by Ruby Vincent
The Judgement
A Breakbattle Academy Novel
Ruby Vincent
Published by Ruby Vincent, 2020.
Copyright © 2019 by Ruby Vincent
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
The Elites
Mailing List
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prologue
I burst through the Elite door. “Derek! Derek, please! I can explain!”
Derek’s door was closed. He made it inside.
I stumbled to it as a door across from me opened.
“Isn’t this lucky?”
I spun around. Cameron smiled at me as he, Heath, Santiago, and the other Elite boys poured out of the room.
“Nice of you to come to us.”
I knew what was coming even before the final boy walked out of the room carrying a black cloth and sack.
“Derek! Hel—”
He shoved the cloth in my mouth. Dozens of hands grabbed me and held me still as my muffled cries reached no one. The last thing I saw before the cloth went over my head was Cameron’s smile.
Chapter One
I strained against my bindings, pulling and yanking until my fingers and toes went numb. They didn’t budge. Whoever bound me did a great job.
I screamed and wailed through my gag, but no sounds met my ears. I didn’t hear the taunting of my captors, or the hum of a busy school. I didn’t hear anyone. Did that mean no one could hear me?
I shook my head violently, attempting to dislodge the sack. Tears dripped down my face as panic overwhelmed me. Why had they taken me? What were they going to do?
Calm down, Zela. A rational voice sought me through the chaos. Calm down and think. Figure out where you are. They didn’t carry you far. Where could you be?
It took a minute for the thoughts to penetrate far enough for me to move. I scooted forward and my knees bumped into something cool. It had the same feel as the smooth surface beneath me.
I’m in a bathtub, I thought.
Of course, I was. That made sense. They took me into one of their bedrooms and stashed me in the bathroom. But why? What were they waiting for? What would they do when the time arrived?
I rocked back and fell against the back of the tub. There was no point shouting and pulling my limbs out of joint when the only ones who might hear me were people that would never help. I needed to conserve my strength for when they set me free.
If they set me free...
I beat back against the thought as a thread of fear wrapped around my spine. I couldn’t think like that. If they wanted to hurt me or worse, they would have done it already. Eventually, they would have to let me go and I’d make every last one of them pay for this.
I don’t know how much time passed as I sat in my dark, porcelain prison. At one point, the door opened and I sprang up.
“Hey,” I said through my gag. “Let me out! Untie me!”
The sound of a zipper was my reply. A few seconds later, the noise of running water filled the room.
No, not water.
The person finished up their whizz without a care to me being in the room. They must have heard me calling them but they didn’t give a care to that either. The pissing stopped and then the toilet flushed. I heard the door open and the murmur of voices reached my ears.
They were out there—talking, planning, waiting.
Hours must have passed as I sat alone in that bathroom. The screams and struggling stopped, but the tears didn’t. How had things gone so wrong?
One minute I was celebrating with my friends and then the next Derek was confessing his love for me. I never wanted the truth to come out like this. That first day in the cafeteria, I sat at his table intending to tell him everything.
He had been my obsession since I typed Jonathan Grayson in the search engine and discovered he was the owner of the major film studio that produced the majority of Naomi Grayson movies. My father was alive. He was only an hour away from me, and he had a son. My brother.
I didn’t lie and trick my way into Breakbattle Academy because I wanted to trick Derek too. I would have told him, but he chased me away. He labeled me another predatory, stalking fan and if I said I was his sister, he probably would have added insane to the list.
Jordan and I agreed the best thing to do from that point was to make him trust me. See me as a friend and know that I wanted nothing more from him.
Instead, I made him fall in love with me.
My head fell back against the tiled wall. My stomach twisted and writhed as that sank in.
I tried to get closer to my brother and he fell in love with me. He kissed me. How in the fucking hell did that happen? More importantly, how do we come back from this?
“—late enough.”
I stiffened as a voice spoke clearly on the other side of the door.
“We’ll bring Zeke there now.” The door creaked open. “No one will see.”
I didn’t bother to scream as hands lifted me under the shoulder. Somewhere among my worries over Derek, I realized what their plan was. I knew where they were going to take me.
Warm, fresh air touched my skin as I was carried outside. The sun did not seek me through the threads of the sack. Night had fallen, giving cover to their kidnapping.
It was a near silent trek across the grounds. The only things I could hear were the stomps of their shoes and the snap of twigs.
After a while, my captors stopped and set me on the ground. I wasn’t surprised to see the boulder when the sack was ripped off my head. Nor was I shocked to see Cameron sitting upon it.
“Hello again, Zeke.” He put two fingers to his head and saluted. “Sorry about the wait.”
