by Sam Mariano
She made me tell her every detail I knew about the violence at Hunter’s house. I told her about the day I went over there, even though I knew I might get in trouble. I told her how Dennis acted and how even though I asked him to come back to our house until things settled down, Hunter stayed to protect his mom. I told her about the day I found him on the bridge and brought him back to our house. I sent her the pictures I took of his injuries Monday night.
I hate that it feels so much like I’ve sold him out. I wish he hadn’t asked me to keep this awful secret. I know we have to tell someone who can intervene because next time maybe Dennis injures him more permanently or even kills him, but I also have a strong hunch that when this comes out, Hunter will feel I’ve betrayed him.
Maybe I shouldn’t have gone about it this way. Maybe I should have gone to Hunter and appealed to him and convinced him to come forward instead of outing him like this, but once I told my mom, I lost control of the situation.
Even if he’s mad at me, even if he hates me for it, I can’t just stand by and allow this to keep happening to him. The integrity of an unbroken promise won’t be sufficient solace if next time Dennis attacks Hunter, I have to go to his funeral.
I know we’re doing the right thing, but it doesn’t feel like it. It feels wretched, and I’m sad all the time.
On Wednesday, I’m called down to the principal’s office during class.
Mom is there with the guidance counselor and the principal. They ask me about Hunter, even though I’m sure my mom has already told them everything. I guess they want to really make sure before they accuse the richest woman in town of child endangerment.
Because that’s what happens next. I don’t hear from Hunter, but I hear it from my mom.
The school obviously found out Hunter wasn’t really out of town, but he still doesn’t come to school all week. On Friday after school, I send him a text to see if he’s okay.
“You’re dead to me,” he texts back.
My heart sinks and my stomach knots up. I swallow past a lump in my throat and text him back. “I’m so sorry, Hunter. I had to tell someone. I was afraid for you.”
He doesn’t respond.
___
The following Monday, Hunter is back at school. I find out pretty immediately from overhearing other people whispering about it.
There are so many rumors flying around about the week he was out.
Some people have it right. Some have it completely wrong. There’s even a crazy one flying around that his father—some big shot from Europe—is in town and that’s why Hunter wasn’t in school last week.
The truthful version of the controversy surrounding Hunter could have made him seem more human, but somehow it has morphed into a complete fiction that has only made him seem even cooler than he already was.
In history class, I overhear the girls at the desks in front of me gossiping about it.
“I heard Hunter’s dad is some exiled Italian royal who married this French actress and they live in a chateau just outside Paris. He cheated on her with Hunter’s mom back when she was a model.”
“Wait. Like, actual royalty?” the other girl exclaims, aghast.
The first girl nods. “I think his dad was a king or a prince—I don’t remember exactly what Ciera said. Hunter’s dad is totally Italian royalty though, that’s the gist,” one of the girls in my history class is gushing while we wait for the bell to ring.
“Does that make Hunter a prince?” her friend asks, grinning.
The first girl sighs like she can’t even stand it. “Ugh, he’s so hot. I mean, he already was, but like… wow.”
Disgusted, I roll my eyes and flip open my textbook. I want to tell them both they should pay a lot more attention in this class because the Italians voted the monarchy out in the 1940’s—there is no Italian royal family. I suppose it’s possible Hunter’s dad descends from the last king of Italy, but it’s most likely just nonsensical fodder for the gossip mill. Since Hunter’s dad exists only in our imaginations, he can be as impressive as anyone can imagine.
Of course I know Hunter doesn’t even have a relationship with his dad, so he’s definitely not in town for a visit.
I don’t get to see Hunter until lunchtime. Since he told me I was dead to him and we never even interacted at lunch when he didn’t hate me, I know it’s a risky move to approach him, but I can’t seem to stop myself.
I sent him more apology texts trying to get him to talk to me after the one he responded to, but he didn’t respond to any of them. I don’t think he blocked my number because they seemed to keep going through, he just didn’t answer. I even tried calling to talk to him once, but he didn’t pick up.
I get it if he doesn’t want to talk to me right now, but I hope he’ll forgive me once the dust settles. In the meantime, I just want to make sure he’s okay.
I catch his eye as I approach and he does a double take, staring at me like he can’t believe my nerve.
His eye looks a lot better now. His lip is pretty much healed, but the wound on his head still looks bad. I wonder if it will become a scar.
I tear my attention from his hairline and meet his brown-eyed gaze. I can’t decide if he looks more amused that I’m approaching him in public, or… something else. There’s an undercurrent of malice I’m unaccustomed to, and it sets my nerves on edge.
“Hey Hunter,” I begin, a little more cautiously than I would ordinarily feel approaching him. It’s that gleam in his eye that’s throwing me off.
“Riley,” he acknowledges, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I just…” I pause, swallowing, and glance at his friends seated around the table, watching me. I shift my gaze back to Hunter. “Can we talk?”
Still holding my gaze, he shakes his head. “I don’t have much left to say to you.”
“Oof,” one of his friends comments to another.
“That’s cold,” the other one remarks back.
