CHAPTER FIVE
the bad guy

Angeline was not prepared to see Grace the next Monday at school. She had avoided the girls group chat since the party on Saturday night, knowing if she saw Grace right now then she wouldn't be able to control her big mouth. However, if she was being totally honest, Grace violating girl code by making out with Angeline's ex-of-a-week wasn't the main priority taking up Angeline'd mind.

Mitch's words followed Angeline around like the plague, dozens of different conspiracies filling her head. What was Mitch up to? What was her family up to?

Whenever the security man tried to look at her or talk to her, she made sure that he knew she wasn't pleased with him. Mitch didn't seem to particularly care that Angeline wasn't bugging him; going about his business like usual.

"Are you gonna confront her?" Ciara questioned as she watched Angeline sit on the bottom stair to put her shoes on.

"I don't know," she admitted, ignoring Mitch who was sitting at the island in the kitchen, going through paperwork. "I feel like I should but I don't know if I have the energy to fight with her today."

Ciara sighed in agreement, fiddling with her new pink hair. It was a soft bubblegum colour that complimented her warm beige skin beautifully and Angeline had nearly screamed when she saw it this morning.

"Grace shouldn't get away with it, though," she huffed, folding her arms across her chest as Angeline finally finished tying her laces.

"I know," Angeline groaned. "She's pissed me right off."

"Well, look at what I got to cheer you up after school."

Angeline glanced into the bag that Ciara was holding open, the brunette catching sight of the small ziplock tucked away in one of the pockets. Inside were two pre-rolls, causing the two girls to giggle and shake their heads.

"Ciara," Angeline whined quietly, glancing over to where she could see Mitch still sat at the island, minding his own business. "You know my dad would flip his shit if he ever found out you had that here."

The pink-haired girl said nothing but giggled more as she slipped the zip-lock into Angeline's bag instead. They didn't say anything to Mitch as they linked arms and left the house, Angeline immediately squinting in the bright sunshine.

"Ah, I love this weather," she mumbled.

Ciara scoffed, pulling her sunglasses down from her hair onto her nose. "I would trade this for the middle of London any day. You're crazy, girl."

"If you moved to London, you'd miss it here. Trust me," Angeline insisted as she slipped into the passenger side of Ciara's Jeep Wrangler. "I'm going back for a couple of weeks once we graduate, then I think I'm gonna try and get my mum to start visiting here instead."

"Fair enough."

About fifteen minutes later, the two teenagers pulled up in the car park and were heading towards the front of the school. Angeline felt her heartbeat pick up a little upon noticing Grace stood next to Paige by their usual meeting spot, her brows furrowing absentmindedly into a small glare.

"Maybe I should hear her out first," Angeline whispered to Ciara. "And then I will have a reason to punch her in the fucking dick."

"She doesn't have-"

"Angel, Ciara!" Paige rushed over, grabbing both their hands and pulling them towards Grace. "You guys have been totally M.I.A since the party. So boring without you."

Angeline raised her eyebrows, looking directly at the pink-clad girl next to Paige. "I don't know, you seemed to be having a lot of fun on Saturday night."

Grace frowned a little. "What's that supposed to mean?" She questioned defensively.

"It means I saw you with your tongue down Levi's throat, Grace," Angeline snapped.

She thought she wouldn't have started an argument like this, that maybe Grace would say something to reassure her, but Angeline's tongue always worked before her brain. It was the reason she was constantly getting into trouble, and it was the reason she was probably about to lose a friend.

Grace looked appalled at the accusation, her brain clearly whirling as she tried to conduct something in her head. Paige's eyes were slightly wide as she glanced between the two of them. Before the blonde could say anything, Grace finally spoke up.

"You were already broken up—"

Angeline looked horrified. "That's not the point! What about girl code?"

"You said you didn't care about Levi anymore! You rejected him, like, five times last week alone," Grace attempted to reason with her. "You made it obvious that you weren't interested anymore."

Ciara huffed. "Seriously, Grace? He cheated on her."

"This is not about Levi! This is about you getting with my ex a week after I dumped him, and you didn't even think to tell me about it!" Angeline seethed, her voice picking up and gathering the attention of others.

Paige looked around them, heart pounding as more and more people started to look. A few were already daring to come over.

"Guys," the blonde hissed. "Let's just talk about this another time."

"No," Grace growled. "If you have something to say, Angeline, say it."

Paige glanced at Angeline desperately. "Angel, it's really not a big deal—"

"Stay out of this," Ciara warned the leader of their group.

Angeline glared harder. "I thought we were supposed to be friends, Grace. You could have gone for any guy on that beach and you went for Levi Edwards. What kind of friend are you?"

