Evergreen Academy - The Complete Series

by Ruby Vincent

  “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.”

  Red splotches rose to his cheeks. “That’s preposterous. Safety is our number one priority and—”

  “And I’m sure from here on out,” I finished, “you will do everything in your power to ensure my safety. If there are any more break-ins or disappearing clothes, the world will find out what it’s really like in Evergreen Academy.”

  “Miss Moon,” Markham hissed.

  “Is that a threat?” asked the headmaster.

  “No, sir.”

  Evergreen leaned back in his chair. He gazed at me over steepled fingers for so long the silence grew uncomfortable.

  After five solid minutes had passed, he inclined his head. “There will be no more incidents. As I said, safety is our first priority and I will take steps to ensure you feel safe. I hope that will put your mind at ease.”

  “Thank you, sir.” I rose to leave.

  “Hold on, Miss Moon. There is still the matter of your walking around in a towel. Despite the circumstances, I can’t ignore something like that. Two more weeks will be added to your trash duty, and be thankful that is all.”

  “Yes, sir,” I forced out. “Thank you.”

  He waved us on. “You may go.”

  I left without another word. No part of me believed that he would do anything to help me. Just like I didn’t believe he wasn’t aware of the markings. So far, I could see that this wasn’t the first time it has happened. There was no way the headmaster of the last couple decades hadn’t heard the same whispers I did.

  He’s just like the rest of the staff. Burying their heads in the sand and letting the Knights run the school. I’m on my own.

  “GOOD MORNING, MISS Moon.”

  “Ahh!” I jumped almost a foot in the air. My heart pounded as I took in the giant lying in wait when I opened the door. “Who are you?” I demanded.

  She stuck out a hand. “My name is Noemi Kennedy. I’ve been assigned to escort you around campus.”

  I goggled at her. “You’ve been what to what? By who?”

  “Headmaster Evergreen.” Her hand was still hanging in the air between us. “He expressed concerns for your safety following a few incidents. Your safety is our—”

  “First priority. Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” I stepped out in the hall and finally shook her hand. “But it’s only been a day. I didn’t think anything would be done so fast.”

  I didn’t think anything would be done full stop.

  “I will be by your side every moment you’re outside of this dorm.”

  “Every moment?” I held up a hand. “Hold on. I appreciate that the school is trying to step up, but I don’t want a bodyguard.”

  Noemi didn’t lose her smile. “Miss Moon, if I’m understanding, are you refusing these security measures?”

  “I wouldn’t put it like that, but yes.”

  “I see.” Noemi reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a pen and folded paper. “If you could sign this form acknowledging that, I will be on my way.”

  I eyed it. “What is it?”

  “This states that efforts were made to increase your security and you refused them, thus waiving any right to sue or defame the school if there is another incident.”

  “Are you serious? You’re saying I either let you follow me around, or I suck it up and take it if someone comes after me again?”

  Noemi didn’t reply.

  I was tempted to choose the latter option. I had been taking care of myself just fine, I didn’t need them to protect me.

  But you also don’t need the school getting off scot-free if someone does strike. This whole thing reeks of Evergreen fighting to protect the school’s ass more than he is trying to protect mine. Lesson Number One: Evergreen values its reputation above all.

  “I’m not signing that,” I announced. “So I guess you and I are going to be spending a lot of time together. Tell me more about yourself, Ms. Kennedy.”

  Noemi pocketed the form. “Gladly. I’ve worked here for three years and...”

  I OBJECTED TO HER PRESENCE at first, but there was no denying Noemi brought results. Like she promised, she was on my tail from the moment I stepped out of my dorm to the time I went back inside. She posted up in the back when I had class. She followed me around while I did trash duty. She sat at my table with a book while I studied in the library. With her around, my classmates were reduced to hissing cruel comments at me when she was out of earshot, but that was all they pulled. Between her and finals, life had almost returned to normal... if it wasn’t for the fact that I had zero friends and the people that used to be, promised to run me out of school the moment my little bodyguard was gone.

