Chapter 308 - Make Them Pay II

Chapter 308: Chapter 308 - Make Them Pay II

Roxie’s jaw tightened.

"What, jealous? Five minutes without attention and you’re already having withdrawals?"

Kendall laughed once.

Then pushed away from the table and walked closer.

"Please. I fucking love this. For once people have something more interesting to talk about than Kendall Whitlock."

Angela stepped forward. "Back the fuck off."

Karen moved beside her, eyes hard. "Seriously, Kendall."

Kendall looked between them with barely concealed irritation. "Jesus. Her dogs are out again."

Karen took a step.

"Say that again."

"Karen," Coach Miller warned.

Roxie caught Karen’s wrist before she got any closer.

Karen looked back at her.

Roxie narrowed her eyes. "What the fuck do you want?"

Kendall reached toward the table, grabbed one of the ticket bundles and slapped it lightly against Roxie’s chest.

Roxie caught it before it fell.

"You’re standing here looking like somebody kicked you in the stomach because a bunch of bored assholes are talking about your shitty life."

The gym went quiet.

Angela’s expression hardened. "Kendall."

Coach Miller stepped forward. "Whitlock. Enough."

But Kendall ignored both of them and her eyes stayed on Roxie. "They already know your mom was messed up and your life is a mess."

Roxie’s fingers tightened around the tickets.

That fucking hurt.

"So, what exactly are you protecting now?"

Roxie stared at her.

Karen looked ready to explode.

"Kendall, shut your mouth."

Kendall finally glanced at her. "Why? So everybody can pretend this disappears tomorrow? It won’t."

Angela stepped forward again. "You’re being a fucking bitch."

"I know."

Kendall looked back at Roxie.

"They’re gonna stare whether you walk out there or hide in this gym. They’re gonna whisper whether you sell one ticket or a hundred. You can feel sorry for yourself later."

Roxie’s eyes narrowed.

Kendall lifted her chin toward the tickets pressed against Roxie’s chest.

"For now, make them fucking pay."

Silence.

Kendall shrugged, looking completely unbothered by the way the room had gone quiet. "Hell, Jones. Your shitty life is finally useful for something."

Karen moved before Roxie could even react, her whole face hardening as she stepped toward Kendall. "You fucking bitch."

Roxie caught her wrist and held on. "Wait."

Karen turned so fast her hair shifted over her shoulder, staring at Roxie like she had lost her mind. "Roxie."

But Roxie was still looking at Kendall.

Kendall had stopped moving too. She stood there with her chin slightly raised, one hand resting against the scorer’s table, watching Roxie like she wanted to see what she would do with it. There was still that same bitchy little curve at the corner of her mouth, and Roxie wanted to wipe it off her face.

Her fingers tightened around the tickets until the edges pressed into her palm.

Twenty dollars.

Her eyes dropped briefly to the stack, then toward the gym doors.

All those people out there were already staring, already whispering, already talking about Claire like Roxie’s life had suddenly become something everybody at Briarwick was allowed to discuss.

Roxie hated it.

But Nationals mattered. It mattered to every girl in that gym, and fuck, it mattered to her. They had worked too hard to win State and earn that spot just to struggle now because people could barely be bothered to support cheer.

Then her eyes moved toward Coach Miller.

He had been there through all of it. Every practice, every injury, every shitty day when somebody wanted to quit, every competition where he pushed them until they became the team that finally won State. He had fought for them long before most of Briarwick cared what cheer was doing.

Roxie wanted to give him something back.

She wanted tomorrow packed. She wanted Coach Miller to look at those bleachers and see people actually showing up for the team he had spent so much time building. She wanted him to know they weren’t going to Nationals with only the cheerleaders themselves believing they belonged there.

And Roxie wanted to compete. Badly.

Her fingers tightened around the tickets.

If everybody was going to stare at her anyway, then fine.

They could fucking help send Coach Miller’s team to Nationals while they did it.

Coach Miller let out a sharp breath and looked between them. "Can we finish this meeting before somebody gets suspended?"

A few girls shifted awkwardly around them while Kendall finally stepped backward toward Tori and Marissa, still watching Roxie as she went. Roxie lifted her middle finger without taking her eyes off her.

Kendall returned it immediately.

