Flawed and Dangerous
A Flawed Young Beautiful People Series Novel Book 1
Valenciya Lyons
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Valenciya Lyons
Cover Design by BeeJavier of SelfPubBookCovers.com
Excerpt from Flawed and Beautiful
Copyright © 2017 by Valenciya Lyons
All rights reserved. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Acknowledgements
First and foremost I would like to thank God Almighty for being there for me. I would also like to thank my grandmother, Rosa Lyons, for always being by my side and supporting me no matter what. To all my family and friends, I love you all.
Author Biography
The Mississippi native’s love for writing began around the age of ten. During this time, she wrote short stories and poems and was encouraged by her grandmother to pursue a career in writing. She attended The University of Southern Mississippi and received a Bachelor of Science in Fashion Merchandising and Apparel Studies. She currently resides in Meridian, MS with her grandmother. When she’s not writing, she spends her time reading fashion magazines, shopping, and hanging out with friends and family.
Other Books by Valenciya Lyons
Cami’s Decision (A Crossroads Trilogy Novel, Book 1)
Life After Natalie (A Crossroads Trilogy Novel, Book 2)
A New Beginning (A Crossroads Trilogy Novel, Book 3)
You Don’t Belong (An Outsider Series Novel, Book 1)
The Outsider (An Outsider Series Novel, Book 2)
Toxic Love
Connect With Me
Follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/ValenciyaLyons
Friend me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Valenciya.Lyons
Chapter 1
She loved nights but hated mornings. She could sleep during the entire night; however, morning meant she was awakening to a nightmare. A dreaded living nightmare that wouldn’t go away. A nightmare that wouldn’t let her have a moment of peace as soon as she stepped through the double doors to hell.
Leighton Kressel’s eyes fluttered open and adjusted to the sunlight seeping into her room through her bedroom window. She groaned before tossing the comforter away from her warm body. She slowly sat up and her feet made contact with the cold floor beneath her. She opened her bedroom door and walked down the hall to the bathroom she shared with her little sister. She tried to open the bathroom door but it was locked. She rolled her eyes and knocked on the door.
“Wait a minute!” her sister shouted from inside before opening the door.
“Are you finished yet?” she asked her sister.
“Just let me brush my hair and then the bathroom will be all yours.”
Leighton watched her younger sixteen-year-old sister, Zayley, as she brushed her long, thick, brown hair that was as soft as silk.
“You know, Leighton,” Zayley began while still brushing her hair, “you go to sleep super early. So it’s kind of surprising that you don’t wake up early—at least earlier than me.”
“I’m not really a morning person,” she answered rather quickly. Zayley stopped brushing her hair and stared at her for a moment. Then she turned her attention back to her hair and resumed brushing while Leighton let out a silent breath she’d been holding.
“All done,” her sister said happily as she exited the bathroom.
Leighton entered the bathroom and closed and locked the door behind her. She stopped in front of the mirror and stared at her reflection. The reflection looking back at her was a seventeen-year-old young woman with beautiful brown eyes that appeared to be sad. She eyed the red highlights that she’d begged her mother to put in her blonde hair; she didn’t know what she’d been thinking. Until her mind started to take her to a place she’d prefer not to revisit. You’re a fat, ugly pig. No one likes you. Leighton looked at her thighs. Even though she wasn’t fat, a part of her was beginning to think she was. She allowed her gaze to drift back to the mirror. Tear after tear fell down onto her cheeks without her uttering a sound. She could feel the knot forming inside her stomach—just like it always did. She hated herself for feeling this way.
Her gaze dropped from the mirror and she stripped nude before stepping into the shower. She lathered every inch of her body with body wash. Leighton never rushed her morning showering sessions. Despite her love for academics, she wasn’t in a hurry to get to school. But it wasn’t always like this. She could feel the knot in her stomach growing tighter, as if it were suffocating her from the inside.
Leighton’s senior year had started in August 2015 just like the previous years. Then, around September she gained an unexpected rain cloud—Peyton Evers. She’d heard about Peyton bullying other students but she never thought it would happen to her. She didn’t even know why Peyton hated her so much.
Each verbal assault Peyton threw was slowly weakening her. On top of that her uncle had passed away nearly two months ago and she was still grieving. There was one word that made her continue to push herself even though she felt like giving up: graduation. She couldn’t wait until graduation so that she wouldn’t have to look at Peyton Evers’ face ever again.
She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of someone banging on the bathroom door. “Leighton!” her mother, Irina, shouted. “Hurry up! Your breakfast is getting cold!”
She turned the shower nozzle in the off position. “I’ll be out. Just give me a minute.” She quickly dried herself off. Then, she remembered that she didn’t bring any clothes in the bathroom. So she opened the door with the towel wrapped around her body and walked to her room.