  I couldn’t think about that now though. There was only one week left until winter break which meant a whole three weeks away from this place. But before that, I had to get through finals. Bodyguard or no, no one in this school would study with or tutor me. I was cramming twice as hard and staying up way too late—whatever it took. I hadn’t gone through everything I had just to be kicked out for letting my grades slip.

  “We’re going to the library now,” I told Noemi after classes let out.

  “How much can one person study Shakespeare before his words get even more nonsensical.”

  I snorted. “Don’t let Professor Strange hear you say that.”

  We shared a laugh. How sad was it that my bodyguard was the closest thing I had to a friend?

  Together, we walked into the library and were welcomed by its dim lights and serene quiet. The only noises that broke the silence were the whisper of pages. Noemi went off to claim our usual table in the back while I veered off to the modern art section. I had crammed as much Shakespeare in my head as could fit. Now I was moving onto art class. Scarlett wanted a five-page paper on a neo-Expressionist artist on top of the painting of our fears. Even my laid-back teacher was piling it on.

  I weaved through the stacks, scanning the titles looking for the name Jean-Michel Basquiat. “It should be here some—”

  I rounded the corner and stopped. Standing in front of me, taking down the very book I was after, was Maverick Beaumont.

  Just turn around and go. It’s been weeks of almost peace. I don’t want to deal with him today.

  I took a step back the moment his eyes snapped up and met mine. We stared at each other across the row.

  Maverick said nothing. Of course, he said nothing. That was his go-to move. He hadn’t uttered one single word to me since the night of the masquerade ball. The night we kissed.

  He would go entire class periods without looking in my direction. I don’t know what hurt worse: Ryder, Jaxson, and Ezra’s attacks and taunts or Maverick acting as though I wasn’t worth his time.

  But the way he kissed me was so—

  I shook the thought away. It was a trick. A bet. The sooner I accept that the Knights were all liars, the better.

  I jerked my chin at the book in his hand. “I need that one, Maverick. I was coming to get it.”

  Maverick looked down at the book in his hand, looked at me, then turned his back and walked off.

  “Hey!” I hissed. I darted out in front of him, blocking his path. Although I say blocking. The guy was a two-ton truck and I was the furry bunny hopping out into the street. I didn’t have a chance if he came bearing down on me. Maverick pulled up to a stop, gazing down at me with a blank look.

  “I said I need that book, Maverick. Hand it over.” He didn’t even twitch. “Maverick, come on.”

  I lunged for it, and
in one smooth move, he lifted it over his head and effectively out of my reach. “Maverick,” I cried. I shoved his chest but it didn’t move him an inch. I jumped up, straining to reach the book, but my fingers didn’t rise higher than his elbows. He just kept standing there with all the emotion of a mannequin.

  Growing angry, I grabbed the collar of his blazer and leaped. Maverick grunted when he suddenly found me wrapped around him like a spider monkey, climbing his body to get at that book. I pressed down on his head for balance as I took hold of the spine and yanked.

  I felt a second of victory before Maverick seized me around the waist. The book fell to the floor as he roughly pulled me off and deposited me on the floor. I stumbled back, and the asshole took the chance to bend and retrieve the book.

  That’s when the dam broke. “What is wrong with you?” I asked as I straightened. “All of you. How can anyone be so dead inside that they would do the things you guys have done?”

  Maverick stepped to the side.

  “Oh, no.” I jumped back in front of him. “You’re not fucking running away. You don’t want to speak, then fine, you’ll listen.” I jabbed his pecs. “I thought that we were friends. I thought that underneath that strong, silent type cliché was an actual person. A smart, funny guy who got me. I thought you were different, Maverick. I thought you thought I was different.”

