Hopeless: A High School Bully Romance (Playa Del Mar Book 1) Read online

  I’m wondering if this is going to turn into a therapy session.

  “And for that very reason, we have student ambassadors who volunteer the first week of school to help our new students with the transition.”

  I quickly start shaking my head. “Oh, I don’t need—”

  “These are our best students,” she insists. “Committed to the school and to the community, and well, quite frankly, to the world. They are dedicated to making this Earth a better place to live. For all of us.”

  I half expect Greta Thunberg to walk through the door.

  She doesn’t, but someone else does that makes my mouth drop open and my stomach sink to the floor.

  Charity Dern is standing at the entrance, clutching a small pile of books to her chest.

  “You?” I manage to whisper.

  She offers me a sickly sweet smile. “Welcome to Playa, Sydney.”

  Chapter 12

  Charity’s smile disappears the minute we step out of the administration building.

  “I knew it was going to be you,” she mutters. “I fucking knew it.”

  She seems pissed, which oddly pleases me. If I have to suffer through having her be my “Welcome Ambassador,” as Mrs. Spitzer called her, then she can suffer a little, too.

  I must be smiling because she gives me a disgusted look. “You think this is funny?”

  I make sure my face is wiped clean of emotion. “Not even a little.”

  She shifts the books she is holding, tucking them against her side, and sweeps in front of me. She is wearing a red plaid miniskirt that sits several inches above her knees and a skin-tight, cropped white t-shirt that barely covers her stomach. I can see the indentation of a belly button ring.

  “Come on,” she hisses. “I don’t have all morning.”

  I debate whether to follow her.

  But then the door of the admin building opens and Mrs. Spitzer pokes her head out. “You girls know where you’re going?” She glances back into the building. “Bell will be ringing in less than ten minutes. Charity, she needs to know where her first class is.”

  Charity smiles and nods her head. The transformation is remarkable. With her angelic expression and the plaid skirt and white shirt, she looks like a Catholic schoolgirl. A slutty one, but still.

  “Yes, ma’am,” she says. “We were just chatting and getting to know each other a little. Weren’t we, Sydney?”

  I nod.

  Mrs. Spitzer smiles. “Wonderful! I just knew you would be perfect for the job, dear.” She shakes her head, seemingly pleased with herself, and retreats back into the building.

  Charity’s friendly smile morphs into a scowl. “Alright, loser. Give me your schedule.”

  She rips the piece of paper from my hand and quickly scans it. “Thank God I only have one class with you.”

  She thrusts it back in my direction but before I can take it, she drops it, watching with a smirk as it flutters to the ground. “Better get that.”

  Charity starts walking and I grab the paper and start to follow. I’m seriously contemplating ditching her—how hard could it be to find my first class?—when a guy steps in front of my path.

  “Well, hello, gorgeous.”

  I look up and see a tall, dark-haired guy who looks like he just stepped out of a magazine ad. He’s tall and built, like someone who plays rugby or football, with piercing greenish-blue eyes that are raking over my body like I’m some nude girl on a free porn site.

  “Oh my God, Lucas,” Charity says. “Stop drooling. She’s trash.”

  Lucas smiles. His eyes settle somewhere between my lips and my chest. I immediately want to punch him. “I can drool if I want. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

  I frown at him. “Your dick is literally getting hard, isn’t it?”

  I can’t help it. I look at his crotch. Sure enough, there is a growing bulge appearing in his basketball shorts.

  He grabs it. “Fuck yeah, I am.” His grin turns wicked as he lifts his gaze and looks me squarely in the eyes. He grabs his crotch. “Want to help me...relax?”

  “No, thanks. I have big hands and I think you might get...lost.”

  Charity laughs. “That’s the first intelligent thing she’s said.”

  A chorus of laughter echoes behind her and I realize two of her friends from the beach have joined us. Ainsley, her dark hair done up in a loose braid, and the other girl are also wearing mini skirts. Not plaid, but still red, and I get this weird sense that I’ve walked into a real-life Mean Girls clique.

