by Ruby Vincent
“Val, I don’t understand this. Why would you go back there after what happened?”
“It’s my last semester,” I said as I packed my bag. Adam sat amid the pile of clothes, watching television while he ate his snack. “How would it look to Somerset if I changed schools?”
“Who cares how it looks? They would understand if you explained the situation.”
“They might, but it’s more than that. I don’t want to leave. You didn’t raise me to run away when things get tough. I’m not going to start now.”
“Valentina.” Mom pulled the sweater out of my hand and spun me around. “This is bigger than tough. You were attacked and thrown blindfolded and bound into a swamp!”
I looked over at Adam. He was no longer watching the screen. A frown marred his face as he looked at us.
“Mom, please, don’t scare him. I promise you; I’ll be fine.”
“No.”
“But I have to go back,” I argued. “You know what’s going on there. I have to put a stop to this because it’s clear no one else will.”
Folding her arms, she shrugged. “That’s Evergreen’s problem—the school and the headmaster. If he’s happy to churn out a graduation class full of sneaks and felons, that’s for the authorities to sort out, not you. You’re not going back to that school.”
“I’m eighteen. I don’t need permission.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Mom’s brows shot up her head. “Oh, you want to play that card?”
“No.” I backed down immediately. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that this is important to me. I’ve gone through a lot to graduate from this school.”
“Things that I am only just hearing about. I’m your mother, Valentina. How can you keep so much from me?”
“It wasn’t because I didn’t want to talk to you. I was afraid you’d pull me out of school.”
“You’re right; I would have. Just like I’m doing now.”
She spun on her heels and marched toward the door.
“Will you at least listen to my plan?” I burst out. “I have a way to get through this safely. I can take everyone down and end this once and for all.”
“It does not matter what your plan is. I have to think of your safety.”
“Please, just listen.”
“No.” The door swung shut behind her.
It took me pleading and cajoling for most of the day before she finally sat down and listened to my plan. Then there was another hour of explaining it backward and forward until she grudgingly agreed it was a good one. The result was that I got to return to Evergreen, but I had to call her three times a day and assure her I was okay. If I missed a call, she was driving up to the school and yanking me out.
Cresting the lone road that led to Evergreen wasn’t like all the times before. I had felt so many things during the moments I topped the hill and saw those gates—joy, eagerness, dread, sorrow, resignation. None of those emotions felt close to what I was feeling, but maybe it was because it was hard to think with Mom’s steady stream of warnings.
“Do not go anywhere alone.”
“I won’t.”
“Don’t go chasing anyone into the woods in the middle of the night.”
“I’ve learned that lesson.”
“You know you can trust Sofia and the boys. Stick with them.”
“I will, Mom.”
“Call me every single day. I mean it.”
“I know. I promise, I’ll call.”
When she pulled up to the curb, I climbed out and got in the back seat to give Adam a hug and kiss goodbye. Mom’s kiss and hug goodbye for me was ten times more strangling.
“I love you. Be safe, not stupid.”
I chuckled. “Yes, Olivia.”
“Mom, baby. Always Mom.”
I gave her an extra squeeze. “I love you.”
“Love you too.”
She let me go with obvious reluctance and got back in the car. I waved them off until their car disappeared, and then I turned and faced the gates.
Four figures were staring back at me. I steeled myself as I walked up to them.
“Are you ready?” Jaxson asked.
“I’m ready.”
Together, we turned and passed through the gates. Every eye latched onto us from the seniors to the returning freshmen, and I read the question in their gaze.
What is she doing back?
I expected their surprise. I expected Ace’s anger for defying them, but no one would be expecting what I would do next.
“First things first,” I said as we crossed the lawn for the dorm. “We find those yearbooks.”
“YOU WOULDN’T THINK that this would be so hard.” Sofia flipped through her mother’s yearbook for the fifth time. She was propped up on my bed next to the stack of yearbooks the boys had brought from home. “But none of us have books farther than when our parents went to school. I’m pretty sure the Edens only did because they’re obsessed with this legacy stuff.”
I shook my head. “I can’t believe I lost Eric’s books. They were right there and it took me so long to figure it out.”
The book dropped onto Sofia’s lap. “I can’t believe we lost Eric.”
I turned away. It was still hard to think of that night. It was even harder to comprehend how we were a month into the new semester and Eric was still missing.
“Do you think he’s dead?” Sofia asked.
“I can’t let myself go there, Sof. It’s too much.”
“It’s all been too much.”
I couldn’t deny that. I was right about Ace not being pleased about me returning to school. The first few days of classes, I received wave after wave of threatening texts.
Ace: You’ll regret coming back.
Ace: I will get you out of this school if it’s the last thing I do.
Ace: Drowning in that alligator swamp was too good for you. I’ll have to think of something better.
It continued in that vein until I finally blocked their number. It might not have been the best idea, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t need their poison leaking into my life anymore. The next thing Ace wanted to say to me, they could say it to my face.
That was a meeting I was sure would be soon, but as the weeks ticked down and we didn’t manage to find more yearbooks, I grew less confident.
