by S. Massery
It flies inward, knocking me back.
“Dad?” I moan, rolling onto my side. “Dad, Mom—”
It’s not Dad. Why did I think it would be Dad?
“Wake up,” Mom snaps, pressing my shoulders into the ground.
I open my eyes, instantly rattled. Tears fill my eyes, and I fumble for the lamp’s switch. It felt real. Too real. And for once, I remember every second of the dream.
The sudden light blinds me, but I can’t close my eyes again.
There are pieces of my past trying to come out.
Outside, it’s getting light out already. A second later, my alarm goes off. Good timing, since I don’t even want to think about sleep for another sixteen hours.
My shower’s hot water helps shake off any residual chill from the dream, even as I go through it piece by piece. My mom and Caleb arguing… except he would’ve been young. Nine or ten, like me. So that doesn’t make sense.
And the field? Maybe that part really is fiction.
I shiver under the water thinking about my mother. I thought of her with fondness up until…
When was the turning point?
What did she do?
“Margo, you okay?” Lenora calls. “You’ve been in there for a while. You’re going to be late!”
I jump. “Ah, sh—sorry!”
Out of the shower, toweled off, into my uniform in record time. I glance at my phone, shocked that I won’t have time to eat breakfast, let alone put on makeup. I bite the inside of my cheek and rush out the door.
“Good morning,” Lenora says, coming over and planting a kiss on my cheek.
I try not to stiffen with surprise. My heart gives an extra-hard thump.
“Good morning,” I answer.
She hands me a banana and herds me toward the door. “You’re going to be late. Riley’s at the curb.”
I grab my coat and bag, balancing it with the banana, and walk outside.
There’s snow on the ground, and I pause. Winter has made a fast and furious arrival, apparently.
“It’s just a dusting,” Lenora says. “Go!”
“I wish it was summer.” Still, I continue on to Riley’s car, sliding in and slamming the door.
She laughs. “Your coat will work better if you put it on.”
I hand her the banana and my bag. Shove it at her, really. “Hold that.”
Once my coat is on, I take my stuff, and she pulls back onto the road.
“I had a weird dream,” I say. “And I can’t tell what’s real and what’s my imagination.”
She glances at me. “What was it about?”
“My mom and an older Caleb arguing, then Caleb and I were in a field, and then I was in my room…” I shake my head. “I feel like I’m misremembering.” That’s how dreams work. Let them sit in your brain long enough, and the finer details slip away.
“What were they arguing about?”
“I couldn’t hear.”
“An older Caleb—like his dad?”
I flinch. Why didn’t I think of that? “Oh my god.”
She bounces in her seat. “Okay, okay, so your mom and Caleb’s dad probably argued at some point.”
I hesitate. She was really angry in the dream. Angry when she burst into my room, too.
“Caleb stopped by last night,” I say. I left the bracelet on the dresser. Didn’t even think about grabbing it this morning. My wrist feels shockingly bare without it. “He wanted me to forgive him.”
Riley snorts. “Don’t.”
“I’m not going to.”
“And what did Amelie want? I’m sorry I didn’t go with you, I just… I don’t trust that girl.” Riley parks and shuts the car off. “You didn’t agree to do anything with her, right?”
“Um, no.” I make a face. “She was encouraging me to dump Caleb and tell her what I remember. And… you know those texts I showed you at the beginning of the school year?”
She tilts her head. “The creepy ones from the blocked number.”
“Yeah. Well, they didn’t stop.”
“Margo Wolfe! You never said.”
Heat crawls up my neck. “I didn’t want to freak anyone out.”
“Give it to me.”
I wince, then open my phone to Unknown’s conversation.
She scrolls through it, getting paler by the second. “Fucking hell, Margo. You kept this a secret?”
“I didn’t want to drag you into it,” I whisper. “I mean… I don’t know who it is.”
She blinks at me. “You suspected me.”