  “Come on.” Lucas reaches for my hand. “Just feel me, sweetheart. Feel how hot I am for you.”

  I yank my hand away before I make contact with his shorts and glare at him. “Touch me again and I’ll do more than feel you. I’ll rip your dick right off.”

  His eyes widen with mock concern. “Ooh, someone who likes to play hard to get. And who maybe likes it a little rough, yeah? I’m down, baby.”

  “Sydney? Is that you?”

  I spin around.

  Emily is standing behind me, with Belle and Willow flanking either side of her. I note with some relief that, unlike the other trio of girls standing nearby, they are not dressed in matching outfits.

  Her smile is one of mock surprise. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you’re back!” She throws her arms around me and envelops me in a hug. She whispers, “Just go with it.”

  I hesitate and then hug her back, a little awkwardly. She smells like the bacon I’m sure she ate for breakfast and some floral perfume that reminds me of one of the dozens of perfume samples Jada kept in her bedroom back in New Zealand. She was forever trying out new fragrances.

  I pull back and sneak a glance at Charity and then Lucas. Charity looks pissed and Lucas looks…drunk? High? I notice for the first time that those green eyes of his are a little bloodshot.

  “Of course,” Charity scoffs, rolling her eyes. “You’re friends with the freaks.”

  Willow gives her a cool glance. “Better a freak than a two-faced bitch.”

  Charity’s eyes narrow.

  “Sorry,” Willow says. “A two-faced bitch who pretends to be Jesus's girlfriend but hands out blowjobs like candy.”

  Lucas lets out a roar of laughter.

  Charity fumes.

  Emily grabs my elbow and propels me away. “I’ll show you where your class is.”

  I join their ranks and we walk toward the bank of buildings that make up the rest of the campus.

  “Lucas is such a dick,” Willow says, her expression stormy.

  Emily nods. “And Charity is such a bitch. Ainsley and Nina, too.” She looks at me. ‘Do not let them ruin your first day here. Not everyone is like that. I promise.”

  “If you say so.” But I’m not so sure. I feel like a cell under a microscope, the way every pair of eyes is looking at me.

  “Where’s Ben?” Emily asks. “I thought you guys would be together.”

  “He’s sick.”

  She frowns. “Seriously? On the first day?”

  “That’s what he said.”

  “Wow, that’s a serious bummer. Although, honestly, we do nothing these first few days.”

  Belle sighs. “I don’t know why we start on a Wednesday. So lame.”

  Emily peers at the schedule in my hands. “Looks like you have Blumenthal for math. He’s down this first hallway.” She lets out a whistle. “Calc? Wow, braniac.”

  Willow cocks her head. “Where did you disappear to last night? You went to the bathroom and then we never saw you again.”

  “Clearly you didn’t hook up with Lucas…” Belle says dryly.

  I make a face and they all laugh.

  “I…I went home,” I tell them. I don’t like to lie but I’m also not about to tell three girls I don’t really know that I spent the night making out with some hot guy in an off-limits lifeguard tower.

  “Good call,” Emily says. “The party was lame. Just a bunch of people getting drunk and stoned and hooking up on the beach.”
>
  Willow shoots her a look. “Uh, isn’t that what you did?”

  Emily grins sheepishly. “Maybe.”

  “Such a loser,” Willow says good-naturedly. To me, she says, “Look for us at lunch. We’ll be on the quad, the bench by the theater. We’ll save a spot for you.”

  The first bell rings and the three of them scatter.

  I hurry to my class, hustling before the second bell rings.

  My first day isn’t off to the best start.

  My only friend isn’t there.

  The Queen Bee of the school apparently hates me.

  A drunk jock tried to sexually assault me.

  But there are three tiny glimmers of hope named Emily, Willow and Belle.

  And there might be a bigger one, too, if I can find him.

  Hayden.

  Chapter 13

  By the time lunch rolls around, my stomach is threatening to eat itself, I’m so hungry.

