Edge of Darkness Box Set

by Margaret McHeyzer

  I glance over at Mr. C, who’s now got his head down looking at something on his tablet, and turn back to Lindsey.

  She encourages me to pick it up, but sneaks a look over to Mr. C to make sure he’s not paying attention. I look at Levi to see him talking with Jason and ignoring us. Hesitantly I pick up the crumpled paper; I can see there’s something written on it, but until I unfold it I won’t know what it says. I hold my breath, petrified.

  “Ms. Bennett, care to share what you have there?” Mr. C calls from the front of the class.

  “Oh shit,” Lindsey mumbles under her breath though still loud enough for me and the rest of the class to hear.

  This tells me whatever is on the paper isn’t nice. “I think this was meant for you, Mr. Collins,” I say while standing to take the paper over to him. He rises from his relaxed position and meets me halfway. “Here you go.” I hand him the ball of paper.

  “Thank you, Dakota. You can sit down now.”

  He turns to walk away, and I can hear him unfolding the paper from its almost trash-like state. The huff of air which leaves him is a clear indicator the words were indeed, horrible.

  “Mr. Matthews, I believe you’d like to spend the next two days in here with me.”

  Levi? I thought Lindsey wrote the note. I look over to Lindsey who’s buried her head in her hands, then to Levi who has fire spitting from his eyes. “Ugh,” Levi grumbles.

  “You’d like to start off the new school year with an entire semester of being in here, then? Or should I call your parents to inform them of this piece of literature you’ve penned?” Mr. C pushes. “And Ms. Herbert, it appears you’d like to join Mr. Matthews.”

  “Yes, Sir,” she mutters from behind her hands which are still planted over her face.

  “What was that?” Mr. C challenges.

  “Yes, Sir.” She looks up with tears streaming down her face. Her eyes are puffy as Lindsey turns to shoot a vicious glare my way.

  Damn it, what on earth is on the paper?

  The class is completely silent. All chatter of summer vacation has ceased while everyone is watching Mr. C, Levi, Lindsey, and me. There’s a crackling in the air, stifling and toxic, while everyone’s eyes shift suspiciously between us.

  Lowering my eyes I choose to not look at the already judgmental faces. I doubt anything I say will make any difference, from the way their gazes are trained on me. I suspect they’ve already come to their own conclusions. It’s my fault.

  Suddenly the heat of the naturally warm day drains from my body, a biting chill piercing straight through me. Shivering from the artic turn of my body temperature, I keep my eyes downcast to avoid all the hatred directed at me.

  It seems like an eternity passes before the whirl of chatter starts up again. With a lump lodged in my throat, I continue to look at the words on the page of my book. I’ve read these words at least twenty times, and I still can’t tell you what they say or mean.

  The bell to the last class of the day sounds, and I stand as quickly as I can to get out of here. I clutch my book to my chest, and immediately I’m pushed into from behind, knocking my book out of my arms. It flies forward, and lands with a loud thud on the floor. I look beside me, I’m met with a pathetic smile from Lindsey. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

  “You really need to keep those legs closed,” she spits toward me, her eyes narrowing as one eyebrow lifts in defiance toward me.

  The self-loathing I’d been feeling transforms into complete and utter hatred. Embarrassment is no longer relevant; I’m beyond that now. “You have no idea.”

  Scooping the paperback up from where Lindsey had knocked it out of my arms, I hang back and wait until everyone’s gone before I leave class. Mr. C makes my skin crawl, he truly scares me and makes me want to run in the opposite direction. But in this case, I’d rather be in here with him then out there enduring whatever plan Levi and Lindsey are preparing for me.

  I’m a coward, I know.

  “Dakota, are you okay?” his deep, gruff voice asks as he stands behind his desk, leaning down on it. I nod and drag my feet to leave his class. “I’ll walk you out.” Terror blankets me as tension grips and tightens every part of me.

  Damn it, I should have risked whatever was brewing outside the classroom; I have a better chance of survival with my peers at school. “S’okay.” I quicken my steps until I’m near the door where Mr. C steps in front of me, blocking my exit.

