Page 7 of Pucking High School

“Da-Dash?” Amy sputtered out, looking horrified. Her cheeks were flushed and her lipstick was smeared across her face, but she didn’t look unhappy about being there. I honestly didn't know what to feel, but when the guy turned around and I registered it was Henry, a teammate of mine, my pride took over.

“What the fuck are you doing, man?” I said, pushing him into the lockers, and watching as his eyes widened with horror. What the hell did he think was going to happen? They might have been under the stairs, but we were still in the hallway, and anyone could have seen them.

Henry's face was smeared with glittery lip gloss, sending a chill up my spine because I knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of that. It was sticky and tasted like fake strawberries. I also knew that shit didn't come off for days, either.

“Dash. I'm sorry.” Amy's words barely filtered through my brain as she pulled on my arm, trying to get me to distance myself from Henry. At the moment, I didn’t care about her. I just needed to prove a point to my teammate.

Wait a minute. Why was I more bothered about Henry going behind my back than my girlfriend cheating on me?

Man, I really should have broken up with Amy years ago. It wasn’t fair on her or me because now, she was upset for hurting me, and I couldn’t care less. Really, I should have been the one that was saying sorry for even entertaining this mess.

“He-Henry?”

The hall went silent.

Or at least I thought it did becausehervoice had no problem breaking through my thoughts. Mainly because her voice played in my head like a melody even when she wasn’t around.

Madison.

When I looked over at my best friend's little sister, I saw something I didn't expect. Tears. She was watching me pin Henry up against the locker and was crying about it.

Why the hell was she crying over that douche?

I looked between the two of them, and Henry’s brows were furrowed.

“Madison, I can explain.”

Hold on, was there something going on between them?

My fists clenched because something about that fact really pissed me off.

“Madison, is everything okay?” I asked, ready to drop Henry on the floor and take her away from this place if I had to.

She looked at me, almost embarrassed. Her lips trembled and then she dropped her gaze to the floor, taking in a deep breath.

Tiff, her cousin, was at her side in an instant and drew her into a hug.

“You’re an asshole, Henry,” Tiff spat out. I had no doubts that if she wasn’t so busy consoling Madison, she’d slap Henry across the face because she might have been quiet, but she was feisty when she needed to be.

“I'm sorry, Madison,” Henry said.

Okay, that was all the confirmation I needed. There was something going on between them.

Chuckling bitterly, I shook my head, trying to convince myself not to do something stupid.

She wasn’t mine.

She never could be.

Too late.

None of my commonsense arguments worked because I’d already made my decision.

Henry had made Madison cry, so he deserved everything that was coming to him.

With Henry still pinned to the locker, I did what anyone would do in my situation. I punched him square in the face because he deserved it.

The crack of his nose echoed through the hall, and blood splattered across my face. I looked unhinged, but I didn’t care. No one hurt Madison and got away with it.