by Mae Doyle
An uncomfortable silence pulled me out of my thoughts. Everyone, even Mrs. Dorn, was staring at me.
“I’m sorry…I wasn’t listening.”
She sighed and ran her hand through her short blonde hair. “I asked if you were good to participate. I know about your accident, and I don’t want to push you harder than you’re able to handle.”
“I’m fine.” I probably answered too quickly, because I saw both Maggie and Harper raise their eyebrows, but there was no way that I was going to admit that I still ran out of breath too easily or that sometimes I had a stabbing pain in my side. If I admitted that then I may as well hand the harpies the ammunition they needed to destroy me.
Mrs. Dorn nodded. “Good. Let’s hope that after today you’re a better listener, okay? Now, everyone, go change. Quickly!”
I joined the mass of girls walking to the locker room. Maggie and Harper slipped up next to me. “You okay? You seem off, Rose.” Maggie kept her voice low, but I still noticed Sara listening intently.
“It’s just a little weird to have the entire school out to get you, that’s all.” We found lockers next to each other and I slipped out of my jacket, pausing before I unbuttoned my shirt. I really wasn’t ready for everyone in here to see my scars, but I didn’t have much of a choice.
“Not the entire school.” Harper turned around to look at me, her eyes skating over my scars. She’d seen them enough that they weren’t anything exciting to her, but the rest of my class was sure to stare. I smiled at my friend and slipped off my shirt, my back to the rest of the locker room. If I could just get my Taylor Prep t-shirt on fast enough then there wasn’t any way that everyone would be able to see the thick scars that criss-crossed my back and sides.
“Gross.” The word fell on my ears as the rest of the locker room grew silent. The entire room felt still, but I struggled to pull my shirt on as quickly as possible. It was obvious that the person was talking about me, but that didn’t mean I was going to stand there and give them more to look at.
“I mean, do you see that?” My shirt was caught on my ponytail, and before I could yank it down over my neck, I felt a finger trace a thick scar that roped across my back and along the bottom of my ribs.
I whipped around, yanking my shirt down to find Sara just a few inches from me, her face twisted with glee. “Don’t touch me.” My voice was stronger than I thought it would be, but she just tilted her head and continued to grin at me. “I mean it, Sara. Hands off.”
She laughed, a bubbly sound that was completely at odds with the look on her face. “Please, Rose. You think that anyone else is ever going to want to touch you with you looking like that? That’s probably the most action you’ve ever gotten, isn’t it? Little virgin Rose.”
The rest of the class started to laugh as well. Harper and Maggie stood nearby, their mouths hanging open, but then Maggie shook her head and walked forward. “Back off, Sara. You’re being a bitch.”
There was a collective gasp and I widened my eyes at my friend. I’d only been here one semester, but even I knew that what she had just done was a terrible idea. “Maggie, it’s okay. I’m fine.” I smiled at Sara, trying to break the tension, but she just turned from me back to look at my friend.
“Maggie, is it? Well, Maggie, you better think long and hard about who you want to stand with here. You gonna try to stay friends with Quasimodo or are you finally going to realize that you’ve been taking the wrong side?” Her voice sounded casual, but I knew that this was serious. This wasn’t a game to anyone here, and what Maggie did now could have huge repercussions.
“I’d rather stay friends with her than hang out with you and your sluts. Right, Harper?” She turned and looked at Harper, who nodded, even though she looked incredibly pale.
“That’s right.” Harper’s eyes darted over to my face and she gave me a small smile.
“This is rich.” Sara rubbed her hands together. “Looks like we’ve got three for the price of one, guys.” The rest of our class chuckled. “You two can back out anytime, you know. But you—” she turned to me and jabbed her finger so hard into my chest that I stepped back into the lockers— “the only way you can get us to stop is to leave, but you know that, right?”