  A silent in-built alarm sounds in my body, and it puts me on high alert. Fight or flight. In this case, it’s flight. Mr. C is solid, well-muscled, and a good head-and-a-half taller than I am. His broad shoulders scream there’s dangerous power in his upper body. He can easily stop me, hurt me.

  I push past his tall, imposing frame and run. The hallways still contain a few stragglers and I move fast, dodging their slow movements so I can get to the front of the school where Sam is waiting for me.

  Harshly, I exhale all the while looking behind me in case Mr. C is following. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Sam asks the moment she sees me.

  “Mr. C said he’d walk me out. Last class . . .” I’m breathing so hard, I have to bend at the waist and grasp my knees so I can get air in and calm down.

  “What happened?” She rubs her hand on my back and stands protectively beside me.

  “Levi and Lindsey . . .” Sam groans, interrupting me. I finally straighten and look at her. There’s a whole heap of people walking around, some are standing by the curb waiting for the bus to arrive, some are going toward their cars and some are standing around talking. “Come on, let’s walk and I’ll tell you what happened.”

  Sam and I walk home, and I tell her what happened in class. By the time we get home, she’s furious. “I swear to God, tomorrow I’m giving that bitch a piece of my mind.” Her tenacious and protective manner puts a large smile on my face, and I seem to have calmed down quite a lot.

  “Don’t do that. Just don’t worry about it. Only two more days of school left, then summer vacation. We have three months of things to do.” An image of Calvin flashes in my mind, and instantly I’m swept away with guilt. “Sorry, Sam. You’ll be spending your time with Calvin.”

  Sam’s face breaks out in a huge smile. “Poor Taylor, will you ever get his name right? And besides, sure I’ll be hanging out with him, but not every day and you can hang out with us too.”

  “Three’s a crowd.”

  “Not when one is my best friend and the other is my boyfriend.” She hums and looks up to the sky, pretending she didn’t just drop that massive bombshell on me.

  “No way!” I half-yell with excitement. I’m so happy for Sam. Calvin must’ve finally asked her to be his girlfriend. “When?”

  “Before lunch today. He was so cute. He was shifting from foot to foot, looking like he was going to throw up. He blurted it out, then turned and left. I was standing outside the gym looking around because I had no idea what happened. He mumbled, “Will you be my girlfriend?” but didn’t hang around to hear my answer, he just walked off. I had to track him down at lunch to say yes.”

  “Why did he leave?”

  “He said he thought I was going to say no, so he got nervous and left. He was so cute.” She smiles at me.

  “What did you do?”

  “Hell, Dakota. I made him suffer. Told him he was lucky he ran away because I was about to embarrass him.”

  I bring my hand up to cover my mouth, which is hanging open in shock. “You did not!”

  “Yep, then I turned to walk away.”

  My eyes widen. “You did not!” I repeat.

  “I so did. He ran up to me and told me he was sorry for leaving. I told him I accepted his apology and of course I’d love to be his girlfriend.”

  “Aw, that’s so sweet.” I smile as I drop my hands from my mouth and give her a big hug.

  We walk inside and I have a great feeling this vacation is coming at the perfect time. I need to get away from school, and I need t
o be around my family.

  Chapter 16

  There’s only today and tomorrow left of school, thank goodness. I’m not sure I could ignore the stares and whispers for much longer. Over the loudspeaker, one of the ladies in the office makes an announcement. “After lunch, female students from all grades will go to the gymnasium. All male students from all grades will go to the athletic field bleachers. I repeat; after lunch, all females from all grades need to go the gymnasium and all males from all grades need to go the athletic field bleachers.”

  I look over to Sophie, who’s in my art class, and shrug my shoulders. These last few days of school are a real waste of time. But, school doesn’t finish until tomorrow, and I think most parents are happy to have us out of the house for as long they possibly can.

  When art finishes, Sophie and I head over to the cafeteria and grab a table as far away as we can from my former friends. “I wonder what’s going to happen after lunch?” Sophie asks while she picks at her lunch.

  “Who knows?”

  “Maybe it’s going to be the ‘have a good summer, and when you come back you’ll be young ladies and young gentlemen so we expect you to act the role,’ speech like they did last year before we broke up for vacation.”

  Sophie squints and crinkles her nose. “I don’t remember that.”