  As soon as the bell rings, I head to the vending machines alongside the cafeteria. They are filled with healthy snacks—no candy bars or soda—but that’s fine with me. I know I don’t want anything from the cafeteria, mostly because I can’t gauge if it’s cool or not to eat there, so I buy a granola bar, a package of wheat crackers, and a Vitamin water and then look to the theater to scope out where Emily and the girls said they would be.

  “Is that your lunch?” a derisive voice asks.

  I already recognize it.

  “What do you want?” I snap. I have no patience for Charity.

  She folds her arms across her chest. Ainsley and Nina, her mini-me entourage, follows suit. They look ridiculous.

  “I’m supposed to be your Welcome Ambassador, remember?” She smiles, but all I see is hate and malice. “Come on. We’re eating lunch together.”

  “Bullshit we are.”

  “Such language.”

  “Go to hell.”

  I brush past her but she grabs my arm. Before I can stop her, she rips the package of crackers out of my hand and drops them to the ground. She uses the heel of her black ankle boot to grind the contents to a pulp.

  She covers her mouth in mock horror. “Oops.” She snatches the granola bar out of my hand and tosses it in the trashcan next to her “Looks like you won’t be eating lunch at all.”

  Inside, I’m seething, but I force a calm expression. I still have the Vitamin water in my hand and I work the cap off. Once it’s freed from the bottle, I wind it back and splash the contents in Charity’s face.

  She sputters and shrieks. “What the fuck?”

  The water drips down her face, soaking the front of her shirt, staining it pink.

  “Oops,” I say in a singsong voice. “Looks like I won’t be drinking anything, either.”

  Ainsley sucks in a breath. “You are so going to regret this, bitch.”

  Nina, the shorter blonde, looks shell-shocked. But she nods her head and mutters, “Yeah, you are.”

  Maybe.

  But I don’t care.

  “The only thing I regret is not being able to kick your ass right now.” There’s a small amount of water in the bottle and I bring it to my lips, letting the liquid pool in my mouth. And then I spit it out, on Charity’s shoe.

  Her face contorts with anger and she reaches for me, but I take a step back, and bump into something hard. Something hard and warm.

  I spin around.

  Hayden Mayfield is staring at me, a look of what only can be described as admiration on his face.

  “Did you see what she just did to me?” Charity demands, looking at Hayden. “She attacked me. Again!”

  “Chill the fuck out,” he tells her. “I saw what you did first.”

  Charity just huffs.

  “You like to act all innocent,” he says. “But everyone knows better.”

  “I should have known you wouldn’t stand up for me,” she spits out. “You never have.”

  “That’s bullshit and you know it.” His blue eyes are like ice as they rake over her.

  She glares at him before turning her murderous glare to me. “This isn’t over. Not by a long shot.”

  I shrug. “Whatever you say. I’m not interested in being your enemy, Charity. Or your friend.”

  My calm response seems to deflate her a little. She looks a little uncertain but then quickly affixes a new scowl on her face. “Come on,” she barks to her friends. “One of you needs to give me your shirt. I can’t walk around like this.”

  They hurry away, and I am left standing with Hayden.

  “She really has it out for you,” he comments. “What did you do to her?”

  I stare at him. He’s wearing a black t-shirt with some band name I don’t recognize and a pair of gray basketball shorts that, on him, somehow manage to look sexy as hell. His blond hair is tousled, a little bit wavy, and I wonder if he used product to get it to look like that or if he is just blessed with amazing hair.

  “I didn’t do anything.” I’m a little irked by his remark. “I basically exist. That’s apparently enough to piss her off.”

  He grins. “That’s the second time you’ve dumped something on her. First the ice and now this. I better make it a point to stay on your good side if I want to stay dry, huh?”

  “Probably.”

  He laughs. “How about if I earn some points by taking you to lunch?” He nods toward the parking lot. “Xander and Beckett are waiting. You can tag along with us.”