“If only we could just ask people for them,” Sofia said.
“We don’t want Ace to know we’re still looking. They think they’ve beaten me by whisking the duffle bag away. I want them to keep thinking that.”
“They might not find out. We barely see the second class nowadays.”
I snorted. Less than barely was more accurate. I hadn’t so much as laid eyes on Natalie in two weeks. The first week of the new semester started out like our new normal. We were on the fourth floor enduring our second classroom and mealtimes, but it turned out, we couldn’t handle sharing the same hallway either.
Our group was heading to English on the fourth day of class, when the new Knights passed by. Darren smirked at Paisley and said “nice tits,” and the spark lit the match. Paisley hauled off and smacked him across the face. He stumbled back and had no time to recover before Kai was on him. They went down fists flying, and within minutes, we were all fighting.
It was terrible. More people jumped into the fray, letting months of frustration bring them to the boiling point. Penelope clawed Sofia’s arm causing deep, bleeding gouges and she responded by ripping out a handful of her hair. Two guys jumped Maverick and he knocked them clear across the hall. They came back, refusing to give up, and then Jaxson, Ryder, and Ezra got involved.
Natalie came for the person that had been the object of her hatred for years: me. She grabbed my head and smacked it into the locker. Head pounding, I whipped around and hit her in the face with my backpack. There was still a bloodstain on it from where I broke her nose.
It took five teachers and four security guards to break us up. Th
e next day, Evergreen yelled at us in the auditorium until he was blue in the face. No one tried to haul him off this time. Despite the haranguing, no one was punished. Much like no one was punished for the video at the hotel. That was good news for Claire, Ciara, Kai, and Paisley, but it didn’t satisfy their need for retribution. Maybe Evergreen sensed that because when he brought us in for a second assembly, it was to tell us the two classes were being separated indefinitely.
My class was now on the first floor while the freshmen had been moved to the second. We shared nothing with the other seniors and had no reason to see them. This cut way down on the harassment, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t over.
“We don’t see them, but there could still be Spades hiding out in our class. We can’t tell anyone we’re looking for the yearbooks.”
“We have to do something, Val, because it’s been weeks and we’re nowhere. Your mom cheered you on for breaking that bitch’s nose, but what if the next fight makes her pull you out of school.”
“What else can I do?”
Sighing, she let her head fall against the headboard. “I don’t know. How about asking the one other person who could have copies going back that far?”
“Like who?”
“Headmaster Seamus Evergreen.”
“JUST ASK EVERGREEN?” Jaxson repeated. “That’s the plan?”
“It couldn’t hurt,” I said the next day. It was a crisp February morning, but we stuck to our decision to spend the Saturday having breakfast by the fountain. The wind whipped up a chill, but I was warm by Ezra’s side. “She’s right that he’s the one most likely to have a pile of school yearbooks around. They could be in administration.”
“He has no reason to let you see them if he does.”
“I’m just going to ask. If it doesn’t work, I’ll think of something else.”
“Okay,” said Jaxson. “You’re right, it can’t hurt to ask. I’ll go with you to talk to him.”
“We will go,” Ryder corrected.
I laughed. “For what? To protect me from his steepled-fingers and disappointed glare? He’s not going to do anything to me.”
Ryder shrugged. “And yet, we’re still going with you.”
I rolled my eyes, but let it go. I was dating four highly protective guys. This was my fate.
“Can we get back to what we were talking about before?” Ezra cut in. He peered over my head at Maverick. “Ryder and I got into Somerset too, Rick, so I don’t know why you think you’re going to be the one who gets an apartment with Valentina.”
“Because I asked her first.”
“The fuck does that have to do with anything.” Ezra put his finger under my chin and lifted until I was looking into those eyes. “Don’t you want to live with me?”
A smile curled my lips. “Of course, I do.”
“Stop seducing her with your devil eyes, Ezra,” Jaxson protested. “Baby, what about me? The studio isn’t far from campus. We can get a nice place, fill it with records, and go to the beach every weekend.”
“Really, man?” Maverick said. “You’re resorting to bribes?”
“I don’t have to bribe her. I’ve got this”—he gestured to his body—“and she can’t resist it.”
I couldn’t help but giggle. “It’s true, I can’t.”
Ezra glanced at Ryder. He was busy eating his eggs while the battle raged around him. “Why aren’t you saying anything, Shea?”
He lifted his shoulders. “Because the solution is obvious, isn’t it?”
We all stared at him blankly.
He set down his fork. “Okay, four of us need to go to Somerset, one of us needs to go to the studio, one of us needs a good preschool, one of us has to stay home and be there for my mom, and all of us want to live with Valentina. The only thing that solves all of those problems is if the five of you come and live in Shea Manor with us.” He picked up his fork again and speared a bit of egg. “I’ve already asked Mom and she’s excited. She said the manor was meant to be filled with people.”
The four of us gaped at him open-mouthed. I didn’t know what the other boys were thinking, but I couldn’t believe that Ryder had gone so far as to ask his mom to let us live with them.
He truly wants this—us.
