by Mae Doyle
I was hungry.
“Okay then.” I gave each of their hands a squeeze and then smiled at Brett. He looked at me but didn’t smile back. Even though Jackie and Kaleb had fully embraced me and even though I had just kissed Brett a few hours ago, I still wasn’t sure where I stood with him.
Truth be told, I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to figure out where I stood with him. We had too much history between the two of us, and not all of it was good. No matter what, though, the rouges had accepted me. They wanted to take care of me, but honestly? I wasn’t sure if they would be able to.
Not against the harpies. Not against the council. Not against everyone at Taylor Prep who seemed so badly to want me gone.
“Shall we get something to eat?” The question was innocent, but I couldn’t help but notice the look that the rogues exchanged before they nodded.
“You’ll need to change first.” Jackie dropped my hand and reached into the box he’d brought, pulling out skinny jeans and a tight shirt. I raised one eyebrow at him, but he pressed them into my hand. “It’s time for a new you, Rosita. You want to stay protected and make sure that nobody can touch you? Then help us out. Become someone that even Amelia will be afraid of.”
“She’ll never be afraid of me.” Even as I said it, my hands closed around the clothes. Maybe he was right. Maybe with their help, I could become someone that the rest of the school would respect or fear enough to keep from messing with me.
It sounded too good to be true, but I had to try.
“You guys go outside so I can change.” I flicked my wrist, popping Kaleb with the tank top when he didn’t immediately turn around. “Seriously, guys. You can’t be in here while I change.”
“Well, we wouldn’t mind, that’s all,” Kaleb said, but he turned and walked out with Jackie, leaving me alone with Brett.
There was something magnetic between us. I wasn’t sure what to say, but it definitely felt like I needed to say something. To thank him, maybe.
“Brett,” I began, but he cut me off.
“Don’t, Rose.” His voice sounded a little choked, but his eyes were just as dark and focused as they always were when he looked at me. “Just…don’t. Do what we say and try to be strong and maybe we can keep you safe, okay?”
It was a weird thing for him to say, but I just nodded and he turned and left. I could follow directions, right? Even though part of me was still a little afraid that the rogues were up to something, they were my best bet for making it through the rest of the school year in one piece.
Chapter 17
My heart was beating faster than it ever had before as the four of us walked into the dining room. Brett held the doors for us and I followed Kaleb and Jackie in. The room was full of talking and laughter, but everyone got quiet as soon as we appeared. The main table, where the rogues usually sat with the harpies, still had their spaces in it, and I wondered briefly if that was where we would be sitting.
I didn’t have to wonder for long.
The four of us got our trays and even though my stomach had been rumbling hard earlier, I was starting to lose my appetite. It’s hard to want to eat when everyone in a room is looking at you like they wished that you were dead.
We all had our trays and I stood partly behind the rogues, wondering what to do next. Before I could ask, however, Brett stalked off to the main table, leading the other three of us behind him.
“Kaleb,” I hissed, walking next to him. “Are you guys sure that this is a good idea?”
He didn’t look back at me, but I could see his eyes flicking from side to side, watching all of the other students, as we walked to the table. “Be brave, Rose. You look amazing.”
I did. When the boys had left my room for me to change, I’d been nervous about what they wanted me to wear, but once again, they were right. The skinny jeans clung to my curves like they were painted on and the tight top showed off everything I was working with.
There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that I looked great, and I could see the surprise written on everyone’s faces. Harper and Maggie were sitting on the end of a table as we walked by, and I wanted more than anything to stop and talk to them, but I forced myself to keep looking ahead.
We were almost to the large table when Amelia stood up. Even from my vantage point behind Kaleb I could see her and the way her angry gaze swept across the four of us.
“What in the hell is this?” Her voice carried easily through the shocked silence of the dining hall and some of the harpies grinned. “Why are you walking with that gutter rat?”
She was looking at all of us, but her anger was directed at Jackie. I’d forgotten, for a moment, that the two of them were cousins. No wonder she was so mad that he was hanging out with me. She was working hard to build an empire at Taylor Prep and all of the sudden, in one movement, it looked like he was undermining it.
The boys didn’t stop walking, so neither did I, even though I did drop my head down so that I didn’t have to look at her. “Jackie. Seriously. What the hell?”
She walked around the table and straight up to us, stopping just a few feet from Brett. Kaleb and Jackie stood next to him, flanking their friend, and I stood next to Kaleb, trying my best to look invisible.
Yeah, right. Not only were my clothes showing off my entire body, but I’d pulled out some of the jewelry from the rogues. Around my neck was a gorgeous necklace with a huge sapphire pendant. It glimmered and sparkled even under the dining hall lights.
I looked like I could fit in with the harpies. The thought shocked me as I let my eyes sweep over them before coming back to rest on Amelia. Hell, truth be told, I looked like I could lead the harpies. I wondered if Amelia was thinking the same thing. Her eyes narrowed when she looked at me, and I had to fight myself to keep from taking a step back.
