Katherine's Legacy - Book cover

Katherine's Legacy

Nicole Riddley

Chapter 4: Polite School Reject

“Well, that’s too bad, isn’t it?” snaps Jane. “Cat already has a boyfriend.”

My boyfriend, Dillon, chooses that moment to show up. “Hello, Kitty Cat,” he says, pulling me into his arms. I used to hate that nickname, but now I think it’s cute.

I smile and try to give Dillon my whole attention even though my mind stays on someone else. Someone whose dark green eyes are currently burning holes into the side of my face.

Someone who’s making my heart flip and my skin tingle with his burning stare.

“Hey, Dillon.” I focus on his charming smile and friendly blue eyes.

My smile must be very convincing since Dillon leans down and gives me a long, lingering kiss on the lips. I try to focus on his lips on mine and the familiar smell of soap on his skin.

When Dillon lifts his face up, my eyes immediately slide over his shoulder. A tall, broad-shouldered figure with messy, dark curly hair is disappearing through the closing back door.

The goth chick, Roxanne, spares our group a dirty stare before she follows him out.

“Are you okay?” asks Dillon, watching me closely. A little smile is still playing on his lips, but his eyebrows rise questioningly.

“Yeah, I’m good,” I tell him. “Why?” I have to force my gaze from straying to the back exit where Elias had just gone through.

I remind myself my boyfriend is handsome, popular, and most importantly, he adores me and I’m lucky to have him. I should not be thinking about someone else.

“I don’t know, you seem a bit distracted,” Dillon replies.

“I’m fine. Hey, did you have practice this morning?” My fingers graze his short dark blond hair that’s still damp from the shower.

Dillon is a wide receiver on our football team. Sometimes he has to come early for practice.

“Yeah, we had to come early today . . .” he begins before he’s interrupted by Giselle, who inserts herself in between the two of us.

She places her arms around our shoulders and says, “Dillon, tell your girlfriend to come to Bradley’s party tonight.”

“What? You’re not going?” Dillon asks me.

“I told you yesterday I’m not going.”

“Yeah, but I thought you’d change your mind.” His tone changes, and his eyebrows come down into a slight frown.

Giselle gives me an apologetic look before she slowly backs away.

“Come on, Cat,” he coaxes. “We haven’t been spending much time together lately. I was hoping we’d get to hang out tonight.

“Maybe we can take off early from the party and drive down to the cottage. Just you and me.”

His family’s cottage is near the lake, forty-five minutes away from here. His parents rarely go there. But if we went, we wouldn’t get home till very late.

“I don’t know, Dillon . . . Maybe some other time. Maybe we’ll hang out this weekend.”

“You know I have an away game this weekend,” he says, sounding upset again.

His friend, Jace, nudges him from behind.

“I have to go,” he abruptly announces. Then he backs away and takes off with his buddies without saying another word.

I pinch the bridge of my nose as I feel a slight headache coming on.

“I’m sorry, Cat. I didn’t mean to cause trouble,” says Giselle. I notice Jane and Tilly are already gone.

I sigh as I grab Giselle’s arm. “It’s not your fault. I’m not going to the party, so it’s bound to happen. Let’s get to class before we get into trouble with Mrs. Martin.”

Mrs. Martin is very strict, and for whatever reason, she seems to dislike me.

As it turns out, Mrs. Martin isn’t at school today. The supply teacher, Mr. Young, lets us do pretty much anything we want as long as we stay at our desks and keep the noise down.

“What’s going on with you and the smoking-hot Elias Gauthier?” asks Giselle after we both settle in our seats next to each other.

“What do you mean?” I take my phone out to check my messages while trying to calm my heart that flips every time Elias Gauthier is mentioned.

“I saw the way you two were staring at each other this morning,” presses Giselle.

“Nothing’s going on.” I shrug my shoulders. “I think he just hates me.”

“Hates you? No boys hate Katherine Blackwell,” states Giselle confidently.

“Well, he does.”

“Why?”

I shrug again. It seems stupid to tell Giselle he hates me because I accidentally trespassed into his vast property yesterday evening. Actually, I’m not even sure that’s the reason he hates me.

“Are you sure he hates you? I mean, it didn’t look like he hated you. Maybe he fancies you . . .”

“Oh, please,” I cut her off. “Giselle, he doesn’t fancy me. Trust me on this. Besides, I have a boyfriend.”

