One Chance (14 page)

“Yes I know her and no you can’t talk to her,” he says before turning to say something else to me, “What are you doing here Haley?”

“I told you, I’m hanging out.  I told you I wouldn’t go to your house for any parties, but this isn’t your house Liam,” I say as I grab four beers out of the fridge.

“Damn baby girl, you trying to get drunk?” the same guy asks.

“Spence shut up,” Liam says coldly.  “You need to leave,” he says as he pierces me with cold dark blue eyes. 

Just then Austin walks into the kitchen, “Hey, I wondered what happened to you,” he says as he spots me.  “What’s up Masters?” he says to Liam.

“You know her?” Liam ask
s Austin, as he points to me.

“Yeah, she’s my date tonight,” he says as he comes to grab some beer from me.  “Everything alright?” he looks to me to see if I’m okay.

“Everything’s great,” I say quickly before flashing a fake smile.

“Hey Masters
, you coming over this weekend or what?” Austin asks.

“Yeah, I’ll be t
here,” he says as he gives me a knowing look that says I better not be wherever there is.

“Alright, then I’ll catch you later,” he says as we walk back towards Rebecca and Rob. “How do you know Masters?” he asks me looking confused.

“I grew up with him,” I admit.

“I take it he’s the rea
son we didn’t go to the party at his house tonight,” he says sounding amused.

“That would be why.”

“What’s he have against you?”

“Just some miscommunication, that’s all.”

“He looked pissed.”

“You should have seen his face when I first walked into the kitchen then,” I say with a smile.

“I don’t usually see him mad, especially at girls, so what happened?”

“I told you it was just a miscommunication.  I’m sure it will straighten itself out sooner or later.”

“Well good luck with that, he’s not really someone you want on your bad side.”

“Why’s that?” I ask confused.

“He’s the starting quarterback; if he hates you, he can have everyone hate you.  If he wants you to have a life of hell, all he’d have to do is say the word.”

“Well I guess it helps that I’m in the sorority with his
girlfriend.”

“She like
s you?”

“Yea
h, she does.”

“Then at least there’s that.
  I think you’re pretty cool Haley.”

“Thanks, you’re not so bad yourself,” I say with a smile.

“So tell me about yourself,” he says as he passes Rebecca and Rob their beers.

“Umm…I’m from Delaware, I have a sister, I’m in a sorority.  Yeah that’s probably about it,” I say laughing.

“I doubt that.  Does your sister go here to?” he asks looking thoroughly interested.

“No, she’s at
West Virginia with Brody, Liam’s brother.”

“So your sister dates Masters
’ brother?” he asks looking confused.

“Yeah, they’ve dated since middle school.”

“Nice.  So is your sister younger than you?”

“Oh no, she’s my twin sister.”

“Twins,” he says surprised, “Identical?”

“Yeah, except I have dark hair and she has blonde.”

“Why is that?” he asks with a look.

“I dyed mine when I got here.”

“Ahh, wanted to be different?” he says calling me out.

“You could say that,” I say with a smile.

“So how does it feel to be here on your own?”

“Great, I love it.  Have you been here all four years?”
I ask making conversation.

“Yep, it was my only choice growing up.”

“Why’s that?”

“I wanted to play ball here.”

“Ball?” I ask confused, because there’s football, basketball, and baseball.

“Basketball, sorry,” he says with a smile.

“So you’re on the basketball team?” I ask surprised.

He starts laughing, “Is that hard to believe?”

“No, I figured you were in some sport or club or something.”

“Why’s that?”

“You can tell you work out,” I say pointing to his muscular arms.

“Yeah
, I guess you can.  Do you want another drink?” he asks as he looks at my empty can.

“Sure.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back,” he says as he stands up.

“Haley, we’re heading out,” Rebecca says
, as she appears out of nowhere with Rob, “Are you going to be okay here or do you want me to walk you back?”

“I can walk you back,” Austin says sweetly.

“Thank you,” I tell Austin. “Have a good night Rebecca,” I tell her as she leaves with Rob.

Austin shows up a few minutes later with my unopened beer.  I crack the top and take a swig. “Thanks,” I say feeling thirsty.

“No problem.  So I just got lectured,” he says out of nowhere.

“What?  Lectured for what?”

“About treating you with respect,” he says all serious.

