In Ruins: A Dark High School Bully Romance (A Black Falls High Novel Book 1)

Cole: Where are you?

Fox: Rosie, we’re waiting. I stopped at your house on the way to Cole’s but no one is home. Call me.

Enzo: Sunshine, you’re an hour late. Where are you?

Ethan: I’m worried. We all are. Please call or text when you get this. You were supposed to be here almost two hours ago now.

Fox: We just went to your house. You aren’t answering your phone. Rosie, you’re scaring me.

I shut the screen off and stared out at the dark lake in front of me. I’d driven to the beach and walked to the edge of the water and sat with the notebook in my hands. The memory of Fox’s story of the lake monster surfaced in my mind. I scoffed, shaking it away.

I hadn’t worked up the courage just yet to check inside the thick notebook, terrified of what I’d find.

But I had to. It was getting late, and I was tired. Not that I planned on going home. I knew Fox and the guys were probably at his house, waiting for my return. It wasn’t like I had Jamie to call for a place to crash.

Sighing, I turned on the flashlight on my phone, and with shaking hands, flipped open the notebook.

Lists of names greeted me. Pictures of girls next to the names. Descriptions of things the guys had done with them. Commentary on all of it from how big their boobs were to how good they were at sex or blow jobs. Some girls had five stars next to their names. Some had one. It appeared like they passed the book back and forth between them, adding comments as they went along.

Each page I flipped left a growing sickness and a rush of disgust gnawing at my guts. When I got to Mona’s page, I paused. Cole scrawled about her shyness. Ethan wrote she was sweet, but not much else. Fox said she turned him down. Enzo said he wasn’t interested but would fuck her if they wanted to. She earned a two-star rating from them.

My stomach twisted into knots as I flipped to one of the last pages and saw a picture of myself. I was sitting alone at the lunch table, a book in my hand, my long red braid over my shoulder.

Rosalie Bishop

Amazing rack. Tight body. Beautiful.

I swallowed down the bile in my throat as I continued to read. Fox vetoed me. Cole demanded me. Enzo said he was game. Ethan said I was smart, and he needed help in calculus. Someone drew obscene artwork of my body. There was commentary on the day Cole and Ethan talked to me on the bleachers.

Shy. Didn’t seem opposed to the idea. Gorgeous body. Beautiful face. Scares easy.

There was more on Fox and the cafeteria.

I’ll do it just to get back at her. That’s it. I fuck her first. You guys can have the leftovers.

It moved forward to Cole’s party.

Hall possibly drugged her. We rescued her. She owes us for it. We have the video proof of her and him. She doesn’t want her friend to find out about it. We can use the video to get her to agree to us.

Fox gets to fuck her first because he wants revenge since she’s responsible for his mom. Make her fall in love and fuck her before leaving her in ruins. Record the encounters so she knows what it’s like to be broken.

I’m not comfortable with that.

Ethan, you aren’t comfortable with anything. Shut up. You want that pussy as much as we do.

I snapped the book closed, breathing hard as tears streamed down my cheeks. It had been a lie. Just like Mona said it was.

They had written every instance down within those pages. Me with Enzo and Cole. Me with Enzo and Fox. Everything I’d been through with them was in those pages, or at least I assumed it was given what I’d already seen. It made me too sick to keep turning the pages.

It took me hours to get myself together. When I finally walked to my car, I locked the doors and laid in my backseat, a fresh wave of tears hitting me.

Fox: Baby, it’s 3 in the morning. Please answer me. I’m worried sick.

I stared at the screen through blurry eyes as Fox’s name popped up on the caller ID. I didn’t move, frozen as I stared at his name.

Ethan: Rosalie, this isn’t like you to disappear. Please. Just let us know you’re OK. We’re at Fox’s.

Cole: Rosebud, if we did something wrong, just tell us. We’re at Fox’s, waiting.

Enzo: I’ve driven all over town looking for you. What happened? We heard you went to the game.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

I turned my phone off and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to claim me. Tomorrow, I’d have to deal with everything. The thought did nothing to calm me.