by Mya West
Bryce looks at her confused. “Danna, what the fuck is that?”
“No time to talk.” She says. “Load up and we are getting the fuck out of here.”
I pat Bryce’s shoulder before getting into the car. “Long story short, she kind of lied to us.”
Danna takes off. Bryce tells her to slow down to not look so conspicuous. She listens. We get to the main street in town, and other cars are around us. It would probably be the only time that the sight of traffic would give a comforting feeling.
Danna fills Bryce in on what happened. He’s pissed but is doing a good job playing the quiet game with Danna.
“Do you guys want to come over and read the book?” She asks us, barely maintaining her huge smile, plastered on her face.
Bryce and I had both had enough adventure for one night and declined.
“You read some of the book. What did it say?” I ask her. She looks at me with a smile but doesn’t say anything.
Bryce rolls his eyes. “Danna answer the question!”
She waves her head and hits the steering wheel. “You know, some journalists will wait their whole lives for something like tonight to happen. ‘Secret Society Runs Ryland Academy’. I can see the headlines now.”
“It could have just been a sex cult.” Bryce says, managing a smile.
“It might not have been the Beasts, either. Just boys with a frat-like mentality getting together,” I say. I can’t wait to get home. I just want to climb into my sheets, write this crazy shit down in my journal, and sleep.
Danna continues to smile. “What we saw tonight, that’s a story. There’s a lot going on here, and I’m going to figure it all out.”
“Are you going to tell us what you read in the book?” I ask.
She nods her head solemnly. For a change her smile vanishes. “Live by the rules. Die by the rules.”
Chapter 13
A knock on the door during quiet reading time in English class, makes me jump. A young man holding another bouquet of roses and thistle, asks the teacher if a Ms. Maven is in this classroom.
I stand up, walk over to him, grab the flowers, thanking him, and sit back down at my desk.
This is the third arrangement of flowers I’ve received today. I didn’t even bother to look and see if the sender had a card attached. They didn’t. The other two didn’t have any indication of who they were from.
I look over at Selena Jensen!! who is looking me over as if questioning why she isn’t getting similar attention. I smell the roses, with a wide smile, letting it get to her more. When I’m confident that I’ve, at a minimum, bothered her, I place the flowers at my feet.
Bryce looks at me with a peculiar eyebrow raised. I shrug my shoulders back at him.
I take a piece of paper out and write a message on it. When I’m done, I lift it up at Bryce. I ask him if he’s heard from Danna yet. It seems like she hasn’t come to school yet. He waves his head no with a concerned look.
While everyone is reading, and the teacher’s attention is in his laptop, I look down at the arrangement of flowers. To my surprise, tucked in the base is a tiny white envelope. I grab it quickly and look around to ensure nobody is watching before opening it.
“Sorry.”
I reverse the card, but there’s nothing else written. Just one word. The lettering is in a neat cursive font, not really giving me much information on who it was from.
At my locker after class, I attempt to find a place to put this third arrangement. Thankfully the lockers at this school are massive otherwise I’d be carrying a load of flowers with me everywhere.
I tuck the arrangement in a corner and shut my locker. I turn and Selena, and her two bitch friends, are staring me down.
“Who are those from?” Selena asks with little hesitation.
“Why? Do you want me to give you one? I have two others for your friends too.”
“He’s just giving you a pity rose. He’s always had a soft spot for dumb bitches who don’t know any better.”
“Who are you even talking about?”
Selena walks up to me coldly. She’s smiling but manages to grunt out her nasty words between her teeth. “Lance doesn’t like you. He may want that dirty pussy of yours for a night, but that’s it.”
Lance? How does she know they are from Lance? Did he tell her? Why does she care so much?
Realizing it’s pissing her off, I go along with it. “I’ll give it to him for longer than a night. As you can tell he’s already hooked. I’m his drug. What the fuck are you?”
She stiffens her bottom lip. She wants to say more, but realizes the whole hall is watching. I’m waiting for her to say something, or hell, even try and slap me. I almost want that to happen in front of everyone. Instead she takes a deep breath and walks away. Her two shadows follow her promptly.
I hear shouting coming down the hall and wonder what else could be going on in school today. A group of guys wearing varsity jackets with the Ryland Academy crest on the front are barreling down the halls. People are cheering as they do. In the center of the pack is Jaxson.
When Jaxson spots me, he manages to break from his friends. He smirks at me with his hands up.
“Can we talk?” He asks.
“That depends, do your friends have any pies in their hands?”
He smiles and puts his head down, peering up at me sympathetically. “That wasn’t my idea. The guy’s told me they do this stupid inhiation sometimes to the new girls at school. You should see what I had to do when I started here.”
I nod my head at him but can smell the bullshit. “I asked my friends about that. They have never heard of any girl being pie’d before. Why are you lying?”
“I’m not.” He says innocently. “Maybe the pie thing is new. I don’t know. This is only my second year. These rich kids like to fuck with anybody who comes here with a scholarship. A lot of them feel it’s a right of passage to be even considered on the same level as them.”