“
You are, you’ve been nothing but great tonight.”

“Thanks, but yeah
, I got a mouthful when I walked into the kitchen.”

“By who?” I ask slightly confused because the beers are starting to hit me.

“Masters and Spence.”

“They told you to be nice to me?” I ask confused.

“Pretty much told me I better not disrespect you or they are going to kick my ass,” he says with a look.

“I wouldn’t worry about them.  I don’t even know his friend.”

“I’m not worried,” he says looking serious.

“That’s good, I thought you were friends?  At least you seemed like it earlier.”

“We’re cool, he’s a good guy.”

“See, you can just ignore them.”

“Ignore who?” Liam asks, as him and the guy known as Spence walk up to us.

“You two actually,” I say not holding back.

“Is that so?” he asks as he takes a seat beside me, Spence beside Austin.

“
Yes it is,” I say staring him down, he throws up a small smirk and I want nothing more than to knock it off his face.

“So
, I take it you told her we had a talk in the kitchen,” Liam says as a statement, not a question.

“I did,” Austin says nervously.  I thought he said he wasn’t worried…ugh men.

“We need to talk now,” I say to Liam as I stand up.

“We are talking,” he says as he drinks his beer.

“No, you and me outside now,” I say in a threatening tone, before I head towards the door.  He says something to Spence and Austin before he follows behind me.

I barely make it out the door before I’m up in his face, “What the fuck is your problem?  One minute you tell me to
leave you the hell alone and the next you’re ordering my date around.”

“How did you get messed up with Austin?” he asks in a calm tone, completely ignoring my questions.

“It was a double date, Rebecca set it up, now what the hell is your problem?”

“Do you like him?”

“I just met him, I don’t know,” I snap.

“I don’t think you should date him.”

“And why is that?” I ask frustrated and pissed because he’s ruining a perfectly good night for me.

“He’s not the right guy for you.  You don’t know him Haley,” he states.

“Oh, but you do right.  You know him and what’s best for me right?” I snap.

“I didn’t say that, but when it comes to some of the guys, yes I know them.”

“I didn’t go to West Virginia because I didn’t want to be Kenzie’s shadow and I sure as hell didn’t come here for you to boss me around.  I can make my own choices.  I don’t need you or your help,” I shout.

“Are you sure about that?” he says in a cocky tone.

“I did just fine the first year without you, I can make it the rest of the way.”

“We’ll see about that,” he says looking anything but sincere.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“
You wanted to play games before, it’s my turn to play games now,” he says before walking away from me again.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I scream after him, but he just ignores me and continues on his way.
“Liam,” I scream, but it’s pointless.

I head inside after him but I don’t see him anywhere in sight.  I don’t see Spence with Austin either.  I head over towards Austin, “Where did he go?”

“I don’t know, but Haley let it go, whatever it is, let it go,” he says in a warning tone.

“What the hell just happened?”

“Liam Masters is not someone you mess with, you should know that.”

“How?  He wasn’t this asshole growing up.”

“He’s been the same guy since the first day I met him.  People don’t fuck with him Haley and you shouldn’t either.  He can pretty much do whatever he wants.”

“Well he needs to leave me the hell alone.  I’m ready to go,” I say wanting nothing more to do with this house or Liam Masters right now.

Austin walks me home and seems on edge the entire time.  “What’s going on?” I ask as I come to a complete stop wanting answers.

“Haley I know I just met you tonight and you seem like a great girl, you really do, but I’m not going to be able to see you again,” he says solemnly.

“Why not?” I ask dumbstruck.

“You pissed off Masters, I’m not going on his shit list.”

“Liam is always pissed off at me, he’ll get over it.”

“No, he won’t
, that’s what you don’t understand.  When he’s out for blood, its blood that he comes to collect.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You need to apologize to him if you want us to hang out again,” he says with a straight face.

I can’t help but laugh, “You are insane.  I’m not apologizing, he’s the one that decided to be a macho asshole tonight, not me.”

“Then I’m sorry Haley, I can’t see you again.”

“Fine, you can turn around and go home, I can make it home myself,” I say as I start walking towards the house.  I glance behind me and see that
Austin is standing on the sidewalk watching me get home safely; he’s just not moving an inch in either direction.  I ignore it and continue on my way, it only takes a few minutes before I head inside to see the girls all huddled in the social room.