Hunter’s lips tug up in a smile that doesn’t quite seem friendly.
Mark Poplowski, never the brightest kid in the bunch, speaks up. “I thought you two were cool. I thought you liked her or something.”
“Eh.” Hunter shrugs almost noncommittally. “We were, but things have been a little weird since her mom walked in on us in bed together.”
My eyes widen and I feel the color drain from my face. I can feel the surprise in the guys at the table, but Hunter is as casual as can be as he decimates my reputation.
“You two…?” his one friend trails off.
Poplowski doesn’t dither. “You’ve been banging the nerd?”
My chest starts to tighten as Hunter shows his pearly whites, smirking across the table. “Why else would I be hanging out with her?”
“Aw, shit,” one of his friends says before busting up laughing.
I can’t breathe.
Hunter looks back at me, the malice in his eyes no longer camouflaged or confusing. He hates me, and he wants me to know it. “I told you it’s over, Riley. Don’t make it harder on yourself than it has to be.”
His friends laugh at me—the stage five clinger who apparently can’t let go after the prince of assholes took my virginity and got caught in my bed the next morning.
I cannot believe he just did that. My whole body feels shaky, and my stomach is sick. Not because everyone’s laughing at me now, not because of the lewd way Mark looks at me after hearing I put out, but because Hunter did this to me. He knew exactly what he was doing. He’s punishing me, just like he punished his old best friend for whatever he must have done to earn Hunter’s wrath.
I feel like I’m going to be sick and I can’t face further embarrassment right now, so I turn on my heel and make my way out of the cafeteria as quickly as I can without running.
My insides are so restless and unsettled. I can’t go back in there. I can’t sit through the class after recess, knowing by then the juicy gossip he just created will h
ave spread and everyone who isn’t talking about him will be talking about me.
Before I entirely know what I’m doing, I head to my locker, collect all my things, and flee the building.
I want to walk straight home so I can curl up alone in my bed, but I don’t. Mom hasn’t left for work yet, so she’d want to know why I’m home from school early. I can’t explain, because I can’t tell her what just happened.
I stop at the bridge instead. I sit down and dangle my feet over the edge, staring down at the water until I feel calm again.
After a little time passes, I open my backpack and take out my homework. I might as well get started on it. Maybe by the time I finish, Mom will be gone and I can walk the rest of the way home.
I get carried away in my work. It’s a great escape, but more time passes than I intended. I don’t realize it until I hear footsteps on the bridge. Until they stop and Hunter laughs a little.
“Wow. You’re still here after all that.”
I start to put my things back in my book bag, casting him a guarded look over my shoulder. “I’m not here for you. I didn’t realize school had already let out. I was just killing time until I could go home.”
“Maybe you should suck my dick first since everyone thinks you have been anyway,” he says, apparently amused by the destruction he caused.
I don’t bother to dignify that with a response. “Did that make you feel better? You completely ruined my reputation. Every single person we go to school with will have heard about this by the time I get to school tomorrow.”
“I know. But hey, this makes me look better than the other things they could be saying about me,” he states.
I shake my head, zipping my bag back up and standing. “That is without question the most selfish statement I have ever heard.”
“You brought it on yourself,” he says, completely remorseless. “All you had to do was keep your mouth shut, Riley. All you had to do was keep your word.”
Dropping my backpack and pivoting angrily, I fling back, “I was afraid he’d kill you, Hunter. I was terrified that the next time you disappeared, it would be for good. I was trying to protect you.”
I’m so overcome with hurt and anger that I can’t keep my composure, but Hunter stands there looking cool and unaffected as he tucks his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I didn’t need your protection.”
I draw a shuddering breath, angry at my own emotions for being so out of control. “What I did may have hurt you, but it wasn’t malicious. What you did today… that was just cruel.”
Hunter shrugs. “Never claimed to be a nice guy.”
I shake my head, looking down at the footbridge. “Well, not like you care, but for the record? I’m extremely disappointed in you.”
I expect him to shoot back something cruel at worst, casually indifferent at best, but he falls silent. The silence lasts for so long that I finally look up at him.
He’s looking off at the woods that lead to his house. “Well, you won’t have to be disappointed for very long,” he tells me, his tone more grounded, but a little hollow. Not hollow like he doesn’t care, but… something else. Something more serious.
I shouldn’t care. After what he just did to intentionally hurt me, I should walk away without another word, but it’s not in my nature. “What do you mean?”
“All the shit you kicked up caused a lot of trouble for my mom.”
I cock my head, glancing past him and narrowing my eyes in consideration. “I think it was allowing her husband to beat the shit out of you that caused trouble for your mom, but… go on.”
“Apparently, while my existence wasn’t enough of a draw for my father to ever come here, a potential public scandal is.”
I straighten at the mention of his father. I thought the girls in history were just peddling slush from the gossip mill. I didn’t think there was any truth to it. “Your dad’s here? I thought you guys didn’t even talk.”