"Are you calling me a slut?" Grace's gasp rang loud and clear for everybody to hear, and by now, much to Paige's horror, they were surrounded by at least fifty other teenagers.

Paige's reputation was everything to her. It had been drilled into her since she was merely a kid— that people were going to judge, so she always needed to be at her best. Paige wanted a classy group of beautiful, rich girls, and right now they were falling out of line, starting verbal fights before the first period had even started for the whole school to listen to.

"I'm calling you a shitty friend," Angeline corrected her.

"He came onto me first," Grace wasn't even attempting to cool down anymore— she was trying to win, to get Angeline as riled up as possible— and it was working.

"In fact," the dark-skinned girl added with a cocky smile. "Levi's always been interested in me. He said so himself. Even when the two of you were together."

"You can have him now," Angeline spat. "It doesn't matter because we're not friends anymore. No more girl codes to break. Sleep with all my exes you want, bitch."

As she started to walk away, Grace panicked, trying to get the last words in.

"Whatever. Go back home to suck off daddy's security 'cause it's the only way you'll get his attention, daddy issues."

It wasn't even a good comeback, yet the next thing Angeline knew, her hands were yanking at Grace's hair and she was smacking her across the face. Paige yelled Angeline's name as gasps and laughs ripped through the crowd of students.

Grace didn't hesitate to hit Angeline right back, the brunette taking a hit to the face before she was punching Grace in the shoulder. She didn't go as hard as she knew she could, knowing she could actually send Grace to the hospital.

Angeline ended up getting scratched by Grace's hot pink acrylics, her jaw home to a couple of shallow scratches before Angeline smacked her as hard as she could around the face.

Paige caught Grace when the girl stumbled back, holding her nose and releasing a small cry. Angeline stood above her, heaving with anger. The satisfaction of watching blood trickle from Grace's nose made it all so worth it.

"Shut the fuck up, Grace," the English girl snapped. "Don't talk about shit you don't understand."

Stay out of what you don't understand.

Her own words caused Mitch's to float in her head, a dazed expression written across her face as people chanted her name in the distance. Before she could pull herself out of her daydream, she felt a large hand clamp down on her shoulder.

Angeline looked up and sighed when she saw Principal Warren stood there, a disappointed look on his face as she shook his head.

"Miss Lewis, if you would like to come with me..."

Fucking great.

...

Angeline honestly hadn't planned on starting a fight with Grace over what had happened at the beach on Saturday, but when Grace had lied in front of everybody she had just snapped. The rage she had felt at that moment in time had shaped the next couple of minutes of her life, the next couple of minutes that had landed her in the principal's office getting her bag checked.

This wouldn't have been a problem at all usually. If it was any other day, he'd find Angeline's pencil case amongst a bunch of books, some lip balm, maybe a gloss if she'd worn one into school that day, a couple of hairbands in case they had to do a lab experiment... the usual.

Not today, though. Today, Principal Warren found a ziplock with two joints stuffed inside.

Thank you, Ciara.

Angeline wasn't going to bother trying to come up with some lie or try and blame her friend; she was exhausted of fighting so often and she just wanted to go home.

The brunette was forced to wait outside his office door in reception until her father came and picked her up, but Angeline knew it was likely she could be there for hours waiting. She leaned her head back against the wall behind her, closing her eyes.

"There's no sleeping in my reception room, Miss Lewis," one of the receptionists called.

Angeline peeled one eye open and shot her a look so sour that the old woman recoiled, pushing her glasses back up her nose and going back to minding her own business. She sighed to herself, playing with her fingers as she thought about how much trouble she was going to get into for this.

Having a physical fight and bringing drugs on campus was a big no-no, the kind of shit that Principal Warren only excused if the perpetrator was on the boys' soccer team.

When she heard the reception doors peel open, Angeline opened both her eyes and was more than surprised to see not her father, not even her older brother, but Mitch wandering inside.

He didn't look happy to be there at all, his hazel eyes scanning the room until they landed on Angeline. His shoulders sagged and he moved over, sitting down in the seat next to her. Mitch craned a little to look at the teenage girl.

"What happened?" He asked.

Angeline rolled her eyes at him. "Where's my dad?"

"He couldn't make it," Mitch said.

"So he sent you instead," Angeline huffed in a mixture of realisation and slight disappointment. "I don't know you, Mitch. You're barely any older than me and you're a complete stranger. I should just wait here for him to come and sort this out."

If Mitch was insulted by Angeline's words, he didn't show it. His expression barely changed, just like always. He had to know why she was acting like this. Angeline knew it was petty and that she deserved to be told off for trying to get into his stuff, except she had thought Mitch was on her side this whole team and now she was worried he was just as bad as Renolds and the others.