After getting dressed, she walked downstairs to join her sister for breakfast. It was one meal she refused to miss. She didn’t like to eat breakfast at school because she didn’t want to face Peyton alone in the cafeteria without her two best friends, Vanessa Vidal and Aidan Sanchez. (They usually do not arrive to school as early as she does.) Sometimes Leighton skips lunch and waits in the girls’ restroom until the end of the lunch period. When she goes to lunch with her friends, she rarely eats. Even when Peyton isn’t looking at her, Leighton can still feel her eyes on her.
Right now Zayley was eyeing her while she was eating breakfast and it made her feel uncomfortable. Leighton set her fork onto her plate between the pancakes and eggs.
“Is there something on my face?” she questioned her little sister.
“No.”
“Then why were you staring at me?”
Zayley’s dark eyes met her sister’s. “I wasn’t staring at you…or if I was, I wasn’t trying to.”
Leighton had completely lost her appetite. She knew that her sister was staring at her and her answer did not satisfy her. She stood up from the dining room table.
“You know,” Zayley began while remaining seated, “you’ve changed and not in a good way.” She was glad her mother was not nearby to hear this.
If you only knew…
Sometimes she wondered if anyone else was aware of the internal pain that made her feel nauseated daily. Sometimes she wished her sister was aware of what she went through with Peyton on a daily basis in sch
ool. If Zayley knew about Peyton bullying her, she would’ve said something to her about it. It was only a matter of time before she discovered the truth; Peyton Evers had a big mouth. Sometimes Peyton would call her names in front of her friends and then move on to say the same thing to someone else. But Leighton didn’t even tell them about all of her run-ins with Peyton. So they didn’t know how bad it really was. She didn’t want them to know. She didn’t want anyone to know. All she really wanted was to make this all go away.
Chapter 2
The ride to school was awfully quiet in Leighton’s brand new Ford Explorer even though Zayley was sitting in the passenger’s seat. Her father had gifted her with the new vehicle for her seventeenth birthday. He had barely pulled into the drive way of her mother’s home when his cell phone began to ring. It was his new wife. She resented his ex-wife and children and didn’t want him to spend any time with them. Now Leighton and Zayley hardly ever saw him except for birthdays. During the holidays he’d always send a Christmas card with money inside. However, Leighton knew that eventually all communication would cease with her father.
She pulled up into a parking space on school grounds. Zayley exited the SUV without speaking to her and Leighton wondered what could’ve possibly gotten into her.
A knock on the driver’s window startled her. It was her best friend, Aidan, smiling back at her. His smile was so beautiful and pure that it brought a smile to her face, even though she was sad and hurting inside.
He opened the driver’s door for her. She unbuckled the seat belt and slowly eased her way out of the car. Because of Peyton, she no longer loved attending school the way she once had. So far her grades hadn’t suffered and she intended to keep it that way. Leighton was not going to let Peyton take her dream of attending college away from her. She wasn’t sure what she’d choose to major in; but she wanted to go to college and she wanted a scholarship.
She grabbed her back pack and purse from the back seat and slammed the car door shut.
Aidan placed his hands firmly on her shoulders, forcing her to make eye contact with him. His gray eyes were warm and inviting, yet clouded with worry. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she assured him but he wasn’t buying it.
“Don’t do that,” he said his hands still on her shoulders. “Don’t lie to me.”
She temporarily closed her eyes, wishing—hoping to shut the world out. “I’m not going to burden you with my problems.” She opened her eyes to find his gray ones staring back at her intensely. Without saying a word, he pulled her close to him and pressed his lips to her temple. “Whatever you’re going through, you’re going to make it. We both are,” he said against her ear, as if he was so certain it was true.
Leighton hugged him back with all the strength she had in her body. She knew that Aidan’s parents were going through a divorce and constantly argued all the time. She had once visited his family’s home and walked in on his parents arguing in the living room. His mother yelled and told them to leave the home; and before she knew it, a lamp was flying across the room towards her. Aidan grabbed her by the arm, not wanting her to be in harm’s way or witness more than she had to but Leighton was certain by the way his father had looked at his mother that the argument turned physical.
After that they called Vanessa and all three met up at the mall in the food court. It was there that Aidan opened up to them about the problems that were occurring at home—the loud arguing, the fights. Because of it he could hardly sleep at night. That’s why he was trying his best to keep his grades up (which he was doing an excellent job in). After graduation he was moving out of his parents’ home and moving into a college dorm. He’d already applied to several in-state and out-of-state colleges he was waiting to hear back from.
Since he’d already opened up to her about his problems, she considered doing the same. She peered up into his gray eyes. His square-shaped face had a strong jawline and was framed with brown curly hair that fell to his ears.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” a voice said from behind Leighton. She recognized that voice and it made her sick to her stomach. Her pulse raced and her heart felt as if it would pop out of her chest. Leighton wanted to walk the halls and remain invisible to Peyton Evers for the next five months until high school graduation. No matter what she did it seemed as if Peyton always found her. And now that she’d found her, Leighton turned around to face her rain cloud.
