by Ruby Vincent
“No.” He shook his head. “Your mother had no right to keep him from you. He’s your father, Val. I would do anything to find out where mine is. Now you can.”
Ryder took a step forward, but I backed up, maintaining the distance. I couldn’t take my eyes off the envelope, resting innocently between his fingers. “That’s different.”
“It’s not different. All that matters is if you want to see him.” He took another step and this time I didn’t move. “You do, don’t you?”
“No,” I croaked. A lump was forming in my throat. I couldn’t breathe—couldn’t see anything other than that envelope.
Ryder extended his hand. “Take it, Val.”
I tried to refuse again, but nothing would come out.
“Val, take the envelope. Find your father.”
The world grew hazy around the edges. Only one single thing was in sharp focus. You could discover who he is. Find him. Speak to him.
He ran out on us, another voice countered. He wasn’t there for me. Mom was. She has her reasons for keeping us apart.
I should decide for myself if I want to know him. I should have the choice.
You can’t open that envelope. Leave. Walk away.
“Valentina. Take it.”
My body moved, responding to commands I didn’t feel were my own. I reached for the envelope...
...and then it was gone.
Ryder flicked his wrist and the envelope went soaring into the flames. Time slowed as someone screamed. I dove for the fire; my body was yanked after the letter as though we were connecting by an invisible tie.
Strong hands wrapped around me, pulling me back before the flames could bite my fingers. The fire claimed its prize, crackling and spitting as the envelope blackened and withered away into nothing. Screams echoed through the cliffs.
Ryder’s raucous laugher was what finally broke through my haze. I came around to find the person screaming was me.
“Oops.” Ryder’s body shook with his glee. “To be fair, Val, you should have expected this. I said you were off-limits tonight but... I lied.”
The words lashed across my soul. I strained against his hands, fighting to get out. “G-get off!”
“Aww. Don’t leave so—”
Smack!
The slap rang out over the noise of the cackling crowd. Ryder dropped me in surprise, his hand flying to his now red cheek.
I picked myself off the ground and ran, knocking people aside as I fled. I didn’t care. I had to get out of there.
Branches tore at me, roots tried to trip me up, and the woods blurred through the stinging tears, but I didn’t slow down. My sobs echoed through the night.
I EXPECTED THE NIGHTMARE to come, even though I still woke hoarse and dripping with sweat. I had cried until there was nothing left, and then the rage came. I had been right to call Ryder a sociopath. What he had done was cruelty like I had never seen. But what I had done was worse.
I was stupid enough to walk right into his trap, even though I knew he couldn’t be trusted. Hope that I would get to talk to him about the night of the party wasn’t good enough reason to give him the opportunity to destroy me in front of his gleeful audience.
I threw the covers off and stood. Moving over to my desk, I woke my laptop and plugged in my new camera. My movements were slow and robotic as I pulled up the photos we had taken for Parents’ Day. I lingered over our smiles. Despite everything, I didn’t want to meet my father. He knew I existed, if he truly cared he would find me, or even more, he would have been there for me my entire life.
Ryder had caught me when I was weak, using the disappearance of his father to make me think he had a heart before he twisted the knife in.
I would never give him that chance again.
DAWN BROUGHT ANOTHER school day, and saw me striding through the halls with my head high. I didn’t react to dad joke or crying noises. I was done playing games.
A shadow fell on me as I opened my locker. “Hey, Val. Rough night, huh?”
I rifled through my locker. “No, Natalie. I’m cool.”
I sensed the Diamonds falling in around me, blocking my escape.
“You know you can still find him,” said Airi. “Use your whore money to hire your own private investigator.”
I twisted my head over my shoulder and shot her a beaming smile. “Great idea.”
Airi’s smirk slipped. “Yeah,” she said, a trace of hesitation in her voice. “He only lives an hour away.”
Isabella piped up. “Ryder told us all about him after you ran off. Bet you’re dying to know his name.”
I shrugged. “Nah, not really.” I slammed the locker shut on her flicker of surprise. “But it’s sweet of you guys to offer. So if we’re done here—”
Isabella’s hand flashed out and blocked me when I took a step. “You can act tough, Moon, but you’re not fooling anyone.”
Natalie got in my face. “Why won’t you just leave?!”
I threw up my hands. “I’m trying to leave but you won’t get out of my way. Wow, make up your minds, people.” I shoved past her and Axel, marching off to homeroom.
“Alright, Moon,” Isabella called after me. “We get it. We need to step it up a notch.”
“You’ll need to step it up a thousand notches to get to me,” I tossed over my shoulder, “and you still won’t get rid of me.”
There was no reply as I rounded the corner and walked off.
I walked into homeroom and found my desk had once again disappeared. My day off—if it could be called that—was officially over.
It was easy enough getting through my classes. The students couldn’t do much to me but hiss vile things to me while we copied our assignments. Even in P.E. they didn’t try to act out under Coach Panzer’s watchful eye. She had a habit of giving out suicides to students who messed around.
I changed out my uniform and into my gym clothes to the usual comments.
“Look at her. She’s disgusting. She’s a twig with a pulse.”
