by Mae Doyle
The problem wasn’t that my door was open.
The problem was that it was missing.
It had been completely taken off of the hinges. I gasped and stepped into my room, quickly looking around it for my door. It wasn’t leaning up against the bed or the wall, and, what’s worse, when I walked farther into my room, I saw that the bathroom door was gone, too.
“Rose?” Harper’s voice sounded a little nervous, and I whipped around, my hair smacking me in the face because I turned so quickly. “Are you okay?”
“Okay?” My voice was higher than normal, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. “Okay? No, I am not okay! My doors are missing!”
“Yeah…” Her arm fell from my shoulder as my eyes narrowed. Behind her, in the doorframe, the rogues and the harpies were peeking in.
“You know, Rose, this is not how I would have redecorated, but you do you.” Amelia sneered at me. Kelly was clinging to her arm, mirth making her laugh so hard that she was shaking.
“It’s a bold choice, Rose,” Kelly spat out. “But I guess that since nobody here wants to see you naked, it’s not like anyone’s going to be peeking in on you.”
My face grew red hot. “You took my doors.” Amelia feigned surprise, fluttering her hands by her chest like I’d really offended her.
“Us? You think that we would do that to you? No, Rose, I think that it had to be someone bigger. Stronger. You know anyone like that who would want to take off your doors to mess with you?” She dropped her hands back down by her side and glared at me.
No. I knew that the rogues were rough, but to leave me completely exposed to anyone in the hall was a little insane. Besides that, I suddenly realized that all of my stuff would be free for anyone to come by and take.
“Give them back.” I turned my attention to the rogues, who were standing slightly behind Amelia and Kelly. “I want my doors.”
“We don’t have your doors, you gutter rat.” Jackie spat the words at me. I was so surprised by the vitriol in his voice that I took an involuntary step back. “You think that we snuck back onto campus early just so we could take your doors?”
“That’s exactly what I think!” Pushing Harper out of the way and ignoring the pleading look on Maggie’s face, I walked towards them. Rage filled me, and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. “Give them to me.”
“Oh, we’ll give you something.” Brett leered at me, a sneer on his face. “Who do you want to take it from first? You knew, little virgin, that things would not be nice for you if you came back, and what did you do? You stupidly came back.”
“This is just the beginning.” Kaleb’s smooth voice made me jerk my head up to look at him. He didn’t look nearly as angry as Brett or Jackie, but there was a frown creasing his brow as he spoke to me. “It’s not going to get any better or any easier from here, Rose. I really wish that you would leave.”
I swore there was a hint of compassion in his voice, and Brett must have heard it too, because he whipped his head around to look at his friend. As soon as the two of them made eye contact Kaleb’s face hardened and he winked at me.
Okay. Maybe it was wrong of me to think that Kaleb was the weakest link, but there was definitely something going on there that I wasn’t sure of before. In fact, if I remembered correctly, he was always the one last semester to show me any compassion.
Maybe he was the one I needed to try to get to if I wanted some answers.
“Fine.” I crossed my arms, taking a deep breath. “You guys said that you didn’t take the doors, then you didn’t take the doors. It’s not like you’ve lied to me about anything so far, even though you’ve all been a little ridiculous and out of control.” They didn’t move, although I did see a flash of uncertainty on Jackie’s face.
Maggie reached out and took my hand, giving it a little squeeze. “If you guys don’t mind, we have some unpacking to do. And we need to compare schedules before dinner, so…shoo.” She flapped her hands at the rogues and the harpies. To my surprise, they paused but then turned, muttering to each other, before walking away.
I exhaled a deep breath that I didn’t even know I was holding. Maggie and Harper instantly wrapped their arms around me. I could hear them murmuring to me, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. My head was buzzing, and I felt like I’d run a marathon. Without realizing what I was doing, I sank to my knees, my two friends sitting down with me.
“It’ll be okay.” That was Harper, and she kept whispering the same thing over and over into my hair. “I promise you, Rose, we’re going to do everything that we can to take care of you and take care of this.”
I loved her, and I loved Maggie, for trying to take care of me, but there was nothing that they could do. Struggling to sit up, I locked eyes with first one of my friends, then the other. “I think that it’s time I finally came clean with you about what happened when Brett I and were younger.”
Maggie glanced up at the boys, who nodded at her and left the room. Even though people could walk by and hear what I was saying, I had to hope that they didn’t. I had to hope for some privacy, because I needed to make my best friends understand what had happened between the two of us and why Brett hated me so badly.
Maybe this was why he wanted me out so badly.
A chill ran through me eve as I thought that. He had mentioned someone else wanting me out – the council. I had to think about the possibility that they knew about what happened between the two of us. It was time to come clean with the truth, no matter how bad it was.
“Okay, you guys, I need to tell you what happened with Brett.” I took a deep breath and paused. Was I putting them in more danger by telling them the truth? I wasn’t sure if it would be better to keep it to myself so that they could honestly say that they never knew what really happened.
“What happened?” Maggie interrupted my thoughts. These were my friends. The rogues and harpies had already come after my mom, and there wasn’t any way that I could protect Maggie and Harper if they didn’t know what they were up against.
