by Mae Doyle
“I hope that you remember that I told you not to come back, and that if you did, the shit would really hit the fan, Rose.” Somehow she manages to sound bored, although I can tell from the look on her face that she’s interested in what I’m going to say.
“I remember, Amelia, but I hope that you remember I told you to suck it. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to finish out my senior year here and take home the trophy for the vocal competition at the end of the semester, so you can deal with it.”
I try to step around her, but she reaches out, putting her hand on my shoulder and shoving me back. I stumbled backwards, but my friends catch me, their arms holding me up from the floor.
“God, you suck, Amelia,” Maggie gasps out. “Why can’t you just leave us alone? Rose is suffering enough after losing Brett, so just go away!”
Amelia scoffed, then poked me in the chest. “I don’t think that Rosie here is grieving at all, actually. She’s too busy shacking up with Jackie and Kaleb to miss Brett, aren’t you, you little whore?”
“Fuck you.” Before I could think about what I was doing, I reached out and shoved Amelia out of the way. She took a step back, trying to catch herself. She wind-milled her arms, but her backpack threw her off center and her heels were so high that she couldn’t keep from falling.
Everyone was watching as she landed with a loud thud on the floor, her bag falling open and her books scattering across the hall.
“You murderous cunt.” Her eyes were darker than I had seen before. “I swear to you, you’ll be the next one to die, you hear me?”
“Oh, I hear you, Amelia,” I told her, taking my friends by the hands again and walking over her. We had to step around her and her books to reach the dining hall, but I didn’t slow down.
If Amelia was any indication, this year was going to be rough. But I had my two rogues, and I had my two friends. If I kept telling myself that I could get through it okay then maybe I would.
I just couldn’t let down my guard around Amelia, not when it was so obvious that she wanted me gone now more than ever.
◆◆◆
The rest of the day was fine until I walked into voice. Against all hope, I wanted Mrs. McKearin back, but I’d heard a rumor that she decided to stay home with her baby. Even though I knew in my heart that that was probably true, I was still crossing my fingers the entire walk across the quad.
As soon as I walked into the music room, however, I knew that I was fucked.
Like…really and truly fucked.
Part of my revenge plan for Amelia hinged on me being able to sweep the rug out from under her in the vocal competition at the end of the semester. It’s not that I felt like I needed Mrs. McKearin there to help me do that, but I knew that she would make it easier than if Amelia was able to pull strings to get in a new teacher.
But, of course, that’s just what she was able to do.
“Oh, Rose, you’re here. Do you remember Mr. Collins?” Amelia’s voice was sickly-sweet and she winked at me from behind the teacher’s back.
Of course I remembered the personal vocal coach who Amelia had managed to get hired at Taylor Prep after Mrs. McKearin went out on maternity leave. Nobody could forget him. Most of the girls here drooled over him because he was cute, but that wasn’t why I kept staring at him.
It was because I knew that with him at her side, Amelia had a much better chance of winning the competition than without him.
“Yes, Mr. Collins, hi,” I said, dropping my bag to the floor and going to stand with the group. “So glad to see that you’re back to teach us again.”
For his part, Mr. Collins could barely spare me a look before turning back to Amelia. “As I was saying, darling, I know the perfect song for you to sing for the competition. It’s a great match for your range and tone and I know that it will wow everyone.”
I felt my face flush. He was already showing that she was his favorite by picking out a song that was perfect for Amelia. I had a very good feeling that I wasn’t going to get the same treatment. I also had a very good feeling that bringing it up wasn’t a great idea, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Are you going to pick out songs for all of us to work on? Or do we need to try to find them on our own?” My tone was sarcastic, which my mother would have hated, but she wasn’t here to help protect me, so I didn’t give a shit what anyone else in class thought.
So slowly that at first I couldn’t tell if he was moving, Mr. Collins turned around to look at me, pinning me in my spot with his gaze. “I’m sorry, remind me your name?”
“Oh, that’s Rose,” Amelia piped up before I could open my mouth. “Remember? My mom was telling you all about her over break.”
“Ah, yes, Rose. You have quite the reputation, you know that?” When I didn’t answer his question, he smiled at me and continued. “Don’t you worry about picking out a song. I have a selection of ones here that the rest of you can choose from. It’s just that I know Miss Holland so well that I could easily pick out the perfect song for her. You understand, I’m sure.”
Oh, I understood. I understood perfectly. Amelia was going to do everything in her power to make this semester as difficult for me as possible, but I wasn’t going to bow to her.
Mr. Collins turned away from me and continued to talk to Amelia. Kelly was listening in to the two of them, but it was obvious that she wasn’t Mr. Collins’ full focus, and she knew it.
Kelly was next on my list.
Slowly I walked next to her, feigning interest in the sheet music that Mr. Collins had put on the table for us to go through. She didn’t notice me moving next to her until I was right beside her, but when she saw me, she turned and scowled.
“What the hell do you want, you murderer?” Even though the words were mean, there was something about Kelly that was weak. That was going to make the next part of my plan even easier than I had anticipated.
