by Callie Rose
“Lots of parents would rather let their kid suffer than admit there’s something wrong with them,” Cole said suddenly, his tone blank.
I glanced over at him, wondering if he was talking about Penny. I knew she had Tourette’s, but I hadn’t written that down in my little notebook. I had never planned on using that knowledge to hurt the black-haired boy or his family.
“Your grandma’s not the only one obsessed with reputation.” He leaned forward, staring at the floor and resting his forearms on his thighs. “Plenty of families would rather keep that shit hidden than get their kids the help they need.”
“Basically, we’re all fucking messes,” Finn threw in with a dry chuckle, sitting up straighter and smirking at me. I knew he hated talking about this. His default setting was carefree and easygoing, and he’d always gotten touchy talking about his grades or schoolwork.
My gaze bounced between him and Cole, and I decided not to press any more for now.
But it wasn’t fucking fair. He should’ve been getting support from the school, support from his parents—but instead, his dad had decided to ignore and deny the root of the issue and just throw money at it and hope it went away. Now that he couldn’t buy Finn passing grades, he was letting his son sink or swim on his own.
I couldn’t do anything to help Penny. Hell, I couldn’t even help Cole.
But I would find a way to help Finn.
Chapter 7
I didn’t sleep well at all that night. I jerked awake several times, emerging from nightmares about the crash, my mother, and Adena all rolled into one.
At six-thirty, I finally gave up trying and threw the covers off, hobbling into the bathroom and securing a large trash bag around my cast before stepping awkwardly into the shower. There was a handrail along the side wall, which helped keep me steady.
For the past few weeks, I’d essentially worn pajamas every day, with no makeup and my hair tied up in a messy bun or a simple ponytail. I took more care with my appearance as I got ready, and when I had put on the white shirt, red tie, and navy blue skirt of the Oak Park uniform, I glanced at myself in the mirror. My cast stood out like a sore thumb, blocky and clunky, but the bruises had mostly faded, and the still-healing cuts and abrasions on my body were covered by my long sleeves.
I looked almost normal.
Almost whole.
When I went downstairs at seven-thirty, Maggie and Dan were heading out the door. Maggie stopped when she saw me, whirling around and charging toward me before screeching to a stop three feet away. I had a feeling she’d been about to bear hug me but had realized at the last second that it was a terrible idea. Instead, she stepped gingerly forward and wrapped her arms around me lightly, encompassing me, my crutches, and the backpack strapped to my back.
“Oh my God, Talia. Are you okay? Leah told me what happened. I’m so sorry!”
“I’m okay.”
I couldn’t release the crutches to hug her back, so I stood awkwardly in her embrace until she stepped away. Dan didn’t try to hug me, but he did shoot me a sympathetic smile.
“How are you feeling?” Maggie asked, smoothing back a few fly-aways from her white-blond ponytail.
“Not bad,” I lied.
In actual fact, my leg still ached pretty much all the time, and my body was sore in weird places from using the crutches. But I didn’t want to go into all that.
“Well, you look good,” she offered, shooting me a tentative smile as she held the door open for me.
“You do.” Dan slipped his arm around her waist, nodding in agreement.
We stepped outside, and before I could answer, all three of us paused at the sight of the Princes walking across the lawn toward us.
“Well, we’ll see you over at Craydon, okay?”
Maggie gave my shoulder a little squeeze, then tugged Dan away. I had a feeling she still felt a little awkward around the Princes, and I could understand why. They radiated a sort of power and charisma that made the primal part of people’s brains want to cower in front of them—like prey animals freezing at the approach of a pack of predators.
I could still feel that power in them, still see that outward facade of strength. But I’d gotten a glimpse behind the curtain too, and I wasn’t sure I could ever see them the same way others did anymore. I knew them too well.
Elijah gave me a quiet smile as they reached me, and Cole scowled at my backpack before walking around behind me to tug it off.
“I can carry my own bag, you know,” I told him, rolling my eyes as Mason steadied me with a grip on my arm and Finn held my crutches.
“You can. But you won’t,” Cole deadpanned. He draped one strap of my bag over his shoulder, carrying it alongside his own as Finn gave me my crutches back.
It was easier to move without the extra weight on my shoulders, so I didn’t fight him on it. I fell into step between the Princes as we made our way toward Craydon Hall, sticking to the paved paths instead of cutting across the lawn. The white facades of the buildings and the red tiled roofs looked peaceful and idyllic in the golden morning light.
“Have any of you seen Adena?” I asked quietly as we neared the building.
“No.” Elijah’s voice was tense and guarded. “But I have a feeling we’re about to.”
A rush of adrenaline flooded my system, making my stomach churn and my heart pound faster. Not only had the blonde, self-proclaimed queen of the school possibly tried to kill me, she still had everything I’d dug up on the Princes at her fingertips—and I was sure she’d use it to make their lives hell.
I worked my way up the front steps, and Mason moved forward to hold the door open for me. As soon as we all stepped inside, I knew Elijah’s guess was right.
Adena had probably been waiting for us, finding a reason to linger near the entrance so she’d be ready to pounce.
