Kings of Linwood Academy - The Complete Box Set: A Dark High School Romance Series by Callie Rose (sight word books .TXT) 📕

early on Thursday, and I shower again and throw on a soft green sweater and jeans before grabbing my backpack and heading downstairs.

As far as Lincoln knows, I’m not planning on going to school today, but I still want to minimize my odds of running into him by leaving before he does. And besides, I need to get an earlier start than usual since the bus takes more than twice as long as driving.

My textbooks sit like lead weights in my bag, and I know I’m going to be painfully behind in all my classes. Not only have I not gone to school since last Friday, but I haven’t even done the homework that was due on Monday. And knowing the teachers at Linwood Academy, there’ll be several more assignments that I’ve missed while I was gone too. I’ll have to do some serious begging to get extensions on any of it.

I wonder if any of them have ever heard this excuse before. Not “my dog ate my homework”, but “my mom was arrested on murder charges”.

Tugging out my history book, I try to make the long bus ride productive by reading ahead a little, catching up to where I’m guessing the rest of the class is. I’m a little motion sick when I finally get dropped off on Newfield Avenue and start walking toward campus. Then again, I’ve felt nauseated off and on for the past several days, so maybe it’s got nothing to do with reading on the bus.

I join the stream of students walking toward the front doors of the school, trying to take comfort in how normal it all feels. The bus didn’t take quite as long as I thought it would, so I’ve got twenty minutes before first period starts.

Heading toward my locker, I flip my backpack around to dig for a couple of books. But before I can pull them out, a loud shriek cuts over the soft din of conversation in the hallway. My footsteps skid to a halt, and I glance up to see Savannah staring at me from several yards down the corridor. Trent is leaning against a locker near her, and she’s got an entourage of younger cheerleaders around her. They’re all looking at her with wide eyes, awe and fear on their faces. Her focus is solely on me though, and an ugly snarl curves her lips.

“I fucking knew it!”

She forms words instead of an unintelligible screech this time, but her voice is still harsh and high pitched, barely human sounding.

“You think you can show your face around here, Pool Girl? Just go to class like everything’s fine? Like it’s all okay?” Her long red hair is down, and I swear I can see the strands vibrating with her rage.

Ah, fuck.

I’ve been so focused on my mom, and on doing this for her, that I honestly forgot to even consider what other people’s reactions would be to me coming back to Linwood.

And of course Savannah is pissed about it. She never liked me even when Iris was alive—but after the blonde cheerleader died and her on-again, off-again friend decided I had something to do with it, she cranked the knob all the way up to hate.

My stomach still feels like a cement mixer, and my head hurts, and I don’t really want to get into this shit with Savannah before eight a.m. So I shake my head tiredly.

“I’m still enrolled here. That means I can still go to school here. If Mr. Osterhaut wants to do something about my unexcused absences, that’s between me and him. It doesn’t really concern you.”

She lets out a loud, disbelieving laugh, stepping out of the circle of her riveted posse. Trent straightens, pushing away from the bank of lockers.

“You think anyone cares about absences?” she shrieks. “You’re not welcome here because your mom is a fucking murderer!”

Oh, hell no.

I had to stand by and watch as Fox Hill police officers arrested my mother. I had to let them go through her things, rifle through her life, take her car. I’ve visited her in prison, and I’m still trying to make peace with the fact that I couldn’t stop any of this from happening.

But I haven’t had to deal with someone screaming that she’s a murderer until this exact moment, and it snaps something inside me.

It happens so fast the rational part of my brain gets completely left behind.

My mother is the sweetest, gentlest, most optimistic person I’ve ever known, and if you call her a murderer, you better go ahead and call me one too, because I’ll fucking kill you.

That half-formed thought is the only thing that penetrates my brain as I charge toward Savannah.

My backpack is gone, abandoned on the floor behind me, and I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do when I reach her, but I sure as hell hope it involves my fingernails and her eyes.

True fear flashes in her eyes—we already got in a fight once, and it didn’t end all that well for her—but before I can lay a hand on her, strong arms band around my waist, lifting me off the ground like I weigh nothing.

Dax.

His sweet clove scent surrounds me like a blanket as he drags me away from the redheaded cheerleader, and motherfucker, why does he keep doing this to me?

“Let me go! Let me—fucking—go!”

I struggle in his grip, shoving at his thick forearms, not even caring that I probably look psychotic, not caring that I’m making it look like Savannah is right. That my mom and I are both crazy and violent.

He doesn’t let go though, and I can’t break free of his hold. He pulls me farther away as Lincoln, River, and Chase step up to Savannah, speaking to her in voices too low for me to hear. Their faces are all tight with anger, and I can see tension bunching Linc’s shoulders.

But it’s not enough. She doesn’t need to be talked to. She needs to be punched in her