“Care to explain yourself?” She popped out her hip and stared at her cousin. When he didn’t answer, she turned to Brett. “Brett,” she cooed, reaching out and running her finger down his arm, “You do realize that you’re making a huge mistake, right?”
He shook his head. “The only mistake was listening to the council, Amelia. You and I both know that they were wrong, just like in the past. Rose deserves to be here.”
Her eyes darkened and she jerked her hand back like she’d been burned. “You can’t honestly believe that, Brett.” Her voice was a hiss and my eyes widened in surprise. “Besides, you were involved with the council making their decision. You can’t back down now.”
What?
Shocked, I turned to look at Brett, but he kept his eyes locked on Amelia and didn’t look at me. What did she mean that he had been involved in the decision? Fear started to roll up in me and I took a step back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kaleb turn to look at me, but it didn’t matter.
I’d heard what I needed to hear.
All of the worries that I had about this just being a game to them – especially to Brett – came to a head and I felt my stomach twist. Had they been in charge of all of my things getting thrown away? And then they came to rescue me with new stuff, but why?
To make me think that I could trust them?
And I’d fallen for it. Head over heels.
If I closed my eyes and focused, then I was sure that I would be able to feel Brett’s lips on mine. That was the last thing I needed to think about. My tray slipped from my hands and I heard, rather than saw, it clatter to the ground, all of the food flying off of it and splattering on the floor.
Still, I couldn’t move.
Everyone in the dining hall was watching me, and I knew that they were all waiting to see what I would do. Even Amelia had her face turned towards me, her lips slightly parted as she waited.
Even I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I knew that I better figure it out, and fast, or I was just going to be in the same position as I was earlier today, with everyone hating me.
Kaleb turned to me and I saw that my food had splattered all of the front of his pants as well as
on mine. “I’m sorry,” I said, the words barely loud enough for me to hear them, but he must have heard, because he frowned.
“Rose,” he began, but I wasn’t about to let him finish.
“No. No.” I took a step back from him, wanting to put as much distance between me and the rogues as possible. “This was just a game to you. And Brett…” My voice faded away as I looked up and caught his eye. I didn’t know what he had done with the council to turn them against me, or what he had told them, but it was obvious that he was the problem.
Before anyone else could say anything, I turned, running through the dining hall, wanting to get away from the rogues and the harpies. From the council and the students. Hell, I wanted to get away from Taylor Prep, even though I knew that that wasn’t really possible.
I’d made my decision to come here and stay here and now I had to live with it.
If they let me.
Hitting the double doors at a run, I smacked them open, ignoring the burning feeling in my palms. Once out in the lobby I stopped and turned in a circle, unsure of where to go.
My heart was pounding in my chest and there was a voice in my brain screaming at me to run, but I didn’t know where to go.
I couldn’t go to my room. There was nothing there to stop people from coming for me. To stop the rogues from coming for me.
I couldn’t go back to the bunker. It was pure luck that they hadn’t come for me earlier today when I was in there, but after this they would probably head straight there to look for me.
Harper and Maggie’s rooms were out.
The gym? Not safe.
The voice room? I hesitated, turning back to the outside door as I wondered if I could find a place there to hide. The only problem was that Amelia was also familiar with that space and if she thought I was there…well, there wouldn’t be anything stopping her from coming for me.
Panic rose up in me and I could feel it start to choke me, but before I could make a decision about what to do or where to go, a hand landed on my shoulder. I whipped around, my eyes wide, and stared right into Kaleb’s eyes.
How had I not noticed before the touch of silver or gray around them? I stared, probably too long, his hand warm on my shoulder, and got lost in his blue eyes before he spoke.
“Come with me, Rose. I know where you’ll be safe.” I wanted the words to be true and I even considered going with him for a moment, but instead I took a step back, jerking my shoulder from his hand so that he wasn’t holding it any longer.
“Not a chance, Kaleb. If I go with you then you’ll just tell the council that you have me. Then they’ll finally be able to get rid of me. That’s what you want, isn’t it? It’s all you’ve ever wanted!” My voice grew louder and louder, echoing in the lobby, but nobody else came out from the dining hall.
Kaleb had been sent to get me. The thought flitted through my mind but I shook my head, trying to clear it. There was no reason why of them would come to get me.
Unless they were telling the truth.
Yeah, like I believed that any of these guys could look me in the eye and tell me the truth about anything. Brett was in cahoots with the council. Amelia had proven that just now, and since she was Jackie’s cousin, I was sure that they were working together.
Kaleb…I thought I could have trusted him. That’s why they would have sent him after me and not one of the other rogues.
And that’s why I knew that I couldn’t stay. As much as I wanted to, and as much as it was going to kill me to run away, I had to do just that.
I wasn’t going to leave Taylor Prep, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to stand around and let the rogues take me down without a fight. Not only was I sure that the harpies were out to get me, but now I had my evidence that the rogues were just as bad.
I turned and ran through the doors to the outside even though I wasn’t sure where I was going to go. It didn’t matter. I’d seen the map of the campus and it was much bigger than I ever though it could have been. That meant that even though I didn’t know where to run and hide, there wasn’t any way that the rogues would know where to look for me.
