Evergreen Academy - The Complete Series

by Ruby Vincent

  She was even prettier than the photographs suggested. The smart cashmere sweater and red pants were typical of the bold but classy style she had been cultivating in the media. She had a light dusting of makeup on her heart-shaped face, and of course, her hair was perfect.

  “Oh, hello,” she said to me. “I don’t believe we’ve met. My name is Madeline Richards.”

  Sofia heaved a sigh. “She knows who you are, Mom. She’s my best friend and she’s only been staying with us for the past two weeks.”

  Madeline looked faintly surprised. “Have you? Oh, dear, you must think me so rude. Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier.” Her eyes flicked down to Adam. “And who is this?”

  “This is her little brother, Adam—also been staying with us.”

  “Staying with us?” A slight wrinkle appeared between her brows. “What do you mean?”

  “Mother, they’ve both been here for the summer.”

  “What? But— We’re not equipped to take care of an infant.”

  “We haven’t been taking care of an infant,” Sofia shot back. “Valentina has.”

  “But wouldn’t he be happier with his mother?”

  Yes, he would, I thought.

  “Their mom is out of town,” replied Sofia. Her nose was wrinkling the way it did when she spoke about—and apparently to—her mother. “They have nowhere to stay, we have room, and you’re never here anyway so I didn’t think you’d care. And seeing as it took you two weeks to even notice, I was right.”

  The wrinkle was glaring now. “I do not appreciate your tone, Sofia Lorraine Richards.”

  Sofia pinked and mumbled an apology under her breath. Madeline nodded. “In the future, you need to discuss things like this with me first. Is that understood?”

  She heaved a sigh. “Yes, Mom.”

  “Which brings me to why I’m here. Why is Rudolpho in my living room? Am I planning an event I don’t know about?”

  I ducked my head. This one was on me.

  “It’s Valentina’s sixteenth birthday in two days,” explained Sofia. “I’m throwing her a party.”

  What she meant by that was she had called up her mother’s designated party planner, Rudolpho, and set him to handling the details.

  Madeline gaped at her. “A sweet sixteen in two days? Here? But Rudolpho can’t pull off an event that big in such a time.”

  Event that big?

  “No, Mrs. Richards,” I said quickly. “It’s just going to be the three of us.”

  She didn’t seem to have heard me. “The place is a mess. Also, have you bought a dress yet? And what in the world are we going to do with your hair? Honestly, Sofi, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  Adam crawled out of Sofia’s lap and made his way over to her mother.

  “I’ll have to speak to Rudolpho and— Oh!” Adam balled her red pants in his tiny fists and used them to get to his feet. He stared up at Madeline, waiting.

  “You can hold him,” I offered. “He likes new people.”

  “Uh, I shouldn’t. This is a new sweater.” She bent down and carefully removed Adam from her leg. “Go to your sister, darling. Go on.” She made a little shooing motion. “Go. Go.”

  “Oh, Mom,” Sofia groaned, sinking her head into her hands.

  “I have to go. Rudolpho and I have details to settle.” Madeline backed out of the room and disappeared. Sofia peeked at me through her fingers.

  “There you have it, both the reason why I have no siblings and why Mom got me a nanny when I was two weeks old.”

  I stood to get Adam and place him back on the carpet with his toys. “Should we be worried about this party?” I gave her a look. “Which you don’t have to throw me, by the way.”

  “Um, by the way, I do,” she stated, “and we should be cool. Rudolpho knows what we want and he’s an expert at holding Mom back. You should have heard what she wanted to do for my sweet sixteen. There was talk of live tigers and fire dancers.”

  I looked away. “Sorry again about not being there.”

  “It’s okay, Val. I understood.”

  I knew she did. Her party had been at the beginning of summer before I came. I wanted to go, but the fact that half of our classmates went, killed that idea dead.

  “Maybe things will be different this year,” she continued. “Jaxson went too far, but he did it in front of the headmaster and the administration. They won’t let him get away with it.”

  I kissed Adam’s brown curls rather than answer.

