule this school. Don't spoil what we have over this lousy bitch.”

Kai then stepped forward, towering over her.

“From now henceforth, Allison is under my protection. No one dares lay a hand on her or even a finger. No one curses at her. If anyone dares, I won't. I won't spare the person, you get that? That includes you, Rita. Do you understand?” Rita flashed her eyes with pure rage.

She spun around on her heel and went out. Her minions were trailing after her. The party music felt suddenly distant now as Kai turned to me with a softening expression. Are you okay? He said while gently wiping a streak of champagne from my cheek with his thumb.

“I'm sorry about her. Come on.”

He gently guided me upstairs to his room, with one arm protectively around my shoulders. The moment the door closed, the noise from the party faded. He grabbed a clean towel and started carefully drying my hair. His movements were surprisingly gentle for someone so intense.

I watched him in quiet adoration and awe. This was the Kai I had written about for years, the one who had made me feel safe in the middle of chaos. The way he took care of me felt so romantic, so gallant. My heart squeezed so painfully.

“Kai…, you're a good guy,” I said softly as he helped me out with the wet layer off my top, leaving me in the dry sweater. “Why are you with someone like Rita? Why can't you find someone better?” He then paused and tightened his jaw. “That is none of your business, Allison. Rita's father helped me get this scholarship. I am here because of him, so it is my responsibility to stay with his daughter and keep things smooth for the team.”

“You actually don't have to do that, you know?” I whispered. “You've done enough. You don't need to stay trapped in.”

“This is our ordeal,” he said firmly. “I stay with her. I keep shining as a star quarterback. You can't change that. That's why you shouldn't even think about us being together.”

“ But I feel it,” I said, stepping closer to him. There's something between us. You feel it too, right? We can't let someone like Rita take that away. Kai immediately darkened his eyes with conflict.

“Allison, please don't do this. I'm saying this because I care about you. My girlfriend is dangerous. Your boy, your brother is my best friend. There are too many odds stacked against us. This is bro code. We can't.”

As he spoke, something inside me snapped. I grabbed his collar and pulled him down, pressing a deep and desperate kiss onto his lips. He froze there for a second, and for another half a second, then groaned before he pushed me against the wall, pinning my wrists above my head. He begged me, whispering desperately onto my neck. “Why are you doing this to me, Allison?” He rumbly rasped against my mouth. “Please, stop. Do not let me do what we are both going to regret.”

“ Please,” I whispered, breathless. “Do whatever you want to me.” He cursed under his breath. His body then pressed into mine. It was hard and warm. “Please, stop me. I don't want to take advantage of you. You are my best friend's sister.”

I couldn't stop at this moment. I had come so far to stop now. I climbed onto him immediately, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. Our mouths crushed together again in a hungry, bruising kiss. His hands gripped my thighs, holding me up as he kissed me like he was starving. For a few perfect seconds, everything else disappeared. Then he tore himself away, dropping me gently to my feet. He then stepped back with a heaving chest and wild eyes filled with lust as well as guilt.

“No, no. No, no, we can't.”

He turned and left the room, confused as if he was not in control of what he had just done. Of course he wasn't. He couldn't resist, though he's trying to. He did not say another word. He just left and slammed the door behind him. I slid down the wall with a frustrated heart and tingling lips. Outside in the hallway, Rita stood with two of her minions, Nora and Sophia. They were eavesdropping on everything, and her face was twisted with excessive fury.

“That bitch thinks she can steal him from me, " she hissed as she gestured to my room. “Come on, girls, let's find something to destroy her with.” They slipped into my room while the party was going on downstairs, and they were going through my drawers, my stuff, my cupboards, laughing at my lousy last-year clothes. Then Rita found it.

My journal.

“What the fuck? C'mon girls it's time to teach this bitch a lesson.”

What was Rita going to do now?