I had no intention of leaving, but I nodded anyway. Amelia walked over and linked her arm through Sara’s, pulling her friend away. “She’s not worth it, Sara. We’ll get her, don’t worry.”
Sara smirked and turned, her ponytail smacking me in the face before she walked out. The rest of the class filed out behind her, leaving me alone with my friends. I turned to them, my mouth open, but Maggie held up her hands to stop me.
“Don’t even start, Rose. We’re not going to back down now. You need friends, now more than ever.” She walked over to me and gave me a hug. “Now, let’s go show them how hard it’s going to be for them to take on all three of us.”
“Sounds good.” I reached out and looped my arm through Harper’s and the three of us walked into the gym. Mrs. Dorn was holding a large ball and looked like she was waiting on us. The class had been split into two groups and were facing each other. Some of the girls were holding balls, while others looked a little nervous.
“Glad you girls could join us. Now, since the weather is bad and Mr. Taylor told me that I couldn’t take you guys outside in case of thunder, we have to be indoors.” She scowled like having gym inside on a rainy day was one of the worst punishments that she could think of. “The rest of the class voted while you girls were pansying around in the locker room, and we’re playing dodgeball. You guys are on this side.” She pointed and the three of us walked over to our side.
Sara, Amelia, and the rest of the harpies all stood facing us. Great. Just great. Mrs. Dorn blew her whistle loud enough to make my ears ring and tossed the ball she was holding up into the air. Someone from our team rushed forward to try to grab it but I covered my ears to stop the ringing. As I did, I felt something hit me square in the face.
There was a loud pop and I felt a burst of liquid gush down my chin and drip onto my chest. Immediately, I dropped my hands from my ears and grabbed my nose, feeling the warm blood seep out between my fingers.
Someone broke my nose.
Fighting back the tears, I looked up. Sara was directly across from me, as close to the line as she could get, a triumphant smile on her face. Before I could turn to walk off of the gym floor, another ball came flying at my face. This time, I tried to duck, but it hit me square in the right eye.
I stepped back, my vision dark, my foot landing in a puddle of my blood, and I fell to the floor. A loud screeching sound brought the game to a halt, and I realized that Mrs. Dorn had blown her whistle. She stood over me, her hands on her hips, her whistle swinging around her neck.
“I told you girls to try to avoid the face!” She bent down and took my hand, quickly pulling me back to my feet. “This is what happens when you hit someone in the nose.” She grabbed my chin and forced me to look at her. As soon as she did, she sucked in a breath and clicked her tongue. “You need to go to the nurse. Now.”
I nodded, reaching back up to hold my nose. There was a splintering pain that shot across my face every time I took a breath. I turned away from Mrs. Dorn before I realized that I had no idea where the nurse was, so I turned back to her.
“Where’s the nurse?” My voice sounded like I’d been crying for hours, but she obviously understood.
“Who wants to take her to the nurse?” Both Harper and Maggie stepped forward, but Amelia was at my side before they could reach me.
“I’ll take her. It’s so hard being new, isn’t it, Rose?” She rested her arm around my shoulders and grinned at the teacher before turning me around. We walked outside, where it had started raining harder, and she pulled her arm away from me. “You deserved this.”
“You’re not supposed to hurt me.” I don’t know why I said that, but it was the only thing I could think of. The rogues had told everyone that they couldn’t hurt me, but breaking my nose
hurt like hell.
She scoffed. “You think that your precious rogues are going to save you now? You pissed off the council, Rose.”
The blood on my face was mingling with the rain. I wanted to hear more about the council, but honestly, I wanted to get to the nurse more. I’d never broken my nose before, and while it wasn’t as painful as when I was in my accident, it still hurt like hell. “The nurse?”
“Yeah, the nurse.” She squinted into the rain and pointed. “Across the quad, take a right at the dining hall. It’s around the back before you get to the offices. Good luck.” She crossed her arms and stepped back so that she wasn’t getting wet.