  “Yeah, but they didn’t split us up, they had us all in the gymnasium.”

  Sophie shakes her head. “Nah, I don’t remember. Anyway, who cares? It’s probably only for their duty of care or some crap like that.” She chuckles.

  “Hey, why are you sitting over here?” Reece comes and sits beside me placing his tray down on the table. “You should come over. You too, Sophie.”

  Sophie nearly spits out her drink and begins to cough as she quickly swallows the water she had in her mouth. “Whoa, you’re so funny. Hi, I’m Sophie. I’m the black sheep no one wants to talk to or acknowledge,” she says as she holds her hand out to him. Her words are sarcastic as she rolls her eyes at Reece.

  “That’s not true, you can come sit with us.”

  “Seriously, Reece. You really think they’ll accept Sophie when Levi and Lindsey have made it very obvious how they don’t even want me hanging around? Especially after their stunt yesterday.”

  “What stunt?” both Sophie and Reece ask.

  Sophie looks at Reece, and smiles. Reece looks at Sophie and shakes his head, but his face is filled with an easy smile.

  I spend the next few minutes telling them about the crumpled up note that was thrown at me, and what happened afterward. By the time I finish, leaving out Mr. C’s actions at the end of class, both are looking at me with their mouths open in a perfect ‘O.’

  “Are you kidding me?” Sophie asks.

  “You’re just bullshitting, right?” Reece questions.

  “I’m afraid not.” I let out a humorless rumble deep from within my chest.

  “I’m going to kick his ass.” Reece stands abruptly and I register exactly how angry he is. The deafening sound of blood in my ears makes me leap to hold onto his shirt. “Let me go, Dakota.” Reece’s face is colored with fury. His cheeks are flushed red, but his eyes are narrowed in rage. His shoulders are back and he’s standing at his full height, ready to fight—ready to fight for me.

  “Please,” I beg him. “Don’t bother. I don’t know what was on the paper, and truthfully, I don’t want to know.”

  I watch as the determination to beat Levi slowly recedes from his body. “It’s not right. He shouldn’t be treating you like this.”

  There’s something shifting inside me; a small candle that’s been sitting idle since that night has sparked. The flame is tiny, but it’s there.

  “No, you’re right, he shouldn’t. He’s being an absolute jerk, but honestly it’s Lindsey who’s hurt me the most.”

  His shoulders relax and he finally sits back down. “It’s not right,” he says again.

  “Hmmm,” Sophie huffs while her eyes flicker from to Reece and back again.

  “What?” I ask.

  She curves her mouth up into a half-smile and looks down at her food. “Nothing.” Her features are relaxed and amused. “What would I know?” Weird.

  Reece’s gaze reaches Sophie and he offers her a shy smile. I’m sitting, looking at both of them and wondering what the hell I’ve missed. “Look,” I start, interrupting the awkward silence amongst us. “You should go over there, and don’t worry about me. Sophie and I are fine.”

  “Like hell. He’s an ass and she’s a bitch. I don’t want shit like that in my life.”

  “Really, Reece, what are you going to do? Ignore them? Levi’s your best friend, and well, now he’s with Lindsey. You guys hang out all the time, and I’m not going to be the one to get between you two.”

  “Ex-best friend. If a guy can be such a dick to a girl he’s broken up with, the girl he claimed to love, then I don’t want to be around someone like him. As far as I’m concerned, they can hang out with each other as much as they want. I’m not like him, and I don’t want him making me look bad by association.” He points over to their table, and then back to himself. “I’m telling ya, Dakota, it’s not right.”

  Taking a deep breath, I try and wrap my head around Reece’s protective behavior. But the fact of the matter is, I still can’t trust him. He was the one who got me the drink and handed it to me. He had ample opportunity to slip me the drug, and he had even more of a chance to do what was done.

  Reece talks easily to Sophie and when the bell rings to signal the end of lunch, he stands and grabs our trash to throw out.

  “I can do that,” Sophie protests as she grabs her rubbish.

  “So can I.” He snatches it back from her and playfully runs in front of her to the trash can. “See,” he teases her. “Easy.”

