Crushed

Chapter 1

     Reece
had gotten to school early. It had nothing to do with being excited for the first
day of senior year. Because
he
wasn’t. Mostly,
he
was tired and just wanted to go home so
he
could go back to bed. And avoid the day completely.

Even though
he
was o
ne of the first people there, he
’d parked a
t the back of the lot. Though he
wasn’t sure what the point of that
was. His
black Navigato
r
, a gift from his parents, had a tendency to stick out. Especially in the school parking
lot.
Then again, it wasn’t like he
was really hiding or anything. More like h
anging out, waiting for his first
glimpse of Cleo in three months. Waiting for it, dreading it, but more than anything?
Just wanting to get it over with.

He
assumed that sh
e’d be riding the bus so he
’d parked at the end closest to the bus zone. Cleo was more likely to spend her paychecks
on groceries or school clothes for her little sister, Luci, than she was to ever get
anything for herself. That included wasting money
on a car
when she could take the bus, even though she
despised
it.

“Hey,” Adam said as he threw himself into the passenger seat. He slammed the door
behind him. “Are you going to spend all morning in here?”

Reece
glanced at the clock. It hadn’t been
that
long. Only twelve minutes, give or take. But the parking lot was quickly filling
up. The lawn in front of the school was already crawling with students.

“I just got here,”
he said in his
own defense.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure, now get out of the truck,” he commanded. “I know
what you’re doing.”

“I’m not doing anything,”
he
said. He didn’t bother to hide his
aggravation at being interrupted.

“Right. Well, if by ‘not doing anything’, you actually mean that you
are
looking for Cleo, you’re looking the wrong way. She’s here already. I saw her with
Emma just a minute ago,” Adam supplied.

He
coul
d have denied it. But Adam knew him better than almost anyone. So he decided to save
some time. He
didn’t bother with any protests. “Where?” 

“Knew it.” Adam motioned with his head. “That way, by Emma’s car. Have you talked
to her at all?”

“No,” Reece
told him. He was pretty sure Adam
knew he
hadn’t.

“So you don’t know if she’s still with Ethan?” he asked.

“No idea.”

“Do you want me to check with Lauren? She’d pr
obably know,” Adam
offered.

“Nah,” Reece
said. “I don’t care if she’s with him or not.” It was a lie. Adam was a good enough
friend to not call
him
on it.

Instead he groaned and his face folded into a look of dread. “Bitch-alert, straight
ahead.”

Reece
sighed and ran a hand through
his
hair.
His traditional school-is-starting haircut was too short
. It felt wrong. J
ust like almost everything in his
life lately.

“She’s not that bad,”
he
said with
a
sigh.

Adam
gave
him
a look of disbelief. “I hung out with you guys this summer. She
is
that bad,” he
argued. He didn’t like Mia. Never had. And h
e had no problem with letting Reece
know it. “I know you agree with me or you would’ve come up with a better argument
than that half-assed one. If I’d ever said that about Cleo, I would’ve ended up with
your fist in my mouth,” he said as he kept a wary eye on Mia.
She
was heading
their
way. “You should probably make a run for it while you can.”

Too late. Mia had seen
him
. She’d already given
him
the get-your-ass-over-here look before stopping to let herself be adored by her ma
ny followers. He’d
thought Mia had a strange habit of hanging out with underclassmen. Until
he
realized that they kissed her ass even more than the other senior girls that floated
along behind her like some fairy princess’ wedding train.

“There’s Cleo,” Adam said with a smug look. He motioned to a crowd off to
their
far right as he started to slip out of the truck. “See ya.”

“Yeah,” Reece replied as Adam swung his door shut. But his
att
ention was already elsewhere. His
eyes dug through the crowd Adam had pointed to.

Cleo
Bennet
had been
his
secret on-again off-again crush all through middle school. Back when no one
actually
dated. Not really.
He’d thought she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen
.
Because of that, he’d
been
too
intimidated to
talk to her. Except for one time,
the last day of eighth grade.
He had
asked her to sign
his
year book
. Reece-Hope you have a nice summer. See you next year-Cleo
was the stellar, heart stoppin
g note she’d written.

And then he
didn’t really think about her or talk to her again for another two years. Not until
the end of sophomore year. Not until the year her life shattered into a million pieces.
By some strange twist
of fate she happened to let him
in enough to help her put it back together again.

He
realized how ridiculous it was to think that you’re going to end up with the girl
you dated in high school. It’s not exactly the fifties
or even the eighties anymore. He got that. He really did. But he
had fo
olishly thought that he and Cleo had a chance. They
’d talked about a future
. He
had
thought he and Cleo
would be forever.

