by Kent, Rina
I just kicked their king. In the nuts.
I’m smiling inwardly when my gaze falls on the other three demons.
Cole is sitting at his desk, reading his physics book. Xander sits on the top of the desk arguing with Ronan who’s standing.
The rest of the class are either trying to get in on the conversation or they’re watching.
The sad part is, I think they’re doing it subconsciously. They’re drawn to everything the four horsemen represent.
Power.
Charm.
Wealth.
Ronan is Death because he’s an impenetrable rock in the midfield.
Cole is Famine; silent but deadly when he attacks.
Xander is War; all he knows is how to wreak havoc.
And he did something to Kim. Because even now, she’s not here.
Kim was never late to school.
It could be my false sense of courage or the remains of adrenaline still buzzing through my veins, but I don’t stop to think about it.
I grip my backpack’s strap and stride towards the trio.
“I’m telling you, mate.” Ronan taps his index finger on the table in front of Xander. “She came to the party because of me.”
“Everyone came because of you,” Cole says. “You threw the party, remember?”
“La ferme, Captain! That’s not the point.” Ronan continues speaking to Xander. “Face it, she was there for me.”
“If it helps your ego, sure thing.” Xander laughs. “Can you pass me what you smoked last night?”
Ronan frowns. “Why?”
“That shit is good if it makes you believe things that don’t exist.”
“Screw you, Knight.” Ronan lunges at him.
In that exact moment, Cole’s neutral gaze meets mine. He clears his throat and the other two who are still bickering grow silent.
“Frozen?” Ronan jerks back as if he’s been punched. “Am I seeing things or is Frozen actually in front of us?”
He searches behind me and all around me then he grins. “Are you here to confess your love to me? I knew you always had a crush on me, but sorry, I only take confessions in the afternoon. Rules are rules.”
I ignore him and face Xander. “Where is she?”
Xander hops down from the desk. “Where’s who?”
“Kim,” I grind out.
“Oh,” Xander’s brows draw in feigned concern as he searches underneath the desk. “Captain, have you seen a little Kimberly around here? No? How about you, Ro? Search your pocket, maybe she hid in there.”
Ronan makes a show of stuffing his hands in his pocket. “Nope, not here.” He smirks fishing out a condom packet. “But I found this.”
My lips thin in disgust.
“Quoi?” Ronan asks. “Always safe.”
“I’m not here for your games,” I tell no one in particular.
“Then what are you here for?” Xander asks.
“Kim. Where is she?”
“If you don’t know where your friend is, how am I supposed to know, Frozen?”
I step closer, still clutching my backpack’s strap. “I know you did something to her yesterday.”
He smiles like a maniac. “Do you have proof?”
My nails dig into my palm until I almost draw blood.
“Hold up.” Ronan steps between us. “What happened? What proof? Someone fill me in.”
Cole shakes his head at him.
“What? I feel left out.” Ronan kicks his friend’s leg. “First, King flipped his shit at practice yesterday, then Knight does some fuckery behind our backs, and now, Frozen is speaking to us. You’ve got to admit that there’s nothing normal about this.”
Only one sentence remains playing like a loop in my head.
King flipped his shit at practice yesterday.
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Aiden is an exemplary player and student. He doesn’t just flip his shit.
Does this have to do with what he did yesterday?
“Someone fill me in.” Ronan stares between his two friends. “Someone? Anyone?”
“Stay away from Kim,” I tell Xander with as much venom as I can manage.
“Or what? You’ll stop me?”
I’m about to reply when, unfortunately — or fortunately, it depends on how you see it – the teacher comes into the class. Everyone takes a seat and I find an empty one near the back.
My gaze meets Xander’s playful one. He sits in the row beside me, throws me my phone, and smirks.
I shudder. Arsehole.
“Oh, look. Kimberly isn’t in class.” The boastful tone he uses grates at me.
“Mr Knight.” The teacher, Mrs Stone, calls. “Class started, I’d appreciate it if you pay attention.”
“You’ve got all my attention, Mrs Stone.” He gives her a dimpled smile and opens his notebook.
Mrs Stone starts enumerating the class’s curriculum. I retrieve my pen and notebook and start scribbling notes.
Our English Literature teacher is probably the oldest in the school and will probably retire soon. Her grey hair is tied in a conservative bun and her glasses are held by those golden straps that no one uses anymore.
The door opens. The entire class falls silent. Even Mrs Stone stops talking.
I pause mid-scribble and lift my head.
A flushed Kim peeks from the door, her hair in disarray.
Snickers and laughs erupt in the class.
“You’re ten minutes late, Ms Reed,” Mrs Stone scolds.
“I… um…” Kim stumbles upon her own words.
I wince, feeling her discomfort under my skin. She always hated being put in the spotlight.
“What’s the matter, Berly, did you lose your tongue along with the fat?” Someone taunts from the side.
Mrs Stone shoots him a glare. “Another word and that’ll be detention for you, Mr Robbins.”
