by Ruby Vincent
Ezra took off his headphones and stood. “Halftime,” he announced.
I didn’t know what that was supposed to mean until Ezra walked out of the room and came back with two plates of tacos. My belly grumbled at the sight, suddenly remembering how hungry it was. Ezra didn’t look me in the face as he handed one over.
I thought about refusing, but my stomach growled again as though it could hear my thoughts. I accepted the plate without a word and we got down to eating. Silence pressed in on us so thick it felt like a real thing clinging to my skin.
It was a relief when the game resumed and Ezra got back to work.
Soon. It’s almost over.
All eyes were on the field, but mine were on the scoreboard. When the clock ran out, everyone cheered the Kings’ win, while I privately cheered it finally being over. My eyes fell through the crowd until I found the spot Amelia Lennox had been sitting.
Ezra cut into my thoughts. “You can go now.”
“I think I’ll stick around,” I said simply.
“Why?”
“Why not?”
He shook his head. “Whatever, Moon.” He put his back to me and got busy turning things off and putting them away. My eyes were unfocused on him as my attention fixed on something else.
“...so wonderful. Ezra did such a good job.”
Amelia’s voice echoed through the concrete cavern finding its way to our box. I heard multiple footsteps getting closer, and I got to my feet. I took a deep breath.
“No! Stop!”
Ezra spun around at my scream, just in time to see me race to the opposite side. I placed my hands on the cool plaster, and without pausing to think, reeled back and smashed my face against the wall. The crunch of cartilage breaking filled my ears as blood spurted from my nose.
“What the fuck!” Ezra shouted, nearly as loud as the scream that ripped from my lips.
“Stop!” I stumbled away, scrabbling at the sleeve of my dress.
Riiiippp!
My nails raked deep gashes in my skin as I tore the sleeve away. “Help me! Please!”
I made another run for the wall and strong arms intercepted me. “The fuck is wrong with you?!”
I struggled into Ezra’s grasp, bucking against his chest as blood flew from my nose. “Stop! Leave me alone!”
“Val! Sto—”
Bang!
The door flew open, narrowly missing my flailing legs. A pale-faced Amelia stood in the doorway, Marcus just behind her.
“What is going on in here?” she screeched. “Ezra, stop!”
Going limp, I burst into tears.
“Ezra, let her go now!”
“B—but, Mom—”
Amelia darted forward and wrestled me from his grip. “What did you do?!”
I couldn’t see Ezra from being buried in her neck.
“Me? Nothing! Mom, I didn’t do anything! I swear!”
Amelia twisted around. “Marcus, get her some help.”
Hands seized me and lifted me up. I was pressed to a hard chest and carried out as the screaming started. Amelia was nearly unintelligible; her screeching had reached a new pitch. Ezra I could make out. His denials and pleas of innocence echoed through the hall as Marcus led me away.
Chapter Five
“Miss Moon?” Evergreen’s newest doctor poked his head into the nurse’s room.
“Yes?”
“Someone is here to see you. I’ll send them in.”
“Wa—”
The door closed before I could get the word out. I pushed myself up in bed and settled against the pillows. My nose was hurting worse than ever; I needed a top up on the pain meds.
“Val?”
I waved Sofia in. “Hey. Thanks for coming, but what if someone sees you here?”
“I don’t care if they do.” Val rushed in and dragged a stool to my bedside. She gripped my hand. “Val, are you okay? I came as soon as I heard what happened last night.” Tears filled her eyes. “I can’t believe Ezra did this to you. This is too far.”
“Ezra? People know already?”
“Of course they do!” she cried. “Ezra’s mom dragged him to the headmaster and told him what he did. There were still some students hanging around the field and they heard everything. Why would he do something like this? Is it because of Jaxson? Do they think it was you? He can’t get away with this. I’m going to—”
“Sof, stop.” I bit my lip hard, thinking about how much I should tell her.