Turned out he
was wrong.

He
spotted her standing with Emma Donavan. Emma ha
d obviously given her a ride. He reached for his
phone. Lame? Yeah
, he knew it. He held it up to his
ea
r. Pretended to talk when he
saw Mia send another near-death glare
his
way.

Seeing Cleo again was like being tackled by a two
-
hundred
and fifty
pound linebacker.  All of the air shot right out of
his
lungs. She was smiling at Emma like all was fine and great with her world. Probably
she was making plans with Emma that involved
Ethan, he decided.
That’s probably why she was smiling.

He
glared out the window at Emma. As if it were
her fault that Cleo had left him
for her brother, Ethan.
And for all he
knew, maybe it had bee
n. It had all happened so fast he
wasn’t sure who was to blame. Three mont
hs later and he still felt like he
ha
d no idea what had just gone down
.

He was just glad he
wouldn’t have to deal with seeing
him
every day. Well, him
with
Cleo
. If he
had to be grateful about something, it was that. Ethan was a year older. And now,
off at college in a town at least two
hours away. Or so, that’s what he
’d last heard.
He
hoped he hadn’t stuck around here, in Sheridan.

He
wondered how the long distance thing was w
orking out for them. Honestly? He
hoped it sucked.

He kept his
eyes glued on the school as they disappeared into the crowd. It was a three story
brick building, old and up for constant debate about
whether funding could be found—or forced—
for it to be replaced. There were two sets of wide steps that led to the doors. One
at each end. A row of junipers stretched out
between the two staircases. His
stomach twisted at the sight of those stupid bushes. As if it were their fault Cleo
had used them as a semi-private shield
when she decided to rip out his
heart.

With the help of Emma’s red hair shining out like a beacon
he
managed to find Cleo again as she walked up the steps that led into the main hall.

It was then that
he
had a fairly clear view. Her hair was longer, well past her shoulders now. She looked
thinner. And Cleo was plenty thin to start with.
He
didn’t want to be concerned about this.

But he
was.

He
sent out a pathetic telepath
ic plea, begging her to look his
way. Of course she didn’t. Then she made her way up the steps. She was swallowed
up behind the doors that would spit her out into the main hall.

He
also spotted Adam making his way in. His arm was slung over the shoulders of a girl
who was not Lauren.
Reece
vaguely wondered if that meant anything. Probably not. Adam always seemed to have
his arm around one girl or another. Usually with mixed results.

His
passenger door flew open again.
Mia’s icy blue eyes cut into him
. “Seriously? Are you just going to sit here all day?” She paused, her eyes narrowing.
“Who are you talking to?”

He
was fr
ozen for a moment. Forgetting he held the phone to his
ear.
“Bye, Mom,” he
finally
said. He ended his nonexistent call and tossed his
phone into the empty seat.

“Hey, Mia,” he said.

“Your
mom
?” Mia asked suspiciously.

“She wanted me to pick up a gallon of milk on the way home.” 

Worst excuse ever
, he thought.

Mia bought it.
Either that or she just didn’t care enough to question it.

“Get your stuff so we can get inside,” she commanded. “Everyone else has already gone
in.”

This wasn’t entirely true. There were a few random clusters of people.
He
didn’t bother to argue.

He
did fight the urge to salute her. It was almost unbelievable that someone so tiny
could be so bossy.
He grabbed his
backpack anyway. Not so much because Mia
had told him to. But because he
really did need to be getting inside.

By the time she grabbed
his hand to tow him
across the park
ing lot, it was nearly empty. He
was pretty much oblivious to the comments flying around about
it finally being senior year. He
managed to make the obligatory comments in return. Tossed around a few greetings.

He
listened to Mia prat
tle on and on about the party they
“absolutely had to go to” after the football game on Friday night. She brought up—for
possibl
y the hundredth time—that he
never should’ve quit the team. She was head cheerleader, after all.
And it would’ve been nice of him
to stay on the team.

Becau
se then on game days, he
’d be wear
ing his
jersey a
nd she’d be in her uniform. They
could coordinate. And to someone as vain as Mia, that held a l
ot of importance. Because Mia was
about as shallow as they
come. Reece knew Cleo pretty much hated
her. Well, as much as Cleo hated anyone. This was probably part of the reason why
he hadn’t turned Mia down when she’d asked him out.

He wasn’t proud of it, even if he was very much aware of it.

He did try to explain to Mia why he had quit football. He’d
mistakenly thought that since they
were a couple that s
he would actually care. She hadn’t. He had never tried to justify him
self again.