Trapped (Bullied Book 4) (Bullied Series) Vera Hollins (best large ereader txt) 📖

Hayden arched his eyebrows at her. “Are you jealous?”

She nodded. “Madly. I’m so sick with jealousy I’m so going to puke these fries on you right this minute.” She rolled her eyes. “Actually, the whole cafeteria is staring at us. One can’t eat without all these nosy busybodies.” She pointed at him. “It’s like you’re a celebrity!”

“It’s always been like that,” Sarah said. “He attracts attention wherever he goes.”

“It’s b-b-because he’s beautiful,” Kev blurted out.

We fell into heavy silence, and he went crimson red. Sarah shifted in her seat, looking at him with pity.

Hayden cleared his throat. “Burks—”

“I’m s-s-sorry,” Kev said with his eyes fixed on the ground as he jumped to his feet. “Forget about it.”

“Kev,” I called after him, but he dashed away from our table and made a quick exit. Without thinking, I went after him, ignoring everyone’s stares.

“Kev, wait!”

His long legs carried him all the way to the other side of the school before I could catch up to him.

“Kev!”

“Leave me alone,” he cried out over his shoulder, giving me a glimpse of his teary face. My stomach sank.

I grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face me with all the force I could muster. Each of his tears nailed new pain to my chest, and it bothered me that I couldn’t do much to help him deal with this.

“I won’t leave you alone,” I replied with conviction that was rare for me. I glanced down the almost empty hallway and pulled Kev into the nearest empty classroom. I closed the door behind me. ”Talk to me.”

He walked over to the windows and remained with his back to me. His shoulders were shaking, his hunched form telling me just how distressed he was. My heart ached for him.

“It’s not important.”

“It’s obviously important since you’re like this.” I approached him with a sudden surge of strength coursing through me. I felt protective of him.

He was so much taller than me, but he looked so small and fragile I wanted to wrap my arms around him and shield him from the whole world.

“Sharing is caring, right?” I said.

He sniffed. “I s-swear I’m not a crybaby.”

I placed my hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay if you are. I’m a crybaby too.” I giggled. “We can be crybabies together.”

A raspy chuckle slipped through his lips as he faced me. He quickly wiped the tears off his red cheeks. “I’m ashamed of talking about this with you.”

“Don’t be. You’re my bestie. You can talk to me about anything you want.”

His brows knitted together as he closed his eyes. “I feel awful.”

“Because of what you said in the cafeteria?”

“That too.” He sniffed a few times. “I feel awful for b-being…for being attracted to him.” His cheeks reddened again, and he turned away from me. “I’m a guy. I…I’m not supposed to feel this way.”

I grasped his upper arm. “Don’t say that. You have the right to feel however you want to feel. That doesn’t have anything to do with your gender. It’s who you are.”

He snapped his angry eyes over his shoulder to meet mine. “I don’t like it! I’ve been living with shame ever s-s-since I realized I…I like boys too. Even my mom thinks it’s weird!”

I shifted closer to him, the urge to protect him becoming stronger. “She’s wrong. Just because she doesn’t understand your sexuality, it doesn’t mean it’s bad. Straight, bi, or otherwise, that’s who you are, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“So you don’t think I’m messed up?”

I pulled him around to look at me. “Absolutely not. You’re normal, and you should never be ashamed of that. I think you should embrace it and live your life however you want.”

“But what if others find out? They’ll bully me even more!”

I let out a heavy sigh. “It’s true that there are close-minded people who act like this isn’t the 21st century, but truth be told, bullies can find any reason to bully others, whether it’s their sexuality, appearance, or something else entirely.”

At least this was what my therapist told me all the time. She encouraged me to embrace the way I looked and be proud of it because that was who I was. It was easier said than done.

“I don’t know, Jess. I…I’m scared.”

My lips curled into a half-smile. “I understand.” I understood it well because I was scared too. I was scared of living my life the way I wanted to live it.

He pushed his glasses up his nose. “I’m a horrible friend. I guess S-Sarah hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you. She understands because we can’t choose who we fall for.”

“You don’t think she’s angry?”

“Not at all. So don’t worry about her.”

He rolled his lips in. “But I’m so embarrassed to even look at Hayden. How can I face him after this?”

“Act like it didn’t happen? I don’t know. I think it’s not that big of a deal. I mean, it’s not like you can do anything about it.” I patted his shoulder. “So don’t worry about it.”

He shrugged. “I’ll try.” He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and adjusted his glasses. “Thanks. You’re amazing.”

He was so sweet. “You too.”

“By the way, it sucks that you can’t go to our choir practice. Marcus is going to miss you.”

Tension coiled in my stomach at the reminder that I had detention with Blake after school. I wanted nothing more than to miss it, but there was no escaping it.

“Marcus?”

“Yeah. You know he keeps asking me about you when you’re not there.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean he always wants to talk to me for some reason.”

“Hmm, that sounds interesting. Maybe I’m just an excuse for him to talk to you.”

“Nah. No way.” I gave him a pointed look. “No way. He asked you out.”

“That’s true, but honestly? I don’t feel like he likes me. He’s friendly to me in U.S. history, but I think that’s all there is to it.”

“I see.” He looked away. “He’s cute,” he said quietly, blushing.

“He’s cute? Now that sounds