“Not directly.” I take my phone back and close out of my messages. The overwhelming majority of messages in that thread are from Unknown–my rare replies don’t seem to dissuade them. “I don’t think it’s you, Riley. Not anymore.”
“They were the ones who took the video? And leaked it.”
I sigh.
“And they sent the picture of you and Ian…”
“I don’t know why they did that.” I rub at my eyes. This no-makeup thing might work in my favor, because I have a feeling I’ll be scrubbing at my face a lot today. “They’re all about making my life miserable… but only on their terms, I guess. And they sure as hell don’t want me around Caleb.”
“They ask a lot of rhetorical fucking questions,” Riley says. “We know anyone like that?”
I laugh. “I doubt it’d be that easy… but Amelie said the text came from Savannah.”
Riley gasps. “Excuse me? I’m going to kill her.”
I grab her arm before she can lunge out of the car and ruin the start of my plan. “I don’t think it’s her.”
“Why?”
“Because…” I shrug. “I don’t know. It’s a gut feeling. Wasn’t she the one to stick up for me after I left?”
Riley shifts. “Yeah. Amelie is a dirty backstabbing snake. Savannah just kind of shunned you to survive. So maybe Savannah’s motive is—”
“Was she at the party?” I ask. “At Ian’s?”
“Um… No? I don’t remember.”
I groan. “There are so many questions and virtually no answers.”
We get out of the car and walk toward the courtyard. We cut it pretty close—the doors are going to open any minute. Even with snow on the ground, students mill around in sweatshirts. Some wear jackets, stomping their feet in the cold.
“They’ll probably start letting us go straight in,” Riley tells me. “The courtyard dramatics will be a thing of the past.”
“That wouldn’t be a bad thing.” Except today… today there will be dramatics. I realize that as soon as we round the corner and my eyes go to Caleb.
He’s standing with his friends—all of them except Eli, who’s absent—and Amelie. And four other cheerleaders.
His gaze lands on me, and he raises his eyebrows.
“Why is he looking at you like that?” Riley whispers.
“Probably because I told him we’re done.” I match her volume. “Multiple times.”
It’s like he can hear me, because his lips purse. He slips away from his group and walks toward me.
I hold my breath.
“Maybe he forgot,” Riley offers, covering her smile with her hand. “I mean, you gotta admit—he’s hot for you.”
I glare at her. “He sabotaged me, Ri.”
“Touché.”
“Margo,” Caleb greets me. He reaches out and runs his hand down my arm, lifting my hand. He pushes my jacket sleeve up to expose my bare wrist. His fingers are cold.
Goosebumps break out along my arms and back.
Disappointment flashes across his face, then the mask is back in place. How he slides it on so precisely reminds me of the masquerade ball. The cool gold against my skin.
“You know what you have to do,” he says. Then he drops my hand, stepping back. He turns and goes back to his circle of friends, offering his arm to Amelie.
And oh, my blood boils.
“Did he really just do that?” Riley hisses.
I look aw
ay. “He wouldn’t do anything with her.”
Except, I’m not so sure. We’re not together—she’s fair game.
The bell rings, the doors swinging open, and Caleb breaks away from Amelie. He’s swept away by Liam and Theo—intentionally or not, I can’t tell.
We don’t move while students push past us, eager to escape the cold.
Savannah weaves through the students, headed directly for… us.
“What do you think she wants?” I ask.
“To rub in her hatred of you? Or admit that she sent the creepy texts?” Riley asks. “Could be anything.”
Savannah stops in front of me. “Margo.”
“Savannah,” I reply.
“I have an offer for you.”
The need to ask her about sending the picture to Caleb is overwhelming. My desperation for answers is going to show at any minute.
I manage to only say, “Oh?”
She extends her hand. “I propose a truce. We’ll be friends again.”
I snort and glance sideways at Riley. “Is she serious?”
Savannah huffs, rolling her eyes. Her hand is still out, her fingers wiggling slightly. “Don’t worry, you’re not going to suck me down into your outcast circle. If anything, I’ll elevate your status… so it won’t matter if you’re on the outs with Caleb or not.”
