Chapter 4

Dailey waited by the gates, anxious about explaining her cash flow situation to Drake. As she shifted from foot to foot and kicked up the dirt from between the paving slabs, she felt her heart racing. Sick bile rose in her chest, coating her throat and filling her mouth with a bitter taste.

'Why does he make me so nervous?' she wondered.

The problem was, Drake wasn't like other guys. Dailey knew her looks put guys on edge—made them horny and stupid—and she could often use it to her advantage. For whatever reason, this superpower didn't work on Drake.

"You have my cash?" she heard him ask, turning to find herself in his shadow.

Dailey looked up with pleading, apologetic eyes. "I'm really sorry but I don't have it. Is it okay if I pay you back in instalments?"

The look he gave her sent a chill down her spine. So cold and angry. Then his face softened slightly, and he sighed.

"Let me get this straight. You promise to pay me two hundred, so I'll do the job, then you tell me you don't have it and what? You expect me to be okay with this?"

Drake scratched his eyebrow, looking down at her with his lip curled up in disgust.

"I'm sorry," Dailey cried. "I had the money, I swear. Well... until my stupid little brother rinsed it."

"Well." Drake tutted and sighed. "This is quite the conundrum you find yourself in."

Conundrum struck Dailey as an odd word for a teenager to use. She only knew when it meant because of the ‘Countdown Conundrum.’

"Give me a few weeks," Dailey asked as she hugged herself, feeling the wind chill permeate her cardigan. She wished she'd worn a hoodie or coat.

"No." Drake shook his head.

Dailey shrugged. "Well… Then you won't get the money. It's not like I can magic it out of thin air. What do you expect me to do?"

She tried not to look him in the eyes. The mixture of guilt and humiliation churning in her stomach was already too much to bear and his eyes boring into her soul didn't help matters. Glancing about the courtyard, she spotted his friends approaching, all of them wearing a blanket confused expression.

Drake loomed over her, placing a palm on the wall behind her. He looked her up and down with a cruel sneer. "A pretty thing like you could make good money turning tricks."

"Are you fucking serious?" Dailey asked, trying to square up to him. It was a difficult task, being as her head only reached his chest. At 5 foot 3, Dailey was far from formidable in her stature and a full foot shorter than Drake.

He snickered as she tried her best to look intimidating.

"There's no need to be such a dick. I didn't do this on purpose," she said.

His friends had begun to gather around, whispering among themselves and looking at Dailey like she was something they'd stepped in.

"What does that bitch want?" she overheard one of them whisper.

"Oh," Drake scoffed. "First you're all, 'thank you, thank you, thank you,' and now you're calling me a dick. You sure changed your tune."

Eyes cold and dark as coal chips watched as she struggled to form a response. The scrutiny of his friends combined with his form leaning over her triggered her heart to start racing. All she wanted to do was get far away from them. Ducking under Drake's arm she dashed to the right, shoving through Jess and Shane to get into the building and lose them in the crowd.

She managed to avoid them for the rest of the day by mostly hiding out in the toilets. It was a pathetic move, but without friends or a boyfriend to rely on, all she had was her spunky attitude—a pretty pathetic defence against a guy like Drake.

As she walked back to class, her canvas shoes squeaking against the green linoleum, the noise attracted the attention of the new girl who also appeared to be avoiding class.

Looking at the new girl, she realised she was her polar opposite. Tall, solidly built and scary looking with piercings and two-tone hair, she looked like she could take on anybody at this school. So why was she hiding?

"Hey," Dailey greeted her.

"What are you hiding from?" the girl asked.

"Drake. The tall gothic looking guy," Dailey explained, adding that she owed him money when the girl frowned.

"I'm Dailey," she introduced herself.

"Toni," the other girl said, offering her hand like some adult at a business meeting. "I hate this school. It's weird and cliquey. The people here just look at me like I'm going to stab them."

"Well, I'm currently friendless as you can probably tell," Dailey told her. "We can sit together at lunch if you want. I mean, I'm not the world’s best company but it's better than the toilets, right?"

"Slightly better than the smell of urine and bleach," Toni said and laughed. "You sure do sell yourself short for one of the popular girls."

"Popularity is overrated," Dailey told her. It sounded trite to people who'd never had the privilege of popularity, but it was true. Everyone knew her business, most of them were waiting for her to slip up and even her friends didn't really like her as a person. She was a prop and nothing more. A pretty little trophy.

"Let's add each other on insta," Dailey offered, passing her phone to her new friend.

As the girl added herself, she looked up, eyes lingering on the lad who left the school office.

"Aaron Granger," Dailey told her. "School bully extraordinaire. He's as antisocial as he is gorgeous so be warned."

Aaron was crushingly attractive. Tall, with an athletic frame, longish dark blonde hair and bright green eyes were all pleasing features, but he also had the cheekbones of a Greek God.

"He's usually in trouble for fighting," Dailey said as the other girl stared at his back, watching him leave.

"Does he have a girlfriend?" Toni asked.

This made Dailey laugh so loudly he stopped and cast a glance over his shoulder.

"I wasn't exaggerating. He is insanely antisocial. If he's not bullying someone or being mean, he's probably not speaking," Dailey told her. "Sorry."

Toni shrugged. "He isn't my type anyway. It's just... those eyes."

Dailey nodded. She'd been attracted to him before his personality made him seem ugly.

"We best get back to hell," Toni said. "Talk to you later."

"Yeah, laters," Dailey said.

She smiled to herself, glad the whole day hadn't been a total bummer.