Chapter 18
I didn’t stop running until I was deep in the woods, my lungs felt like they would burst, and my hip ached and throbbed almost as badly as it had right after the accident. With a cry of pain, I settled down with my back against a tree, facing the direction that I thought the school was in.
I’d come so far and turned and twisted multiple times in my hurry to get away, and I wasn’t really sure where I was going. Or where I came from.
That was going to be a problem later, when it was time for me to go back, but right now I just needed to be away. To be by myself. To try to think of what I could do to fix this or how I was going to get out of it.
“Okay, Rose.” It was startling to hear my voice after running in silence, but I knew that if I didn’t talk to myself that I could go crazy. “Let’s talk about what you know to be a fact.”
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the tree. The bark dug into my scalp, but when I opened my eyes and looked up, I was treated with an incredible view of the sky and an early sunset. Stupid Taylor Prep knew how to make everything more incredible than it should have been, including getting lost in the woods.
It made me angry.
“Okay. Fact: thanks to the yearbook and to Amelia I know that there is a council at the school and they want me out. Fact: Brett talked to the council about having me removed from school.” I stopped and picked at a particularly ragged piece of bark, pulling some of it off with my fingernail.
“Fact: the rogues and the harpies are working together.” No sooner had I said that than I stopped to think. Were they really working together? Or was that something I kept telling myself to avoid getting hurt. It was entirely possible that they had worked together at the beginning of the school year but now the rogues were having second thoughts.
If I thought about that, though, then I’d need to think about my feelings for the rogues, and I wasn’t ready to do that just yet.
“Okay.” I had to keep talking or I was sure that I would go insane out here in the woods by myself. “I can’t leave Taylor Prep, no matter who wants me to, no matter how I feel about the rogues, and no matter how much easier it would be to just go back home and be with my mom.”
I knew that leaving Taylor Prep would mean that I wouldn’t get my money back and that I wouldn’t be able to use the money that my dad left me for school, but right then I didn’t care. I sat with my back against the tree for a long time, just thinking.
By the time I stood up to go back to school, my legs were stiff and I had bits of bark in my hair, but I didn’t care. I straightened my back and stretched then started walking in the general direction of the school. It was getting darker now, and the last thing I wanted to do was be outside overnight.
Who knew what lurked in the woods in the dark? Being in the building with the rogues and the harpies didn’t seem much better, but at least there I would know what I was up against. Out here it was anybody’s guess.
◆◆◆
By Monday morning, I was feeling a little better. I’d been at Taylor Prep long enough to know that getting to meals super early on the weekends was key to avoiding as many people as possible, so I had done a wonderful job avoiding most everyone.
Even when I passed Harper and Amelia on the way out of the dining hall Sunday night, neither one of them had said anything to me. It hurt to walk past my best friends without talking to them, but at least I didn’t have to worry about the warning of being called a gutter rat.
Last semester the rogues and the harpies had done a wonderful job making my desk shorter than usual, so I was a little nervous when I poked my head into homeroom. I’d gotten there early enough that Valerie, a girl I recognized by sight but hadn’t talked to before, was the only other person in the room.
Keeping my eyes straight in front of me, I walked quickly to my desk and dumped my t
hings down before sliding in. So far, so good. Nothing bad had happened on Sunday or this morning. Even though I was a little nervous on Saturday night that the boxes of things from the rogues would be missing, by the time I got back to my room, I’d had the opposite problem.
Someone, probably them, had come back into my room and organized everything for me. There were even fresh sheets on my bed, and after a hurried shower, I’d passed out. Nobody had come into my room since then, and I’d done my best to avoid everyone, but now that classes were back, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long.
Participation was a key part of your grade at Taylor Prep, and while I could get away with not talking during homeroom, I didn’t think that I’d be that lucky in my other classes. This meant that I was going to have to pull it together sooner rather than later if I wanted to keep up my grades.
I sighed and turned to look out the window. It was going to be a gorgeous day, and one that I would have preferred to spend outside, but I had a full day of classes and then extra algebra homework to work on if I was going to be able to pass the class.
Because I was looking out the window, I felt, rather than saw, the rogues and harpies come into the room. If it were possible for the temperature in a space to drop, then that’s exactly what happened. Jackie slipped into his space in front of me, his delicious cologne wafting over me as he sat.
“Morning, Rosita.” His voice sounded causal as he turned and dug through his backpack. Even though I tried to keep from looking at him, I couldn’t help but notice how his muscles twisted and pulled under his shirt. He was gorgeous, no doubt about it, but maybe he was even more dangerous than I had thought before.
When I didn’t answer him, he turned around, resting his hand on my desk. Quickly I slipped my hands off of my desk and tucked them in my lap. It wouldn’t do any good to accidentally touch him. Even though I’d resolved to stay as far away from the rogues as possible, I knew that as soon as I touched one of them or got too close that I would struggle to maintain my distance.