Chloe (Made Men Book 3) (4 page)

E
lle was
one of the first ones to sit down with her food in the cafeteria. She hadn’t waited behind in math class to finish her problem and get the shit beaten out of her when the hallways were deserted. It was also taco day for the main line, which meant the other line of chicken patties and hamburgers was nonexistent, and she had chosen that option.

It was her first day back since the beating, and she was keeping to herself, but that wasn’t much different than what she had done before.

Looking at her empty lunch table and to the other tables that were starting to fill up with students, she remembered how she used to feel embarrassed sitting alone.
But now it beats bleeding behind the school.

She just needed to finish the school year out. Her father wasn’t going to be able to pay for her tuition anymore. That was one small blessing out of it all.

From the moment she had walked through the school doors for the very first time, Elle had felt like she didn’t fit into this prep school. She had been happy back in public school, and she wished her parents had never enrolled her there in the first place. The kids there only cared about the label stitched into their clothing, while all Elle worried about was if she was going to survive her first and final year here at Legacy Prep.

Doubtful.

The cafeteria slowly went suspiciously quiet as whispering began. Looking around the busy room, she saw everyone’s attention on the door behind her.

Spinning around to see what had gained so much attention, Elle’s eyes rested on a once beautiful girl who had the most gorgeous pair of striking gray eyes. Now, in her place, stood a girl with enflamed red slashes across her face and tortured gray eyes.

What happened to her?

“Fucking freak!” was said, followed by laughter filling the space with continuous echoes of the word “freak.”

Elle’s heart dropped as she watched the girl turn back around and leave the lunchroom. She didn’t know who had yelled it, but she was sure Chloe had seen.

She stared down at her plate before squeezing the sides of her tray and quickly standing up, getting rid of its contents and heading out the door the marked girl had just left.

Seeing the swinging of the girls’ bathroom door, she went inside what seemed an empty bathroom, but the feet under one of the stalls revealed otherwise.

Elle put her hand on the occupied stall to feel that it wasn’t latched. “Chloe?”

Opening the door, she was able to see this new version of her up-close for the first time.

The once beautiful girl sat there, spilling silent, glowing red tears down her cheeks. She was right to think Chloe had once been beautiful, but now her beauty was truly breathtaking. You would think that the red slashes would have tainted her looks. However, it was the complete opposite. They let you see her true beauty:
her strength
.

Elle could see the torture Chloe had endured. She didn’t think she could have survived it if she had suffered Chloe’s fate.

* * *

C
hloe looked
up at Elle through blurry eyes, waiting for her to call her a freak just like the others. It wouldn’t make her hurt any more than she already did.

I deserve it from her.

“Are you okay?”

What?
She could see the true concern on her face and couldn’t understand.

“W-why would you care after what I-I did to you?”

“We both know you wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t tell you to.”

Chloe stared at Elle, even more confused.

“That doesn’t make what I did any better.”

“I think getting Mr. Fredrick’s to find me does.”

Elle stared at her, waiting to see if she would confirm that it was, in fact, her who had gotten her help. Though she didn’t say anything, her silence answered the question.

“Do you think Sebastian, Cassandra, or the others would have gotten me help? How long do you think I would have been out there till someone found me?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner. I’m sorry for everything,” Chloe whispered.

“I don’t blame you. Sebastian and Cassandra are the only ones I blame.”

Chloe stared up at her in disbelief. She wanted Elle to hate her or, at the very least, put some blame on her. She blamed herself.

Why doesn’t she—

“They didn’t do that to you, did they?”

Chloe quickly shook her head and started wringing her hands.

“What happened then?”

When Chloe didn’t answer, Elle took a seat on the floor in front of her.

“W-What are you doing?”

Elle crossed her arms. “I’m going to sit here and wait till you’re ready to tell me.”

“But you’re sitting on the bathroom floor.”

“And you’re sitting on a toilet.” Giggling, she continued, “I would say that’s both pretty gross.”

A slight smile lifted Chloe’s lips for the first time in what felt like ages. “That’s true.”

“Now, are you going to tell me, or are you going to make me sit here all day?”

Chloe took a deep breath, not looking up from her hands. “I w-was in a car wreck.”

Staring at her intently, Elle studied her a moment before she replied, “No, you weren’t. That’s a lie.”

“W-What! Y-Yes I wa—”

“Again, that’s a lie,” Elle responded. “You’re a terrible liar, you know.”

How would she know?

“Why do you think I’m l-lying?”

Elle shrugged. “Because I have to lie to my parents way more than I’d like to, and when you are a professional liar like me, it’s easy to tell when someone is clearly lying straight to your face. Also … You are just really, really bad at lying.”

Chloe looked down at her hands as Elle slightly chuckled at her lying skills. She didn’t know what else to say other than what her father had embedded into her since she had woken up at the hospital.

“Okay, fine.” Standing up off the floor, Elle started wiping off any dirt that might have stuck to the back of her jeans. “You were in a car wreck. For now, anyway … till you decide to spill.”

Brrring.

The lunch bell sounded right on cue.

Elle reached her hand out to help Chloe up off the seat, and as her hand came close, Chloe let out a small scream.

Quickly, Elle pulled her hand back. “I’m sorry … I was just going to help you up.”

Chloe covered her mouth and tried desperately to blink back the tears that started to fill her eyes, but she was unsuccessful.

I’m so screwed up. What’s wrong with me? How am I supposed to go on with school or life now?

Sitting back down on the floor, it was like Elle could read her mind. “It’s okay. We’ll wait till you’re ready to go back out there.”

