by Eden O'Neill
Twelve
Royal
“What the fuck is this?” Jax directed our group in another direction, and my arm left Mira’s shoulders for the same reason. What the fuck was this?
Hell no.
Voices… my name being called as I stalked away from my friends. I made out Jax’s voice among them, telling me to stop, as well as LJ’s and Knight’s. They were shouting behind me, Mira too, which I didn’t give a shit about as I walked away. The only thing that concerned me right now currently came down the hallway, their hands together like they were a fucking thing.
They weren’t a fucking thing.
But that necklace around her neck told different, that shine around her neck that immediately elicited a stab in my insides. I saw no reasoning in these moments, heard no words from my friends calling me to come back. I just stalked across that hallway.
And I threw that fucker Mallick against the lockers.
“Royal!” December’s voice this time, her hand ripping me away from this piece of trash. Ramses Mallick may have height, but I had the size factor. I could crush his lanky-ass body like a toothpick.
“Prinze, what the fuck?” he seethed, pushing me off him. “What the hell’s your problem?”
“You know what the hell’s my problem.” I cut in front of December, the girl literally freaking out on me. She screamed in my ear, tugged at my jacket, but I didn’t care. I held her back. “You stay away from her.”
“Stay away?” Ramses looked me up and down. “Go ease off your fucking ’roids, dude. She’s my girlfriend.”
His… girlfriend.
No fucking away.
Ramses pushed me again, and this time, I let him, the shock rattling me or something. Clear of me, Ramses reached for December, and not only did she take his hand, but went under his arm when he pushed it around her.
Pain, extreme pain pulsed through me, and even more so when Mallick tightened his hold on her.
He rubbed her arm, jutting a chin in my direction. “What happened to your eye, bro?”
My eye…
I faced away only to come back to a smirk, Mallick.
He secured his hold around December tighter. “You run into a wall or something?”
Screams… December’s voice again, but this time, they were warranted. I knocked Mallick to the ground with a single punch, to his eye.
I guess we hit the same damn wall.
Thirteen
December
The hallway flooded in chaos, guys and girls everywhere. Windsor Prep girls were screaming while Windsor Prep guys, on the other hand, were cheering things on. Meanwhile, Ramses, Royal, and I were in the middle of it. I was trying to pull Royal off Ramses only for Ramses himself to get the upper hand, and then I had to pull him off Royal. Eventually, I had to give up on them both, literally screaming at them both to stop, and I got no help from anyone. Especially Knight, LJ, and Jax. A force, the three boys held the crowds off while the boys in front of me attempted to kick the shit out of each other. Clothes were torn, Royal at one point with his jacket completely off and his buttons pulled to the state where his chest exposed. Ramses managed to keep his clothes on, but as kempt as he looked this morning, the damage was done between the scuffle on the floor and the blood from his lip. Royal had gotten him not just in his eye, but his mouth as well and looked like he was about to go for the other eye until Mr. Pool, our English teacher, came into the hallway. The students there for the fight divided immediately, and Jax, Knight, and LJ who’d been aiding the fight by keeping the crowds back released their impenetrable hold on the other students. They stood back, allowing Mr. Pool to come in, and as soon as he did, he grabbed both Ramses and Royal by their clothing.
“Get up.” He scowled, returning both guys to their feet. After he got them grounded, he forced distance between them both. “What do you two think you’re doing?”
They said nothing, snorting like bulls at each other. Mr. Pool pushed them forward. “To the headmaster’s office. Both of you, and to the rest of you, back to class before you join them.”
That cleared out the hallway real quick, all but me, LJ, Knight, and Jax. Horror-struck, even Mira left with friends, the girl whimpering in her hands, but the three boys and I stayed. I didn’t think we knew what to do after that.
I had no idea what just happened.
*
I got Mr. Pool to give me a hall pass during second period English. I was taking his English Lit-8 class this semester and wanted to know the fallout regarding the boys, so color me surprised when Principal Hastings’s office was still occupied nearly over an hour after the scuffle in the hall. I figured they’d all be done in there by now, and not only were they not done, multiple voices beyond Royal’s and Ramses’ could be heard outside. I knew because I poked my head in on the secretary to ask if I could ask Principal Hastings a question. I made up some excuse for the reason why, and while standing there, other voices could definitely be made out. One of which I distinctly remembered as being Royal’s dad.
Christ.
This thing was getting out of control, and Ramses and I were only fake girlfriend/boyfriend for less than two hours. After my initial poke and not so subtle spying, I stayed in the hallway outside of the headmaster’s office. Waiting was the only way I’d know for sure what happened.
I didn’t have to wait long.
The door blew open just long enough for me to clear, and I stayed behind it, Royal and his dad coming out into the hall behind the door’s glass window. A coat over his arm, Mr. Prinze threw it on.
He pointed a finger at Royal. “We’re going to deal with this at home. Get out to the car.”
Royal had his hands in his pockets, and though I couldn’t see his response, he did have his blond head slightly down. He shrugged. “I have to get my stuff first.”
His father threw his hands up and I braced myself, and I noticed Royal stiffen too. It wouldn’t be the first time his dad had struck him. I’d witnessed an occurrence firsthand, but it seemed in this case, Mr. Prinze only raised his hands out of frustration.