Karen stared between them, then looked down at Roxie’s hand still wrapped around the tickets. Her anger gave way to disbelief. "You’re seriously considering this."

Roxie loosened her grip slightly and looked at the stack again.

"Yeah."

Coach picked up a sheet from the scorer’s table.

"One more thing. Highest individual seller today gets this year’s Top Fundraiser recognition on the permanent cheer achievement board. Names, graduating class and final total."

The entire room reacted.

Roxie froze.

Roxie’s attention went straight to the cheer achievement board along the far wall. It had been there longer than she had, filled with State titles, regional placements, former captains, records and names belonging to students who had graduated years ago. Some of them probably hadn’t stepped inside Briarwick since, but their names were still there.

Her eyes moved slowly across the board before settling on the empty spaces where names could eventually go.

Roxxane Jones.

A name that she felt not entirely hers but hers at the same time. Posted on those spaces with Karen’s and Angela’s.

Something tightened in her chest.

Fuck, she wanted it there.

The excitement around the gym rose almost immediately as the other cheerleaders started looking at their ticket bundles differently. Roxie barely noticed them because when she looked across the room, Kendall was already staring at her.

Of course she was.

Kendall’s gaze flicked toward the achievement board before returning to Roxie, and the slow curve of her mouth told Roxie everything she needed to know.

That bitch wanted it too.

Angela followed Roxie’s stare and groaned quietly. "Oh, fuck."

Karen looked from Kendall to Roxie, then shook her head before either of them had even said anything. "No."

Roxie glanced at her. "What?"

"I know what’s about to happen."

"Nothing’s happening."

Across the room, Kendall picked up her ticket bundle and held it against her chest, eyebrows lifting slightly as she looked straight at Roxie.

Roxie’s eyes narrowed.

Karen pointed at her face. "That. That’s exactly what I’m talking about."

Angela looked between them and sighed. "We’re gonna be running around this school all day because you two can’t stand losing to each other."

"I was already going to sell."

"Sure," Karen muttered.

Roxie looked down at the tickets in her hands, rubbing her thumb across the edge of the stack. Every one of them was twenty dollars. Every stare she had been getting all week, every whisper about Claire, every asshole who suddenly thought Roxie’s life was interesting enough to discuss between classes could become another twenty dollars toward Nationals.

Still, she wanted to win.

Roxie tucked the tickets firmly under her arm. "Let’s go."

Karen stared at her. "You’re actually doing this."

"Yep."

Angela picked up the money envelope and watched Roxie for a moment. "You sure?"

Roxie’s eyes drifted toward the gym doors. Her heart had already started beating harder just thinking about what was waiting beyond them. She knew the first stare was going to bother her. The first whisper was probably going to piss her off. Somebody would eventually ask something they had no fucking right to ask.

She swallowed and tightened her fingers around the tickets. "No. But I’m still going."

Angela gave her a small nod and tucked the envelope against her side.

Kendall passed them a few seconds later with Tori and another cheerleader, her own tickets held loosely in one hand.

Roxie turned toward her. "Whitlock."

Kendall stopped and looked back.

Roxie lifted her stack slightly. "Let’s see who wins, bitch."

Kendall’s eyes dropped toward the tickets before slowly climbing back to Roxie’s face. She gave her a look full of enough confidence to make Roxie want to throw something at her.

"Try."

She started walking again, then glanced over her shoulder. "Maybe your tragic life will finally help you beat me at something."

Roxie’s mouth fell open before her eyes narrowed. "You fucking wish."

Kendall laughed and continued toward the other exit.

Karen stared after her. "I’m still gonna trip her."

"After we beat her," Angela said as she adjusted the money envelope.

Roxie looked over.

Angela shrugged. "What? Now I want her to lose too."

A laugh escaped Roxie before she could stop it, and the three of them headed through the gym doors together.

The feeling lasted until they reached the hallway.

Roxie noticed the staring almost immediately.

A group near the drinking fountain had been talking loudly until they saw her. Their conversation dropped, and one girl’s eyes followed Roxie before she leaned toward her friend and whispered something.

The tightness returned to Roxie’s stomach. Her pace slowed slightly as her fingers shifted around the stack of tickets, and for a moment walking past them seemed a hell of a lot easier than stopping.

Then Kendall’s voice came back to her.

Make them fucking pay.

Roxie looked at the girl again.

Fine.