Peyton Evers was only slightly taller than Leighton. She had ocean blue eyes that could pierce someone like a dagger and a head full of long blonde extensions. Her roots were showing, making her extensions appear ugly. She was wearing a pink shirt (that displayed her massive cleavage) with glitter on it that said “Super Gorgeous” with ripped jeans. Leighton wasn’t sure which was worse her hair or the shirt. As mean as Peyton was, she definitely didn’t view her as a “Super Gorgeous” person.
Standing next to Peyton Evers were her two best friends, Gigi Delgado and Sailor Spencer. Gigi was the new girl in school back in tenth grade. Peyton got ahold of her before anyone else and she’d been a part of the “in” crowd since. Gigi was relatively short and wore her hair in a bob; she wasn’t as mean as Peyton or Sailor. Many people, Leighton included, suspected that she was only friends with Peyton just for the popularity.
Sailor, on the other hand, was just as big of a bitch as Peyton was. She’d talk about you to your face and behind your back. She was almost like a clone of Peyton; they both had matching blonde hair, matching blue eyes, and fake cleavage. (Gigi was the only one who was natural.)
Peyton was hardly ever seen without her two best friends. They were just like this season’s hottest fashion accessories.
Peyton took a step closer to Leighton. “I’ll tell you what we have here,” she said menacingly. She twirled a strand of Leighton’s hair around her finger and let it go. “A freak who no one likes who also happens to be a slut.” Peyton was pretty certain that Leighton was still a virgin but she didn’t care. She hated her and for now getting under her skin was all that mattered. She ignored Aidan who was giving her a death glare.
Aidan took ahold of Leighton’s hand. “Let’s go. You don’t have to stand here and listen to this nonsense coming from someone who doesn’t even earn her own grades.”
Peyton gasped. Is this loser calling me stupid? It wouldn’t be the first time. Many students at Sentinel High resented Peyton—and not because she was popular. Peyton’s mother, Mia Evers, has been the principal for nearly five years. Many of the teachers walk on eggshells around her mother and pass her even though she actually failed the class. She even overheard two teachers talking about her saying that they “couldn’t wait until May so she could graduate” and they could be “rid of her for good.” One teacher went on to say that she “felt sorry for Peyton and that if she attended college she’d fail miserably” while another one added “if she could learn the school material from the last four years, she’d have a chance.” Overhearing that made Peyton feel hopeless and that was one of the main reasons why she hated Leighton. Leighton Kressel took the time to study and she paid attention in class which paid off since her grades were so high. Peyton didn’t study for anything; she was more concerned with choosing a boy to have sex with on a Saturday night. It was hard to focus in class when she didn’t understand half of what the teacher was saying.
But Peyton was not going to let her weakness show. Not in front of these two losers.
“You’re pathetic and you always will be,” she spat in an effort to regain control. Then, she looked at Sailor and Gigi and walked away leading the pack.
Leighton turned around to face Aidan who was still holding her hand. There were tears in her eyes. “You want to know what’s bothering me?” Her voice trembled. “Or maybe I should say who…Peyton Evers. I shouldn’t have to deal with that every single day I come to school.” She was on the verge of crying.
“You’ll make it,” Aidan said soothingly. “I promise.”
br /> “But what if I don’t?”
Chapter 3
Vanessa had not gotten up as early as she’d hoped. She was not a morning person. She was running late and she had to rush to do everything: shower, get dressed, and eat breakfast. She thought about calling Leighton to ask for a ride to school but decided against it. Her mother was already at work so she couldn’t ask her. She’d just catch the bus to school.
She pulled the sleeves of her long-sleeved black sweater farther down her arm even though she wasn’t cold. She stepped off the school bus and onto campus. She quickly spotted Leighton’s SUV in a parking spot without her or Aidan nearby. So she knew they had to be inside the school.
She sighed, pulling her back pack closer to her body as she made her way to the entrance of the school. She rounded a corner and walked until she made it to the seniors’ hallway. She smiled and waved when she spotted Aidan and Leighton standing by her locker. As soon as her smile came it faded once Peyton stepped in front of her, blocking her path.
“Why are you in such a hurry?” she said with a stupid, funny, grin on her face. Vanessa wanted to slap it off but didn’t want to be suspended. If she could just make it through the last year.
“I don’t have time for this,” Vanessa responded, taking a step to the side to walk around Peyton only to be blocked again by her.
“Relax, Vanessa. I know that you have places to be.” She eyed her outfit: black sweater, skinny denim jeans, and black loafers. That irritating grin was still plastered to her face and then she added, “Like the thrift store where you get your three dollar jeans from.”
Several students around them snickered. But Vanessa was not going to let them or Peyton get the best of her. So what if she shopped at thrift shops for clothing? She wasn’t ashamed of it. Her father passed away when she was a child, cutting the household income in half. Her mother struggled to take care of them. Over the years she continued to work and apply for better jobs that paid more money; and it paid off. Even though she could afford to shop at a department store, she’d still head to a thrift shop first. When she did shop at department stores, she’d head for the clearance racks first, hoping to find a great bargain.