  Sofia picked herself up off the carpet. “I should go down there and rescue Rudolpho. I’ll distract her with dress ideas. After, let’s have lunch by the pool.”

  “Sounds good.”

  I shook my head when she left. I couldn’t believe this was my life, albeit temporary. Mansions, bathrooms bigger than my entire apartment, housekeepers, party planners, and private chefs that made you pesto pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and then set it out by the Olympic-size swimming pool.

  It had been a great summer—giving me plenty of time to think.

  I left Adam to play and went back to Sofia’s desk. The textbook was shoved off to the side to reveal what I had been truly doing with my summer.

  The List

  Airi Tanaka

  Natalie Bard

  Isabella Bruno

  Maverick Beaumont

  Ezra Lennox

  Jaxson Van Zandt

  Ryder Shea

  The Spades

  Evergreen Academy

  The names blurred as I tried to read them through again. That was okay, it wasn’t as though I needed to. Every name was burned into the fabric of my soul, and there was only one way to remove them.

  “Maybe things will be different this year. They won’t let him get away with it.”

  “Things will be different this year,” I whispered. The corner of the list crumpled in my hand. “Because I won’t let him get away with it. Not him or the rest of them.”

  I PUT ADAM ON MY HIP and left the guest room. Sofia was waiting for me in the dining room with a beaming smile and a cupcake. She wasn’t alone. “Happy birthday!”

  “Thank you.” I accepted her hug.

  “Good morning, Valerie,” said Madeline. “Happy birthday.”

  “It’s Valentina,” Sofia said through gritted teeth. “Mom, shouldn’t you have left for work?”

  “No, darling.” Madeline dabbed the corners of her already perfect mouth and pushed away her breakfast plate. I was a bit late coming down as Adam had recently decided diaper changes were for suckers. “The party is today and we have too much to do. So I want you girls to finish up, and then we’re heading out for mani-pedis, dress shopping, getting our hair done—the works.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Richards,” I said sincerely. “But you don’t have to go to all that trouble. We’re just having sushi on the terrace.”

  If anything, Madeline’s smile got wider. “This brings me to my next surprise. There will be no sushi; we’re going to throw you a proper sweet sixteen party.”

  “We?” My head swung around to Sofia who gave me a matching incredulous look.

  “But Val doesn’t want—”

  Madeline cut her daughter off. “Every young woman wants a sweet sixteen. Your mother looked after my Sofia last Christmas; the least I can do is give her daughter a proper party. Now hurry and eat your breakfast. We have a nail appointment.” Rising from her seat, Madeline gestured at Adam. “I’ve also called Carmen to come and look after the baby. She’ll be here for the rest of your stay.”

  “But I don’t need a—”

  Madeline swept out of the room without a backward glance.

  “—nanny.”

  My eyes flicked to Sofia who threw up her hands. “Don’t look at me. I warned you about her.”

  Sighing, we sat down and did what Madame Madeline commanded. We finished up our breakfast and Sofia’s former nanny came in halfway through to whisk Adam away.

  “I thought you said Rudolpho had my back,” I to
ld Sofia as we climbed the stairs.

  “He does, but he also has a love of getting paid.”

  “What am I in for? There won’t be tigers or fire dancers, right?”

  She grinned. “Only for the fact that she probably couldn’t have gotten them late notice... unless she could, of course.”

  Sofia veered off to her bedroom, leaving me gaping after her.

  I showered and dressed quickly and the two of us met Madeline at the door. She peered at me over her sunglasses.

  “I love your necklace, darling. I have one just like it. Where did you get yours?”

  I placed my hand over the peridot pendant. “I ordered it from a catalog. So,” I began when she opened her mouth again. “I’d love to hear more about the party. You said real sweet sixteen, but since it’s just the four of us...”

  Her tinkling laugh made the rest of my sentence fade in my throat. “It won’t be just us. It was very late notice, but I got Rudolpho to dig up Sofi’s party list and invite all your friends from school. Nearly everyone said they would come.” She clapped. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

  Madeline didn’t wait for an answer. She spun around and glided out the door while I stood rooted to the spot.