“I think that’s a great idea,” I said. “Somerset is only thirty minutes from the manor, I can see Mom as often as I want, and there are some of the best preschools in this area.” I looked between Ezra, Jaxson, and Maverick. “What do you guys think?”
“That’s cool with me,” Jaxson said. “I practically live at Eugene’s house as it is.”
Ezra and Maverick were slower to answer. “There’s plenty of room and I’d be close to my mom too. I’m down.”
I slipped out from under Ezra’s arm and scooted up to Maverick. Taking his face in my hands, I placed a soft kiss on his lips. “What do you think?”
He smiled down at me. “Let’s do it.” Maverick kissed me once more. “But there’s one condition: you and I share a bedroom.”
The protests were immediate. I laughed as Maverick smirked triumphantly at the others. I would be settling this battle later, but right then, I had something I needed to do.
“I have to go, guys. I’m going to ask Evergreen about the yearbooks. You don’t have to”—the four of them got to their feet, breakfast forgotten—“come.”
The boys trailed me as I headed through the courtyard and pushed through the main doors. It was Saturday, but Mrs. Khan and the headmaster kept normal office hours while the rest of the admin staff were off for the weekend.
“Wait here, please,” I told them. “It’ll look strange if we all roll up on him for some yearbooks.”
“Fine,” Ezra agreed.
The boys hung back, but they didn’t go far. I went inside and Mrs. Khan looked up from her desk. The door to Evergreen’s office was open. As I crossed to the counter, I saw him hunched over paperwork, scribbling away.
“What can I do for you, Val?”
“Morning, Mrs. Khan,” I greeted. I was careful not to let my voice carry. “Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering about the school yearbooks.”
“Yearbooks?”
I nodded. “A friend of mine lost their copies. They had almost all of them going back years. Is there any way they could get new ones? Could they buy replacements from the school?”
She tsked. “How sad. I wish we could help, but it’s not that simple. We order them from the printer and only get as much as we are paid for. If a student loses their copy, there are no extras left.”
“That sucks. They were hoping to use it while they documented their family tree.”
“Oh, what a fun project. Maybe there is something I can do...” Mrs. Khan scrunched up her nose as she thought. “You know, they could speak to the headmaster. He has copies of all the yearbooks in his office. I’m sure he’d be happy to let your friend have a look.” She rose from her desk. “Do you want me to ask him now?”
I shifted to gaze at Evergreen. He hadn’t moved from his earlier position, bent over his work. I opened my mouth and said, “No. That’s okay. I’m sure my friend wouldn’t want to bother him.”
“Alright. If you’re sure.”
“Bye, Mrs. Khan.”
The boys were right where I left them when I stepped outside. “So what did he say?” Ryder asked.
“Sofia was right. Bless her for the genius she is.”
“He has them?”
“He’s got copies in his office.”
Maverick stepped forward. “Is he going to let you see them?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“Uhh,” Jaxson sounded. “Why not?”
“Because I realized it’s no good to have him staring over my shoulder while I flipped through every book writing down names. That’s if he even lets me see them in the first place. I have to come back on my own and check them out.”
“What does that mean?” Ryder asked.
“It means... I’m breaking into the headmas
ter’s office.” With that, I turned and marched toward the doors. I was out in the courtyard before I heard them running up behind me.
“What did you just say?” asked Maverick.
“I said I’m breaking into his office. I’m getting the stuff now.”
“The stuff? What stuff?! Your handy breaking-and-entering kit?!”
“It’s not a kit. It’s just a hammer.”
“Val.” Ryder ran out in front of me and pulled me up short. “Stop and talk to us.”
“What do we need to talk about? This is the only thing that makes sense.”
“None of this makes sense,” Ezra retorted. “This is insane. You could get expelled.”
“What’s insane about it? I won’t get caught.” I flapped a hand. There are cameras in the courtyard and around our dorm, but there are none in the main building and I’ve been in Evergreen’s office enough times to know there are none in there. I’ll put what I need in my bag and walk around with it for the rest of the day.
“When it hits five o’clock, weekend office hours are over and Mrs. Khan will go home while Evergreen retreats to wherever he comes from. The office will be empty, but it will still be early enough that when I get back, I won’t look like a prowler creeping in after dark.” I shrugged. “You see? It’s perfect.”
The guys shared incredulous looks like they couldn’t believe all four of them had fallen in love with a lunatic.
Jaxson was the one to break first. “At least let me do it,” he offered. “It doesn’t matter if I get expelled. I don’t have Somerset to look forward to.”
“Jaxson, no. I appreciate that”—my hands balled into fists—“but I need to do this myself. After what they did to me, I won’t sit on the sidelines.”
“But—”
“No one is sitting on the sidelines,” Ryder broke in calmly. “We all go.”
The denial was hot on my lips. “Guys, no way. I’m not risking you getting in trouble too.”
“If the plan is as foolproof as you say, then there is no risk.”
“I want to get in and out quickly,” I tried again.
Ezra nudged my shoulder. “You can’t be quick going over all those names and faces by yourself. You’ll need our help anyway.”
Damn, that’s a good point. It would be much easier with the five of us.