The Player Next Door ✓

53 | Unforgettable

Chapter 53: Unforgettable

The next day began like any other. Preston Oakes High School waited for the sun to rise.

Posters hung across the walls, waiting for students to arrive. They were printed and pasted across lockers and slapped on the back of doors. Hundreds of copies of the same photo.

The image of Millie half-naked with a $1 bill in her bra. Passed out for the whole school to see.

And under the picture were the words: $1 Entry

People gaped, pointed and laughed about it. Many snapped photos and sent them on. The image went viral, both online and on school grounds. If people didn't know Millie before, she was infamous now.

Chad was the first of Luke's crew to arrive at school.

He was a morning person. His chef cooked him the same omelet every day before he drove his convertible to school. Now that he was here, he was confused. A photo was stuck to his locker.  He thought it was fake at first. He didn't even realize that it was Millie.

He was in the middle of talking about it, when he recognized her. That's when he did a double take.

"Oh sh*t."

A few lockers down, Jake arrived at his spot. He was on his juul and almost choked on the smoke.

Usually, Chad and Jake barely interacted with each other, even though they were only a few lockers apart. But they looked at each other now. "Luke's going to-"

And then the notorious man himself materialized. 

Luke Dawson stormed the hallway, sending heart beats racing. 

No one wanted to get in his way.

"WHO DID THIS?" he roared.

Jake took a poster down and stared at it, "Luke, relax. We'll find whoever did this."

"Don't f*cking tell me to relax."

"Yeah, don't tell him to relax," Austin said, accompanying him down the hall, "It's the least relaxing thing."

Luke did not pause as he passed by. Jake was the only person not squirming at the sight of angry Luke. He sighed and followed his brother, since Luke looked like he had a plan. 

Chad slammed his locker shut and tagged along. Others stared and began to follow. Luke took a sharp right turn and arrived at the girls' lockers.

Bianca was applying red lipstick in a little mirror she kept in her locker. Oma noticed the boys coming and freaked out. She tapped her friend on the shoulder.

"Did you do this?" Luke confronted her.

Bianca almost messed up her lipstick. She shivered as she saw Luke's body approaching her in her compact mirror.

"No, I swear I didn't," she promised, turning to face him, lipstick in hand.

"We talked about this, Bianca."

"I know and I promised that I didn't do this. I swore to you back then that I wouldn't use the photo. Why would I even print them? That's so old school."

"It's the digital age," one of Bianca's worshippers, sorry friends, piped up in agreement.

Luke gave her one look and she ran off. 

Bianca sighed.

While Luke confronted the girls, his friends backed him up. Around them, a huge crowd had gathered. This drama had escalated beyond anyone's imagination. No one expected the reaction that this poster would stir in Luke.