RINA'S POV
10 YEARS PRIOR
Me turning down the Easton Clarke's seemingly innocent proposal in front of the entire cafeteria had a ripple effect that started as soon as I'd exited the room. I expected a teacher, or maybe even the principal, to track me down by the end of the day regarding my use of a water bottle as a weapon. But instead, I just began receiving attention from individuals who'd never looked twice at me before-even after the showdown with Kyle a few weeks prior. Now, girls stared at me in either confusion or hostility, and boys stared at me with various levels of fascination. Jenny stayed glued to my side though, even when our lunch table became the target of whispers and stares. Not as much of a wallflower as me, Jenny didn't seem as bothered by the attention as I did. But she still shot death glares in Easton's direction-and Kyle's for that matter-every time she passed them in the hall.
By the end of the following Monday, Homecoming was approaching, and I hadn't spoken to Easton since I'd doused him in water. I could feel his eyes on me whenever I passed him in the hallway, but I refused to look in his direction.
Just like Easton predicted, Monica had, in fact, bought me a dress. She'd surprised me with a short, off the shoulder number and matching heels Monday afternoon when I got off the bus. She was so excited that I didn't have the heart to tell her I had no intention of going. Nobody serious had asked me for one, and for two, the last thing I wanted to do was increase my chances of another run in with Easton.
That changed when Tuesday afternoon, Jenny showed up to our lunch table with two boys in tow. One was a shorter junior with inky black hair hanging in loose ringlets to his shoulders and wearing an oversized Slipknot t-shirt, a checkered belt, and black skinny jeans. The other was a boy I recognized from my anatomy class, Harrison Dwyer. Harrison wrote for the school's newspaper and was usually very quiet. He was classically handsome with sandy-blonde hair, blue-green eyes, and a strong jawline. We'd never really spoken to each other, but he greeted me with a warm smile as he took the seat beside me.
"Hi Rina!" Jen said as she sat down across from me, the dark-haired boy taking the seat to her left. Her voice was unusually chipper, even for her. I noticed that her eyeliner was extra thick today, and she'd replaced her usual sweatshirt and leggings with a Korn t-shirt and a black midi skirt. I glanced between her and the dark-haired boy beside her, wondering if the sudden change was to impress him. "How's it going?"
"It's going," I said back, eyebrows raised, wondering who the two guests at our table were. Other than Easton's brief visit the week prior, nobody else ever sat with us.
"This is Samuel and Harrison," she said cheerfully, gesturing between our two visitors. "Samuel asked me to Homecoming. But you know my dad won't let me date..." She drifted off, her eyes getting bigger and her elbows coming down on the table.
"Yeah..." I prompted, leaning back and crossing my arms over my chest, eyebrows still raised.
"But he might let me go to the dance, if he thinks I'm going with friends," she finished, looking a lot less bubbly and a lot more nervous. "I know you said you didn't want to go..." she trailed off again, looking at Samuel, then Harrison, then me again like she was trying to find her nerve. "But Harrison suggested it could be fun if we go in a group."
Before I could say anything, Harrison quickly clarified, "Just as friends." But after a moment, he smiled shyly and tacked on, "Or like a double date, if you want that."
"You want to go to Homecoming with me?" I asked, partially bewildered and partially flattered. Unless you counted Easton's fake proposal (which I didn't), I'd never been asked to a dance before.
"I think it would be fun," Harrison said, smiling nervously. "My dad's going to let me borrow his convertible, and Sam and I could pick you and Jen up from your place so her dad doesn't get suspicious."
I thought about it briefly. It might be fun to go to a high school dance. I never had before. Plus, after Jen had stuck by my side loyally through the whole Kyle debacle (and the stunt with Easton), I didn't want to let her down.
"Okay, I'll go," I said decidedly, locking eyes with Jen, who lit up like a kid on Christmas, and then with Harrison, who looked like he couldn't believe I'd taken him up on his offer. "But just as friends," I added, before he got any ideas. After my disastrous date with Kyle, the last thing I wanted was to give Harrison the impression I was going to sleep with him, even if Harrison seemed relatively innocent. After watching my mom sleep with money for money, I grew not to trust men. Give them an inch, and they'd take a mile.
"Great," Harrison said at the same time as Jen blurted out, "Yay!" She said it a little too loudly, her high voice carrying over the noise of the cafeteria. I swallowed hard, and glanced in the direction of Easton's table, expecting to see him glaring at me from across the room. He wasn't looking at me, though.
He was staring daggers directly at Harrison.
That Thursday, I stayed after school to talk with a teacher about an upcoming assignment. I knew doing so would cause me to miss the bus, but walking home seemed like a much more appealing option, even in the rain. The underclassmen on my route, along with much of the school apparently, had taken a sudden interest in me in the days following Easton and I's showdown in the cafeteria.
By the time I finished my meeting, it was nearing four p.m., and the hallways were deserted. I stopped by my locker before heading out to switch out my textbooks. Once I was done, I closed the locker shut and came face to face with Easton on the other side, his face an unreadable mask.
