Beautiful (3 page)

I glanced up toward Mrs. Hathaway as I gathered my things. She grinned and gave me a wink. I gave her a weak smile in return.

When the football players started telling Wyatt about my past, I knew he would try to quickly distance himself from me.

Damn it. I hope I get my notes back.

Wyatt

I couldn’t stop thinking about Skylar all day. I’d never seen such a beautiful girl before. That wavy, long dark blonde hair and those gray eyes of hers were burned into my mind. The moment I had seen her in the office this morning, I knew I needed to get to know her. Her smile haunted my thoughts.

Then, when I had seen her in my English class, something had happened. It was something that had never happened to me before. My heart had started pounding, and my hands had started sweating. I’d felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. No girl had ever affected me in such a way.

I walked into the lunchroom with Mike and a few other guys from the football team. I took a quick look around. Not much was different from my old school. This school was a bit bigger. I had to admit, I was surprised that they were accepting me so quickly. From what my father had told me, the coach had watched my games from my old high school as soon as the principal had told him about me. I was ranked the best high school quarterback in New Mexico, and from what I could tell, this high school needed a good quarterback.

Glancing to my right, I saw Jenny waving at me like a fool.

Ugh
.

She’d instantly reminded me of Candace.

When I looked away, I saw Skylar sitting with another girl and a guy. They were at a huge table while everyone else was crowded around two tables.

“Dude, get your lunch, and then come sit with us. Just watch out for Jenny. She’s already tried to get her claws into you once,” Mike said with a smile.

I laughed and shook my head. “Thanks, dude, but I think I’m going to go sit with Skylar.”

Mike’s smile faded. “Skylar? Skylar Woods?”

“Yep.”

“Uh, dude, I get that you’re new and everything, and no doubt that Sky is easy on the eyes, so I’m gonna let that one slide. You can’t hang out with Skylar.”

I instantly felt anger boiling in my blood.
Holy shit. What is going on with me? Why am I getting so mad?

“Why not?” I asked as I looked at Mike.

“Um…well, Skylar is, um…” Mike looked back over toward Skylar and then back at me.

I stood there, shaking my head.
Does this guy even know why he doesn’t like this girl?

Mike hit another football player I had met earlier on the arm. “Jacob, Wyatt wants to know why he can’t hang out with Skylar.”

Jacob laughed, but it was a forced laugh. “Dude, Skylar is…tainted, if you know what I mean.”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I shook my head. “No, I don’t know what you mean.”

Jacob let out a sigh and looked around. “She has an older brother who’s in the Marines. He was always worried about Skylar because she was so innocent yet beyond beautiful.”

He looked over toward Skylar, and I couldn’t help but notice the quick look of sadness that passed over his face.

“She had no idea how many guys wanted to be with her and probably still do. Before her brother left, he asked his best friend, Charlie, to ‘watch over’ Skylar while he was gone. Well, he watched over her all right. Charlie talked her into going to a movie with him one night. Her mom and dad didn’t have a problem with it since they knew Charlie, and he was their son’s best friend. Well, Charlie and Skylar had some pretty heavy-duty sex in his truck. Next day, he bragged all over town about what a good piece of ass she was. Problem was, Sky said he drugged and raped her.”

Jacob stared over toward Skylar, and I swore, his eyes misted over.

My heart started pounding, and I balled my fists together.

“Sky’s brother came home and found out about it. He beat the shit out of Charlie before he had to leave to go to Iraq.” Jacob looked down at the floor. Clearly, he didn’t believe this line of shit he was spilling out at me. It was almost as if it had been rehearsed. Looking back up at me, he shrugged. “Charlie told everyone that Skylar lied and that she begged him to have sex with her. Mostly everyone took Charlie’s side, and Sky ended up with…well, with a bad reputation. Most of the girls were jealous of Sky, so they took off with the story Charlie had told, and they spread it around like wildfire.”

I looked at this kid and shook my head. “Did you know her well before this happened?”

Jacob glanced down at the floor again as he nodded his head. “Yeah, I, um…I used to date her.”

“You ever have sex with her?” I asked.

He looked up at me, shocked. “Jesus Christ, dude. I’m not going to talk to you about that. Sky’s not some tramp who just screws a guy and moves on. We dated. It was different.”

“Yet you stand here and tell me she’s
tainted
. That’s pretty messed up. Sounds to me like the only problem Skylar had was a bunch of asshole friends who turned on her when she needed them the most.”

Jacob just stood there and stared at me.

Mike let out a gruff laugh. “Dude, you don’t get it. Charlie said she wanted him to fuck her.”

Jacob glared at Mike. “Shut the hell up, Mike. If Wyatt wants to talk to Skylar, let him.” He turned to me. “We’ll see you on the football field, dude.”

Jacob started for the table where Jenny and a large group of kids were sitting.

Mike shook his head and held up his hands. “Dude, it’s all on you if you want to talk to her. We warned you.”

Mike followed Jacob as Jenny watched me while I headed over to Skylar’s table.

The next thing I knew, Jenny was standing in front of me, blocking my way. “Hey there. Why don’t you come and sit with us? You can get to know some of the cheerleaders and other football players,” she said as she bounced around, making sure her breasts were moving all over the place.

I wanted so badly to tell her to shove off, but I smiled politely. “Thanks, but I think I’m actually going to sit and get to know Skylar a bit better.”