Tell the truth. Tell someone the truth.
“He didn’t do it,” I finally said. “He didn’t touch me. I did it to myself.”
“What?” The hand on mine disappeared. “What are you talking about?”
“I hurt myself, Sofia. Ezra didn’t lay a hand on me.”
“Then why does everyone think he did?”
“Because that’s what I wanted them to think.”
She stared at me, completely speechless.
“I know what you’re thinking, but I had to do it.”
“Had to?” The stool went zipping away as Sofia lurched to her feet. “You had to break your fucking nose!? Val!”
“I know, I know.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her down next to me on the bed. The tears were falling now, and they made me feel worse than the aching nose. I didn’t want to freak her out, but this had to be done. “This is why I didn’t tell you.”
“Val, why would you do something like this? How can you not see this is crazy?” She roughly wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. “I know they hurt you, but this isn’t worth it.”
“I— Sof, I—” I let in a shuddering breath, and when I let it out, the words tumbled out. “Sofia, before I came here I went through things no one should ever go through. H-horrible, t-terrible things—” My throat threatened to close everything in, but I forced it out. “Things that will always haunt me, but coming here to Evergreen was supposed to be my fresh start. I was going to be safe here. I was going to be happy.
“They took that away. The one thing that I truly wanted was ripped away from me and I had done nothing to deserve it. I don’t expect you to understand what I felt when Jaxson told the whole world what my rapist had done to me, but it broke me. Any hope I had shattered into a million pieces, and the only thing that makes me feel right is to make them share my pain.”
“Val...” Sofia pressed trembling lips together, not able to go on.
“It’s not enough to put a bucket over their doors or stick a ‘kick me’ sign on their backs. I have to take from them something that matters as much as being here did for me.” My eyes slid away from her, staring unfocused at the wall. “Ezra loves his mom and wants to prove himself worthy to take her place. He came after my mom, Sof, so I returned the favor.”
“But, Val, you can’t— You can’t hurt yourself.” Sofia grasped my chin and made me face her. “No, I don’t know how you feel, but I know how I felt when I heard you had been attacked. I was so scared, and knowing you did that to yourself just freaks me out even more. There has to be a limit.”
“I have limits. I—”
“There has to be more,” she said firmly. Sofia was steeling under my eyes. “Also, I’m not hearing anymore that you’re protecting me from your plan. I want to know the whole thing right now, and if I don’t like it, we’re changing it.”
“But, Sof, we can’t talk about this here,” I protested. “You shouldn’t even be here.”
“I’m not leaving, and neither are you until you spill it.” She folded her arms. “Now.”
I thought about arguing some more, but one look at the worry in her eyes made me stop. I had genuinely scared her, and somewhere amidst the darkness, that was reaching me.
I told her about the plan—everything I was going to do to get back at the people on my list. When I was done, Sofia made me come up with a list of rules.
Rules of Revenge
No physical violence against others or myself.
No collateral damage.
/> No illegal acts.
No sexuality involved.
Know when I’ve gone too far.
Don’t keep secrets.
The last one was for Sofia’s benefit and she was pretty adamant about it. I put it in my list and repeated the promise to her about a dozen more times. In the end, she grudgingly accepted my plan, even though it wasn’t easy.
“Are you sure about this?” she pressed. “What you want to do to Ryder... I think that comes dangerously close to breaking rule number five, and I mean dangerous. He tried to choke you for getting a B in English, Val. What do you think he’ll do if you go through with this?”
I shifted, sinking deeper into the sheets. “I guess I’ll find out.”
“Maybe there’s another way—”
“I know him, Sof.” My voice was calm. “Everything rolls off that hard, granite shell. If I want to really get to him, this is the only way to do it, and after everything he’s done to me, I still feel he’s getting off lightly.” I gave her a hard look. “I’m doing this. I won’t change my mind.”
“Okay, fine. Then... tell me how I can help.”