  I can’t help but laugh at those two. Maybe, he’s interested in her. That would be pretty cool, I think they’d make a nice couple. But still, I don’t trust him completely, and until I do, I’m going to remain quiet.

  “What do you think this is about?” Sam asks me as she, Sophie, and I sit on one of the front rows in the gymnasium bleachers.

  “Have you met Sophie?” I whisper. Sam shakes her head. “Sam this is Sophie. Sophie this is my younger, though so much smarter sister, Sam.”

  Sam leans across me and extends her hand to Sophie. “Hi,” she says.

  Sophie smiles warmly at her and takes her hand. “Hi,” she responds. “We were saying at lunch how we think this might be a ‘have fun and don’t do drugs’ speech.”

  Sam laughs and leans her elbows on her knees. “Who knows?” She shrugs.

  Quickly, everyone shuffles in and are now sitting and waiting. I look around the gymnasium and I spot Lindsey, Jordan and Mariah. Lindsey’s looking straight at me but the other two are talking with someone sitting in front of them. Lindsey flicks her hair out of her face, then scratches her cheek with her middle finger. Clearly it’s directed at me. “Whatever,” I mouth to her and turn away.

  “Want me to smack her one?” Sam asks following my line of sight to Lindsey. “’Cause I so will.” She throws a punch into her palm, her chin is high with confidence and her shoulders are ready to fight.

  “Neither you nor Reece are going to hit anyone.”

  “Reece? What did he do?”

  I quickly tell her what happened at lunch. “He did? Really?”

  “Yeah, really. Both of you are feisty and I don’t want the argument. It’s not worth it.”

  “They’re not worth it.” She points over to Lindsey. “But you are.”

  My heart bleeds and opens for the best sister and friend in the entire world. “Thank you.” I lean in and give her a hug.

  “Eeew, Dakota. That’s embarrassing.” She pushes me off her, but smiles.

  “Ladies,” Miss Johnson, the head of the sports department, yells out. A hush falls over the vast space, all eyes shift forward and we all await the reason for this gathering. I notice out of my peripheral vis
ion three women, all dressed in smart pantsuits, walking out to join Miss Johnson. “Detectives Miller, Garcia and Young have joined us because they want to talk to you.” She looks over at three police officers and smiles. “They’re all yours.” Miss Johnson moves to the side, and sits down at the front.

  “Hello everyone. I’m Detective Garcia and my fellow officers and I are here to talk to you about your summer vacation.” She walks back and forth, commanding our attention. She attracts it easily. Everyone is listening, looking between her and the other two detectives. “We want all you girls to have a great time over the next three months. We’re sure you’ll be going to the beach, going to the mall, maybe even attending a few parties. You may even have a few drinks, although we can’t condone that.” She smiles and half of us giggle. “Some may even have sex for the first time.” Cringeworthy. But more laughs.

  “We’re not here to tell you you can’t, although you really shouldn’t. We’re sure you’re all aware of the legal drinking age. But again, that’s not why we’re here,” Detective Miller cuts in and everyone’s attention shifts to her. “We’re here specifically because we want to bring to your attention something that’s been happening for a few years now, and will unfortunately continue until we stamp it out. Date rape drugs.”

  Sam’s hand discreetly moves to engulf mine. She gives me a small squeeze and shifts her body closer to mine. My body reacts to the words ‘date rape,’ every muscle in my stomach tightens painfully and I have to make a very conscious effort not to double over in pain.

  Out of the corner of my eye I notice Sophie’s shoulders tense, and the muscles in the side of her neck stiffen. I hear her inhale sharply and breathe out just as viciously. I’m fighting with myself to not look over at her. Slowly I move my right hand down to find Sophie’s clammy one, gently clutching it with mine.

  “Who here knows what RAINN stands for or who they are?” Detective Young now steps in and starts talking. We all look around the gym to see only a few hands have risen. “You there, what is RAINN?” she points to someone on the far end. I can’t hear the answer, but I can see Detective Young nodding her head. “That’s right. RAINN stands for; Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. It’s an Internet site set up to help survivors of sexual assault. There’s no judgment and anyone who listens to you will believe you. RAINN—that’s rain with an extra N on the end. Now I want to give you some statistics that have come directly from RAINN.”