Preston get's Truman Involved
Chapter 10
Evie’s POV
I am on time this morning, heading for the bus stop. I can see Preston standing with his back to me as he talks to Truman away from the rest of the group. I can see from the skeptical expression on Truman’s face that he didn’t believe a word coming out of Preston’s mouth. I am very glad of that, maybe Truman can talk Preston out of his crazy idea about hitting on me. I see Truman’s eyes snap up and start to run over me. I see him looking at my legs and running back up my body. I see his eyes narrow and he is clearly paying more attention today, than he usually does. I see his gaze land on my chest, and I am thankful for the hanging t-shirt, which helps make my waist and stomach look bigger. I see him say something to Preston.
I know that I have been announced, as Preston turns around and calls out, “Hey princess. Want to sit with us today?” I see the shock on Trinity’s face, and I know she has a crush on Truman, so I know that she does not want me to sit with them.
“No, thank you," I replied to him, and stayed across the road from the bus stop. I see no reason to joining their group. We all heard the bus coming and as soon as she stopped and put the sign out I crossed the street to get on the bus. I didn’t see Preston, or Truman, so I had assumed that they had already gotten onto the bus already. I was wrong. I stepped around the front of the bus and they were both standing there waiting for me to get in line to get on the bus. They both stood there with stupid grins on their faces. I gave a loud sigh and got in line. Trinity bumped into me deliberately and pushed ahead of me. It put me right in front of them getting on the bus. I knew what was up when Preston let Truman in front of him. Truman is wanting to see for himself, and I just cannot allow him that opportunity. I hurried up the steps, but Truman already decided that I was going to do that and he was hot on my heels. I didn’t make it two steps down the aisle when I had to stop while people took their seats. I felt his free arm slide around my waist and I jerked away from him.
“Do not touch me” I ground out to him. Thankfully since we were still near the front of the bus, so the driver said, “Keep your hands to yourself there Truman.”
But the damage was done though, he had his hand on my skin, and I was not the size that they thought I was. Don’t get me wrong. I am a solid size 12, but they always thought I was much bigger than that. I have spent years making sure that I was almost invisible. I liked being ignored by the guys at school. I am not interested in any of them. I would also rather not have them think that they can put their hands on me. I couldn’t believe how close I was to graduating and leaving them all behind before this happened. I saw that half a seat was available on the third row, with a 4th grade student already sitting there. I plopped down onto the other half of the seat it. I could see that they were disappointed by my choice to sit up front.
It didn’t matter. I beat them at their own game at least this time. I will worry about this afternoon when it gets here. I refused to make eye contact with either of them as they stood next to me waiting to head to the back of the bus. They both deliberately bumped into me as they headed up the aisle. I ignored them both, but I forgot that we stopped at the elementary school first, and the boy next to me got off the bus, along with the rest of the younger kids. I heard them coming up the aisle behind me as they made no effort to be stealthy. The next thing I knew they took the seat behind me and both leaned forward, literally breathing down my neck. Preston spoke first, “Got my money, princess?”
“No, I don’t, Preston. I might have it this afternoon” I told him. I believe that Rhett will come through with the money as he is desperate to be tutored. I am not looking forward to tutoring him at all, but the money will come in handy. Especially since Preston is looking for reason’s to give me problems. Hopefully with his short attention span, he will forget about his newfound interest in me and just move on.
“Well, princess, I decided that I will cover the expense, if you are willing to go out with me. I thought about what happened yesterday, and it wasn’t really your fault. Hillary set me up, and then left me hanging in the wind. She was the reason for me even doing that to you in the first place, so I will get the money from her. She has plenty of it. But to apologize to you for what I did, I would like to take you out to see a movie. You never get to go out, so I thought that might be fun for us to do. Maybe we could get to know each other better” Preston told me, and my stomach turned. I don’t want to spend any time with him at all.
“If Hillary gives it to you that is good, otherwise I will find a way to pay you so it doesn’t come out of your pocket. I don’t have time to go out, but I appreciate the offer, but I have to decline” I told him, and I knew he wasn’t going to give up when I heard Truman laugh at me turning him down.
“That was the nicest blow off I have ever heard, Preston. I told you that she wasn’t going to want to go out with you. That was wishful thinking on your part. You were always mean to her, way meaner than I ever was. Just remember that Evie, I never picked on you, not like he did. You should let me take you out” Truman tells me.
“You never stood up for me either Truman, you don’t need to try to charm me. You may not have been as mean to me as Preston and Trinity have been, but you always laughed and supported them. We are not friends, we will never be friends, and I won’t be going out with either of you. You can both just stick with picking on me because this is not going to play out how you think it will. I am not planning on dating anyone at all right now. I am focused on graduation, and then college. I do not have time to date, and frankly I don’t know of anyone that I would like to date right now” I told them.
They need to know now that there is no point in trying to lay their best lines on me. It is best for them to get the gist of it right now, as letting them continue on trying to charm me is just going to result in them getting madder than what I just told them. I can feel the anger coming off of Preston and the next thing I knew he pulled my hair, tugging my head back and causing my eyes to tear up from the pain of it.
“Look you stuck up bitch, you should be glad that I am even interested in you at all. You need to give this more thought than you did, because I will not accept the answer that you just gave me. No, I think that you need to thank your lucky stars that I would give you the chance to go out with me. We can revisit this later, when you have had more time to think about making the right decision. This is going to happen, so stop thinking that you are so high and mighty and realize that no one wants you. You are an ugly nerd, who should know her place and be glad for any attention that I am willing to give your ugly ass” Preston said, and then gave my hair another hard pull before letting it go.
Tears are stinging my eyes, and I am biting my lip to make myself keep from crying. His words were mean and unnecessary. He didn’t have to call me the names he did. I know he is trying to do it to break me down and gaslight me. He can't be serious tp think that a date with him would be good for me. I didn’t say anything mean to either of them, or call them names. The bus rumbles to a stop but I stayed seated, I want them to get away from me. But no one passes me. Preston is holding up everyone behind me seat, and motioning me to stand up and exit before him. I am suddenly worried at what he might do to me, and I shake my head at him. I am not going to step out in front of him.
“Preston, stop holding up the line, and get off the bus. Leave that poor girl alone. I don’t know why you two are messing with her. She want’s to be left alone” the bus driver called out. I heard him mumble, “See you later princess” before he started to move forward. Both he and Truman look back at me with smirks as they got off the bus, and they walked slowly towards the school. I waited until everyone got off the bus before I got up. The driver held her hand out to me as I approached the steps.
“Let me know if they bother you, but I would suggest sitting up closer to me. It is hard to watch traffic and see what those two pranksters are doing. They have always been troublemakers” she tells me. I gave her a half smile and mumbled, “Thank you” but we both know that for the next 2 and a half weeks I will be having to put up with it. Wait, no I won’t. I will start heading the other direction and take the street car, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier. I am about to have a win fall right into my arms if Rhett can come through for me. I will be glad to pay for a jazzy pass to make sure I don’t have to be on the bus with them again. It will be entirely worth it to avoid those two until we graduate. Hopefully, they will both get over whatever this is out of their system during that time frame. I wish I had thought of it sooner.
I will give Preston the money for the books, and he will have no further need to speak to me ever again. I have seen his old girlfriends, they were all athletes too, the same as him. He played football, and Lacrosse with Rhett. Preston had a car, but he wrecked it street racing, and now he has to ride the bus. Truman didn’t wreck, but he had his car taken away by his parents when they found out he had been racing too. I can still remember those wonderful two months when they were not on the bus. We all have to suffer from them being punished now. I just need to avoid them until graduation, then I should be fine.