Sofia and I talked a bit more until Dr. Bennett poked his head in and told us I could go. I let her leave ahead of me and then gathered my stuff and left.
It was a bright Saturday morning which meant the hallways were deserted, but the quad was packed. All eyes turned to me when I stepped out onto the grass—including one pair in particular.
Ezra’s glare pierced me like a thousand needles through the skin. He stopped with the trash picker hanging over the garbage bag, a remnant from last night’s game through the end. For the first time all this started, the headmaster had been quick with his punishment of the Knights.
I held still as I met his eyes.
I wanted to know the real Ezra, and I have a feeling he is staring back at me right now.
His rage was a palpable thing—reaching across the quad to wrap me tightly like his arms had the night before. Ezra took a step toward me.
“Don’t even think about it, Lennox,” Coach Panzer snapped. I hadn’t even noticed her standing a few feet from him. “Get back to work.”
Mumbling something I couldn’t hear, Ezra lowered his head and went back to viciously stabbing trash. I looked away from him and realized Panzer wasn’t the only one I hadn’t noticed. The other Knights sat not far away on a bench near the freshman dorm. Their eyes were fixed on me and I could tell right away they didn’t believe Ezra had hurt me. They knew the truth... and they were coming for me.
I TURNED AWAY FROM my mirror with a wince. I looked awful. My little button nose had swollen to the size of a grapefruit, and dark purple and blue bruises took up most of my face.
I might have hit that wall a bit too hard, I thought as I sat down at my desk. Sofia could have been right about going too far.
I reached for my phone and tried to take my mind off of it. I had other things to worry about.
The videos from the button cams filled up my phone. I went through every one, edited them, and then sent them off to Alex. The whole process took about an hour and then I finally tackled my homework.
It was midnight by the time I turned out the lights and crawled into bed. The familiar sheets welcomed me and I let myself relax for the first time in over a day. Sleep didn’t come quickly, but I lay still in the darkness feeling warm and comfortable.
I’m glad Sofia is with me through this. I might be able to end this sooner than I thought.
I snuggled in deeper and let myself go.
Crash!
“Ahhh!” I sprung up in bed. Frantically, I scrambled for the lamp and almost knocked it over as I turned it on. Light flooded the room, casting its glow over the glass covering my carpet. In the middle of the mess was a large rock.
My sluggish mind tried to make sense of what I was seeing, and my eyes flew to the window just as something else came through. The room lit with another glow as the flaming objects came through the hole in the window, and for one brief second, I saw a gloved hand.
“Hey!” I leaped out of bed. My heart banged in my chest as I raced to the window and yanked it open. I stuck my head out as the figure darted around the corner and disappeared. Everything in me wanted to chase after them, but there was something even more important.
Heat licked at my back and I twisted around. Horror like I had never felt before filled my body at the sight of the fire greedily consuming my rug.
Do something now!
Mind blank with panic, my body moved by instinct to clamber over my dresser and fall onto the pillows. I didn’t stop. Scrambling over my sheets, I tipped over the end of my bed and fell hard.
“Fire! Fire!” I got to my feet and raced out the door. “Fire!”
Sprinting, I reached the end of the hall and busted the glass for the fire alarm. The extinguisher hung next to it and I broke it out. Doors opened as I ran back to my room.
“What the fuck is going on?”
I had no time to answer Airi. I burst into my room, pointed the extinguisher, and sprayed wildly—shaky hands and fear making me lose all control. I sprayed long after the fire was out, until firm hands grabbed me.
“Miss Moon, that’s enough!” The fire extinguisher was pried out of my grip as I was dragged out of the room. Dazedly, I saw people run into my bedroom as I was taken down the hall and sat on the floor. Gus peered down at me, concern etched into every line of his face. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
He had to repeat his questions a few more times before I could answer. My mind was engulfed with one thought.
Someone tried to kill me. Someone tried to kill me. Someone tried to kill me.