I sigh. “So, flowers is how you apologize?” He seems confused. From his expression I can tell it wasn’t him who sent me the arrangements. “You know I really thought you actually liked me for a moment.”
Jaxson’s whole expression changes. “I really like you, actually, despite doing dumb shit that makes it seem otherwise. You’re the only girl around here that’s like- me. We’re not like them. Even if I do all the shit they tell me to do so I can try and fit in, I never truly will.” I nod my head at him, agreeing but give an expression that suggests I still don’t like him too much.
“So, what did you have to do for your inhiation?” I ask.
He smiles. “It’s pretty embarrassing. I can’t tell you.”
I hit him in the shoulder. “If you want me to talk to you again, you will.”
He nods. “Only if you come to my game tonight. I’m sure you’ve heard of the big game.”
I had. I didn’t think a pre-season game against a rival high school would be such a big deal. Apparently, Ryland and a nearby school called Hillview Academy always have a pre-season exhibition game. Bryce told me that the game itself has somewhat hit a superstitious level now. If Ryland beats Hillview in tonight’s game, historically they will go on to the championships. If Hillview wins, then Ryland, for some reason, never makes it to the championship. Apparently, this has rung true in every season since the two schools started the pre-season game, Bryce tells me.
“Football isn’t my thing.” I say smiling.
“I swear it will be when you watch me play. I need you in the stands tonight. I also need you to forgive me.”
I smile. “I think I can manage to do both. And don’t think I’m going to let you off the hook. I want to know all the dirty secrets of your initiation.”
Jaxson smiles back. “I promise, you really don’t. After the game there’s a big party. If you come, I’ll tell you anything and everything.”
“Can my friends come?” I ask.
“You can invite Arthur Cain to come, I don’t care, so
long as you’re there.”
∞∞∞
Bryce and I sit at our usual spot in the cafeteria for lunch. It feels weird not having Danna with us.
“You don’t think anything bad happened to her?” Bryce says, concerned. I’m still thinking about how hot Jaxson looked today. “Hey! Earth to Elle!”
He repeats himself and I wave my head. “I’m sure she has her head dug into that leather book somewhere. She seems to think it’s her big story.”
“And you don’t”
I shrug. “That was a first for me, seeing people cloaked and carrying torches. I don’t know what exactly we saw last night. That grey book though, if it were so important, why would it be out for anybody to see?”
Bryce nods his head. He suddenly looks up and smiles. Danna brushes past my shoulder and sits beside him. She looks like she didn’t sleep a wink.
“Are you okay?” Bryce asks. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all day!”
She nods her head. “Fine. Just slept in. I guess our little escapade tired me out good.”
“So, did you read the book?” I ask her. She looks at me confused. “Did you find it? The big story? Are you going to become rich and famous and leave us now?”
She laughs but waves her head. “Sadly, I’m stuck with you guys. It was nothing. Turned out to be some rulebook for students from like the early 1990’s. Pretty boring stuff actually- and amazingly sexist. The school used to be boys only.”
“Wish it still was.” Bryce says with a smile. Danna hits him in the shoulder and he feigns pain.
“I just tossed it. Not worth what we got ourselves into last night. If I was smarter, I probably could have sold it to some collector or something.”
I tell Danna about the football game and party after. She reluctantly agrees to come
Bryce looks at Danna coldly. “You know, I was scared shitless after I didn’t hear from you. After what happened last night, I honestly thought something bad happened. I know I couldn’t talk you out of this, but if you pursue this story, of whatever the fuck happened last night, just leave me out of it.”
Danna gives a thin smile. “I promise. In fact, I think I’m done with this whole journalist phase. Last night I learned, it’s just not worth it.”
Chapter 14
The end of school bell rings. The halls are full of students herding in different directions. All with the same sense of purpose. It’s Friday, time to get the fuck out of school.
It’s also game night. The big pre-season game will be in a few hours. Jaxson says he arranged it for my friends and I to get a front row seats. Bryce told Danna and I that sometimes the pre-season game is more packed than a championship one, just because of what it means to the school if they win.
I was surprised by how much Bryce knew about football. I didn’t take him for a sportsman type. He laughed and told me he has had his sights on some line-backers for a while.
I text Danna and Bryce in our group chat, letting them know I’ll meet them at our reserved seats. I’m not sure I’ve ever had anything reserved for me before. I’m already feeling like a totally different person than the one who stuffed a bag full of meth down a sewer hole not so long ago.
I leave the school and make my way to the parking lot where I usually meet Thomas. I’m starting to not look forward to our drives now. There was a time I wanted to get to know my driver better, but after the incident in the woods, I’ve had a funny feeling around him. Now it’s business whenever I do speak to him. I tell him where I’d like to go and what time and location I would like to get picked up. He does what he’s told.
Maybe I have changed.
As I get closer to the parking lot, a wave of students clears a path and I see Chase facing me, holding one long stem rose. He’s wearing a beige sport jacket and white button-up shirt. His attire fits his slender physique well. He looks as hot as he did when he spotted me in his dad’s office.
When I get close enough to him, he hands it to me. “I truly am sorry.”
I look at him surprised. “They were from you?”