“Straight to the car after,” he said, then stalked the opposite way down the hallway. With him clear, I closed the door, and I think it’d been the noise that forced Royal to turn my way. He stared right at me, stiffening again.
I stared too.
It’d been for a different reason, I’d wager, his eye taking my attention. True, Ramses had gotten his licks in on Royal. He had a bruise the size of a state on his cheek, and his clothes he’d returned to their proper places on his body, but they were still ripped and torn. Ramses had definitely gotten him good, but he hadn’t done that, his eye. That’d been there before the fight.
That may have even started the fight.
Catching me looking at his black eye, Royal avoided eye contact and, returning his hands to his pockets, stalked around me with just as much force as his dad had on the opposite side of the hallway. He was running away, avoiding me, but he wasn’t going to get away that easy.
I stalked after him too. “Royal Prinze, you have some nerve.”
The hall silent besides us, he continued to move, but I didn’t let him. I grabbed him by the arm, turning him and making him face me. “What’s your problem?” I shot, seething. “You think you have some kind of ownership on me? Like you have any right at all to do such a thing because of me?”
He turned but I cut in front this time. If he was going to avoid this conversation, he’d have to go through me this time. I put hands on my hips. “What the hell is your deal? Because if this is some kind of savior complex because Paige was your friend and I’m her sister, I call bullshit on that. You don’t care about me. You’ve shown that on more than one occurrence, and not only did you hurt Ramses again today, I think you did it as just another power play. To throw your weight around like you did with that fucking haze—”
“You know nothing.” He moved, but I pushed him back this time. His eyes narrowed. “Back off, December.”
&
nbsp; “You back off.” I pushed him again for good measure, and though he stayed his ground, he looked about two seconds from exploding. Good. I got up in his face. “You’re a jerk and you’re cruel and you’re so out of line regarding this thing with Ramses it’s not even funny. He didn’t do anything wrong. He’s with me, and if you think you have any right to do anything about that, you have another thing fucking coming. Newsflash, Royal Prinze, you don’t own me—”
“Well, maybe you own me!”
I blanched, completely thrown off by what he said. It took me a moment to realize he’d even said it…
But he had, and I knew just as well as he stood in front of me. He was shaking, seething himself. He threw fingers into his hair. “Never mind.”
No never mind, and I got hands on him again, making him face me.
He swallowed. “You don’t know anything, and you’re definitely understating the potential of that guy who fucking goaded me first. Ramses Mallick was a jerk when he went to school here, December, and I know that just as well as many of the guys here. They haven’t forgotten. None of us have, and do you know what they wanted to do to him because of that? What they would have done if not for me in order to get that ring on his finger?”
I didn’t, shaking my head. “What?”
He leaned in. “They wanted to beat him, whip him with an actual whip until his skin fell off, and even then, I don’t know if it would have stopped.”
My stomach turned, sickness brewing, and Royal only worked his jaw.
“He was a bully,” he said, stepping back. “Facts, and no amount of turning over a new leaf would make people around here forget that. Memories run deep here, so don’t for a fucking second let that guy you’re apparently dating off as being some goddamn saint in this place—”
“So why did you stop it, then?” I asked, in his face again. I was so close. “Why did you intervene? Why not hurt him like the rest? Why… why did you say what you just said to me?”
That I owned him… That I could possibly in this place and with who he was? This powerful boy could never be owned. He was cruel…
Right?
The lines were starting to blur here, and nothing made sense, especially Royal when he grabbed my arms, forcing me to look up at him.
“I think you know why, Em,” he said, and steps coming down the hall, he let go of me. He stared over my shoulder, and when I turned, his dad stood there. I had no idea how much he’d seen, but his expression wasn’t at all happy.
“Is there a problem?” the man asked, and Royal immediately put distance between us.
Royal put hands behind his back. “No problem, sir. I’m getting my things.”
So formal, so submissive. The state of Royal’s eye took my sight again, a dark mark Ramses didn’t inflict. He’d gotten it from someone else.
Mr. Prinze faced me now. “Good. You’ve got one minute and one only.”
Royal nodded, his dad finally leaving. Royal started to go too, but I called him. I had more questions, so many more, and I didn’t want him to go. He stopped again, but this time, it looked like it hurt him to do it.
“I have to go,” he said, averting his eyes from me. “I’m suspended.”
He left me with only that before escaping down the hallway and around a corner, and I would have gone after him again if not for further commotion in the hallway. The headmaster’s office had opened again, and this time Ramses and another man came out.
“Unbelievable,” said the man donned completely in a gray suit. A wool jacket over his arm, he pushed arms through it. “You just got here, and you’re already getting into crap.”
I hadn’t seen the mayor of Maywood Heights this close up before, but I definitely recognized him from Ramses’ holiday party. Ramses was a mash-up of ethnicities, his golden complexion so obviously from his father. The man was older, salt-and-pepper hair perfectly pushed back and polished. I wondered if he had curls too, but if he did, he made sure they were in order. He wasn’t happy at all like Royal’s dad, and Ramses appeared just as unsettled.