His face turns ashen, and I want to get up and hug Mrs Stone. She’s probably the only teacher who doesn’t turn a blind eye on the bullying. At least from insignificant people like Robbins. I doubt she’d do anything if one of the ‘Elites’ were involved.
A shadow appears behind Kim’s fidgeting body.
I stop breathing.
It’s like the earth has opened and is now sucking me into its depths to be buried alive.
Aiden places both his hands on Kim’s shoulders.
He has his filthy hands on my friend’s fucking shoulders.
Not to be dramatic, but I think I’m going to throw up.
His gaze meets mine and something sparks in it. A corner of his lips lifts in a cruel, psychotic smirk.
That’s it.
I’m going to kill him.
I’m going to sacrifice my entire future to save the world from his evil.
The smirk falls as fast as it showed. Still gripping Kim by the shoulders, he flashes Mrs Stone his golden boy’s smile. “I’m sorry. Kimberly wasn’t feeling well so I had to take her to the nurse.”
Is he for real?
I’m mortified when Mrs Stone’s expression shifts from scolding to acceptance. “Are you all right, Ms Reed?”
Kim nods without saying a word.
“That was nice of you, Mr King.” Mrs Stone offers him a smile. “Both of you take a seat.”
My jaw is probably dropping to the floor. I can’t believe this.
The dark hole from earlier expands until I can hardly breathe.
He must’ve done something to Kim, and now, he’s making everyone believe he was helping her.
I search his face for any signs.
He’s smiling, mask firmly in place, appearing every bit of the golden boy everyone envies.
The girls want him. The boys want to be him.
But none of them sees that emptiness inside him.
The void.
The… nothingness.
They only know this Aiden. The one he puts on for show. The image he projects their way. They're too blinded by his fake light to see th
e shadows.
But isn’t that better? Isn’t the lie better than the truth?
After all, the truth destroys before setting anyone free.
My heart hammers with each step he takes. This time, it’s not fear for me.
It’s for what he’s done to Kim.
I knew that kicking him would come back to bite me, but I never thought it would be this fast.
Or this lethal.
I never thought he’d go after Kim.
My lips tremble as I try to meet my best friend’s gaze and make sure she’s okay. Her head is bowed. Curtains of her mint-coloured hair camouflage her expression from me and the world.
Aiden stops beside me. I catch a glimpse of his hand slipping in his pocket before I concentrate on my notebook, gripping the pencil so hard, it almost breaks.
His body looms over mine like a grim reaper and his eyes burn holes at the top of my head.
A part of me wants to look up and glare back. Like I’ve done for the past two years.
But back then, I didn’t have the slightest clue of what he was capable of.
Now, I do.
After what seems like forever, he saunters to the vacant seat behind me. The seat I was saving for Kim.
She fidgets beside the only empty seat in the class. In front of Xander.
The latter gives her a taunting look as if daring her to sit.
“Ms Reed?” Mrs Stone’s impatient tone calls. “Is something the matter?”
“No,” Kim whispers.
“Then please take a seat so we can continue the class.”
Kim slides into her seat slowly as if afraid there’s a bomb waiting there.
Cole flashes a look behind him to Kim and Ronan winks at me from in front of me.
We’re surrounded by the enemy.
Chapter Eight
I try.
I really try to concentrate during class.
It’s impossible.
For one, Kim seems out of it, barely taking any notes. And it’s worrying me shitless.
For two, RES’s football team’s forward line surrounds us like a pack of wolves with the big bad wolf right behind me.
Aiden hasn’t said a word, but he doesn’t have to.
His presence can’t be mistaken even if he remains silent. I can feel his eyes digging a hole in the back of my head and feasting on my brain.
Mrs Stone starts talking about a preparatory test. I concentrate on her for the first time since the class started.
“You’ll perform a known script and add your special touch to it. The more creative you are, the more bonus points you will get.”
I love bonus points. It’s my perfect chance to build up my record for Cambridge.
“Can we pick who we perform with?” A girl at the front of the class asks.
“Partners will be chosen at random,” Mrs Stone says. “Swapping partners is prohibited.”
“Can we go solo?”
“Absolutely not,” Mrs Stone says. “This is to teach you team spirit. ”
Some whine softly while others snicker.
I spend the rest of the class trying to take as many notes as possible to occupy my mind.
But one can’t erase how Aiden looms like the devil in the corner, waiting to steal my soul.
As soon as the class ends, Kim shoves her things in her bag and takes off out the door.
I’m about to follow her when my pen falls, rolling on the floor.
A tall frame bends over and picks up the pen.
I cease breathing when Aiden stands to his full height. His focus is on me as he twirls the pen between his index and middle finger.
That pen can go to hell for all I care. Call me a coward, but I can’t handle another face-off with Aiden right now.
Besides, Kim is my priority.
Without sparing Aiden a glance, I bolt out of the classroom while it’s still full of people.
New resolution: never get myself trapped alone in the same place as Aiden.
That’s my best bet to survive.
It takes me a few minutes to find Kim. She’s lurking by the corner of our next class, earbuds in, and her gaze lost somewhere out of reach.