Giselle’s grin becomes wide and mischievous as she bumps her shoulder against mine. “Are you telling me, or are you trying to remind yourself?”

“You are such a troublemaker,” I tell her, trying not to smile.

“It’s okay to notice other men when you have a boyfriend, Cat.”

That’s the thing: I’ve been dating Dillon for over a year, and I never notice other men. I came face-to-face with Elias in the woods yesterday, and suddenly I can’t stop thinking about him.

I’ve been trying to swallow this feeling of guilt for thinking about someone else when I already have a boyfriend.

Maybe I dislike Elias so much I can’t help but think about him. That’s it. That must be it.

Giselle tilts her head slightly as though she’s thinking about something.

“Anyway, speaking of Elias Gauthier,” she says tentatively, “I saw Jane talking to him in the parking lot after school yesterday.”

I raise an eyebrow but remain quiet. I’m conflicted. I don’t like to gossip, especially about my friends, but when Elias Gauthier is mentioned, I can’t help myself.

He has some kind of pull on me. It’s like a strong and dangerous tidal wave I don’t have much strength to fight against.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but my car was parked next to Jane’s SUV,” continues Giselle. “Jane was inviting Elias to her house since her parents weren’t home.”

I slowly put my phone down. I don’t like the idea of Jane and Elias together but I’m trying to remind myself it’s none of my business. I have a boyfriend . . . who hasn’t messaged me yet.

“I can’t imagine guys ever turning down an invitation like that, especially when it comes from Jane,” says Giselle.

“But he shot her down. He was nice enough in the beginning, but Jane was kinda persistent, so . . . he wasn’t very polite in the end.” Giselle winces.

“That’s . . . uh . . . no wonder she’s mad. That must be embarrassing for her,” I comment.

“Yeah, but the parking lot was pretty deserted, and I don’t think Jane saw me. I don’t plan on telling anyone else about it.”

I’m closer to Giselle than I am to Jane or Tilly. Giselle knows I’d never repeat what she just told me to anyone.

“I suppose not many boys have ever turned Jane down. But then again, it’s Elias Gauthier—he’s practically unattainable.

“He picks the girls, not the other way around, and even then, none of them could claim they’re together or anything,” says Giselle. “He and his brother Ronan are super-hot and mega rich.

“I’ve seen Ronan with a girl, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with anyone except for that goth chick, Roxanne, lately.”

“So, what are you wearing to the party tonight? Is Ben going to be there?” I ask Giselle, and that’s enough to distract her from talking about Elias.

***

“Hello, Duchess,” a deep, silky voice rumbles from behind me.

I feel it travel straight down to my toes, shooting chills down my spine, raising my heartbeat, and bringing a thousand butterflies to life in my stomach.

I feel his warm breath against my neck, making my breath catch in my throat.

“Cat got your tongue?” he asks.

“Very clever,” I mutter, finally finding my voice. I refuse to turn around to look at him. “Are you stalking me now?”

I didn’t notice him much before, but now he seems to be everywhere.

“Stalking you?” he mocks with a chuckle.

“In case you haven’t noticed, Duchess, we’re in line to get our food in the lunchroom during lunch break. It doesn’t take a lot of stalking to find you here.”

“So you are stalking me,” I remark haughtily, bringing my chin up. He calls me Duchess; I might as well live up to my name.

“You wish,” he scoffs. “I thought I’d say hi to you, just to be polite.”

“Well, don’t,” I tell him. “Stop talking to me. You’re never polite. If you attended a polite school, you’d fail.”

That makes him laugh. “So, where’s the lover boy?” he asks, completely ignoring my request to stop talking.

“What’s it to you?” I finally turn around to look at him. I feel as if my breath is knocked out of me as soon as our gazes collide.

His eyes are the deepest brilliant green—the color of emeralds, surrounded by long, thick, dark eyelashes. His skin is light golden honey and flawless.

His straight patrician nose and his haughty expression give the impression of a lofty emperor looking down on his lowly subject when he gazes down at me.

What is it with him that makes me feel this way? He is stunning, no doubt about it, but it can’t be just his good looks. I’m not that shallow... am I?

“Hi, Cat!” says Tyler, breaking whatever’s between us. Tyler sounds very happy to see me. “I didn’t see you there,” he adds cheerfully.

Ronan is there too, but he just ignores me as he keeps talking to Justin. The head cheerleader, Tara, is hanging on his arm. Tara notices me and smiles, giving me a wave.