“Just looking at the music, Kelly. Did you manage to choose something yet? Or are you not yet over the fact that you’re second-best like me?” Amelia and Mr. Collins were leaning so closely together that their foreheads almost touched. Neither one of them heard us talking.
Kelly scowled. “Please. There’s no way that you and I are at all alike, and you know it. He’ll work with me by myself when he’s done with her, you’ll see.”
I shrugged, like I didn’t really care what happened. “Sure, maybe, but there’s a very good chance that he’s going to focus on his favorite, and I don’t think that it’s you.”
Kelly moved away from me, obviously trying to insert herself in the conversation between Mr. Collins and Amelia. Amelia caught the movement of her friend from the corner of her eye and threw her a nasty look before angling her body to cut her out.
I saw the look of surprise on Kelly’s face and felt a jolt of excitement. I wanted to hurt Kelly, but if I could also make her feel like her friend left her behind, then that was going to be even better.
“I don’t know, Kelly. Looks like you might be a bit of an outcast yourself,” I told her, grabbing the top sheet music from the table. I didn’t really care what it was, I was going to win the competition no matter what I sang, but I needed to be ready to back away from Kelly.
“Fuck off, you stupid whore. None of this would have happened if you weren’t so intent on opening your legs for anyone at school, you know that?” Kelly’s pretty face was twisted in anger. “Not only did you stay, which you shouldn’t have, but then you shacked up with three guys. You killed him, and you shouldn’t be here.”
“I deserve to be here,” I told her casually, walking away. I had no way of knowing if she was going to follow me or not, but it didn’t matter. Kelly was in my sights, and the fact that I could so easily get a rise out of her told me that I’d be able to take my revenge on her sooner rather than later.
“You deserve to be dead.”
I paused, but I didn’t turn around. There wasn’t no reason to rush into this. I had all semester.
Once I
got Kelly out of the way, I was going to take on Amelia.
By then, I hoped that we would be able to prove that Brett wasn’t dead, and I’d have all three of my rogues back.
Chapter 3
“You have a glint in your eye. I don’t like it,” Jackie said as he walked me to class. It was Tuesday, which meant that I was going to be in voice class all day with both Kelly and Amelia. When I’d first seen my schedule I’d been a little worried about it, but now…
Now that I’d figured out exactly what I wanted to do to Kelly, I was pretty excited to see her.
Well, that’s not quite the word. I didn’t think that I’d ever be excited to see any of the people who made my life a living hell at Taylor Prep, but I had a plan for Kelly, and it was exciting to me to think that I was finally going to be able to put it into action.
No matter how late I went to bed, or how tired I was, I stayed up at night, thinking about the beauty of ruining Sara when she was on stage in front of everyone. Kelly’s downfall would be a little less public, but still just as delicious.
“You sure that you don’t want to clue us in on what you have planned? We’re happy to take the heat for you.” Kaleb stopped and turned my by the arm before giving me a gentle kiss. He smelled like syrup from breakfast and I leaned into his chest for just a moment.
“Not a chance,” I told him, shaking my head. “If something were to happen to the two of you then I would feel terrible. I’m going to focus on taking Kelly and Amelia down a few pegs and I just want the two of you to focus on finding Brett, okay?”
“We haven’t found anything yet.” Jackie sounded so despondent that I leaned up and gave him a kiss.
“You will. I know that you two will. I have complete faith in the three of us being able to bring us all back together, okay? Don’t worry. Just let me handle this and pretty soon everything will be back to normal, except better.” Even as I tried to convince them, I realized that I was a little worried.
I had to pull this all off. They had to find Brett. We had to overthrow the council. It was a lot to do, but if we all worked hard then the harpies would get what they deserved.
“You’re still here.” Amelia sounded bored but her eyes narrowed when she watched me walk in the door.
“Of course, I am. You think that calling me bad names is enough to drive me away from Taylor Prep? Not a chance, Amelia. I want this more than you do, and I deserve it more than you.” I dropped my backpack down at my feet and pulled my sheet music from it.
Our group was going to work on a piece together and then we’d all work on individual pieces. I wasn’t worried about the group piece – we all knew that Amelia would be given the main solo, but I had to nail my individual piece if I had any chance of taking the glory from Amelia.
“I can kick your ass again in the quad, if you want.” Amelia flipped her long hair over her shoulder and pinned me in place with a stare. “Although, it really wasn’t that hard or exciting for me, so I’d appreciate it if you’d fight back a little next time.”
Remembering last year when she beat me up in front of everyone in the quad made me blush a little, but I was determined not to let her get to me. Rather than respond, I waited for Mr. Collins to come in, which he did just a second later, his heavy cologne sweeping through the room as he walked to stand in front of us.
“Okay, ladies,” he said, clapping his hands together, “we are in for a very long day today. You may have a lunch break, of course, and if you absolutely have to go to the bathroom then that’s okay, but I’d prefer if you stay in here as much as possible. One of you is going to take home the championship at the vocal competition, I can feel it.” He winked at Amelia, who grinned at him and flicked me off behind her music stand.
Whatever.