Silently crying, Chloe could only repeat the words that would forever be ingrained in her soul.

I was in a car wreck; that’s all I know. I was in a car wreck. No one hurt me …

T
he first day
back to school was so horrible Chloe only hoped her second day wouldn’t turn out as bad. Nevertheless, as she headed to her first period, it was going the exact same way.

Trying her best to block out the students, she headed straight to her class, and when she reached her classroom, she saw some of her old “friends” reading a newspaper.

Slowly heading to the back of the class, she began to feel nauseous as they started to laugh behind the newspaper, watching her sink into her seat.

“I told you she turned into a freak from a car wreck.” Cassandra snickered, handing the newspaper off to some other students who had just come in.

“Bullshit. He swerved to miss a dog. Her father was probably drunk.” Sebastian looked right at her. “Wasn’t he?”

Not that night.

Chloe looked down at her lap to see she was digging her nails into her skin.

Sebastian stood and spoke more loudly. “
Wasn’t he
?”

Hearing the snatching of a newspaper, she looked up to see Elle had taken the paper away from a nosey, little kid who was one step away from getting picked on himself if it weren’t for Chloe being the main target in school.

Shoving the paper into her satchel, Elle took the seat right in front of Chloe, shielding her from their view.

“If her father was actually drunk, we would have all heard about it by now.”

“Her father didn’t even get a scratch, while she got her face all fucked up.” Sebastian cackled.

Chloe tried to focus on the pain she was causing to her palm, but it wasn’t working. She took each harsh word as a slap to the face.

“So he didn’t get hurt. What’s your point?” Elle glared at Sebastian .

Sebastian now stood, looking down at Elle. “So, my dad says he was drunk off his ass since drunk drivers are never the ones who get hurt because of the effect from the alcohol. He can’t believe that her father won and hates everyone who voted for—”

“That’s enough, kids! It’s time to start class.” The teacher walked in, finishing the conversation.

Brrring.

The loud bell had Chloe opening her hands to see little droplets of blood appear where her nails had dug into her skin.

She spent the class in her head, wishing that drunk driving were the cause of her “fucked up” face. Then she spent the next class trying to push away the memories of what had really happened. The battle continued until her third class started, and finally, when the lunch bell rang, Elle brought her out of her thoughts.

“Chloe, it’s time for lunch. Are you okay?”

Looking around the now almost empty room, she stood, slowly nodding her head.

It took Elle a minute of staring her down before she decided to walk on to the cafeteria.

Walking beside the strawberry-blonde to lunch, she kept her head down. It was easier looking at the cold floor than the cold stares when everyone looked at her marked face. Despite not seeing them, she could still feel the stares as they tried to get a glimpse of her through her dark curtain of hair.

When they reached the lunch room, it was obvious it was pizza day, as the line was long and the other line of chicken patties and hamburgers was practically empty.

As Elle walked toward the chicken and hamburger line without a thought, Chloe stopped her.

“Wait, you don’t want pizza?”

“Yes, but not enough to stand in line with them.” She nodded her head toward the back of the line that held Cassandra and Sebastian, along with all the other kids who had helped beat her up.

“You’re right.” Chloe gulped at the thought.

Following Elle to the empty line, she couldn’t help feeling like she would never be able to eat school pizza ever again. She could already sense her freedom of picking what to eat for lunch taken away from her.

After grabbing their lunches, she followed her once again to the table closest to the cafeteria door, the one she had watched Elle sit at alone every day. She sat in front of her so her back was to the filled lunchroom. This way, she wouldn’t have to watch all the students staring at her and mocking her fresh cuts.

She remembered how bad she used to feel for Elle sitting all by herself. Never once had Chloe sat with her.
Because I was afraid.

Wasn’t it ironic?

She feared their judgment, but she had found out what true fear was. She used to feel bad for Elle, yet now she admired her uncaring attitude over whether they liked her or not. Payback was a bitch.

“You d-don’t really get to pick what you w-want for lunch, do you?” Chloe asked, picking at her chicken patty and fries.

Popping a fry in her mouth, Elle seemed unbothered by her question. “Nope.”

Bye, pizza.

“I guess you didn’t get to pick what they said happened to you, either?” Elle continued.

“W-what does-s that mean?”

“They want you to say you were in a car wreck when you weren’t. Who’s making you say that?”

I wish.

“I-it did happen.”

Giving her another long stare, Elle decided to say something this time. “What happened? Tell me what happened that night.”

Looking down at her lap, Chloe started to wring her hands. A flash appeared in front of her as a blade started to inch closer and closer to her face. She quickly slammed her eyes shut.

“I-I don’t remember.”

“Okay. Then tell me to my face you don’t remember.”

Lifting her head up, she could feel her teary eyes betray her as lone tear slid down her cheek. Looking at Elle, she pictured her helpless, on the ground, bloody again.

I can’t do it.
She couldn’t move her lips to lie to that girl again.

Understanding Chloe couldn’t speak the words, Elle said, “I won’t tell anyone, and when you’re ready to tell me what happened, I’m here.”

Minutes passed as Chloe continued to pick at her food before she began to wonder what had given her away when no one else in the world seemed to question what had happened that horrific night.

“How did you know?”

Elle stared into Chloe’s now hollow gray depths. “Your eyes. I can tell someone not only marked you”—she pointed to her own face with a slicing motion—“but your soul.”

Chloe closed her eyes as she tried desperately not to cry, picturing the demon who haunted her dreams.

Glancing at the table that held Sebastian and Cassandra, Elle continued, “I know that because I’ve been marked, too.”