“Wish we could do something about the pulse part.”
I gritted my teeth at Natalie’s voice. That girl really had it out for me.
The locker room doors banged open. “Alright, ladies!” Panzer boomed. “I want you changed and out on the track in five minutes.” Our coach was as tall as she was wide. The woman was built from hearty stock with broad shoulders and a thick jaw. When she smiled, it transformed her face into a beauty, but she rarely did that.
I hurried out of my skirt and slipped on the drawstring pants. Panzer came down just as hard on people who held her up as she did on those who messed around.
I stuffed my things in my locker and joined the line of girls heading outside. The rest of our classes were split from the front class to the back class but gym class was separated by gender.
Panzer put us in groups and told us to stretch. I ended up with Ciara, Tawnie May from the other class, and of course, Natalie.
Tawnie wandered a bit away and did her warm-ups, leaving the three of us in a silence so thick you could break a nose smacking into it.
I turned my back on the other two and went through my motions. They wouldn’t pull anything. Panzer was always watching.
Coach called us back after ten minutes. “Listen up, girls. You’ll race your teams and then the winners will go on to race each other. The purpose is to sort you into your final track groups. I want you to pace yourself and do your best. Understood?”
We mumbled back.
“I said, is that understood?!”
“Yes, Coach!”
She gave a sharp nod. “Good. A-group. You’re first.”
The girls ran over to the starting line while my group followed. We were B-group, going up next. I watched them lap the track, then moved up to the line when it was our turn.
“Ready?”
I took my stance.
One sharp whistle blow and I was off. My feet pounded against the asphalt, carrying me far ahead of the other group. It felt good.
The wind in my face, the burning lungs, the way everything faded away as the world blurred. Maybe I should run more often.
“Y-you won’t last.”
I twisted my head around. Natalie was gaining on me—fast.
“You showed... the whole class how w-weak you were last night.” She was straining to keep up with me. “We’ll get rid of you. One way or another, the marked always go.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, Natalie.” I faced forward and fell back into my rhythm. I didn’t give a shit about—
A hard blow struck my leg, sweeping it out from under me. There wasn’t time to scream as I tripped and went flying across the track. My body skidded along the unforgiving asphalt as it scraped off bits of my skin. I smacked to a stop and lay still, too dazed to move.
A whistle was going off like crazy. I heard the sound of racing footsteps.
“Miss Bard! Ten laps! Now!”
“But, Coach, it was an accident.”
“I said now!”
Natalie cursed under her breath. She threw me one last parting shot before jogging off. “Bitch.”
Coach skidded to a stop and knelt beside me. Ciara stopped too, standing a few feet away from us. “Miss Moon, are you alright?”
I struggled to push myself up. “I’m f-fine.”
“You took quite a fall.” She put her hand on my back and helped me sit up. “You’re out for the rest of class. Ciara will take you to the nurse to make sure you’re alright.”
“I don’t need to go to the—”
“No arguments.” She snapped her fingers at Ciara. “Help her up.”
Before I could stop her, Ciara was throwing my arm around her shoulder and hauling me up. We were quiet as we crossed the grounds for the main building. I knew I hadn’t broken anything, but my arm and back were stinging from leaving my skin on the pavement. I wouldn’t say no to some antiseptic.
“Nobody wants this, you know.”
I glanced at her. “What? What did you just say?”
“I said.” Ciara kept her gaze firmly ahead. “That no one wants to... do this to you.”
“Really?” I scoffed, face twisting. “Because Natalie doesn’t seem too bothered.”
She didn’t say anything to that. We had skirted the sports complex when she tried again.
“You’re marked, Val. We don’t have a choice.”
“Everyone has a choice.” I pulled out of her grasp. “I don’t need your help. I’m fine.”
“But, Val—”
I ignored her. A quick trip to the nurse’s office got me doused in antiseptic and given a bandage for my arm. She finished ten minutes after the bell rang, and I had to hurry back to the gym. Lunch was only served at designated times and I wasn’t missing out on eating, or spending time in my new lunchroom, because of Natalie.
Girls were already drying off and getting dressed when I burst in. I stripped off my gym clothes, grabbed a towel, and headed for the showers. I rinsed off as best as I could. It was a little tricky trying not to wet my bandage. Despite my rushing, the hot water felt amazing. I stuck my head under the spray and let it wash every trace of that gym class from hell from my skin.
Blindly, I shut the water off and stumbled toward my hook. I grabbed for my towel and closed on empty air. My eyes sprang open.
There was nothing there.
No. No, no, no!
I raced out of the showers into the empty locker room. I beat it to my locker, and yanked it open.
Gone. My uniform. My gym clothes. Even my scrunchie. It had been emptied out.
I stood there dripping onto the tile as the panic set in. What am I going to do?! I can’t leave and after lunch is the boy’s class!
Calm down. I bit my lip so hard it sang with pain. They won’t get to me. They won’t get to me. Think of something.
Taking a deep breath, I walked away from my empty locker and started searching. There has to be something here that I can cover—
My eyes lit on the dirty laundry hamper. I rushed up and threw it open. My nose wrinkled at having to wrap myself in a towel from someone else’s dirty, sweaty body, but desperate times.