“You’re not going to take me?” It’s not that I wanted to spend time with Amelia, but I still wasn’t exactly sure where I was supposed to go. The longer we stood there, the more my nose ached.
She laughed. “Yeah, right. No, I just wanted to get out of that stupid class. I told you where to go, so get on it, Rose. Unless you want your nose to be permanently crooked, which may be an improvement over your face right now.” She reached out and poked my nose, making me suck my breath in with pain.
Fine. She wasn’t going to take me? I didn’t have a choice. Turning away from her, I took one step out into the rain, then another. After a moment, I was running, splashing through mud puddles. It was only when I was halfway across the quad that I realized I’d left all of my stuff in the locker room.
I could only hope that it would be there when I got back.
Chapter 8
“You finally get the nose job that you needed to not look so hideous?” Kelly slowed down as she walked by our table at dinner. She didn’t have PE with us but she already knew what had happened to me. Everyone knew.
I flipped her the bird, which I thought would make her walk off, but she only leaned down, resting her hands on the table near my food. “You think that having your nose broken was bad? You have no idea what people have planned for you. Think about that while you sleep behind your little sheet door tonight.”
I flinched at her words, which made her smile more before she walked away. “Are you going to be okay? You look…pale.” Harper rested her hand on my arm while she spoke, and I turned to smile at her.
“Seriously, I’m okay. But I want you and Maggie to rethink being my friends right now. There’s no way that you two are going to make it out of this without being hurt.” The thought of my friends getting hurt on my behalf made my stomach twist, but she just shook her head.
“Not a chance. We love you.”
Maggie nodded. “We’re sorry that you got hurt today. Is there anything that we can do?”
I looked from one friend to the other, a plan slowly forming in my mind. “Yeah, I think that there may be.” Quickly I glanced over my shoulder, but nobody was paying any attention to us. Even Woods and Everett were sitting with some of their other friends. “Do you guys think that you could pretend to hate me and then let me know if something bad is going on?”
Harper chewed her lower lip and then shook her head. “I don’t think that the harpies and the rogues would believe that we would just turn on you like that. It would have to be more believable than us just deciding that we didn’t want to be friends with you.”
She was right, and I took a bite of my balsamic glazed asparagus while I thought. “What if, the next time they target you guys, you just lose it? Just go completely off the rails and turn on me?”
Maggie nodded. “That could work. Like it finally just broke us?” She turned to Harper, who nodded. “But we would need to have some sort of a code or something to communicate with you. Otherwise, it wouldn’t matter if we found out that they were up to something.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” I let my eyes skate around the room and focused on the rogues for a moment. It was disconcerting what Amelia had said about the rogues not being able to protect me from the council, but I hadn’t told my friends that yet. I didn’t want them to worry anymore than they would, and if they knew that the council was more involved, then I didn’t think that they’d protect themselves.
“What do the harpies always call you? A gutter rat? What if we called you that when we knew that something big was going to happen? Then we could try to meet and tell you the info, or you could at least be a little warned?” Harper took a sip of her water when she finished talking.
“I like it. But you guys are going to have to wait until they try to push you away to really back off, okay? Or there’s no way that they all believe this.” I raised my water in a cheers and the three of us clinked glasses. For the first time all day, I smiled, but then I looked over their heads and saw Brett staring at me. He was frowning, a dark look on his face.
The smile faded off of mine. There wasn’t any way that he knew what we were doing, right?
◆◆◆
“I know what you’re doing.” Brett’s voice stopped me dead in my tracks. I was on my way to lunch after history class. Harper and Maggie were still hanging out with me, but we were all waiting for something to happen that would give them the opportunity to distance themselves.
“What do you mean?” Turning, I shifted my backpack on my shoulder. My face still felt puffy from my nose being broken yesterday and I had a bandage on it that made speaking a little difficult, but at least my eye hadn’t blackened too much from the second ball.