“You can come and sit with us if you want,” Tyler says when he sees me smiling back at Tara. A lot of girls would give their right arm to sit at their table.

I bring my eyes up to Elias again. “No, I’m sure she doesn’t want to sit with us,” he says.

His lips curl up into a mocking smile even though his eyes are studying my face like he’s cataloging each and every one of my features.

***

I end up having lunch with Giselle, Jane, Tilly, and several other friends.

Dillon doesn’t show up to join us for lunch. I’m sure he and his friends went out to Leo’s Pizza, a place the bunch of us always go to when we’re tired of our lunchroom’s food.

He did send me a text to apologize for the way he took off this morning though.

“Kitten.” He wraps his arm around me when he sees me near my locker after school ends. “I’m sorry. Let’s not fight again,” he says. I’m pretty sure he’s said that over a thousand times already.

“Kissed and made up already?” says Jane.

Jace, Ryan, and several other boys make a kissy sound.

“Cut it out.” Dillon punches Ryan’s shoulder playfully.

“You two are so cute together,” comments Tilly.

“Who? Ryan and Dillon?” asks Jace, and the rest of them laugh.

“Hey, I promised my mom I’d be home early. I’ll see you guys later, okay?” says Giselle before she takes off.

I’m pretty sure the real reason Giselle wants to leave early is because her boyfriend, Ben, is back from college.

I see Faith Davis walking down the corridor a few meters away. She’s been the target of bullying for years. She’s a small girl, but she’s wearing baggy sweatpants and a hoodie twice her size.

Her head is down, as though she’s trying to be invisible. Her brown, greasy hair covers most of her face.

It’s like a train wreck you see coming but can’t do anything to stop it.

Jane and Tilly slam against her shoulders as she tries to walk past. Faith goes down. Her bag, books, and files fall and scatter all over the floor.

Jane, Tilly, and the guys laugh while I stand there watching.

“Pathetic freak,” snickers Jane loud enough to make sure everybody around us can hear.

I look away, wishing I were somewhere else. My gaze falls on Elias, who’s leaning against a locker not too far away.

His eyes are heavy-lidded, watching me intently as though he’s waiting to see what I’ll do. Challenging me.

I feel bad for Faith. Really, I do. But if I interfered, it would make things worse for her.

I know Jane very well. We’ve been friends since seventh grade.

If I said anything, Jane would take it as an attack against her. She’d continue to be nice to me, but she’d make it worse for Faith. She’s passive-aggressive like that.

“Come on, guys, let’s go,” I tell them, but Tilly bends down to pick up something off the floor.

“Oh my god! Guys, look at this!” exclaims Tilly, looking through a worn sketchbook.

Faith gets up and makes a move to grab it, but Tilly passes it over to Jace.

Jane grabs it from Jace then quickly flips through it. “Oh, Dillon, I think she has a crush on you,” sings Jane, laughing. She holds it up to show a page to us.

It’s a pencil drawing of Dillon. A very good drawing of him.

“You think you have a chance with Dillon, weirdo?” Dillon’s friend, Ryan, asks her.

Everybody is laughing at this point, and Dillon is just smiling.

“Aren’t you going to fight her, Cat?” Jace chimes in.

Elias scoffs before pushing his body off the locker. His face shows his disgust before he turns away to push the door open and disappear through it.

“Come on, Cat. Fight for your man,” Jace continues. “Girl fight is hot.”

What an idiot. I roll my eyes. “Come on, Dillon. Let’s go.”

Usually, I’m more subtle when I’m trying to help Faith or some other kids. But now I’m feeling aggravated over the way Elias was looking at me, so full of judgment and contempt.

I snatch the tattered sketchbook from Jane’s clutch and drop it over Faith’s bag on the floor. Then I tug Dillon away.

Dillon wraps his arm around my shoulders, and everybody trails after us.

“What a freak,” says Ryan, shaking his head.

“The freak has a crush on your boyfriend, Cat,” says Tilly.

I don’t care. “It’s not a crime to have a crush on anybody,” I mutter. I’m still fuming over the way Elias was looking at me.

“Let’s just go home,” I tell them.

Then I remember I’m not in a hurry, nor am I looking forward to going home.

A whisper of fear caresses my spine when I think of home.

Next chapter
Rated 4.4 of 5 on the App Store
82.5K Ratings
Galatea logo

Unlimited books, immersive experiences.

Galatea FacebookGalatea InstagramGalatea TikTok