“What the hell happened tonight?” Quinn asks as she pulls me up the stairs.

“What do you mean?”

“You got into an argument with Liam in front of a freaking fraternity?”

“No, I was outside yelling at him.  He was being totally unreasonable,” I defend, “Wait, how do you even know that?”

“So
, I’ve found out some interesting facts about Liam Masters,” she says as she shuts our bedroom door.

“Then fill me in, because Austin wouldn’t tell me much, other than he can’t hang out with me again, unless I apologize to Liam,” I tell her as I change into my night clothes.

“Well apparently Liam Masters is a pretty big thing around here,” she says with a smirk.

“I already knew that, he’s the freaking quarterback, so he’s viewed like a God around here.”

“Oh it’s much worse than that.  People don’t cross him, because when they do, he makes them pay Hails.  He’s even gone so far that people have transferred schools because he scared the shit out of them.”

“By doing what?” I ask confused.

“Whatever he tells people to do.  If he tells someone to start a rumor about you, there’s a rumor.  He wants your car towed, it gets towed; he knows where you are at every minute of every day Haley.  I’m not going to lie, I’m worried for you.  Maybe you should just come clean with him,” she says sounding extremely nervous.

“I’m not apologizing to him.  He’s the one who told me to stay the hell away from him, he could have ignored me tonight like I was doing to him, but no, he had to start shit.  And no, I’m not coming clean, he doesn’t get to know how I feel about him, he doesn’t deserve it,” I snap back.

“Fine, well hopefully he doesn’t do anything.  Let’s just hope it was the alcohol talking tonight,” she says wishful thinking.

“I’m sure it will be fine.  Liam’s never been crazy rude to me before, I can’t see him doing it now.”

“Time will tell I guess,” she says as she lies down in her bed.  I do the same, ready for tonight to be over.

Chapter Ten

Two weeks go by and nothing has happened to me.  I didn’t really think that Liam would do anything, but I was a little nervous. “What do you want to do tonight?” Quinn asks as we make our way to our last class of the day.

“I have a paper to write when we get home, but other than that, I’m up for anything.”

“There’s a party at one of the sorority houses down the street, do you want to go?”

“Sure, sounds fun,” I say as we enter class.

Once class is over, we head home and I start my paper in hopes of getting it completed before we head out for
Thirsty Thursday at the sorority house.  It takes a little over two hours to complete my paper.  “I’m done, how soon do you want to leave?” I ask Quinn.

She glances at the
clock, “We can go over around eight.”

“Okay,” I say as I look to see what else I can get completed tonight.  I work on a few other smaller projects before throwing on a pair of denim Capri’s and a red racer-back tank top, with red flip flops.  I decide comfortable is the way to go tonight.

“Ready to go?” she asks from the door.

“Yup,” I say as I grab my cell phone and throw it in my wristlet before heading out the door.  A few other sisters decide to come with us to the party.

We make it to the party in less than five minutes.  There are people everywhere; I’m surprised it’s so crowded already, considering its only 8:00p.m.  We head inside and move towards the kitchen to where the drinks are set up.

About two hours later I hear constant whispers, but can’t figure out what the hell people are whispering about. “Hey, what’s all the whispering?” I ask Quinn.

“No clue,” she says completely oblivious to everything around us right now.

A guy walks up to us, “You’re Haley right?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

“I wanted to see if you were free tonight, say 11:00 p.m.?” the guys asks.

“For what?”

“I was told you wanted to get fucked tonight, so I figured I’d get first dibs,” he says while he laughs.

“Excuse me?” I ask just when another guy walks up to us, “Since he has the 11:00 p.m. I’ll take the 11:30 p.m. time slot,” he says as he hands me a piece of paper.  I look at it and it takes me a minute to figure out what the fuck it is, but it’s a list of names with times filled in on where I’m supposed to meet them for their turn.

“Is this some
kind of a fucking joke?” I yell as I hold the paper up, “I’m not sleeping with any of you.”

“That’s
not what you said last night,” A guy says out of nowhere, causing everyone around to laugh.

“I never said anything last night,” I yell.

The guy steps closer showing himself to me, I have no idea who he is though, “You’re right, you didn’t say anything last night because you were too busy sucking my dick,” he says to me with a straight face, the people around just laughing.

“No I didn’t.”

