YOOOOO so I copied and pasted this to a google doc and guess what...this is already 73 pages long!!?!?!?! should I try to publish this? idk cuz I'm kind of embarrassed by this? like the sappiness and also would not want my parents to know....idk!!!! lmk!
ALSO this is like PG-13/R...there will be smutty scenes I think idk why I just kinda dig them and think it allows for better development so...sry if you'e not into it!!
Without further ado....chapter 11!!!!
GABBY
It's Friday and Leo and I have just turned in our project. My shoulders slump with relief, a burden lifted. And then, as if the universe wants to punish me, Ms. Greenburg opens her mouth. "I didn't want to tell you this until the day of, but you will be giving the class a brief overview of your projects today."
The class lets out a collective groan, but I hold my breath.
"This is why I didn't tell you." Our teacher chuckles. "Now I can see who is really informed on their topic and who copy and pasted it. We can start with...Leo and Gabby!"
No fucking way.
Leo eyes me, shrugging. There's not much I can do about this, so I reluctantly stand up. In the process of walking up to the front of the room, my wide hips accidentally bump into Noah Lions and his desk.
"Hey, watch where you're going, fatty." Noah sneers.
"Aw, Flabby Gabby can't help it." Pete Goldstein chortles. "She's a wide load, not much she can do about it. Unless she diets, but God forbid she show any self restraint, right?"
Leo is at the front of the room, listening to what his buddies are saying about me. His lips are pressed in a thin line, almost like he wants to add on to their taunts. The asshole.
Ms. Greenburg is sitting at her desk, typing something on her computer. Oblivious. Or she just doesn't care enough to help.
"Honestly can't see what that Chris kid saw in her." Katie Acholtz giggles. "He could have had anyone yet he tried to get with her? And she cried rape--as if anyone would risk jail for..." she looks me up and down, "that."
"Hey, shut the Hell up." Leo snaps suddenly, taking a few strides forward so he's standing next to me. "The fuck is wrong with all of you? She was just walking to the front of the room, for Christ's sake! Why are you attacking her? And for your information, Katie, she didn't cry rape. He did try to rape her. You wouldn't know if he did or didn't because you haven't been invited to a party since the tenth grade, correct?"
Leo is red in the face as he continues. "Why don't you all stop worrying about Gabby's perceived flaws and start worrying about your own? God knows you all have plenty of them."
Ms. Greenburg is paying attention by now, staring at Leo, obviously flustered.
"I think..." she begins.
"No, Ms. G, I'm not really in the mood to present right now on account of some jackasses bullying a peer and you doing nothing about it. How about, since my dad is practically writing your paycheck anyways, you give us an A and we call it a day? I'd really hate to bring this up to the school board. Your blatant disregard for a student being bullied, I mean."
Ms. Greenburg opens her mouth and closes it, like a fish. I do the same.
Is Leo Hamilton seriously standing up for me? In public, no less? In front of his peers?
Has Hell really frozen over?
"Go back to your seats, Mr. Hamilton and Ms. Hampton. See me tomorrow after class." That's all our teacher offers before she calls up the next group to present.
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GABBY
After class I speed walk away, but Leo catches me anyways. He's a football star and I'm a sack of fat, who am I kidding trying to out-walk the most athletic guy in town?
"Gabby, listen..."
"Save it." I snap, not looking the stupid, gorgeous man in the eye. If I do, I know he will work his magic on me, and I'll be a goner all over again. I have to stay strong.
"You think that one good deed outweighs all of the bad? Thanks for sticking up for me back there, I really mean it, but you're the one who started all of the bullying in the first place. Acting like my knight in shining armor isn't going to make me forget that, Leo. I don't think you can do anything that could make me forget that."
I spin on my heel and walk away.
This time he doesn't follow.
My phone pings with a text and once Leo is out of my sight, I stop to read it.
Hey, cutie. Since round one didn't go so well, how about round two? My place, whenever you're out of school. Leo has football right after (for real this time) so it would just be us. I swear.
I don't bother to hide the happy grin that breaks out on my face when I read the message from Aaron.
Would love to. Be there soon.
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GABBY
I'm sitting on one of the Hamilton family's gorgeous couches with Aaron across from me. I'm laughing at a stupid joke he made about a centipede and a tractor. It wasn't very funny, but the way that he couldn't stop giggling while he told the joke was hilarious, not to mention adorable.
All of the sudden, mid conversation, he reaches forward and his lips are on mine. At first I think of Christopher and panic rises in my throat. Aaron seems to remember it too because he jerks back, cradling my face in his hands and searching my eyes.
"Is that okay?" He questions, his brow furrowing. And suddenly, it is.
"Yes." I smile. "Keep going."
And so he does.
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LEO
"Sorry again, man." I pat Nate on the shoulder. "Didn't mean to freak out on you in class. It's just, I'm screwing her sister, you know? Wanted the word to get out that I take care of my girl's family too."
"Bro, I get it. If I was tapping that ass, I'd probably punch Obama square in the jaw just to save face with her."
"Knew you'd understand. See you tomorrow. And remember to ice your throwing arm, dude. You're no good to me if you can't play."
"Got it."
As soon as I reach in my car and jump in, I give a victorious fist pump. Everyone bought it that I only defended Gabby because I wanted to get on Haley's good side. I shouldn't have slipped up, but when Katie made that comment about Gabby being unworthy of rape, I just about lost it. Who the Hell says that kind of thing? I can still picture her lifeless body tangled in sheets, tears streaming down her face. It makes me sick to think that someone could take an experience as horrible as that and turn it into an insult.
Soon I'm cruising down some random back roads and eventually make it home. The house is silent when I walk in, though it's so big that someone could be screaming in the East wing and I would be oblivious. I walk to the main living room, kicking off my shoes on the way, but what I see just as I am about to reach my destination stops me dead in my tracks.
Gabby is on my couch, half naked, with my shirtless cousin on top of her. He's kissing her neck and she's letting out throaty moans and I can feel every part of me tense.
Not feeling proud of myself, I take a few steps closer. And then a few more for a better look. She's not wearing a shirt but her skirt is still in tact. My cousin is positioned between her legs, kissing her neck as she lets out shallow breaths. He's got one hand feeling her up and the other is roaming up and down her left leg. He takes his mouth away from her neck and brings it to her mouth instead.
"Can I take off your bra?" Aaron breaks the kiss long enough to ask.
I don't want to hear her response in fear that it would send me into a jealous rage.
"Well, what a sight to come home to." I chuckle, flinging my football bag on the ground with a satisfying thunk just in case the two lovebirds didn't hear me.
Aaron jumps off the couch like it's on fire and Gabby squeals, scurrying to cover herself.
"Jesus, Leo!" Aaron marches to me, puffing out his chest in a pathetic attempt to be the alpha male. I have at least a few inches on him and a hell of a lot more muscle.
"Sorry, did I interrupt?"
"You're an asshole." Gabby frowns. "An absolute asshole."
"I'm no more of an asshole than the guy you just let feel you up." I snap, glancing at my cousin. "You know nothing about him, Gabby. And if you did, you'd be begging for me to look your way instead of him."
I eye the full figured girl on the couch appreciatively before grabbing my things and exiting the room.
"Ask him about what happened last year." I call out over my shoulder. "See what excuse he cooks up."
When I reach my room I flop down onto my bed and pull out my phone.
This isn't exactly a booty call... I text Camille, but if it were one, would you come over?
I get a response a few seconds later:Â The answer should be no, but it's a yes. It's always a yes.
I shoot a quick text back: hurry. and wear the red underwear. or don't wear any at all.
And then I wait.