The kids in this school can’t seem to make up their minds about who they hate. But at the moment, it’s me. And it’s wearing on Riley, too. She hasn’t said anything about it, but I picked up the comments made about her.
I hate it.
“Riley, too,” I say.
“Fine.”
I raise my eyebrow. “And why are you proposing a truce? Now?”
“Let me guess.” Savannah crosses her arms. “Amelie dove on you like a vulture on roadkill. Saying you guys needed to take a stand against Caleb, how proud she was that you broke up with him, yadda yadda.”
I stare at her.
“She pulled the same shit on me,” she mutters. “And then she started dating him.”
“You two stayed close,” Riley inserts. “If that hurt you, why—”
“I couldn’t let it affect me,” she says. “Come on, Riley. I would’ve been pushed off the cheerleading team if I went up against her.”
“But you’re trying to do that now?” I ask.
“Because history is repeating itself,” she says. “He’s going to watch you fall apart and use Amelie to do it—”
“The golden boys are cruel like that.” Riley rolls her eyes.
Savannah glares at her. “We’re going to be late.”
Riley and I exchange a glance and follow her into the school. She marches ahead of us, oblivious to our slowing pace.
“What do you make of that?” Riley whispers.
“I don’t know. But I’m going to have to sit in homeroom with all of them, so…”
“We don’t know what her intentions are. Amelie just made her stance pretty clear, hanging on his arm like that.”
I take her hand. “Thank you for taking my side. I think I’d be completely lost if you…”
“Other people may have had preconceived notions about you, Margo, but I always try to keep an open mind. And I saw a little bit of myself in you—the bullies targeting you automatically, just because of something you couldn’t control…”
“Is that why you grabbed me that day?”
“Well that, and you were kind of pathetic with your bagged lunch, trying to slip by unnoticed.” She squeezes my hand.
I snort. “I felt pathetic, too.”
We release each other at my homeroom, and I slide into my usual seat in front of Caleb. It’s hard to ignore him, so instead I focus on Savannah and Ian. He’s more sullen than usual, shooting glances toward Amelie.
Amelie was sleeping around on Caleb—with Ian. And now Caleb’s just letting her paw at him like a starving kitten.
Kitten. I hold back my amusement. She has more claws and strategy than a kitten.
Even if I think Caleb’s not paying attention, it feels like he’s turned toward me. I’m always slightly off-kilter around him.
I glance over at Savannah. She’s watching me. Slowly, I nod.
Even if we’re in a truce, we’re still enemies.
She flashes me a quick grin, then goes back to neutral. Ian’s attention goes from her to me. I scowl at him, but it’s the wrong move: it just traps his interest.
Savannah catches up to me in the hall after homeroom, pushing a note into my hand. I don’t read it until my next class, scanning it then tearing it into tiny pieces. She wants to meet after school.
The day passes relatively quickly. I ignore Caleb and Amelie. Everyone else… well, that’s another story. In Robert’s class, Caleb sits across the room. I welcome it, because I’m getting sick of being ignored. And I suspect he’s going to pay me a visit tonight, anyway…
Operation: Dethrone the King is going to be a work in progress.
Robert pauses by my easel. “How’re you doing?”
“Fine,” I say.
“Is Caleb leaving you alone?”
“Yeah.” I try not to let my voice sound bitter. I wanted this. I need this.
I need to pull myself away from Caleb—our history and whatever fucked-up relationship we had.
“Is it okay if I have friends over after school?”
Robert’s eyebrows go up, then he grins at me. “You said friends. Plural.”
I blush.
“Okay, okay, I won’t interrogate you. You catching a ride with them?”
“Riley, yeah.” I look past my foster dad to Caleb, who is once again angled in my direction.
Thankfully, he keeps his eyes on his canvas.
