Hate So Good: A High School Bully Romance (The Hate Series Book 2) Nina Lincoln (latest novels to read TXT) 📖

the night to the sounds of something or someone crying out in agony.

The painful desperate sound sends a chill down my spine, and lights click on outside the tent as people step out, mumbling amongst each other.

Not to be left out, I hurriedly pull on my hoodie and emerge, looking for Colt immediately. He’s already walking toward me, and with relief, I step into his arms with a shiver.

The sound is now gone, as though it were the last throes of a death wail and the eerie silence that follows sends chills down my spine.

Our survival guide from earlier walks through the crowd, saying, “It’s alright. It was a wild animal. These things happen.”

Even if it was, the terrible noise makes me feel all kinds of awful for the animal that met such a painful end.

Tilting my head back to Colt, I whisper, “Ramie never came back.”

Grimly he looks me over and nods before leading me to the nearest teacher. Ms. Klein is a thirty-something woman with a perpetually pained expression who most times seems as though she hates us, making her career choice all the more bewildering.

She’s also the last person I want to tell, but currently the closest.

Looking us over suspiciously as we stop before her, her mouth curls in a disapproving line, and I’m about to keep going when Colt ignores her and pulls me forward, saying, “Ms. Klein, Finn’s been sharing a tent with Ramie Boswell. But Ramie hasn’t been back since last night, and we haven’t seen her since yesterday.”

Ms. Klein’s nostrils flare, “I’m sure she’s sharing with someone else.”

“I haven’t seen her at all. I’m worried,” I insist.

She opens her mouth to argue, but thankfully another teacher walks up, and Colt repeats our story. This teacher is more concerned, and soon we’re all lined up to take attendance.

A few students glare my way, but I ignore them. This is serious shit! What if she’s lost or something worse? Assholes.

They go down the rows, counting heads and checking our names off on a list until, once finished, the teachers congregate in a circle. Standing toward the end, I hear them muttering about Ramie and another student named Jon Hawley, speculating they’re together.

“Who’s Jon Hawley?” I ask Colt.

Shrugging, he asks Hayden, who also shrugs. Would Ramie take off with some guy nobody knows?

“Alright, everyone, back to your tents!”

I consider arguing, but there’s not much I can do in the middle of the night, instead I hug Colt goodnight before laying back down grimly and staring at the ceiling until dawn.

When the sun finally peeks over the horizon, I sit down by the fire and stare blindly into the flames waiting until the students start rising, my brain numb, but my heart cold.

Searching out Hayden, I find him coming back from the trees and waylay him, rolling my eyes when he says with a smirk, “Finally, change your mind, Princess?”

“Haha,” I mutter. “The first night we were here, did you spend it with Ramie?”

He shifts on his feet and glowers. “Maybe.”

“This is important, Hayden! The last time I saw her or heard her anyway, she came to the tent late that first night.”

Shrugging, he looks over his shoulder. “You heard the teacher. She’s with Jon Hawley,” he sneers.

“You believe that?” I ask impatiently.

“Yeah, I do!”

“Then, where are they? Having a three-day orgy in the woods?”

Colt steps up behind me and lays his hands across my shoulders and leaning against him, I take comfort in his presence.

“Well, then what?” Hayden asks, exasperated.

“What if she got lost?”

“Then, the teachers will figure it out! What do you want me to do?”

“Not be a dick,” I mutter, stalking away in a huff.

Unfortunately, I walk straight into Teddy, who looks me over with a mercurial expression before saying, “I owe you an apology. I’m sorry. It's clear Colt cares about you, and I was acting like a jealous dick.”

Smiling halfheartedly, I murmur, “Thanks.”

To be clear, his apology sounds disingenuous at best, but the middle of a fucking camping trip isn’t the place for a confrontation. I have no room for naysayers, and Teddy will either get the picture, or he won’t be my friend.

I’ve had enough of the ridiculousness. I’m ready for real friends or fucking nothing.

“Did Ramie turn up?” he asks.

“No, I told the faculty.”

“Oh. She’s gonna be pissed when she comes back,” he mutters.

“What if she isn’t out there having fun? Aren’t you worried?” I exclaim, beyond frustrated.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere. What could possibly happen? She’s fine. She’s just getting dick,” he says dismissively.

“Right.”

Thoroughly frustrated, I plop down by the fire and grimly eat the granola bars passed around. Why isn’t anyone taking this more seriously? What if she’s lost?

“You okay, Princess?” Colt asks.

“Yeah, I just. I don’t know. What if she’s lost?”

“Maybe,” he says gently, taking my hand, “this isn’t about her, but you and your dad?”

Rearing back, I search his expression, disappointed he’s taking the same line as the others.

When he sees my distaste, he says, “Finn, you know I’ll do whatever you want, but I just wonder if maybe she’s fine and you’re projecting or whatever.”

Standing with a huff, I walk away, and Colt leaves me to it, which is probably best because I’d like to rage at him, but maybe he’s right? Maybe Ramie wanted to be alone? Although if that’s the case, I’m gonna ream her a new one when she emerges. Not cool.

The faculty don’t mention last night, but they’re a little grimmer than they were yesterday, and I don’t blame them, wrangling a bunch of horny teens in the middle of fucking nowhere must be exhausting.

I know I am, and I’m only dealing with a handful of dicks.

“Okay, class, listen up,” Mr. C, my least favorite teacher from Northside High, calls out. He’s the same dick I got stuck in a locked room with thanks to fucking Dirk.

Mulishly, I step into the circle forming around him, my anger transferring to his fucking annoying face. I swear some of these asshat teachers