“Afraid so. I think I may have murdered a whole garden today because of how terrible I feel right now.”
I look at him softly, unsure of what to say. “Well- thanks.”
“I sincerely wanted to have fun with you when we went into the woods- but probably only succeeded in giving you PTSD.”
I laugh. “I’m surprised at how well I’m taking what happened.”
“Can you forgive me?”
I nod my head. “I guess - but don’t expect me to be freely walking into the woods with you again anytime soon.”
He smiles. “Completely understandable. I do admit though to having another motive today.” He looks at me anxiously and wipes his hand against his dress pants.
“What’s wrong?”
He smiles at me thinly. “I’m not used to feeling like this. I know you don’t know me that well, but you’re different. You make me nervous when I’m around you- in a good way. I can feel butterflies in my stomach, like they are about to burst out. It’s a weird feeling. Before all the- bad stuff happened in the woods, I wanted to ask you something. I wanted to ask you out for dinner.”
“Oh.” I say. “Is there a reason why you don’t want to anymore? Am I no longer interesting to you?”
He laughs. “Quite the opposite. I can’t stop thinking of you. I was pretty sure you never wanted to see me again though.”
“I guess I just needed some time to think about things.”
“I’ve got a great restaurant with reservations for us tonight.”
“Tonight?” I say with a weary smile. “I can’t. I told Jaxson I’d go at the big game tonight, and I guess there is some big party after.”
Chase lowers his head. “He likes you as well, doesn’t he?”
I look at him, and almost feel sad for some reason. “I guess there’s a few guys who have me in their thoughts.”
“So long as he isn’t the only one you’re thinking about, I can live with it.”
I smile and nod my head. “I’ve got someone else I think about from time to time too. Can we do dinner another time?”
“I’m afraid I did something vicious.” He says with a smirk. “I sent your driver home, thinking I could whisk you away.”
“But the game starts soon.”
“You can say no.” He says with a thin smile. “You will be the prettiest girl to ever break my heart. Just know that I make one phone call and my reservation is changed instantly to now. I’ll have you back in time for the silly superstitious game. Don’t make me beg. I think I look hideous when I’m pleading on my knees.”
I doubted that.
“Promise me we will be back on time,” I say.
He nods his head. “Cross my heart.”
∞∞∞
Chase is driving much faster than necessary in his fancy sportscar. He claims he changed his reservation and needs to get us there quickly. He’s driving stick, which I always thought was very hot. Maybe I had watched way too many Fast and Furious movies, but a guy who knows how to handle a stick, gets my heart pumping.
The light ahead of us turns yellow and Chase speeds up. He flies past it but stops suddenly at the next red light not much further on. My upper torso falls towards the dash and Chase puts his arm out, brushing past my breast, stopping me from going further.
He tries to act like nothing happened. “Almost there.”
“Where are we going?”
“The fanciest place in Ryland.” He says with a smile.
He shifts into gear when the light turns green but is driving noticeably slower. I kind of miss him going fast. He picks up speed then suddenly makes a left turn. We drive past golden arches when I finally realize where he has taken me.
Chase goes through the drive through lane and lowers his window. “Yes, I’ll have a quarter pounder with cheese. Can you supersize that for me?”
The drive through speaker crackles. “Of course, will there be an
ything else?” Chase looks at me with a smile.
“You are something else.” I whisper to him. “Big Mac!” I yell. “Extra mac sauce.” Chase looks at me as if he’s impressed. “Supersize it as well.”
We eat in his car. I drop some ketchup in his leather interior, but he doesn’t mind. When we both finish our meals, he rummages through the bottom of the takeout bag.
“The fries at the bottom are always the best.” He says with a smile. “You think the fun is over when you’re done eating, but then you find those beautiful ones that thought they got away.”
“I still can’t believe you took me to a fast-food drive through on our first date.”
Chase finds a fry and eats it, smiling at me. “I thought this was our second.”
“I think we would both prefer I don’t count the woods.”
“Right.” Chase agrees. “I did have a better place for tonight. This wasn’t the plan exactly.”
We talk more about our lives. He asks me about my parents. I don’t exactly lie but leave out certain parts. I don’t mention the fire. For all he knows, they are both excited for me to be at Ryland Academy and can’t wait to see me for the holidays. I don’t mention my father was a local drug dealer either. I told him he worked on the line at a busy automotive production factory, which was true. He found a lot of good customers from his short stint of trying to work for a living.
“How did your parents meet?” Chase asks me. I think for a moment, and feel completely terrible that I don’t remember.
Chase smiles to himself. “Mine met at a fair. It’s a big town thing that happens in September every year still to this day. My dad had just finished a stint in the navy. At the fair that year they had a charity pageant where a bunch of ladies got to vote on who was the hunkiest. My dad entered wearing his sailor uniform, thinking he would automatically win because- who doesn’t love a guy in uniform? My mom was a judge on the panel. She was the only judge who didn’t give him a perfect score. After the event my dad confronted her. ‘Why did you give me such a lousy score?’ he asked. She said, ‘because I thought you had a boring personality.’ Well that sealed the deal. He kept asking her out until she finally said yes, and then I came along not far after.”