“Good. I forgot about a department meeting after school. Time’s almost up,” Robert says. “If he gives you trouble, you let me know.”
I frown. “Aren’t you supposed to be impartial? Since you’re a teacher.”
He offers me a small smile. “Yeah, the teacher in me should. But as a dad, I’m ready to knock his teeth in for hurting you.”
I smile back, although inside… inside my lungs are shredding. Not as a foster dad—as a dad.
Don’t read too much into this, Margo.
“Mr. Jenkins?” one of the students calls.
He winks and turns away from me. I watch him go, reminding myself to breathe. My attention drifts back toward the canvas. I’ll need to work on the rest of my portrait of Caleb soon, although I don’t want to. I may as well do it while the anger is fresh in my mind—because who else knows his soul better than me?
The person he only wants to destroy.
The bell rings, shattering my concentration. The room explodes into movement, everyone hurrying to pack up their belongings, while I sit still. What’s the hurry? The buses will leave, and then it’ll just be the upperclassmen in their cars. Riley isn’t aggressive enough to be one of the first out.
Caleb is putting his things together slowly—too slowly. I roll up my brushes and cover the palette with paint on it, stashing it in one of the drawers at the back of the class.
And then I get the hell out of dodge.
Riley’s waiting for me at my locker, her foot jigging. “God, I thought you might’ve gotten kidnapped or something!”
I laugh. “Who would kidnap me?”
She huffs. “I don’t know. Listen. We need to ask Savannah about that text. I don’t trust her with a ten-foot pole.”
“Yeah.” My stomach flips. “Savannah is going to meet us at my place.”
Riley grunts. “Lovely.”
We walk out to her car, and I nudge her with my elbow. “Where was Eli today?”
It isn’t common for any of the golden boys to miss school—it’s practically sacrilege. Theo and Liam were more subdued today, too. Only Caleb continued on as normal. Well, the new version of normal, where he ignores me and lets Amelie grope him in the hallways.
“He had a family emergency.” She links her ar
m with mine. “He had to fly to Chicago.”
“Hope everything’s okay.”
She sighs. “He was touchy about it.”
We head toward the Jenkins’s house, and I pull out my phone. “What if I text Unknown while Savannah is with us? If she answers, then that means she’s guilty, right?”
Riley taps the steering wheel. “Yeah, unless it’s like a burner phone or something.”
“Then why go to the trouble of blocking it?”
“Fair point. Ah, shit, she’s already here. Okay, fine. You text her, and we’ll just wait.” She parks on the street behind Savannah’s car.
The three of us climb out and head up the front walkway. Savannah keeps flipping her hair back like a nervous habit.
Lenora isn’t home yet, and Robert sounded like the meeting might take a while. We spread our things out at the kitchen island, the two of them claiming stools while I grab drinks.
“You make yourself at home here, huh?” Savannah asks.
Riley chokes. “Excuse you?”
Savannah glances at her, cracking a can of soda open. “I mean…”
I cross my arms.
“I just…” Savannah struggles. “Okay, sorry, I’m an idiot.”
“This is my home,” I say quietly. I acknowledge in the back of my mind that this is the first time I’ve admitted it.
“I’m sorry.”
Riley shakes her head. “This was a mistake, Margo.”
Savannah glares at her. “I’m trying. I’ve had Amelie in my ear this whole semester—”
“You wanted this truce, or whatever this is,” I remind her. I’m not in the mood to get fucked over by Savannah Dunley, especially after the trick Amelie pulled.
She takes a deep breath, then sticks out her hand. “I apologize, Margo. Sincerely. And my friends call me Sav.”
I shake her hand.
Riley does the same, squeezing hard enough to make my old best friend wince.
“Okay,” Riley says. “Let’s get to work.”
Sav raises an eyebrow. “You two been plotting without me?”
I grin. “We’re going to dethrone the king.”
11
Caleb
Liam looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. And maybe I have.
“What?” My voice is low.
“Nothing,” he says, glancing away.