  I shake my head. “No, that’s—”

  But his hand is already on my elbow. It slides to my waist briefly and memories of the night before flood my mind and steal the rest of the words from my lips.

  “We’re gonna hit up Pedro's. Don’t tell me you don’t want rolled tacos or a big ass burrito for lunch.”

  He drops his hand and I know I could walk away if I wanted to. I steal a quick glance toward the theater building. Emily and the girls are already sitting down, deep in conversation. They aren’t even looking for me.

  They won’t miss me.

  I’m hungry and Hayden is here, hot Hayden who literally makes me forget how to breathe and who is asking me to lunch. Who wants me to be with him. Who isn’t asking me out of a sense of obligation or because he pities me.

  I peek one last time at the bench, at the girls who seem friendly and seem like they like me.

  But I don’t know that for sure.

  The only thing I do know is that Hayden Mayfield sure as hell seemed to like me last night.

  So I follow him out to the parking lot.

  Chapter 14

  My ears are ringing by the time we get to Pedro's. Hayden and I climbed into the back of Xander’s truck and we spent the next five minutes having our ears assaulted by death metal that played so loud, the bass and drums nearly set my heart out of sync.

  Sitting at one of the concrete tables outside the taco shack, my ears are still in full-on recuperation mode.

  Hayden sits down next to me on the concrete bench and slides a drink in my direction. His thigh bumps against mine and stays there, warming both my skin and my insides. Xander and Beckett sit down opposite of us, each taking their own curved concrete bench positioned around the round table.

  There were no questions, no looks of surprise, when Hayden introduced me and told them I was coming to lunch.

  And now, they’re just goofing off and giving each other shit and generally behaving as if having me there is the most normal thing in the world. They aren’t talking to me, but they aren’t giving me the evil eye or blowing me off, either.

  An older Mexican woman brings a tray of food out to us and the guys get down to business, unwrapping burritos and squirting limes over paper boats filled with tacos.

  “So how do you guys know each other?” Beckett asks. He’s tucked his long hair behind his ears and is biting into the first of his three tacos.

  “I saved her from Charity.” Hayden grins and pops a chip in his mouth.

  “You did not.”

  He arches an eyebrow
. “Sure, I did. Three times now. I’m like your Prince Charming or something.”

  I roll my eyes. “Or something.”

  Xander sucks on his straw. “Why’d you move to Playa?”

  “Dude, she moved back,” Hayden tells him. “She went to grade school with us. And part of middle school.”

  Xander gives me a surprised look. “Seriously? I don’t remember you.”

  Story of my life.

  I just nod.

  “What is it with you and new girls, Hay?” Beckett asks, chuckling. He’s working on his second taco now.

  Xander laughs. “Dude, he’s gone through everyone else in the school. There’s no one left.”

  “Fuck off,” Hayden says good-naturedly.

  Beckett elbows him. “You know it’s true. Name one chick you haven’t dated. One hot chick.”

  They all laugh.

  “All that’s left is new blood.” Beckett winks at me. “Hot new blood. First that Willow chick, now you.”

  I freeze. Willow?

  I immediately lose my appetite.

  “Knock it off, assholes,” Hayden says. He doesn’t seem in the least uncomfortable with the conversation. But he doesn’t dispute anything they’re saying, either.

  I’m still locked on Willow.

  Hayden went out with her?

  And now he’s interested in me because he’s already gone through every other girl at school?

  Is that what I am? Some new toy to play with?

  I stare down at my rolled tacos. They are a favorite of mine from childhood, especially when smothered with cheese and guacamole, but my appetite is gone.

  Hayden notices. “Why aren’t you eating?”

  “I guess I’m not hungry.”

  He frowns. “You can’t waste rolled tacos. It’s sacrilegious.”

  I push the paper boat toward him. “You can have them.”

  His frown deepens. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Bullshit.” He drops his hand from the table and puts it on my thigh.

  I try not to squirm, to not react to his touch.