  I was running off into weird babbling now but it was too late to stop the tide. “The worst part is I liked you. At the beginning, I thought Jaxson was an ass; Ezra too intense; and Ryder the devil, but you...” My throat tightened, threatening to choke me, but I forced the rest out. “Like I said, I thought you were different.”

  I moved closer to him. I could see the hard line of his jaw. He was tense, possibly upset, but his face was impossible to read. “Just tell me one thing,” I whispered. “The video of my mom. Tracking down my father. Were you a part of that too?”

  He didn’t move. I wasn’t entirely sure he was breathing.

  “This is the part where you speak, Maverick.” I was shaking so hard I had to ball my fists to keep them still. “Answer me,” I demanded as a tear slid down my cheek. “Answer me!”

  I sucked in a sharp breath. Maverick had lifted his hand. I held still as he cupped my cheek, and with a touch so featherlight it was barely there, he brushed the tear away.

  “Maverick...”

  His hand traveled down my body, ghosting along my neck and then continuing its journey over the mounds of my breast. My heart pounded so furiously I was certain the entire library could hear it. My eyes fluttered shut as Maverick’s fingers skimmed over the thin fabric covering my stomach, then his hand closed over mine. I felt something heavy on my palm and then the hand was gone.

  Maverick was walking away by the time I opened my eyes. I peered down and found the autobiography of Jean-Michel Basquiat in my hand.

  It took me a minute to collect myself and step out of the stacks. I walked out and my eyes fell on Noemi gesturing for me. I slid past her and saw Maverick sitting down next to Jaxson, Ryder, and Ezra. As if they sensed me, all four looked up. I hadn’t spoken to Ryder or Ezra since the party. I hadn’t spoken to Jaxson either, but that didn’t stop him from talking to me. He regularly offered to pay me for sex even in front of Noemi.

  I held their gaze until Ryder smirked. I had no clue what just happened with Maverick, but if the look in Ryder’s eyes said one thing, it was that this wasn’t over.

  FINALS WEEK WAS WRECKING me even more thoroughly than I knew it would. Wednesday morning, I staggered out of Rossman’s class in a fog. I could honestly say I had no clue if I did well or not. At one point, the numbers had started to look like meaningless squiggles so I was leaning toward not.

  I threw my books in my locker and turned to Noemi. “You can go have your lunch now. I’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I sighed. “We do this every day. I’ll be okay. Go ahead and eat.”

  “You’re right; we do this every day, and every day I wonder where it is you go to have your lunch.”

  “Somewhere that no one will bother me, which is why I don’t need an escort and you can enjoy your lunch in peace.”

  Shaking her head, she replied, “Okay. I’ll meet you back here in an hour.”

  She took off and I went in the opposite direction for the cafeteria. No way I was letting her in on my secret. Noemi still worked for the school and it was no mystery that Evergreen values its Knights more than a marked girl who kept making trouble.

  I pushed through into the lunchroom. It started up as soon as I was noticed.

  “Whoo, baby. Why are you wearing clothes today? Where’s the towel?”

  I didn’t react as I made for the lunch line.

  “Forget the towel and the clothes,” shouted Axel. “I wanna see if she’s as stacked as her mother.”

  I pivoted, teeth bared, to flip him the finger. So focused was I on the asshole that I collided into someone else.

  Crash!

  “Hey, watch it!” I twisted around at her voice. Sofia’s lunch was all over the cafeteria floor. She glared at me, face splotchy, as the orange juice stain darkened her blue dress.

  “Oh, be quiet,” I snapped. “It was an accident. Get another tray.”

  Isabella’s chair screeched across the floor. “You’re not going to let her talk to you like that, are you, Sofia?”

  “Yeah,” echoed Natalie. “Her little bodyguard isn’t here. Nothing to stop you from teaching her a lesson.”

  Sofia’s eyes swept the room. The artificial lights shone harshly on her, revealing the sweat collecting on her forehead.