“Sorry, Dad—”
“You’re sorry,” said Mayor Mallick, huffing when he got his coat together. “Ramses, just when I feel like you’re finally starting to get things together…” He stated this with a sigh, shaking his head. “You just keep disappointing, boy.”
Ramses always sounded so whatever about his father, annoyed, and I had caught him a time or two in anger. I hadn’t blamed him considering the history father and son had, but when Mayor Mallick said what he had, the words did play on Ramses’ expression in a different away. He looked almost guilty when he pushed hands into his pockets.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, and Mayor Mallick shook his head again.
He looked at Ramses. “Your uncle can’t bail you out of things every time—”
Out of the office came Principal Hastings this time, and the man in the spectacles waved a hand.
“One more thing, Ibrahim,” he said to the mayor, so informal. Together, the two men went back into the office, and after closing the door, Ramses threw out a breath. He turned on his heels, and when he found me, he bunched a hand into his curls. They no longer held that precision, and though his lip had stopped bleeding, his own dark eye was starting to surface.
He frowned. “How much of that did you see?”
Enough, I came forward. “Your dad in there?”
Ramses nodded, facing the door. “Just when I think I’m starting to get on his good side,” he said with a laugh, a joke but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. He pushed a hand behind his neck. “I’m in deep, ’Zona. Not gonna lie.”
“You’re suspended?” I asked, knowing Royal’s sentence.
Ramses bobbed his head twice. “Not as long as Prinze, but we both are out of here for a little bit. I only think I got off a little light because I didn’t start it—”
“And apparently because of your uncle?” I asked, and his eyes widened.
“Heard that too, huh?”
“Yeah. Who is it? Your uncle?”
In the next seconds, the door opened again, and two men returned, Principal Hastings and Mayor Mallick. Both men had been talking, but as soon as they saw Ramses and me, they stopped immediately. Their sights drifted over to my direction, and after a silent exchange, the mayor put a hand over Ramses’ shoulder.
“We should probably go, son,” he said, then gave Principal Hastings a nod.
The headmaster did the same, and Ramses was basically dragged away.
“I’ll text you,” he said to me, lifting a hand, and it wasn’t long before the headmaster was waltzing up right on me.
His eyes narrowed. “Do you have a pass for lingering in the hallway, Ms. Lindquist?”
I actually did, and after showing it to him, he returned back into his office. I got a text on the way back to class, and once I did, I almost dropped my phone.
My uncle is our stuffy old headmaster, Ramses’ text said. I thought you knew?
Fourteen
December
Birdie: So were you going to mention that you and Ramses were dating or…
Me: It’s new. Just kind of happened.
Birdie: Just kind of happened, huh? *winky smile*
Me: Oh, shut up.
Birdie: But for serious, tho. How you going to leave your girls out of this? Kiki and Shakira are livid.
Me: I told you. It just kind of happened and wasn’t malicious. Honestly, now I’m kind of wishing we kept things on the DL after today.
Birdie: Right? I mean, what was up with Royal? WTF.
Me: Yeah…
Birdie: You guys just had a casual hookup, right? That one time? Weird of him to be all jelly.
Me: Yeah.
Birdie: I swear to God everyone is losing their minds around here. First Ramses wants to join Court and then you guys? Any more secrets you wanna share? LOL
Me: Not particularly. I think I’ve had enough for a lifetime.
*
Text messa
ges throughout the day with Birdie turned out to only be the start of the day that wouldn’t seem to end. I’d heard from not just her but Shakira, Kiki, and a few of our other friends as well. They all had the same questions, the same intrigue about something even I was confused out. Matters only became worse at lunchtime when I somehow had become the center of a gossip invasion not just from our friends but any and everyone who seemed to suddenly want to sit at our table. People used excuses, of course, but it was hard not to notice people listening in on conversations with Birdie, the rest of our friends, and me. When I figured out those sudden ulterior motives, I kept silent, letting my friends talk while I ate. I evaded people most of the day and basically hid entirely in gym class. I’d gone out of my way to avoid Mira and her friends on any day, but today, the day her boyfriend decided to hit my new boyfriend…
And say all kinds of things to me.
It was all completely fucked up what Royal said in the hall this morning, and I wanted to block it all out instantly the minute I’d heard it. I found I couldn’t no matter how many conversations I tried to blend in to or how many classes I tried to pay attention in. Royal said what he said.
Well, maybe you own me…
Later that evening, I played with Hershey when I got yet another text message after the day from hell, and seeing it was Ramses, my eyes widened. I figured his phone access might be limited after his suspension.
Ramses: Hey, I’m outside. Come out.
Come out.
A flash of the curtains told me he was outside, his Benz running in the driveway, and I placed Hershey on the floor, then got my coat on. I took her with me downstairs, and after telling Rosanna I was going outside for a bit, I bore the chill out to the warm Mercedes. When I got inside, Ramses had his seat warmers on, which felt pretty frickin’ good with the car’s heating.
I clicked the door shut, and Ramses looked hella worse for wear. He’d definitely seen better days, that bruise around his eye was purple, and noticing I stared at it, he gestured to it with a dismissive shrug.