“Baby its okay; you don’t have to be embarrassed.  You’re allowed to suck whoever’s cock you want.  You are in college after all.  It’s where you can learn new tricks,” he says laughing.

“I didn’t suck you off last night asshole.”

“Well if you want to get technical, fine then it was this morning, but don’t worry you’re learning.  I’m sure soon enough you’ll be a pro.”

“Who the hell are you?” I yell, pissed off at this guy for lying in front of all these people about me.

“You can’t even remember my name?” he says laughing, “Last night you had no problem calling it out over and over again every time I fucked you,” he says looking pissed.

“Wait you fucked her last night too?” a strange
voice says out of nowhere.

“Hell yeah you’re fucking right I did.”

“Fuck you sure do get around,” the new found stranger says.

“I didn’t sleep with either of you last night,” I yell wishing I could just disappear.

Then all of a sudden two more guys walk up to me, “You had no problem letting us take you last night.  How many guys can you handle in a night Haley?”

“What the hell kind of joke is this?”  I yell.  Then I hear some girl yell “Skank,” and another yell “Slut,” while other people are laughing and starting to chant the horrible names.

“We need to go now,” Quinn says as she grabs my arm and pulls me towards the door.  The chants get louder as we make our way through the house and out the door, but it doesn’t stop, because there are people on the lawn out front that throw in their nasty comments too.

I start running towards home, wanting to be swallowed up whole.

“What the hell just happened?” Quinn yells, causing me to stop in my tracks.

“You think I know?  You saw me last night; I never left the fucking house.”

“Do you think that was Liam’s doing?”

“I didn’t even see him there, did you?”

“Would that stop him?”

“It’s been over two weeks since he made that threat.  Don’t you think he would have done something before now?”

“I have no idea Haley, but if that was the start of something, it’s only going to get uglier,” she says as we walk briskly home.

When we enter the house there are only a few girls up and they say goodnight as we head up the stairs for bed.

“I hope when I wake up that tonight was just a bad dream,” I say as I change and lie down.

“I wish it was sweetheart, but unfortunately I was there to witness it, so I know that’s not the case.

I check the time, but realize it’s too late to text Kenzie or Brody.  I wonder if they know what Liam’s up to.  Probably not, but it can’t hurt to ask.

Before I know it Friday is here and I’m grabbing my bag and racing out the door for my first class.  I don’t see many people, which I’m grateful for.  I don’t need the headache yet.  By midafternoon
, I’ve been called so many names, it’s ridiculous.  Guys keep walking up to me asking when it’s their turn, girls are calling me a whore, skank, slut, a piece of trash, you name it, they are calling me it.

By the time I get back to the sorority house, I head inside and see a bunch of girls that look at me with sad faces, though they don’t say a word.

“Hey,” Meg says surprising me.  I haven’t seen her around as much.

“Hey.”

“We’re going to a party tonight, if you want to come,” she says kindly.

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” I say truthfully.

“They’re just rumors, they’ll stop soon.  Come on, it will be fun.”

“Okay,” I say giving in.  At least Meg’s on my side.  I head up to my room to see if Quinn wants to go along.  I’m hoping like hell she says yes.

“Hey, do you want to come to a party tonight?”

“Where?” she asks confused.

“I don’t know Meg mentioned it to me.”

“Do you think that’s wise?”

“Probably not, but I can’t hide inside all night.”

“How did the rest of your day go?” she asks looking worried.

“Shitty, but they are just jerks and rumors, they’ll stop soon.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“So does that mean you’ll come along tonight?” I ask hopeful.

“Yes, I won’t let you go out there alone like that.”

“Thank you,” I say letting out a breath I didn’t know I was even holding.

We get ready for the party and follow Meg and a bunch of the girls out of the house.  We head to a house that I’ve never been to before.  I look over at Quinn and she gives me a worried look. I try to let her know that it’s fine, but in reality, I have no idea if it is or not.  Maybe I can’t trust Meg.

Meg leads us all into the house where there are some guys and girls but not nearly as many that show up at other houses.

“I figured you might like to actually enjoy a night out,” Meg says as she hands me a beer.  I take it and crack open the top before taking a long sip.

“Thanks Meg, I appreciate it.”

“No worries, it will pass in time.  It’s just how college is sometimes,” she says before walking over to talk to one of the other sisters.