"Your father's not coming," Mitch deadpanned. "Mr Lewis said he had more important things to take care of."

Angeline wished that Mitch's words didn't sting a little, but she felt them right in her chest. Anything was more important to her dad than Angeline. When she was accepted into Harvard a few weeks ago, the man had barely reacted. That was when Angeline realised nothing she could or would ever do would ever impress him.

The door to the principal's office opened and Mitch immediately stood, sending a short nod to Principal Warren and moving to shake his hand.

"You must be Principal Warren," Mitch greeted.

"Yes..." He peeled his hand away. "You're not Angeline's father."

Angeline scoffed and rolled her eyes. "No, this is my babysitter, Mitch."

"Mitch Rapp, sir," the dark-haired man ignored Angeline's words as they all walked into the office, Mitch and Angeline sitting behind the desk. "I'm security for Mr Lewis. He had business to attend to, so he sent me instead."

"Very well," Principal Warren sighed. "I'm sorry we had to call you in like this, but we will need you to sign a few things regarding Angeline's week suspension."

"Week suspension?" Angeline and Mitch both repeated, Angeline a whole lot more appalled. "Sir, listen, I would never have hit her if she didn't spread absolute bullshi-"

"Okay," Mitch quickly silenced her. "What's this week suspension for?"

"Physical assault on a Fair Hill student and possession of drugs on school site," Principal Warren said.

Angeline rolled her eyes. "That makes it sound so much worse than it is. And I think you're only putting assault because I won the fight, but if you check out the scratches on my cheek then you'll see it wasn't actually one-sided and-"

"Miss Lewis," the man glared a little before he looked to Mitch. "Angeline's suspension will start tomorrow until next Monday where she will be allowed to step foot back on campus. If she comes on-site before that time, it will count as trespassing and further action will be taken. More behaviour like this from Angeline could result in harsher punishments such as permanent expulsion, and upon her return to Fair Hill, she will have lunchtime detentions for a week."

"Fucking hell," Angeline blurted. "Want me to scrape all the gum off every desk whilst I'm at it?"

"Language, Miss Lewis," Principal Warren snapped.

Mitch signed a few different pieces of paperwork before they were guided off-site by the principal himself, all the way to the car park. Angeline climbed into the passenger side of Mitch's work car and slammed the door harshly, tossing her bag on the floor.

"You gonna lecture me now?" The brunette stared out the window.

"You said it yourself, Angeline," Mitch replied solemnly, not peeling his eyes off of the road for a second. "I'm barely older than you and I'm a complete stranger. Who am I to tell you what to do?"

The teenage girl frowned, realising that maybe Mitch had been a little hurt by Angeline's words. She immediately wanted to apologise, but she didn't know why. She had no idea if she could even trust Mitch, he was just another man unwelcome in her home.

It was silent for another agonising five minutes where all Angeline wanted to do was talk. She wanted to say so much to Mitch, to just straight up demand answers and let him know she's not a bad person like he probably thinks, but for once she couldn't get the words out.

They pulled up in the garage beside the house. Mitch switched off the engine and went to pull the keys out when Angeline grabbed his hand, stopping him. Mitch glanced down at their hands before he looked up at her, brows furrowed.

"I..." Angeline began, her voice barely above a whisper like she was scared somebody else might here them. "I know something's not right."

Mitch was frowning deeper now, and it was probably the most emotion she had ever seen on his face. He actually looked a little... worried?

"I know something's going on," she said quietly. "My dad and my brother are doing something and you're involved. Something bad is happening, and I'm on to all of you."

Angeline peeled her hand from his and moved to open her door, but Mitch was quickly grabbing her hand again. The teenage girl turned, eyes slightly wide as she waited for him to talk.

"Whatever you think you know, you don't," his voice was just as low as hers, eyes looking around them briefly. "I'm not the bad guy, Angeline."

Angeline blinked, pulling her hand out of his and grabbing her school bag. She flung it over her shoulder and climbed out of the car.

"Funny that my father says the exact same thing."

...

When Mr Lewis requested that Angeline and Elliot both join him in the dining room for dinner, Angeline knew she should be worried. She spent her day in her bedroom, avoiding Mitch and doing all the schoolwork she was missing out on, so she had yet to see her family.

She had only been sitting down for two minutes, opposite Elliot whilst their father sat at the head of the oversized oak table. The brunette shoved about the peas on her plate in distaste, avoiding the fish and potatoes next to it altogether.