Looking in the mirror did remind me of what I looked like after my accident, however, so tried to avoid it as much as possible. I didn’t need a reminder of that night, I relived it in my thoughts every second I wasn’t focused on something else.
Brett fell into place beside me, reaching out and pulling my backpack off of my shoulder. I fought him at first, but he slipped his arm through the strap and shouldered it. I had to admit, it did feel good to have that weight off of my back, but I wouldn’t ever tell him that.
“You. Acting like you’re going to be able to withstand the semester. I know that you’re just trying to act as tough as possible but that there’s no way you’ll be able to keep it all together for the next few months.” He glanced at me as he talked and I took a huge breath.
Good. He hadn’t figured out the truth about Harper and Maggie. That meant that our plan would keep them safe. If anyone knew…well, I didn’t want to think about that.
“Yep. You got me figured out, Brett. Way to go. Must not have been too hard, since I’ve been saying all along that I’m going to stay and that you guys can’t run me out of here.” We reached the double doors to the dining hall and I turned to him, reaching out for my backpack. “Now, give me my things.”
He shook his head. “I’ll walk you to your table.” Before I could respond, he pushed open the doors and ushered me through. I paused, then walked through the door, looking around to see if something was wrong.
If Brett was being chivalrous then I didn’t think he was to be trusted.
But everything looked fine. Taking a deep breath, I walked through the doors and put my backpack down at my normal table before going to get some food. Lunch was honey ham sandwiches on a fresh seed bread with homemade gourmet mustards. There was a kiwi salad, but I passed on that. Ever since I discovered my oral allergy a few years ago, I made sure to avoid it like the plague so I wouldn’t have a reaction.
I had just filled up my tray and gotten some water when I realized that the dining hall had fallen silent. Turning around, my eyes fell on my two best friends. They walked in together, trying to look brave, but I could tell that they’d both been crying.
Their hair was cut.
Harper’s long locks were cut up to her ears, and Maggie’s hair was even shorter. She had a few bald patches where the hair was so short that it stuck straight out from her head. They walked up to the table where we normally sat together then paused before turning away and walking off.
I felt like I was choking. I knew that this was going to happen. We had decided that they would stick with me until it was too bad and then they would pretend to be against me, but seeing it
in action was devastating. Tears burned the backs of my eyes, but I forced myself to walk over to them.
That’s what I would have done if we hadn’t made our plan. I had to do it to make people believe in the lie.
“Hey guys.” I shifted my tray on my hand and waited for them to look up at me. When they did, I took a step back. The pain in their eyes was real. “What happened? Are you two okay?”
The concern in my voice was real, but I hoped that the hatred in their eyes wasn’t.
“Are we okay?” Harper snapped, reaching up to touch the ends of her hair. “Are you kidding me? This is because of you, Rose.”
Maggie slammed a book down on the table. “Why don’t you just leave Taylor Prep, Rose? It’s what everyone wants anyway, so you might as well just make it easier on all of us.”
My stomach twisted. “Who did this? Talk to me!” Panic rose in my chest and I put my tray down on the table to try to catch my balance. Harper reached out and shoved my tray so that it tipped off of the table and clattered on the floor, my water soaking my shoes and my food spilling everywhere.
“Go away, Rose. Nobody wants you here. Stupid gutter rat.” Her voice was flat. The two of them turned away from me, but everyone else in the dining hall was still watching.
Gutter rat. Something was going to happen, but they couldn’t give me any more than that. I felt a chill course throughout my body and I shivered, pulling my jacket tighter around myself.
“Guys, please.” My voice sounded strained, and I reached out to touch my friends on their shoulders, but my hand stopped short. This is what I needed from them, and they were giving me exactly what I needed to save them.
Harper and Maggie were the only two people in the dining hall not looking at me. Everyone else had their eyes locked on me. They’d stopped eating, stopped drinking, and were just waiting and watching. They wanted to know what I would do. I had to make this look real.