  All my friends from school...

  “I’m so sorry.” Sofia grabbed my shoulder. “I’ll tell her off, cancel the party, and we’ll do what we planned. I promise, I’ll fix this.”

  “No.” The word was out before I registered what I was saying. “No, it’s fine. She went through so much trouble. It would be rude to cancel.”

  “Rude? Val, you don’t have to worry about hurting my mom’s feelings. She’ll always have another party to throw.” She gave me a little shake. “It’s your birthday. You should enjoy it.”

  I smiled at her. Sofia truly was a good friend, no matter what we went through last year. She thought I didn’t want to cancel to be nice. She had no idea.

  “It’s not me—”

  “Girls, what’s taking so long?” Madeline called from the front porch.

  The two of us picked up our feet and followed her out. It was a perfect morning on the Richards estate. A front lawn of small hills and dips was covered with rose bushes and small gardens. Sofia’s home was three stories of bedrooms, bathrooms, a ballroom, bowling alley, two dining rooms, and a sauna. Impressive, and she lived in one of the smaller mansions.

  Evergreen and its academy sprung up decades ago and as it established itself as the best school in the country, the mega-rich bought up the surrounding properties and made it their mission to get themselves, and their demon seeds, into the school. Almost all of the classmates who tortured me lived in the area or the surrounding towns, they would have no trouble dropping by tonight, but it wasn’t me I was worried about.

  “Sofia, are you going to be okay?” I asked under my breath. “The last day of school made it clear I’m still marked, and now people are going to figure out we’re still friends. They could come after you too.”

  Sofia lifted her chin. “I don’t care. I’m not going to play along like I hate you. You’re my best friend; I’ve got your back.”

  I put a hand on her arm to stop her from getting into the limo. “Sofia, the things they did to me... I won’t let that happen to you.”

  “I said I don’t care. I can take whatever they’ve got.”

  I closed the distance between us. “It’s not just them,” I whispered. “What about the Spades? Walter McMillian?”

  Sofia’s knuckles were turning white under her tight hold on the hood, but when she spoke her tone was even. “They killed him because he tried to turn the school against the Spades and overthrow the system.” She cracked a smile. “You and I aren’t planning a revolution.”

  Don’t be so sure of that.

  “Besides,” she continued. “Mom’s outed me. No one would believe we aren’t friends now that she’s announced we’re throwing you a party. So we might as well let her make us over and enjoy part of your birthday.”

  She slid into the car, and after a pause, I followed. It wouldn’t do for Sofia to get caught up in what I had planned this year. This was between me and the Knights.

  SOFIA’S RELATIONSHIP with her mother was rocky at best, but I couldn’t deny the woman knew how to throw a girls’ day. We primped from head to toe, picked up the most gorgeous dresses, then stopped for lunch at the Evergreen Promenade where I had the best soup and salad lunch ever created. Madeline was actually pretty charming when she was present; the only issue was she rarely was.

  “I should get back so I can oversee the setup.” Madeline perched her mirrored sunglasses on her nose and handed her bags to the driver. We were standing outside the restaurant on the multicolored cobblestones of the shopping center. “Do you girls want to stay a bit longer? I can send the car back to pick you up.”

  “That’d be great, Mom. Thanks.”

  “Of course, darling.” Madeline kissed the air near Sofia’s cheeks before sliding into the car.

  I waited until it pulled away from the curb to speak.

  “Sofia, we’re not friends.”

  “What?” She goggled at me like I’d slapped her. “What are you talking about?”

  “Tonight, at the party,” I explained. “You tell everyone we’re not friends and you make them believe it. I’ve been convinced, okay. The Spades are real and the marks are serious. I’m not letting them come after you like they did that Walter guy.”

  “Val, I told you, I’m not pretending. Besides, what happened to Walter McMillian was awful, but it was also over thirty years ago. Whoever made up the Spades then is long gone from the school.”