She stepped forward as the Princes flanked me, her little posse—including Preston and Sable—behind her. The loud chatter in the hallway immediately quieted as people turned to face us, wide-eyed and expectant. I was sure that—just like with the video of me the Princes had put together—everyone present knew Adena had been the one to distribute all that dirt on the four boys, even if she’d never been officially reprimanded by the school.
And now everyone wanted to see what would happen next.
“Well, well, look who it is.” She smirked, her heart-shaped face and delicate features a strange contrast to the harsh ugliness I knew lived beneath them. “Four fucking losers and their white trash girlfriend.”
Preston’s grin was vicious, and Sable had a smug look on her face as all three of them took another step closer.
“You know,” Adena added, cocking her head as she pretended to consider something, “I always heard people start to look like their pets after a while. And I guess it’s true. You took this piece of Idaho trash as a pet, and now you all look like trash too.”
Mason didn’t move, but I could feel his body tense beside me. When he spoke, his voice was low and dangerous. “You better watch your fucking mouth.”
“Or what?” She laughed, too loud and long for it to be real. It was a show. A performance. “What are you gonna do? God, you’re all so pathetic.” She jerked her chin toward Elijah. “Look. This fucking drug addict is perfect for the trailer park already.”
My jaw clenched so hard it hurt.
Goddamn this fucking bitch.
None of the guys beside me moved. Fury radiated from them like a palpable force, but I knew they’d already been sent to the dean’s office for losing their shit at Adena once before—and given the thin ice they were all on at home, I didn’t want them to risk getting in trouble for going after her again.
We needed to be smarter and more strategic than that.
When she got no reaction from Elijah, Adena turned her gaze on me, her lips curling up in a cruel smile. “Nice cast. I heard about your little accident. Didn’t they teach you how to drive in Idaho? Or are you really so desperate for attention that y
ou’ll—”
Before she even finished speaking, the Princes moved. The tension that’d been held in check by a thread snapped, and all four of them stepped forward, the movement so sharp and synchronized that for a moment, they truly did seem like one being.
None of them spoke or even lifted their hands, but the action was so full of veiled threat that Adena unconsciously stumbled back a step, almost running into Preston and Sable as she did. Preston grabbed her shoulders to steady her, but I noticed with a grim sort of satisfaction that he stayed behind her.
He may have chosen her side, but he wasn’t exactly willing to put his neck out for her.
Not that I blamed him. I’d seen the beating Cole had given him last time they’d fought.
The conversation in the entry hall around us had died almost entirely by now, and everyone watched in silence as the Princes faced off with Adena.
“I said, watch your fucking mouth,” Mason told her, his voice low and smooth. “And that includes talking shit about Talia. In fact, it includes talking to her at all. It includes looking at her. I’ve told you already to back the fuck off. Do it, or we’re going to have a serious problem.”
Real fear reflected in Adena’s baby-blue eyes, but she scoffed to cover it up, yanking herself out of Preston’s grasp—although she didn’t actually step forward. “You don’t get to run this place anymore, Mason.” She squinted at him. “Your family has money problems, right? Damn. For all I know, you’re as poor as she is. Maybe that’s why you like her so much.”
Cole’s back tensed, making his uniform blazer look too tight, and I saw his hands clench into fists.
I had always wondered, when I was at the height of my battle with the Princes, where their line was. I’d never been completely sure, but I had taken some comfort in my belief that whatever else they might do, they wouldn’t hit me.
They wouldn’t beat up a girl.
I still thought that was true… although Adena seemed to be determined to make herself the exception to that rule.
Shifting my grip on my crutches, I hobbled forward. The four boys had all stepped in front of me, but as soon as I put myself in their midst again, I saw some of the tension bleed from their bodies, as if they were remembering where they were.
This wasn’t the time.
It wasn’t the place.
“I’m serious, Adena. Go after Talia again and I will wreck you.”
Mason’s voice was low and controlled and full of a simple promise that made a shiver of fear pass down even my spine. I knew he was thinking of my car wreck, of the cage of twisted steel and shattered glass my body had been pulled out of.
And I’d heard that tone in his voice before. I recognized the dark promise in it.
Maybe Adena did too, because she pressed her lips together, not saying anything else. She didn’t step back or cower, but the smug look on her face had evaporated.
Mason turned his head slightly, catching my eye. “Come on, Princess. Let’s get to class.”
The five of us turned and walked down the hall, and even though the crowd didn’t part for the Princes quite like it had before, no one stepped up to us or got in our way.
Of course, our exit was completely ruined by the plodding pace we set as I moved on my crutches. None of the Princes seemed to mind though, walking slowly alongside me as we made our way down the corridor.
“That fucking cunt,” Finn muttered under his breath. I could feel him seething, and I was sure if I looked close enough, I’d be able to see steam rising from his ears. “I can’t believe she had the guts to make fun of you for almost dying in a goddamn car crash.”
“Even if she didn’t have anything to do with it, that’s a low fucking blow,” Elijah added.
Mason didn’t say anything, but I heard the sharp sound of him sucking in breath through his nostrils, and I didn’t need him to speak to guess what he was thinking. He was sure Adena had done it. It was a miracle he hadn’t gone after her—and although it was hard to wrap my head around, I was pretty sure the only reason he hadn’t was because I’d asked him not to.