She could be as cocky and unsufferable as she wanted – Kelly was the one I wanted to take down next, and then Amelia would be the full focus of my attention. By then, however, I was hoping that she wouldn’t want to be in my crosshairs.
The crazy thing about Kelly was that she wasn’t just a great singer, as evidenced by her warm-up and the way she ran her scales, but that she also was incredible at math. Although I had the sexiest math tutor at the school, she was the highest rank math student to come through Taylor Prep in a while, which is what made it so easy for me to decide how I was going to take her down.
We sang all morning, and I focused as hard as possible when I was singing, but when I had a little downtime, my mind wandered. That weekend was the mathletes competition, and Kelly was competing to represent our school.
I was going to be there, front row and center, making sure that I got to see her fall apart. She had no idea that I was coming for her, and even if she did, I doubted that she would think that I would attack in front of everyone. What she didn’t know, though, is that I’d lost something very important to me.
When you lose someone like Brett, even if it’s hopefully just for a short period of time, there’s very little that will keep you from doing something crazy.
◆◆◆
The rest of the week flew by, and before I knew it, it was Saturday morning. Rather than sleeping in, I’d set my alarm for 6 am so that I could make sure that I had an early breakfast and was ready for the mathletes competition.
Every morning this past week I’d eaten with Harper and Maggie, but today it was my two rogues who were waiting for me at the dining hall. The girls had decided to sleep in, and the boys were thrilled to join me.
“Gorgeous Rosita,” Jackie said, pulling me to him in a hug. He kissed me, running his hands up my lower back and making me melt into him. I still couldn’t believe how strong and sexy my boys were, and I kissed him back, snaking my hand around the back of his neck and pulling me to him.
When I finally stepped back, Kaleb turned me to him, circling his arm around my waist. “Listen, girl, you can’t be that sexy and not come over here to give me some, too, understand?”
Oh, I understood.
I understood perfectly well that my entire day could go in a completely different direction if I’d let it. Kaleb grabbed my hips and yanked me into him. I could easily feel his huge cock pressing up against me as we kissed, and for just a moment, I thought about giving up on my plan to take down Kelly.
Spending all day in bed with my boys sounded like a much better plan…
But I had to do this. It took all of my self-control, but I finally stepped back, still breathing hard. “You guys really know how to distract a girl, you know that? You both make it really, really hard to get anything done around here.”
Jackie laughed, his perfect teeth bright white, and then grabbed my hand, steering me to the dining hall. “No, sweet Rosita, I think that Kaleb and I would agree that you are the one who makes things hard.”
Kaleb chuckled and took my other hand, giving it a squeeze as we walked down the hall. There were a few people already eating. We could hear their voices carrying through the doors and down to us.
“You want to clue us in on what shenanigans you’re thinking about pulling this morning?” Before we reached the doors, Kaleb pulled back on my hand, spinning me to him. Jackie flanked me, waiting on my response.
Hesitating, I thought about the pros and cons. If the boys did my dirty work for me then I wouldn’t have to worry about someone catching me, but there was no way that I was willing to throw them under the bus.
Besides, and this may have been even more important to me, I wanted to be the one to break Kelly. No matter who tore her down and tore her apart, I’d love it, but I wanted to be the one to really bring her to her knees.
Shaking my head, I looked at them both. “No, I love that you want to be there with me, but I have to do this. There’s no way that I want you guys to get in trouble, and I have to make sure that things go off without a hitch, okay?”
Jackie squeezed my hand. “You got it, Rosita. We’re there for you, okay? We’ll do anything that we can to help, all you have to do is ask.”
I knew
that he was telling me the truth. Taking a deep breath, I nodded and smiled at him, then prepared to walk into the dining hall.
But what we heard next stopped all three of us in our tracks.
It was Amelia. She must have been standing pretty close to the cafeteria doors because we could hear her hissed words. Without bursting through the doors, there wasn’t any way for us to tell who she was talking to, so we all froze and just listened.
“I know, but don’t worry. Someone paid the price for that stupid bitch staying. I don’t think that we need to worry about anything else. She’s running scared, and as long as she doesn’t do anything to ruin me then we’ll be fine.” Amelia paused, and I reached for the door, but Jackie put his hand on mine to stop me and shook his head.
“Well, obviously I want Jackie to be okay as well, but really? I just want her gone. I want to win the vocal competition and make sure that I never have to hear her stupid name or dumb fucking voice again, okay?”
This time, I couldn’t stop myself. Even though Kaleb reached for me to keep me from walking through the door, I opened it quickly, wanting to get a look at who Amelia is talking to. Her back was to me, and I grabbed her shoulder, whipping her around.
She turned, a sick grin on her face and hit her phone’s screen, hanging up, before slipping it into her pocket. “Everything okay, Rose? You look like you saw a ghost, but with your history, I really wouldn’t doubt it.”
“Who were you talking to, Amelia?” I ask, even though I know that there’s no way she’s going to tell me.
Just like I thought, she laughed and flipped her hair. “Don’t you worry about it, Rosie. It’s something called a friend, and they were just checking in on me. I’m sure that one day you may have more friends, but only if you stop being such a murderous cunt.” With that, she whipped around and stalked back to her table.