"I heard some news today," Mr Lewis finally spoke up, setting his cutlery at an agonisingly slow pace onto his plate. "Renolds told me that you were excluded from school, I hope this is not true."

Fucking Renolds.

Angeline swallowed thickly as she crushed some peas beneath her fork. She glanced back up to see both men staring at her intensely.

"Suspended, not excluded," Angeline said. "You would know if you had come to pick me up rather than sending Mitch."

"Rapp, Angeline," Elliot corrected her. "You refer to people like him by their last names."

Angeline rolled her eyes, unable to send a witty remark back before her dad was releasing a dramatic sigh and dropping his head into his hand. He rubbed his forehead.

"The drugs thing isn't a big deal," Angeline insisted. "It was only weed which is, like, not even that bad, and it wasn't even mine. I was just holding onto it."

"Where have I heard that one before?" Mr Lewis growled, lifting his head from his hand. "It probably comes from a book along with the hundreds of other excuses you use."

Angeline didn't try to protest, she just crushed more peas beneath her cutlery and pretended that they were all her father's head. She would storm out and head straight to her bedroom, but she knew it would make her look like the loser.

Angeline Lewis was not a loser.

"It's not an excuse, honestly," she replied, rolling her eyes. "I don't expect you to believe me, though. Neither of you ever take anything I say seriously."

"Maybe if you were less of a self-entitled brat," Elliot grumbled, shoving some potato into his mouth.

Angeline's fists clenched beneath the table as she looked to her brother.

"Oh, I'm the self-entitled brat?" She scoffed. "Elliot, you're the one literally planning on sponging off dad for the rest of your life. I have been working my arse off this entire time, even when you two pull shit bad enough to drive mum out of the bloody country! I have dreams more fulfilling and less selfish than a mansion and a few billion dollars to myself. I got accepted into Harvard fucking University, yet not a word or question about it from you two! I'm gonna be a clinical psychologist, dad! I'm gonna help people."

Elliot looked to their father to see his expression. Mr Lewis was nearly frozen as he stared at his daughter, pursing his thin lips together.

"Clinical psychology will not pay you much at all," he avoided everything else she had said on purpose to rile her up. "In fact, your brother would be making hundreds and hundreds times more money than you."

"It's all about money with you," Angeline snapped. "Maybe I want to make a difference, maybe I want a family that actually cares about each other."

"Maybe you should shut the hell up before I make you," Mr Lewis raised his voice, slamming his hands down on the table so hard that both his kids flinched.

Angeline swallowed, contemplating her next actions. "I dare you."

There's her tongue having a mind of its own again.

Within a flash, the teenage girl was yanked from her seat by her father. Mr Lewis pulled her by the back of her oversized t-shirt harshly and practically threw her onto the marble floor beneath her.

Elliot looked shocked, watching with wide eyes as the man hovered over his little sister who was coughing at the abrupt impact. Angeline was still glaring nevertheless, hair falling in front of her face a little.

"You think I won't?" Mr Lewis reached back down and was pulling her up by the back of her hair.

She made a scene this time, yelling out in pain as she tried to reach behind her and get his large hands off of her.

"I'm a man of my word, Angeline," he hissed right against her ear. "I'll make you shut up if it's the last thing I do."

He started to tug her away and Angeline reached out behind her. Her elbow slammed into Mr Lewis' stomach and the man dropped down, coughing and wheezing as he tried to catch his breath.

"Don't fucking touch me," Angeline panted wildly, ignorning the burning tears steaming down her cheeks.

"Renolds," he choked.

The head of security quickly arrived, eyes snapping from Angeline to the man on the floor. He didn't have to say anything before Angeline's arms were being pulled behind her and she was being dragged backwards up the stairs.

"Let me go, dickhead!" Angeline screamed, thrashing about.

Renolds was trained; he wasn't going to be as easy to get off of her as her father. He'd had years of experience, she just had some after school clubs to compromise with.

"Shut your mouth," Renolds hissed.

As he threw her into her bedroom, Angeline quickly got back onto her feet and spat as hard as she could. She was more than certain she had gotten Renolds in the face, but before she could see his pissed expression, the door was slammed shut right in her face.

"Fuck you!" She screamed, her voice rumbling in her chest and ripping her throat. "Fuck all of you fucking bastards. I hate you all."

Angeline punched her door over and over, kicking it with her feet until she lost all energy and lay back on her carpet in exhaustion.

They were driving her insane.

...

iffy about this chapter but it had to be written. i really need to get on top of college work asap but all ive been doing is reading harry styles fics and trying to write this.

pls recommend me good mitch fics if you know any! ive only ever read, like, 2 and that was back in 2017 and i don't think there have been many since (??)

- dyiansobrien.