Thankfully, the rest of the night goes on without a problem.  There’s no name-calling, no whispers, no guys walking up starting vicious lies and rumors.  It’s just a normal party like before.  Hopefully, things can go back to this.  I miss the normal.

Over the course of the next five weeks
, I’ve been verbally attacked, screamed at, lied about, called more names, and even had eggs thrown at me.  Who the hell throws eggs?  Five weeks of hell is what I’ve been living in.  I don’t go anywhere except to class and home.  The girls at the house are starting to whisper about me rather than talk to me, and I feel like I have no one, well other than Quinn.

I’ve been talking to Kenzie and Brody, but Brody said he talked to Liam and he played it off like it was nothing.  That he’s heard little things here and there about me, but nothing that would cause for concern.  The lying asshole.  He’s making my life hell.

“Hey,” Meg says as she appears at our bedroom door, “Party tonight, you’re both going, so get ready,” she says quickly before disappearing.

“We shouldn’t go,” Quinn states.

“I know.”

“No I have a really bad feeling about this,” she says looking almost petrified.

“I don’t think we really have a choice.”

“We always have a choice.”

“Did she leave any room for debate?” I ask as I throw on a pair of jeans and a cute dolman sleeve top.

“We aren’t staying long.”

“That’s fine with me,” I say as I finished getting dressed.

We head downstairs to see all the girls ready to head out for the night.  “At least we aren’t by ourselves,” I say as I nod towards all the other girls.

“That’s a good thing,” Quinn says as we walk outside.  We head to the party and I’m nervous when I see all the cars.  Looking up towards the door, it appears the place is already packed with people.

“We should leave,” Quinn says quietly.

“How?” I ask as I look around.  We are surrounded by sisters and other people.

“I don’t know
, but this isn’t gonna end well.”

“Maybe I should talk to L
iam, see if I can get him to lay off for a while.”

“
You should definitely try.”

“Okay, well then I’ll look for him once we get inside,” I say as we follow the herd of people into the building.

I can hear laughter the further we make it in, but I can’t tell who it’s coming from.  Someone hands us a drink, it’s unopened so we take them and open up the cans before taking a drink.

It doesn’t take long to hear whispers and people pointing
at me and laughing then pointing up to something else at the front of the wall.  I grab Quinn’s arm to let her know I’m going to see what the hell is going on.

I make it to the front of the room and see underwear, my underwear hanging all around the pictures.  Pictures of me.  Pictures of me sleeping, laughing, swimming, each picture has a comment and though I can’t read them fast enough, they don’t say anything good.

“These were the panties you were wearing when I fucked you, thanks for the keepsake,” some asshole says.

“I kept these ones,” another guy says before smelling them, “They even still smell like you,” he says before laughing, causing everyone to cackle.

I turn in circles looking around seeing pictures of me, my underwear, hell, even some bra’s that look like mine, before I’m doused in ice cold water.  I turn to look at Quinn who looks shocked as hell and is slightly wet from the water.  Before I have a chance to move, another bucket of ice water hits me, then I smell and taste nothing but beer.  People are shaking their beers and dumping them on me.

I turn to run, but there’s nowhere to go.  I look for Quinn, Meg, hell anyone, but all the faces are blurring together.  Just then another round of ice cold water hits me, followed by another, then another.  I’m freezing and I want nothing more than to get the hell out of here.

Everyone is calling me names, saying how they fucked me, what a whore I am. I don’t even realize when someone grabs my arm and starts pulling me through the crowd.  When I get to the door people are behind me calling me more hideous names.  It takes me a moment to realize that Quinn pulled me out.

“I knew we shouldn’t have come.  What the fuck,” she yells as we start to walk towards home.

“I’m freezing,” I stutter.  The ice cold water with the cool night breeze doesn’t fend well for me.

“We are going to get you home and you can take a hot shower to warm up.”

We try to walk home as quickly as possible, but the faster I move, the colder I’m getting.  When we finally get to the front door it’s locked.  I didn’t bring my keys because we usually don’t lock the door.

“Please tell me you have your key?”

“No, we never lock the fucking door,” she yells as she bangs on the door, hoping someone’s inside to let us in.  After five minutes of pounding, no one answers.  “Hails I need you to stay here, I’m going to go back and get the fucking key from Meg.”