The other Elite boys moved away from me. They fanned out before Cameron, staring me down in stiff silence. I didn’t care about them. My eyes were locked on Cameron and that loathsome smile.
“We planned on taking you from your bed like last time,” he continued conversationally. “But Santi pointed out that you’re rarely in your own bed these days. We were coming up with something else when you barreled into our hallway, always where you don’t belong. Couldn’t pass up that chance.”
I said nothing. I couldn’t. They hadn’t unbound or ungagged me. All I could do was kneel there.
“You know why you’re here, of course,” he continued. “You and I have a problem. We both know the chances that Fields beat you on the academic tests are slim. The guy is smart, but he was never as smart as you. That’s why I wanted you in the first place. You’re going to become Elite.”
Cameron looked so regal perched on his makeshift throne. He knew he was destined to lead and everyone else was meant to follow. As if t
o prove it, he snapped his fingers and Heath sprang forward. The boy removed my gag and tossed it aside in one smooth move.
It took me no time to find my voice. “I will be Elite,” I rasped. My throat was severely raw. My mouth dry. It made my speech sound sinister in strange contrast to the pleasant tone of Cameron. “Nothing you do to me here will stop that.”
He laughed. “Do to you? What exactly do you think we’re going to do?”
I looked at the boys standing ready and willing to do his bidding. “You can beat me, but I survived the first one and the second won’t stop me.”
I stiffened as he laughed louder. “No one is going to beat you, dumbass. With that stupid disguise of yours, people would think it was some kind of hate crime. I don’t need the heat and the school doesn’t need that kind of attention.”
I blinked, genuinely surprised. “If you’re not threatening me, what am I doing here?”
“It’s simple,” he stated. “We’re making you an offer—the same offer.”
My jaw slackened as I realized what that meant. “You can’t be serious?” I whispered.
“I am serious.” Cameron’s grin melted away. “We’ve gone way off track and I finally understand why. Everything went wrong at orientation and it set off a chain of events that made you believe the Network is your enemy. It’s not.
“You think you have to go on this crusade to bring us down and destroy our plans for the expansion, but you don’t. We’re not a threat to anyone and we’re not a threat to you.”
I gaped at him. “Are you kidding me? You tried to get me expelled! You framed me and turned my friends against me!”
Cameron’s expression didn’t twitch. “Exactly, I did. I was pissed and I used my authority to act against you. I had permission to teach you a lesson, but not to take it as far as I did. I lost my position because of it. Now that I’ve got it back, I’m expected to behave,” he said. “The Network isn’t interested in hurting anyone or you. To prove it, we’re offering what should have been yours all along. A place with us. What do you say?”
I looked him straight in the eyes. “No.”
If I thought he’d snarl or yell at my rejection, I was disappointed. “Why not?” he asked calmly.
“How can you ask me that? Do you think I’m stupid? I overheard you talking to your father about the millions he’d make if this twisted system spread to other schools. I won’t have any part of that.”
He shook his head. “You see? You’re just proving how ignorant you are. You don’t understand what we’re trying to do, but you’re deciding it’s bad because I’m involved.”
“No,” I replied. “I’m deciding it’s bad because Dominick Dupre is involved. I’ve heard all about your dad, Cameron. Plus, I’ve had the displeasure of meeting him. I’m not so ignorant that I can’t see he’s not a good guy.”
Now, his expression changed. Anger flashed across his face, twisting his lips. “Careful.”
“Why? Did I strike a nerve?”
Cameron got to his feet, towering even higher over me. “You’re repeating bullshit you’ve heard from Moon and Derek no doubt, but tell me this. If my dad is so shady, why are both Gray Studios and Shea Industries clients of Dupre Financial Holdings? They’ve all got something to say about my dad until they want him to make them money. They’re a bunch of fucking hypocrites!” he spat. “They don’t like him because he came up from nothing. Dragged himself off the streets, became a self-made man, and built a home among the Evergreen old money.
“Don’t believe the stuff they’ve said about him. They have their own reasons for being uptight, bitter fucks.” He pointed at me. “Just like you shouldn’t believe the expansion or Network is bad. Ask yourself this: if what we’re doing is wrong, why are your boyfriends a part of it?”
I pressed my lips together, breathing roughly through my nose. Cameron used my silence as cue to go on.
“Why do the people that join, stay and go on to recruit more members? Do you think we’re some worldwide evil organization plotting to take over the world one high school boy at a time?” He lifted his hands. “Or maybe we’re exactly what I told you that night years ago. We find the excellent among the shit and we make sure they get where they were meant to go. We’ll make sure Landon, Michael, Cole... and you get where you were meant to go.”
Cameron cocked his head. “Why would you want to be responsible for destroying that and getting in the way of your friends’ dreams? Do you think they’ll thank you for it?”