“Miss Moon?”
“I— I’m okay,” I rasped. “I didn’t get burned.”
“What happened?”
I looked into his eyes, and said the only thing I could. “Someone tried to kill me.”
“STEP INSIDE, MISS MOON.”
Nurse Runyon patted my knee. “Go on, dear. I’ll be right out here.”
She had been the one they called instead of my mother. To be fair, she had been very sweet and comforting—sitting up with me through the night, getting me my breakfast, and walking with me to the headmaster’s office when dawn brought that horrific night to an end.
Sighing, I heaved myself out of the chair and trudged into his office. It was starting to get ridiculous how much time I spent in this room.
“Please have a seat.”
I sat down before the headmaster and the head of security. I appreciated the grave looks on their faces. None of them worked too hard at protecting me after getting marked, but at least they took my attempted murder seriously.
Evergreen adopted his steepled-fingered pose. “Miss Moon, the reports I’ve had from Mr. Cornwallis are disturbing in the extreme. I’m afraid his investigation has supported your fears. Your window was broken from the outside and balls of duct tape were lit on fire and put through your window.”
“Duct tape?”
Gus spoke up. “Many don’t know that duct tape is flammable. It makes for an easy fire-starter.”
I shook my head. “I guess I should have expected a school full of geniuses to get creative.”
“I am appalled by this, Miss Moon.”
Of course, you are. Can’t have anything ruining the reputation of the school.
“I’m told you did not see your attacker?”
“No,” I forced out. “I didn’t see them. I couldn’t even tell you their gender or skin color. I have no clue who it was and I have so many enemies, it could have been anyone.”
“It is unfortunate that you did not see them.”
My eyes narrowed on Evergreen. I noticed he didn’t deny that I had enemies. “What about cameras? Did they pick up anything?”
“The cameras picked up no one entering or leaving their room after curfew,” said Gus.
“What do the police say? Have they been called?”
Evergreen’s expression di
d not change. “They have not. This matter will be handled internally.”
“What are you talking about? I was almost killed; you have to call the police!” I hadn’t acted after I was made to fall down the stairs because I had hoped to use Noemi to root out the Spades. It was different now. They had struck me directly and I was not messing around anymore.
“Mr. Cornwallis and every member of his team are former law enforcement,” said Evergreen. “They will conduct an investigation just as thorough as the local police.”
“What if I call them myself? And my mother?”
He raised one bushy eyebrow. “I cannot prevent you from doing so, but I’m certain Chief Donaldson will agree with me on this matter. The academy and the Evergreen P.D. enjoy a close relationship.”
I heard the message loud and clear.
“Alright, fine. No police. But what are you going to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again? Are you finally going to put cameras outside the dorms?”
“That is not an immediate solution. It would take too long to install them all and connect them to the network, and I’m sure you would prefer not to wait for action.” Evergreen took his hands away from his chin and pointed out toward the window. “There is a disused building that was once the staff quarters. In and around the building is outfitted with cameras to discourage students from taking advantage of the empty space. As we speak, the housekeepers are packing up your room and moving your things there.”
“Wha— I’m moving?!”
“Yes, you are. Unless you have a better idea for how to prevent future attacks...”
My mouth opened but nothing came out. What was I supposed to say? Sticking more cameras on me may prevent my would-be killer from finishing the job, but it would also make it harder for me to move around and get my revenge.
“No,” I forced out. “I don’t have a better idea.”
He nodded. “Then Mr. Cornwallis will escort you to your new quarters. Have a nice day, Miss Moon.”
Just like that, I was dismissed. I followed Gus out and tried to sort through my thoughts as we picked up Nurse Runyon and headed out to the courtyard. It was no good for me to be terrified to go to sleep every night, wondering when the next flaming tape ball would come flying through my window, but even I could see this was a Band-Aid over an amputation. This would not stop the problem, only catching the person behind this would.