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“She’s here,” a female voice hissed, a rough hand grabbing Lee’s sweatshirt. I was pushed back into the tiny hallway.

That was Claudia’s voice.

Two others joined her.

There wasn’t enough room to fight back, not with how much my face was aching.

They crowded around me.

I tried hitting back, getting them a few times, but they hit me.

Slapped me.

Punched me.

I tried to go into the bathroom to lock the door. I was grabbed and yanked back.

“I don’t think so, bitch.”

My hair was pulled.

I cried out as nails raked over my cheek. They dug in, trying to claw me, leave marks.

There was a ripping sound. They were pulling apart Lee’s sweatshirt.

“If you’re going to wear his clothes, he can see how ugly you are.” I thought that was Claudia, but I wasn’t sure.

Someone tripped me.

I crumbled.

As I hit the ground, they were kicking me. I curled in on myself. It was instinctive.

They weren’t stopping, but now they were mostly getting my back. The underside of my legs.

Cassian’s phone was ringing.

They were laughing.

“She’s going to be so ugly, they won’t want to even look at her.”

“Maybe we should pull her pants down, mess her up down there too. Write whore, slutbag. Fuck me here. I’ve got a permanent marker.”

The other girls peeled into more laughter. They thought that was a great idea.

One girl grabbed my feet.

No.

Oh, God.

They were going to—BENJI!

I began screaming in my head. BENJI! HELP!

NOAH!

They were trying to hold me down.