My hands shook in their bindings. Cameron was good. He was playing my emotions like a harp, plucking all the right strings.
“They don’t need the Network to achieve their dreams,” I said.
“Is that what you’re telling yourself to justify your revenge plot?”
Cameron snapped his fingers again. Heath and Santiago peeled themselves out of the pack and reached for me. The two untied my hands and legs and put me on my feet. I stumbled and Santiago caught me. His hands were surprisingly gentle as he put me upright.
The two of them moved to my back as Cameron climbed off the boulder. I tensed as he closed the distance between us.
“Look, it’s this simple. The Network wants to help the Coles and Michaels of the world. The more students they can reach, the better they can do that. If the leaders want to get paid on the way, why shouldn’t they? The money won’t come from the members and it won’t involve anything illegal. There is no reason for you to fight against us, so you might as well join us. What do you say?”’
“You must not have heard me the first time,” I stated. “I’m not joining you.”
He heaved a sigh like I was being unnecessarily difficult. “I told them you would say that. I guess it’s time for Plan B.”
I took a step back and bumped into a hard wall of muscle. Spinning around, I looked up into the hard eyes of Santiago and Heath. I didn’t see the need to test them. They weren’t going to let me go until Cameron was done with me.
“What does Plan B mean?” I asked without looking away from Santiago.
“I told you that I finally figured out what went wrong at orientation,” he replied. “Derek.”
A hand gripped my shoulder and turned me around. Cameron’s eyes swept over my face. “That’s what all of this has been about. You’re not a boy. You’re a girl pretending to be a boy but the only thing you get out of it is going to school on this campus. I couldn’t figure out why that mattered. The only difference between our side and theirs is this is where the Network recruits, but you ditched your chance of joining... for Derek.”
He shook his head, smiling wryly. “Once I figured that out, it all made sense. The reason you wouldn’t leave him in this clearing. The reason you came to this school. The reason every time I turn around, I find you attached to his ass. All of this is because of him.”
Cameron leaned in closer. The intensity in his eyes was like a physical force. It bore down on me, pressing me to the spot. “Why? I don’t know. I’m guessing Derek was right the first time when he called you out for being a stalker. You managed to charm him anyway, but the guy was never a good judge of character. His last friends posted his mom’s tits all over the internet. You must be trying to get close to him for another payday.”
Anger roared up in me fierce and fast. The shout was out of my mouth before I could stop it. “You’re wrong! I’d never do anything to hurt him!”
Cameron’s smile widened. “So, I was right. You do care about him.”
I snapped my mouth shut.
“I guess I was also right about you pretending to be a boy so you could get close to him?” he continued. “Did it work?”
Derek echoed through my mind unbidden. “That’s not true! It can’t be true! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Apparently not.”
I jerked. Cameron read my expression clearly.
“You need to stay,” he went on, “to finish whatever you came here to do to him.”
“I don’t want to d
o anything to him,” I said. “Yes, I became Zeke to get into the boys’ academy and get to know him, but that’s it. There is nothing wrong about what I’m doing.”
“I’m not buying it. You didn’t go through all of this”—he waved a hand at my clothes and wig—“for nothing. You must have a damn good reason and it’s important enough that you’ve put up with all of this bullshit for the last two years. You need to be here for Derek and I need you to stay out of Network business.” Cameron stepped back. “So this is how it’s going to work. You’ll come back next year, keep your head down, be a good little Elite, and the administration doesn’t find out that you’re a girl.”
I wish I could say I was surprised to hear that threat, but I’d been expecting it ever since that day in the F Wing when he said my real name. This was his ace card and he picked the perfect time to use it.
Does it even matter now? I thought. Derek knows the truth and he ran away from me. I thought I lost his trust before, but there’s no doubt I lost it this time. What could I say that would make him understand this? How could I get him to hear it in the first place?
I lowered my head. I didn’t want Cameron to see my eyes fill with tears. I lost him. My brother. I loved him so much and after everything I’ve done to be with him. I’ve lost him.
I opened my mouth to tell Cameron to do his worst. None of it mattered now.
No. I halted. Derek was upset, but anyone would be after discovering the girl he fell for was his sister. I just need to give him time and eventually he’ll forgive me. Underneath that hard exterior was always a good guy. If I give him a chance, he will come back to me, but I have to be close. It’ll be too easy for him to push me out of his life if I’m not in it.
“Okay,” I said. I think the word surprised me as much as it did Cameron. “I’ll stay out of your way, and you’ll keep my secret.”
“Good. That just leaves one more thing”—he snapped his fingers—"insurance.”
I didn’t have a chance to ask what he meant before Heath and Santiago seized me.