“We don’t,” he says, bending to pick up an errant stick on the bridge, then throwing it as hard as he can into the woods. “We’re strangers, but his name’s on my birth certificate. I guess he’s some kind of big deal, and there’s already been so much scandal in his family that he won’t tolerate a bastard in America who ends up a ward of the state because his mom’s been ruled an unfit parent until she completes some bullshit parenting classes.”
“In America?” I question, eyes wide.
Hunter finally looks at me. “He’s European.”
“Don’t tell me he lives in a chateau in Paris,” I say, thinking of the gossip from earlier.
Hunter shakes his head. “Not a chateau, but he does have an apartment there. A place in Geneva, too, where his wife—who hates me—and two daughters—who don’t even know I exist—live in their family home. I guess my dad works in Italy though, so he has a house in Umbria where they won’t have to deal with me on the regular. Apparently… I’m being shipped off to Italy.”
My heart sinks and I feel a little light on my feet. “What?”
He clears his throat and nods, looking down at the footbridge. “Don’t speak a word of Italian so I’m not sure how that’s gonna work, but… I guess I’ll learn.”
“But… your mom only has to take parenting classes, right? And keep Dennis away. And then she can still parent you. Can’t she explain that to him? Why would he take you all the way to Italy—?”
“Because he said so, Riley. You’ve met my mom. Did you not notice she’s not very good at standing up to men she has feelings for on my behalf? He’s decreed that I’m going to be hidden away like a dirty secret in some fucking mansion in the Italian countryside, so that’s what’s going to happen.”
I don’t know what to say. My mind is racing nearly as fast as my heart, trying to absorb all this new information. Trying to find a way around it. Hunter may have been a real jerk today, but I don’t want him to leave. I especially don’t want him to be sent off to live with people who don’t even like him in a country he’s probably never been to.
“Maybe… maybe we can figure out a way around this. I can talk to my mom. Maybe she can talk to your dad. Your mom might not be able to stand her ground with him, but my mom won’t have the same problem. No one intimidates my mom. Even if he is some ex-prince of Italy, she won’t care. My mom’s unstoppable. I’ll explain the situation to her, I’ll—I’ll—”
Hunter shakes his head. “It won’t change anything.”
“You won’t have to go in the system, though,” I blurt, thinking as quickly as I can. “You could come live with us. If your dad’s whole thing is how it would look if you were put into foster care, then we’ll find a way around that. I’m sure there is something your mom could do to give my mom temporary emergency custody, or… something like that. That sounds like a real thing, right? I know there’s something like that, I don’t know the details, but we can figure it out. There won’t be a scandal. You’ll have somewhere safe to live and your dad can go back to pretending you don’t exist; everybody wins.”
Scowling at me with distrust I haven’t seen in his eyes since that first day I encountered him on this bridge, he says, “Why would you even be willing to do that after what I just did to you at lunch today?”
“I don’t care about that. I mean, I do…” I look down, sighing. “I do, but… not enough that I want you gone.”
For a moment, there’s silence aside from the natural noise of being in the woods. There’s something almost like regret in his voice when he finally speaks. “You might not, but your mom will. Even if she would have agreed to that before, she won’t now.”
“I won’t tell her.”
“She’ll find out. If you don’t crack—which you probably will—she’ll find out some other way. Be realistic, Riley. You know your mom better than I do, and just from what you’ve told me and what I’ve seen for myself… there’s no way.”
He’s right. I want him to be wrong, but he’s not. I might have the capacity to forgive him for int
entionally hurting me, but my mom wouldn’t. She was skeptical of him when she had nothing to go on but a bad feeling, disliked him for failing to show up on time to a date. If she finds out he told the whole school he had sex with me just to get back at me for telling his secret, she’ll loathe him for the rest of her natural life—and into the next, if reincarnation is a thing.
“There has to be some other way around this,” I say.
“There’s not.”
“You don’t have grandparents or an aunt or uncle—?”
“Riley,” he says, raising his voice to get my attention.
I look up at him.
“Just stop,” he says, like it’s that easy. “It’s over. It’s done.”
I take a shallow breath and then another. I can’t accept that. I can’t accept that he’s going away because of me and there’s nothing I can do to fix it.
Hunter already has, though. Hands still shoved into his pockets, he starts making his way across the bridge. He pauses when he gets to me and leans a little closer. “See? I may have ruined your reputation, but you ruined my life.”
I draw on every ounce of strength within me to keep standing when all I want to do is collapse. Tears burn behind my eyes, but I don’t let them fall. It’s a good thing he’s standing close, because I can’t get out much beyond a whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
With a knowing little nod, he says, “Not sorry enough, though. Don’t worry. You will be.”
A chill travels down my spine and my gaze snaps to his. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“They may be able to ship me out of the country for now, but in a few years, I’ll be 18.” Hunter bends down and picks up the backpack he bought me. He holds it out for me to take and I do, a bit woodenly. Then he smiles, and it’s one of his not-so-nice smiles. “I’ll be back for you, Riley.”
“Hunter…”
He reaches out to touch my face, but this time the chill in his eye makes the touch unbearable.
I turn my face away, looking at the water instead of at him. Like cornered prey hoping if I avoid eye contact, the predator hunting me will get bored and wander away.