“Come sit over here.” I stood up and pulled my friends with me to my bed. They sat, sandwiching me between them, each holding a hand. “So, you guys know that Brett’s adopted, right?” When they nodded, I took another deep breath. “Okay. Well, his adopted dad was abusive. I think that everyone on the street knew it, but nobody did anything.”
“Bastards,” Harper muttered. Her face was pale and her eyes were locked on mine.
“One night I think that he pushed Brett too far. And, I don’t know how, but…Brett snapped.” There was really no way for me to explain what I had seen that night. There had been so much blood and screaming, and even now, years later, I had a hard time thinking about it.
“He snapped?” Harper’s voice was quiet.
I nodded. “Yeah. He killed his adopted father. I…saw the whole thing. I was watching from the tree between our houses because I thought that Brett was cute. After it, though, I jumped down and ran to hide. Brett must have seen me or known somehow that I had been watching.” I didn’t remember him looking at me, or even acting like he knew that I was there, but somehow he must have known. If he hadn’t known that I was aware that he killed his dad then he wouldn’t have done what happened next.
When I didn’t say anything else for a moment Maggie squeezed my hand. “What did he do, Rose?”
My voice was quiet. “He killed my cat. He made me watch while he killed it and he told me that if I ever told anyone what I had done that he would kill me, too.” When I closed my eyes I could see the way he broke my cat’s neck and left her stretched out in the driveway.
“He’s psychotic!” Harper looked even paler than before. “Are you sure that you’re safe here, Rose? Did you ever tell anyone else about this? Anyone here?”
I shook my head. “Not a chance. You two are the only ones I trust to share this with. Unless…” Amelia had pushed me before about how I knew Brett from when we were younger, and I tried to play it off, but she c
ould find things out. No, if she knew, I knew that she would let me know.
“What?” Maggie raised her eyebrows at me.
“Nothing. Anyway, sometime after that his mom got remarried and they moved away. I hadn’t seen him since then when I moved in this past fall, so that was a bit of a surprise.” I shrugged, dropping my hands down into my lap. Telling my friends the truth about Brett made me feel better even though it didn’t bring us any closer to an answer about who was trying to drive me from the school.
“Do you think that it’s possible that someone else helped Brett? I mean, you guys were young when he killed his adopted dad, right?” Maggie nodded while Harper spoke.
“I agree,” she said, turning to me. “It sounds crazy to think that a kid could do it all on their own, even if that kid was eleven or twelve. And where did he hide the body? Did he ever get caught?”
“No,” I said slowly, drawing the word out while I thought. “Nobody liked his adopted dad, so there wasn’t a big fuss about him being gone. Just…one day he was there and the next he was gone. I have no idea what happened with his body because I ran and hid.”
It feels like yesterday that I was hiding from him in the close in my bedroom. I could still feel the way my heart pounded in my chest and how clammy and cool my skin felt. I’d pressed my face up against the slats in my closet door hoping to hear something, but at the same time praying that he wouldn’t find me.
I’d just watched him kill someone, and I was pretty sure that if he found me, he would kill me, too. That wasn’t a risk that I wanted to take.
“Thanks for telling us the truth, Rose.” Maggie wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her for a hug.
“Yeah, Rose. I know it wasn’t easy.” Harper leaned over and hugged me until the three of us fell back on the bed. Normally, we would have started laughing, but there wasn’t anything to smile or laugh about. Not now. Not when I could look up and see straight out into the hall. I’d almost forgotten that someone had taken my doors.
Fear surged through me as I thought about what would happen if someone had walked by and heard what I told my friends, but then I realized that I was too tired to care. I didn’t want anyone to know the truth about what happened with Brett when we were younger, but I also wasn’t sure that I needed to protect him any longer.
I mean, I wasn’t about to go around telling his secret, but if someone accidentally overheard me, then that wasn’t my problem. I couldn’t let it become my problem.
Maggie caught me looking and sat up. “You know, I think that I have some thumbtacks in my room for my cork board. How about I get those and we hang up a sheet or something so you have a little privacy?” She hopped up and was gone before I could stop her.
By the time she got back, Harper and I had already pulled the flat sheet from my bed. The three of us pinned it up in the doorway so I had a curtain. “It’s a shame I can’t lock it somehow,” I mused, letting the sheet run through my fingers.
“How about this? You have anything that you want locked up, give it to one of us and we’ll put it in our room. People can still get into your space, but if you started a new journal or anything…” Maggie trailed off.
The implication was clear. The last time someone here got their hands on my journal they made sure to read out all of the juicy bits to the entire class. “Sounds good, thanks. Why don’t we all unpack a little and then meet for dinner?”
As if on cue, our stomachs all growled and they laughed. Even I managed to smile a little at my friends.
“Sounds good. See you in a few, Rose.” Harper hugged me again. “We’ll get through this, okay? There’s nothing that they can do to make us turn on you.”
She and Maggie walked out, leaving me in my room with my makeshift door. I hadn’t even had time to look at my schedule, but it could wait until dinner.