I knotted the terry cloth tight around me and marched up to the door. I braced myself as I placed my hand on the metal. I wasn’t hiding out in here until Coach Panzer came and took pity on me.
They can mess with me, but they will find out I can play this game better.
With that thought in my head, I threw open the door to a round of guffaws. A group led by the Diamonds were waiting just outside the doors, no doubt hoping to get the full view of me streaking away with my face burning.
Instead, I flashed them a smile. “Hello, everyone. Were you waiting for me?”
The laughs faltered. They exchanged confused looks, but the best sight of all was Natalie’s snarl. She was not pleased to see me so unruffled.
Isabella peeled herself from the pack. “Missing something, Valentina?”
I made a show of looking around, up, and down. “Nope,” I replied. “Don’t think so.”
A flicker of anger crossed her face. “What is wrong with you?” she snapped.
“Me?” I grinned. “The real question is what is wrong with you? I thought you ‘never lose’ and ‘rise to every challenge.’ So far, this is pretty pathetic.”
“I’m just getting started.”
I shrugged. “Or you could just give it up. You have better things to do, minions to boss around, titles to chase. Stop wasting time on things you’re clearly not good at.” I twisted my hand in my hair and wrung it out, splattering the floor between us with water. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m starved.”
I marched off.
Airi sputtered. “You’re not actually going to—?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
I didn’t slow down. I didn’t think. I strolled right up to the cafeteria and threw open the doors. The lunchroom was a riot of noise. Students laughing, joking, and goofing around. That all came to an abrupt halt after the first—
“Oh, shit!”
I lifted my chin higher as every eye in the room turned to me. The towel reached mid-thigh. On display for everyone to see were my smooth, creamy legs and blue toes. I let the smirk show on my face when Jaxson’s mouth fell open and his fork slipped through his fingers.
To complete silence, I walked up to the lunch line, bypassed everyone waiting, accepted a tray from an astounded lunch lady, and swept through the doors like nothing happened.
Chaos erupted the moment it swung shut.
Chapter Ten
“Miss Moon, walk me through what happened this afternoon.”
Headmaster Evergreen’s eyebrow was twitching something fierce. It was very distracting. I guess I didn’t expect to get away with what I did.
I walked out of the cafeteria, went straight to my room to get dressed, and ate on my bed. After I walked back into the main building to go to my next class, I found the headmaster and Professor Markham waiting for me.
“Miss Moon?” he pressed. The effort he was making to stay calm was obvious, but what did he have to be mad about? It wasn’t like his clothes were stolen.
“Headmaster,” Markham piped up from my other side. “I would just like to say Miss Moon is a good student and this behavior is most out of character. I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation.”
His twitchy eyebrow shot up his forehead. “A reasonable explanation for parading around the lunchroom naked. Evergreen is an elite institution. I will not have this nonsense in my school.”
I met his gaze head-on. “Really? That’s interesting. So what will you have in your school, Headmaster?”
He blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Is bullying allowed in your school? Theft? Destruction of property? How about breaking and entering?”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about all the nonsense that I’ve put up with in your school.”
“Miss Moon,” Professor Markham warned under h
er breath.
I plowed on. “I wonder why your eyebrow isn’t twitching over that, Headmaster.”
“You watch your tone.” Evergreen rose up and leaned over his desk. My eyes crossed looking at the finger he put in my face. “The circumstances by which I let you into this school will not sway me should I decide it’s time for you to leave.”
The threat came through loud and clear. Wincing, I swallowed my anger. “My clothes and towel were taken while I was in the shower,” I said in a politer voice. “Not long ago, my room was broken into and everything destroyed, ripped, broken, or shredded.”
Evergreen slowly reclaimed his seat. The eyebrow stopped twitching. “Why wasn’t I made aware of this earlier?”
I looked him in the eyes. “I didn’t believe anything would be done to help the marked.” I studied his face for a reaction but there was none.
“Marked?” he repeated. “I am not aware of that term. Miss Moon, if your room was broken into and your things were destroyed, then you should have reported it immediately. There is not much we can do after the fact.”
“I took pictures of the damage.”
He inclined his head. “And can you name the culprit?”
Sofia.
“No,” I said aloud. “But that’s what cameras are for. Check the security tapes.”
“The recordings remain on the server for one week, then they are wiped. I’m sorry but there is little I can do in that regard except to reimburse you for the cost of replacing your items. Now, if we can return to the issue today.”
I gritted my teeth. I expected him to do nothing, but still this was irritating. “What issue? My clothes were stolen. It’s not my fault.”
“You could have waited for Coach to return and help you find your clothes.”
“Help me find them?” I was really struggling to keep my tone respectful. “They weren’t lost; they were taken. My classmates stole my things and tried to humiliate me, but once again, I am the one sitting in your office facing punishment.” The words were tumbling out of my mouth with no sign of stopping. “Between my room, the Parents’ Day video, and now this, it’s becoming clear that this school doesn’t value the safety of its students.”