"What the hell do you want?" I snarled without really looking at him, focusing instead on zipping up my backpack. He said nothing. Instead, he grabbed my elbow and began towing me down the hallway.
"What are you doing?" I shouted, attempting to tear my arm away but his grip was too tight.
"Shut up," he snarled, his pace quickening. I looked around desperately for help, but there was no one else in the hallway. It seemed even the principal had already left the premises. Unable to shake free, I had no choice but to follow along helplessly, my backpack hanging open halfway off my shoulder.
He pulled me into an empty classroom and slammed the door behind me. When he spun around to face me, his face was beet red, his lips curled up in a snarl. He hadn't even looked this angry the first day when I'd walked in on him in the locker room. I had the same sinking feeling in my gut I'd had at Vince's party when Easton got me alone in the closet. Except this time, he wasn't drunk. He was just angry. And no one else seemed to be even in the building.
"Monica knows I'm still here," I stuttered out, my breath coming out in shallow gasps.
"I don't care," he growled, moving towards me. I backed up instinctively until my back hit the whiteboard behind me. "A little birdie told me you're going to the dance tomorrow with Harrison," he snapped, his eyes blazing.
The fear I'd been feeling seconds before turned into annoyance. "And?"
"And I asked you first and you dumped a bottle of water on my head!" He snarled, leaning down so we were face to face. "You humiliated me in front of the entire cafeteria and now you're going with somebody else. Tell me. Are you doing it on purpose just to make me look bad?"
"You really think I'm that calculated?" I asked, eyebrows raised. "Harrison asked me to go, and I said yes. That's all."
"Why?"
"Because I've never been to a dance. What does it matter to you?"
"Because you refused to go with me!" He snarled. He seemed to be getting more agitated by the second.
"Are you going to sit here and pretend that was a serious offer?" I snapped. "Of course I told you no. I wasn't going to give you additional ammo to make fun of me."
"I wasn't joking, Rina," he said, his expression tense. He looked like he was trying to stare into my soul, and I wanted desperately to look away, but his eyes sucked me in like a black hole. For just a second, I thought he was going to try to kiss me again. It wasn't like in the closet when I couldn't see it coming. This time, I could see his expression clearly, and the way he broke eye contact for just a second to look at my lips made my breathing heavy. All of a sudden, I got a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach that I didn't recognize. I'd never felt it before with anyone, and it felt so backwards that it was for someone I couldn't stand. But before I could further analyze the situation, he growled, "Tell him you aren't going with him."
"No," I argued, flabbergasted. "I want to go."
"Then you can go with me."
"I think we've already established I'd rather pull my own teeth out than go to Homecoming with you, Easton."
"Then stay home. But you're not going anywhere with Harrison, or anyone else for that matter," he snarled.
"Or what?" I challenged. "How exactly are you going to stop me?"
He laughed, his hands balled into fists. "You do not want to play this game with me, Rina."
"What are you going to do, Easton? The way I see it, you're the only one here with something to lose. So yes, I do want to play this game with you, Easton, because I think we both know I'm better at it."
"Are you threatening me?"
"I'm just reminding you of our deal. I'll keep my mouth shut if you stay away from me, remember? You're not exactly holding up your end of the bargain."
"I'll tell you what," he said, stepping even closer until our faces were mere inches apart. I swallowed hard, and I knew he could hear it because he smiled like a hunter who had something caught in his sights. "I'll leave you alone if you tell Harrison you're not going to the dance. Don't make me tell him myself. I promise that you're not going to like the way I do it."
"Let me go, Easton."
"Tell me you're going to stay away from him, and I will."
"I already told you no, asshole. Get off me!"
"Look at me, Rina," he commanded, grabbing my jaw roughly. "This isn't a joke. Go with me instead."
"Why, so you can humiliate me in front of the whole school? I'm not interested in whatever game this is," I said hoarsely. I could feel tears coming to my eyes, equal parts agitation and fear. I remember a drunk man holding me hostage like this as a child, high out of his mind and confusing me for my mother. I bit back the urge to scream but couldn't control the way my hands started to shake.
"I don't want to humiliate you, Rina. I just don't want you going with him!"
"Why? Because you're worried I'm going to tell him what I saw or something? It's October, Easton. If I wanted to tell someone, I would have by now."
"No, Rina, that's not why," he laughed, the sound low in his throat. "You're so unbelievably stupid sometimes, you know that?"
"I know. Real trailer trash, right? You've told me."
"That's not what I meant."
"Don't lie to me. I already know what you think of me, so there's no use continuing this homecoming charade. You know, I meant it when I said you were no better than my mother. But at least she could use her addiction as an excuse. You don't even have that. You're just a shitty person, Easton, and I'd rather spend the rest of my life as trailer trash than go to sleep every night knowing I treat people like you do. Let me go."
"Fine," he snarled, dropping his grip on my jaw and letting me go. "Go to the dance with Harrison. He only asked you out because he thought I wanted you first, you know that right? Tell him to enjoy my sloppy seconds. And don't say I didn't warn you."