Tom's POV
My eye is throbbing like hell. I stare at my reflection in the mirror—my fucked-up, black-eyed self staring right back. The dark bruise is spreading, getting more and more prominent with each passing second. Fuck Tyler and his stupid, fucking friends. I wipe the blood off my busted-up lip, feeling the raw ache in my jaw, and as the afterschool bell rings, I step out of the bathroom, the pain and anger simmering beneath my skin.
I decide to wait until the entire school clears out. I'm pretty damn sure Tyler and his gang are just waiting for me by the gate. So, I slip into a corridor near the girls' locker room, knowing damn well Tyler and his crew won't bother looking for me here.
I can hear the whispers and giggles drifting from the locker room—those girls, sweaty and wet after cheerleading practice. If I didn't have half the self-control I have now, I might've marched right in there and caused some shit. But no girl at Millwood High wants a guy in there—least of all me. The girls here are no different from Tyler. All of them are fucking assholes.
"Don't tell me you're also one of those pervs who try to peep into the girls' locker rooms," Imogen Storm drawled, her voice smooth but edged with a hint of amusement. I looked up, caught off guard by her sudden appearance.
She was a total knockout—one of the most popular girls at Millwood High, and she knew it. Her long, dark hair flowed down her back like a waterfall of night, perfectly framing her heart-shaped face. Her bright blue eyes sparkled like diamonds, sharp and piercing, holding a kind of commanding confidence.
Her features were delicate but striking—high cheekbones, a small, upturned nose, full lips that curled into a perpetual, inviting smile. Her porcelain complexion seemed glowing, almost ethereal, as if she belonged to some different world. She carried herself with a self-assured elegance, radiating sophistication that made it impossible to look away.
I felt a flicker of heat rise in my cheeks—whether from her beauty or the way she was looking at me, I wasn't sure. But I knew one thing: Imogen Storm was every bit as captivating as she was intimidating.
She was truly something sculpted by God himself—her features so perfect, it was like she'd been carved from porcelain. Right now, though, that gorgeous face was scrunched up in concern, her eyes flicking over my black eye. "What happened to your eye?" she asked softly, her voice laced with genuine curiosity. Her hand hesitated, then drifted toward my face, fingers reaching out as if she wanted to check for herself.
Instinctively, I moved back, putting some space between us. I didn't want her touching me, not now. "I walked into a pole," I mumbled—complete bullshit, but I wasn't about to tell her Tyler did this to me.
Her hand fell to her side, but her expression didn't shift from that look of concern. "You're lying," she said flatly, eyes narrowing just slightly.
Why does she care? It's not like she's ever bothered to look my way before. She's just like the rest—pretending I don't exist, acting like I'm invisible. She's never spoken to me in four years of high school, despite us both being seniors. And yet, here she was, acting like she actually cared. It rubbed me the wrong way, but part of me couldn't help feeling a flicker of something—annoyance, maybe, or just confusion.
She opened her mouth to say something else, but I was already halfway down the hallway, leaving her standing there in the dust of my absence. Didn't really matter what she was going to say anyway. I didn't owe her an explanation.
When I finally reached the gate, I saw that Tyler and his gang had already split. Figures. What a bunch of dumb assholes. Those incompetent buffoons can't even put keep two braincells together together long enough to realize Tyler doesn't give a shit about any of them. They're all just pawns to him—completely disposable.
I clenched my fists, the ache in my eye throbbing in time with my frustration. Tyler's got no idea how much I'd love to see him get taken down a peg, but for now, all I could do was watch from distance and walk home.