  “No, that’s okay.” Sofia stopped glancing around and pinned me with a look. “I don’t want to hold her up from going off to wherever she hides. She’s probably off to meet up with a customer.” She planted her hands on her hips. “I heard your blow jobs are amazing, Val.”

  “And what are you off to go do?!” I shouted over the laughter. “Beg Mommy and Daddy to let you come home for winter break?”

  Sofia’s smile melted away. “What?”

  “You heard me.” I stepped forward, kicked the tray out of my way, and bore down on her. “Because it’s obvious they don’t want to see you. Your mom lives twenty minutes away and couldn’t be bothered to come to Parents’ Day. How sad is that? Why doesn’t she want to be with you, Sofia?”

  Hands falling off her hips, Sofia tried to step back. “At least my mom doesn’t flash drunk college boys in South Beach.”

  Scratch, scratch.

  I was so angry—so hurt. The tide of emotions was pulling me down and drowning me. I clutched my chest as I followed her, not letting her get away.

  “At least my mom... loves me.”

  Sofia flinched like I had slapped her. She held my gaze for all of five seconds before her face crumpled and she ran from the room in tears.

  I held out for one more minute before I was running too. My heart pounded in my ears so loud it almost covered the sound of my gasps.

  I didn’t slow down until I was in the elevator rising to my dorm room. The lock chimed and I threw myself on my bed, clutching my pillow as I tried to remember how to breathe.

  “DID YOU HAVE A GOOD lunch?”

  I shrugged.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yep,” I replied with a little pop on the “p.” Thankfully, Noemi seemed to pick up on my mood and didn’t ask any more questions.

  I barely got through the rest of the day. My class had moved on from calling me “Whore” and “Virgin,” and took up “Heartless Bitch.” The worst part was that I agreed with them. What I said to Sofia was awful. No matter how mad I was at her, it was no good for me to be brought down to that level. If that happens, then I truly will have lost.

  Noemi escorted me to the library to study, but I had to call it quits thirty minutes in when I realized I had read the same paragraph three times.

  “I’m going back to the dorm. I need this day to be over already
.”

  “Alright.” Noemi heaved her bulk out of the chair. “Let’s go.”

  We left the library and headed out for the doors. Noemi rode with me up the elevator and waved goodbye instead of stepping out.

  “Bye.”

  I need food and sleep. I tapped in my passcode and pushed open the door. After that, things won’t seem so bad. I have a—

  “Hi, Val.”

  “Ahh!” I spun around as my bathroom door opened the rest of the way. Sofia wiped her red nose with the edge of her sleeves. Puffy eyes gazed at me as I flipped out.

  “How did you get in here?! I changed the passcode.”

  “I know.” She stepped out of the bathroom, padding across the carpet. “To Adam’s birthday. It wasn’t hard to guess.”

  She sounded funny. Why was she here? What was she going to do now?

  “Sofia...”

  “I knew what you would pick, Val,” she continued, “because you’re my best friend, and I— I—” Tears sprang to her eyes. That was all the warning I got before she launched herself at me. My hands came up quickly to defend myself, and were immediately crushed to my chest as Sofia seized me in a strangling hug.

  I could barely hear her through the wailing and my own shock.

  “I—I’m so s-sorry!”

  “Oomphf!” I cried when her hold tightened.

  “I missed you so much. I never wanted any of this, Val. Please believe me.”

  “Sofia—”

  “I can’t do this anymore. I hate fighting with you.”

  What was she saying?

  “I’ve cried like every day for the past month. This has been such a nightmare.”

  “Sofia,” I wheezed.

  “I don’t want to do awful things to each other anymore. I don’t—”

  “Sofia!” I finally shook her off and backed away. “Stop. You can’t just break in here and say sorry like that’s going to fix everything. How do I know this isn’t another trick?” I balled my fists. “Like the party.”

  Sofia sniffled. “I didn’t know what Ryder was going to do. I wouldn’t have brought you if I did.”

  “I’m supposed to believe that?”