I still couldn’t decide what I thought. It wasn’t that I thought Adena was incapable of something so dangerous and evil—but if she really had been the one to fuck with my brakes, mocking me for the accident was so bold it was almost stupid. I would’ve assumed she’d pretend she knew nothing about it, that she hadn’t heard about it and didn’t know how I’d broken my leg. Gleefully taunting me about it seemed like an easy way to draw a connection between her and my accident—to draw suspicion.
Was Oak Park’s head bitch really that dumb?
Or did she just consider herself that untouchable?
The second thought made my stomach tighten nervously, but I pushed it away.
“There is one thing,” Elijah added as we reached my locker. He leaned against the next locker over as I spun the knob on the lock, the other three boys gathering close around us. “It turns out her family started a company around the same time our parents did. The one that failed—Element Investments. The Davenports’ company is still around though.” He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I dunno much else about it yet. And it could be nothing. Just a coincidence. But it could be something—maybe give us something to use against her. I’ll do more digging.”
“Good.” Mason still looked like he wanted to punch another hole in a wall, but he nodded approvingly.
We’d arrived at Craydon Hall early, but our encounter with Adena and my slow pace had held us up, and we didn’t have long before first period started. Cole swapped my books out for me before handing my bag to Mason, and the green-eyed boy lifted his chin, gesturing down the hall.
“Ready, Princess?”
“Uh, yeah.”
We split off from the other three, and I walked slowly alongside Mason, hoping he wouldn’t be late for his first class just because he’d insisted on walking me to mine. I could’ve carried my own backpack.
But when we reached my Earth Sciences classroom, he surprised me by following me through the door and taking a seat beside me. When I was settled at my desk, he stowed my crutches under his chair. I cast him a curious glance, but he just looked blandly back at me before tugging a textbook out of his own backpack.
What?
He hadn’t been in this class last semester.
I leaned over as the teacher, Mrs. Rades, entered the room. “Hey. Did you transfer in?”
His glittering emerald eyes warmed for a moment, and a ghost of a smile crossed his face. “Yes. I love the earth. And science.”
Mrs. Rades didn’t believe in a slow ramp-up at the beginning of the semester, so she dove right in exactly where we’d left off in December, already promising us our first quiz on Friday. I took notes diligently but kept glancing over at Mason as the hour crept by, finding my gaze inexorably drawn to his face. He leaned back in his desk chair, watching Mrs. Rades lecture with a sort of semi-interested detachment, and even though I knew he must feel me staring at him, he kept his attention focused forward.
After class, he grabbed my bag and gave me back my crutches, clearing the way to the door with his indomitable presence.
He walked me toward my next class, which was on the second floor of Hammond Hall. But before we reached the exit door at the west side of Craydon, Elijah caught up to us. He jerked his chin in a nod to Mason, who handed over my backpack as smoothly as if the two of them were in a relay. Before I could say anything, Mason turned around and headed back down the hall.
“Come on.” Elijah’s full lips spread in a smile, and for a brief second, all I could think about was they had felt like pressed against mine—the tiny fires they had sparked all over my body. “We don’t want to be late.”
I narrowed my eyes as he led me out of the building. “Let me guess. You’re taking second period Trigonometry now?”
“Yup.”
He was in my third period class too, and after lunch, Finn walked me to our American Literature class. As we trudged acros
s campus, I prodded him a little more for details about exactly what made it hard to read, hard to process words, and he scrunched his face up and cast his gaze to the clouds as he tried to describe it to me.
He seemed a little more willing to discuss this when it was just the two of us, which didn’t surprise me all that much. The Princes were like brothers—closer than brothers in some ways—but Finn was still a guy, and I got the feeling talking about this hurt his ego.
But it wasn’t his fault. And it wasn’t like he was stupid.
After gathering a little more info from him, I let it drop again. I’d do some research on what he’d told me and see if there were any ways I could help him. His dad might consider all of this “made up hippie bullshit”, but maybe the hippies had found some better solutions than just ignoring the problem.
I sat next to him in class, and now that I knew what to look for, I noticed the expression on his face as Mr. Jacobs wrote on the whiteboard. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and I saw the moment he gave up trying. His shoulders relaxed, and he leaned back in his seat, spreading his legs and crossing his arms over his chest as he settled in to listen to the teacher lecture.
Okay. So maybe part of the problem was just a mental block, a certainty that he wouldn’t be able to understand anyway, so there was no point in trying.
That, at least, I could probably help him with.
In gym, I sat on the bleachers in my uniform, scrolling on my phone as a bunch of students played volleyball. I hadn’t even bothered to dress out for this class, since Doctor Garrett had expressly forbidden me from putting weight on my right leg for six weeks.
Mason had transferred into my seventh period Calculus II class, and Cole was in my final class of the day, just like he had been last semester.
I had figured out by mid-morning what was going on, and by the end of the day, as the five of us reconvened on the front steps of Craydon, I was sure of it.
The Princes had rearranged their class schedules to make sure one of them was with me at all times.
Chapter 8