Free Faithless (Mistress & Master of Restraint) by Erica Chilson

hand brush the back of Cort’s, and Cortez returns the soft gesture. The possessive expression Ezra has on his face reminds me of a man looking at his family. Cortez belongs to Ezra. How I never saw it before is beyond me.
    Jesus Christ, what am I going to do?
    First step: stop taking the Lord’s name in vain while standing in a Catholic school. I need the big guy on my side if I’m going to get through this. I don’t need hellfire and damnation striking me where I stand.
    Second step: friendship. Obviously they are a couple and there is no seduction to be had. I will have to befriend them and hope they like me. Wil said he needed to see us on a date as proof for his employer. Well, he didn’t say it couldn’t be a group date. He won’t know it’s just as friends. Maybe I’ll like Ezra and Cortez. I could use some friends. I always got along better with guys anyway.
    Third step: remove this makeup and put my clothes on the right way. If I have to do this, I have to do it as me. Pretending that my name is Fate when I’m around Wil is one thing, pretending to be sed uctive is another. I’m an eighty pound fifteen-year-old girl. I may be curvy, but I was never the type of girl who was boy-crazy. I’ve always liked guys as my buddies. I’ve just never met one I wanted to date. I’ll just keep telling myself that I don’t find Wil’s intensity enticing or that he made me realize that I wasn’t asexual. Nah- I think it’s because the thought of beating the living shit out of him sound like so much fun!
    “Is skank the new black?” An eruption of giggles draws my attention from the boys. “Hillbrook is letting in trash now that we’re accepting scholarship kids. ” That comment puts me to ease, because I’ve never accepted any charity. They can’t possibly be talking about me.
    “ That’s not a scholarship kid. It’s that Simpson freak’s daughter. Faith’s trash alright- the worst kind.” Okay, definitely talking about me.
    I ’ve learned some things after growing up around hotheads. I’ve learned even more from the short time I’ve spent with Wil. But Fate taught me the most. It annoys the hell out of your tormentor when they don’t get a rise out of you. If it were between me and the Barbies, the criminal’s kid would get into trouble with the Dean.
    “How’s it feel to know that your tuition was paid by my family’s hard earned money,” skank number one hisses. I remember her from last year. Who could forget Flora Rubins and her posse of hissing bitches? I was blind freshman year; I never saw how they dressed. They make me look like a toddler. I think that little bit of brown peeking at me from her blouse is part of her nipple. Good Catholic girls. 
    “Oh, I don’t know… It doesn’t feel too bad, considering what your family did to earn that money. They make my daddy look like a saint. There is something pure about stealing from the rich- but stealing from the poor… now that’s a whole other level of evil.”
    I quietly giggle while they attack me as a group. A cat fight erupts around me and I don’t fight back. It’s the first time I don’t engage. I know I could take them all. My mind calculated the whole thing in under a second.
    Flora slaps me and it barely stings. Her two friends ride my body to the ground. Their hands pinwheel slaps, softly hitting me every few flails. They fight like total girls. I’d love to head-butt these skinny bitches, but I grit my teeth and take it.
    My target was watching in interest as I was taken to the floor. I don’t know how Cortez will react, but Ezra reminds me of the chivalrous type. I’m going to sit back and let them beat the hell out of me- what does Jesus say, turn the other cheek? It will be a good cover for my previous bruises when I remove my smutty makeup. What kind of people gang up and beat a defenseless child, especially when she curls up in a ball and doesn’t fight back? Bad people, that’s who.
    I grin and silently