I loved that my friends wanted to be here for me, and I appreciated that they were so committed, but part of me was really scared. It was easy for them to say that nothing could make them turn on me, but I wasn’t so sure. Everyone has dirt in their past, and I was afraid what would happen to my friends if the harpies or the rogues dug too deep and found something that would let them run them off.
I wasn’t sure that I could do this alone.
I had to find out who the council was and deal with them.
Chapter 5
Even though breakfast was just as good as always, for some reason that morning it didn’t taste great. I took one bite of my buckwheat pancakes and pushed them away, dropping my head down to the table.
“You okay?” Woods rubbed my back and then pulled my plate in front of him. “You mind if I eat these?”
I shook my head. “No, go ahead.”
“What is it?” Maggie tapped me on the back of the head until I sat up. “You can’t just slam your face into the table and think that we’re going to ignore you, Rose.”
“I know.” Stretching, I looked around the dining hall, only to see that all three of the rogues were watching me. My face blazing, I dropped my arms back down into my lap, but I’d already caught their attention. Kaleb stood up, his eyes locked on mine, and threaded his way through the tables to ours.
Oh, crap.
His hair had grown out a little over break, and even though I’d seen him yesterday, I was feeling a little too stressed to really appreciate how he looked. He’d updated his glasses frames and they set off his bright green orbs, making it difficult for me to tear my eyes away.
Every table he passed fell silent, and students turned to watch him progress towards me. When he finally reached my table he stood, his arms crossed, staring down at me. Even though I wanted to look up at him, I shifted my attention to Harper, who winked at me.
I was going to be okay.
“Rose. I checked the class roster and it looks like you made it into algebra 2, so tell me the truth. How in the world did you manage to pass your test last semester? I thought that you weren’t going to be allowed to take it?”
It had been a terrible decision to have to turn down the voice competition, but I knew that if I didn’t pass my math test then it wouldn’t matter how well I sang – I’d be out of Taylor Academy faster than I could blink. Kaleb had to know that I passed on singing, as I’m sure that Amelia was all too happy to tell everyone about how the group had one the event without me there.
I was supposed to be there, leading them to victory. The memory of sitting at my desk, frantically working math problems while I knew that they were out singing filled me with rage, and I twisted my napkin in my lap. Luckily, my hands were under the table, or I’m sure that he would have seen me.
“I passed. No thanks to you.” That was a lie, and from the look on his face, he knew it. Kaleb was, without a doubt, probably the only reason that I’d passed my algebra test. He hadn’t been the most supportive tutor, but he did teach me a few tips and tricks in class that made it easier for me to knock out problems without panicking.
“Well, then, good for you. I guess that means that I can walk you to class after homeroom each morning, doesn’t it?” We had algebra 2 first thing after homeroom, but while last semester the thought of walking with Kaleb to class would have given me butterflies, they had changed into lead balloons.
My stomach felt weighted and twisted. Before I could open my mouth to answer, a girl named Sara walked up and slipped her arm through his, leaning against his shoulder. My eyes flicked between the two of them. I hadn’t heard any rumors that they were together, but there was obviously something going on with the way she was leaning on him and grinning at me.
“I thought that you were going to walk me to class.” She pouted up at him and tossed her head, making her long hair flow perfectly down her back. Even from a few feet away, I could smell her sweet perfume. It probably cost more than my mom’s mortgage, but it made me wrinkled my nose. She caught the movement from the corner of her eye and whipped around to me. “Something wrong with your face, Rose?”
I coul
dn’t help myself. “Yeah, it’s whatever shit you’re wearing. I think it’s probably strong enough to fumigate a house, Sara. Is that what you’re going for? You have an infestation at your home?”
Her face immediately turned red. Once I realized what I had said, I wanted to take it back, but I knew that there was nothing to do now but sit and wait. Sara wasn’t a harpy, but she was still really good friends with Amelia. There was no way that this was going to slide.
Panicking, I glanced up at Kaleb. He had his eyes locked on me, but he wasn’t smiling. In fact, there was something darker and more menacing in his face than I’d seen before.
“You’re a stupid gutter bitch, Rose. At least I can afford perfume like this, you don’t have anything to mask the smell of shit and sweat, do you?” Her eyes were narrowed as she stared at me, but I just shrugged.
“I took a shower this morning, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She pulled away from Kaleb and leaned forward so that her face was close to mine. “You better watch out, Rose. It would be a shame if something were to happen to you while you’re in your shower. Since you don’t have a door, and all.” I shifted my weight to stand up, but before I could, she sucked back all of the spit in her mouth and spat. A huge glob landed on my cheek and slowly started to slide down my face.
“Eww!” I didn’t want to scream in the dining hall and make a scene, but I grabbed for my napkin, which had fallen to the floor, wanting to wipe my face off as quickly as possible. Harper saw that I was trying to find my napkin and she handed me hers. I wiped at my face, feeling her spit slide across my skin as I scrubbed. Sara started to laugh, a loud sound that echoed through the dining hall.
Then, to my horror, everyone else joined in. Well, not everyone. My friends at my table sat still, their mouths open in horror, their eyes wide while all of the other students cracked up. Sara grinned at me then stepped back next to Kaleb.