I run to her and clutch her shoulder. “Kim! I was so worried about you. Why didn’t you call me back?”
Her face is pale as if she’s seen a ghost while she removes the earbuds. “Ellie…”
“What? What is it? Did Aiden do something?”
“Aiden?” Her brows furrow. “What does he have to do with anything?”
“Uh… Kim? You came to class with that arsehole.”
“He found me in front of the nurse’s office and told me to walk to class with him.”
My blood boils. “Did he hurt you? Force you?”
“What the hell? Why would he do that?” Kim plays with the straps of her backpack. “He asked nicely. Almost…”
“Almost what?”
Something nostalgic flashes in her eyes. “Friendly.”
“Whoa. Kim. Are you hearing yourself? Aiden isn’t friendly. He can’t be friendly.” He’s a fucking psycho!
Please don’t tell me he’s playing with Kim’s mind, too. Is this a ‘fuck you’ to me? Or am I being too dramatic?
But then again, Aiden is the type who calculates his moves before making any.
Kim scrunches her brows, lips tightening. “Why are you so tense?”
“I’m sorry,” I smooth my voice. “It’s just that I’m worried about you, okay? Aiden has never been friendly to you so why would he start now?”
“King was never mean to me either. We go way back, you know.” Her lips tremble.
Way back?
I know Kim studied at Royal Elite Junior with the rest of the horsemen, but I’ve never gotten the impression that she was friends with them before.
I mean, Xander bullies her at any chance he gets. Why would the others be friends with her?
Especially Aiden.
“Why were you at the nurse anyway?” I ask.
“Just a headache.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “I went to pick you up but your uncle said you already left.”
“Sorry about that. Aunt picked me up and I forgot my phone at school.”
She’s silent for a second, chewing on her bottom lip.
She’ll eventually tell me whatever happened. For now, I rub her shoulder and speak in a light tone. “Senior year, senior resolutions, right?”
“What resolutions?”
“You know, we’ll nail this year, too.”
She stares at me, appearing lost. “How? How can we do that? Because your empty optimism never brought us anything.”
“Kim…?”
She doesn’t seem to have heard me and continues in rapid-fire. “We can’t stop them. We can only stay under the water while it’s being poured on us and pray they don’t miss so we don’t have to endure it again. We can only bow and let them strike, hoping this will be the last.”
“Kim!” I shake her. “Don’t say shit like that again. We weren’t born to be stomped on. Do you hear me?”
“I’m not all strong and put together like you, Ellie.” Tears shine in her eyes. “I can’t freeze the world out as you do. It hurts. All of it hurts. I’m tired, okay? I’m just so fucking tired of this shit. It was ten years ago. Ten fucking years. Yes, I fucked up, but I’m only human. I deserve a second chance.”
I remain rooted in place as Kim wipes her eyes and storms around me to enter the class.
She… snapped.
Kim isn’t the type who snaps. She’s so kind and quiet and… bullied.
What happened to make her snap? And what the hell did she mean by saying that she deserved a second chance?
A second chance from whom?
Maybe I don’t know my best friend as much as I thought I did.
Something prickles at the back of my neck and my stomach tightens with strange awareness.
I turn around only to be captured by the smoky eyes of the dev
il king.
And he’s smirking.
For the rest of the day, we’re so preoccupied in our classes that I can’t find a chance to talk to Kim.
I’m fidgeting, my legs won’t stop bouncing, and I keep biting the cap of my pencils.
There’s also the fact that the pack of four horsemen surrounded us in every class. Every. Freaking. Class. Aiden always sat behind me like a looming threat.
If anyone took the seats on either side of me and Kim, all they had to do was stand there and anyone who occupied that seat scrambled away.
Aiden didn’t make a move to talk to me or even acknowledge my existence since the smirk he flashed earlier.
His silence is scarier than his words. I can react to his words. How can I react to… nothing?
In the span of a day, he made my head about ready to explode.
When Kim bolts out of class, I run after her.
I spend five minutes searching for her around the school’s perimeter. She’s not at the cabin or the library.
My head hangs as I step into the school’s ninth tower — where we have our last class.
My head collides against something hard.
Ow.
Xander stands right at the entrance, blocking it.
He’s staring ahead, fists clenching.
I follow his field of vision, and something dies in my heart.
Kim is crying against Aiden’s chest and he’s rubbing her back.
Chapter Nine
There are a few things no one wants to imagine.
Your parents having sex.
Your pet’s death.
The end of the world.
Kim crying in Aiden’s embrace is one of the things I never wanted to imagine.
My best friend is seeking comfort in the one person who’s been actively ruining my life.
A sense of betrayal hits the bottom of my stomach and shoots straight to my chest.
The logical part of me recognises this as Aiden’s form of revenge. He knows that Kim is the only one I have in RES and he’s using that against me.
That part also knows that he’s an opportunistic psycho.
But I can’t suppress that other part. It’s tiny and barely noticeable, but it’s there.
The anger. The bitterness.
For what, I don’t know.