Jenny turned and looked at Skylar, who was deep in conversation with her friend. “Really? Skylar? I don’t think you understand, Wyatt. Skylar is a bit of a…whore. Like, if we could, we would plaster a big red A across her chest,” she said with a laugh.

What a bitch.
“Wow…”

She nodded her head and smiled. “I know. Good thing I warned you, huh?” She turned and looked over at Skylar and then back at me as she gave me a quick wink.

“No, that’s not what I was wowing,” I said as I walked past Jenny and made my way over toward Skylar.

Skylar’s friend noticed me first and flashed a polite grin. I smiled back as I sat down on the same side of the bench where Skylar was sitting, and I started to slide over, closer to her.

The guy sitting at the table was good-looking. He was a big guy, so he must be athletic. I smiled as he gave me a death stare. He kind of resembled Skylar, like maybe they were related.

“Hey,” I said as Skylar turned and stared at me.

Her face turned ten shades of red.

“Um…hey,” she said as she glanced around before looking back at me with a blank expression on her face.

The kid sitting across from me shook his head and let out a gruff laugh. “I take it, your friends haven’t talked to you about my sister yet?”

Ah, another overprotective brother.

I smiled and nodded my head. “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard all their rumors. Funny thing about me though, I actually like to get to know someone before I label them.”

Skylar cleared her throat. “Um…this is my younger brother, Mitch.”

I extended my hand and introduced myself, “Wyatt Smith.”

With a smile, he replied, “Younger only by five minutes,” he said as he stole a glance at Skylar and winked.

“Twins. Oh, wow,” I said as I looked at Skylar and smiled.

The blonde friend reached across the table toward me and smiled again. Her blue eyes lit up when she turned to Skylar and then me. “Hey, I’m Michelle, Sky’s best friend and this idiot’s girlfriend.”

I laughed and turned back at Skylar.

“Yes, fraternal twins,” she said.

I looked at Mitch and then Michelle with a grin. “Nice to meet you both.”

For the rest of lunch, we all sat and talked, and I got to know all three of them better. Mitch loosened up a lot, and I found out he played football and baseball. Michelle and Skylar had been best friends since kindergarten. I also learned that Mitch and Skylar’s older brother, nicknamed Skip, was in the Marines, and he would be home on leave during Christmas.

Skylar had a beautiful laugh, and a part of me wanted to make her laugh like that every single day. But she also seemed to be really uncomfortable around me. I couldn’t tell if she was just a shy girl or if it was because of the label everyone had placed on her. I knew there had to be more to the sadness behind her eyes, and I intended to find out what it was.

When the bell rang, I asked her what class she had next.

She rolled her eyes. “Calculus.”

My heart slammed in my chest. “I do, too.”

She smiled. “Oh, yeah? Cool.”

“Can I walk with you?”

She stopped and peeked around while she chewed on her lip before glancing back at me. “Um…sure. I mean, if you want to.”

With a wink, I nodded. “I want to.”

That beautiful rose color went across her cheeks again. It was clear to me that Skylar wasn’t used to getting attention—whether she had been before the whole Charlie mess, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was, I wanted to get to know her more.

We talked all the way to class about how much she hated calculus, but she was trying her best to keep her grades up. Her parents were pretty hard on her about keeping a B-average and above in all her classes.

“I’m great at it. I love it. Let me know if you ever need any help,” I said as I bumped her shoulder.

She smiled and then dropped out of sight. I watched as she fell to the ground. Looking up, I saw Jenny and another girl walking by.

They both laughed before Jenny said, “Oh, sorry, strumpet.”

I leaned down and tried to help Skylar up, but she pushed my hand away. I could see tears building in her eyes, and it caused my chest to tighten.

“I’m fine.” She stood and started walking away at a fast pace.

“Skylar, wait.”

She walked into the classroom and made her way to the very back.

Does she sit, alone, in the back of every classroom?

Jenny grabbed my arm. “Empty seat here.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

“No, thanks.” I made my way over toward Skylar.

She was looking out the window, but she moved over a little when I sat down. I swore, she was crying.

For some reason, the idea of her crying broke my heart in two, and a feeling of never wanting to see her cry again washed over me.

Skylar

It took everything out of me not to look at Wyatt during calculus.

I glanced over toward Jenny.
I hate her. I can’t even believe she used to be my best friend or that I was ever a part of their stupid cheerleading squad. I hate them all.

As soon as the bell rang, I jumped up and made my way out of the classroom. I practically ran to my locker. When I opened it up, a note fell out, and my heart jumped to my throat.

“Oh no,” I whispered. Reaching down, I picked up the note and began to read it.

Really, Skylar? Do you really think someone as attractive as Wyatt would ever be interested in the school tramp? You’re not even beautiful enough for Charlie to want you. Might as well give up now. Wyatt is only looking for an easy fuck.

Just seeing Charlie’s name made me want to throw up. I looked around, but no one was watching me. I ripped up the note and threw it back into my locker. I reached for my car keys. I never, ever skipped school
.
But I just couldn’t stand to stay here for another minute. I used to love school, but now, I dreaded coming here.

Making my way to the nurse, I told her I was feeling really sick. I never asked to go home, so I wasn’t surprised when she let me sign out without calling my mom or dad.

I got in my car and drove out to Inks Lake State Park. It was my place to clear my head and get all the hate out of my heart. I reached under the neckline of my shirt, and I pulled out the heart necklace that Skip had given to me.