  “And whoever makes them up now is just as vicious,” I countered. “Sof, we never found out who made me fall down the stairs.”

  A flicker of unease showed in her eyes. “Yeah, but—”

  “No buts. You told me things get bad when the marked refuse to leave and fight back. Well, I’m planning on doing a hell of a lot of fighting back this year, and if they want me out, they’ll have to carry me out.”

  “Val, don’t say things like that!”

  I was unmoved. I heard her concern. Understood it. But still it couldn’t reach me. “This is why I have to keep you out of it. I will make them pay for what they did to me from the Knights, to the Diamonds, to the Spades, and that entire fucking school.” Looking her dead in the eye, I stepped closer as hers got bigger. “Sof, I love you, but we’re not friends.”

  Her chin trembled. “I don’t think you understand what you’re doing...”

  “I know exactly what I’m doing.” I took her hand. “You have to trust me, and we have to come up with a lie that people will believe.” I tried for a smile. “Consider it your birthday present to me.”

  “I was going to give you dinner from a famous sushi chef and a private show from the Undisturbed,” she replied, cheeks red. “Instead, you want me to support a suicide mission. Not an even trade-off.”

  I gaped at her. “You’re getting the Undisturbed? Sofia, that’s—”

  “Was,” she snapped. “Not anymore.” Sofia sidestepped me and marched off. Sighing, I ran to catch up to her. “...what Jaxson did to you was awful.” Her rant was still going full steam. “What they all did to you was awful, but you can’t fight them by yourself. And finding out who the Spades are? No one knows who the fuck they are! That’s the point!”

  “Sofia...” I trailed off. I didn’t know the words that would calm my irate best friend which is why I held off on telling her what I was going to do.

  “I thought you were feeling better this summer and—”

  “And what?” I ran out in front of her and pulled her up short. “Even if I came back pretending nothing happened, they would still be coming after me! Last year, I played nice and wound up with a concussion, broken wrist, dislocated knee, and the whole school finding out that I— That I got a—”

  I doubled over, clutching my chest as I gasped. Phantom fingers ran across my body, wrapping around my wri
st... and clamping down.

  “Val?” I jerked when she touched my shoulder. “Val, I’m sorry.”

  Taking a deep breath, I calmed my racing heart. “Don’t be sorry,” I rasped. “It’s not your fault.” After a while, I straightened. Her eyes were dripping with even more concern than normal but I didn’t need that right now. “But I need you to understand that I have to do things differently if I’m going to end this once and for all, and I can’t be worried about you the whole time. Walter McMillian tried to protect his friend and was killed; I won’t let them hurt you.”

  Her neck bobbed as she swallowed. “Val, I’m going to say this once—just once. Why don’t you drop out of Evergreen? I know you hated your old school, but literally anywhere has to be better than this.”

  I shook my head. “A diploma from Evergreen and I can send in blank applications to any university in the country, and get in with a full ride. You know where I’m from. Kids in my neighborhood don’t bother to dream of getting out. They accept that it’s not happening. I have this opportunity, and no one is going to take it away from me. They can’t. I have... people depending on me.”

  She chewed her lip, staring at me for a long time, then she nodded. “Okay. I get it.”

  “Thank you.”

  She linked her arm through mine and we kept walking. “But I want to help. Tell me what to do.”

  “First, we have to make people believe that we’re not friends. Then we have to find out more about the Spades.”

  “That’s going to be hard. We don’t know who or where to start.”

  “Yes, we do,” I stated as a memory formed in my mind in crystal clear picture. “Last year, Halloween night. The masquerade ball. We find the person who started all of this.”

  “YOU LOOK LOVELY.”

  I lifted my gaze and caught her smile in the mirror. I might have offered one back, but smiles didn’t come as easily these days. “Thanks, Carmen.”

  Although, I would have given more credit to the dress than me. It was a stunning, tea-length emerald green gown that Madeline had taken one look at, said matched my eyes perfectly, then told the attendant we were buying it before I even had a chance to look at it properly. Unsurprisingly, her taste was spot on.