by D. V. EEDEN
My face turns pale and my chest tightens, alarm bells ringing in my head. I quicken my pace so that I can get it over and done with, ripping it open. It’s the same handwriting but not the normal note stating they ‘know my secret’. No, this one is different. The girls stand behind me with concern on their faces, so I turn around and read the note aloud.
Meet us in the dining hall at six this evening.
We’re about to uncover your little secret from the grave.
Blaire rips the note from my grasp, studying it before she rips it into shreds, throwing it over her shoulder.
The colour from my face has vanished, leaving me looking ghostly, my makeup not even hiding the anxiety. My heart rate goes a thousand miles per hour, my blood pumping rage around my body making me feel distressed and numb.
Blaire shouts, “Who is this?!”, and the other students pause as Blaire loses her shit. Her rage just about matches mine, but instead of freezing up and becoming a mannequin, she goes batshit crazy. I don’t blame her.
I even see fury and rage within Maisie’s hazel eyes, a new emotion to me from her, considering she is always so cheerful, but now I see determination. Determination to help me find out who this sick fuck is.
“I guess we have a date at six,” I shrug, not so fearful knowing I have my two best friends backing me up. I know they will make whoever sent these notes pay.
Chapter Thirteen
After the day has finished; we go up to our dorm room with Maisie joining us.
“You are not going down on your own. We will go together as a united front,” Maisie suggests, whilst she perches herself on the edge of the bed.
“You girls don’t have to. I can do this by myself,” I add, grateful that they would stand by my side, but this is my own battle.
“Ade, we are your friends and we will back you up, no arguments. We are going down with you,” Blaire declares in a firm tone but softness in her eyes.
After a few moments I agree that we’ll go down together as a united front, no matter what happens. Annoyance still floods within me, fury pumping through my blood, turning my cheeks a hot chili pepper red. Am I mentally prepared for what might happen? Or what secret they might uncover? This is probably my only chance to come clean and tell the girls the truth about me, better they hear it from me than some sick fuck exposing me in the dining hall at dinner time.
sighing, I drop down to sit on my bed. “Hey, I have got something to tell you girls, so you best sit down,” I break, my nerves taking over and my rage is deflated by the butterflies in my belly.
Blaire sits on her bed with her legs crossed and Maisie lounges comfortably, as if she’s ready for a story telling. I tell them everything- from when my mother died, to my father’s rules and regulations. Why I attend this school, even down to the stupid elocution lessons and the fact I need ‘fixing’.
Their eyes go wide at my revelations. Not a word has been spoken since I confessed and now I feel as though I have lost my friends forever. I end up sobbing in my hands, not able to face the girls after basically lying to them for weeks. My bed dips as someone sits down next to me, and I look up to see it’s Blaire with teary eyes.
She grabs me and pulls me into a hug, squeezing the hell out of me. Maisie does the same, joining in the group hug with teary eyes, and we end up giggling at the fact we’re all crying.
“I understand why you didn’t tell us. Your father is a nasty piece of work and I have only met him maybe twice,” Blaire says with a slight smile. I was unaware that she had met him, but I kinda guessed considering they may have attended the same gala.
The alarm on my phone goes off, warning us it’s ten to six, so we stand up from my bed, giving each other another hug before making our way down to the dining hall. We stay clothed in our academy uniforms, not bothering to change, and luckily my makeup has stayed intact. “Right, let’s go see which sick fuck wants to expose you,” Blaire jeers as if she’s declaring war, which is exactly what we are doing.
We make our way down the three-story high stairs, striding down the halls until we come up to the grand doors that lead into the dining hall. Two students stand outside guarding the doors, clearly expecting my arrival. I push the nervous feeling in my belly down, breathing in and out, calming myself down.
Ade, you’ve been through so much worse.
The two guys give us a haughty smirk before opening the wooden double doors, where we’re met with the eyes of the Royals. All of them, including Royce. The heat from my skin radiates in the air and I can feel Blaire’s deathly stare on her brother, who is in the middle of everyone, looking superior. His pompous expression is plastered on his face as his hands are tucked behind his back. Hugo is expressionless as usual, but the look in his eyes says it all. The disgust is apparent in the way his emerald green eyes rake over my body. My breath quickens, my chest feeling tight as my hands clench into fists at my sides.
Charles’ mischievous grin takes over his whole face, his brown eyes glistening with excitement. Royce on the other hand stands on the far end, not being able to face me. Instead his gaze is fixed on the ground, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. He’s the one I am disappointed about the most, the guy who apologized to me just two days ago for what his friends have done. But here he stands with the fucking demons of Darlington Academy, not even daring to look me in the eye.
The fucking pussy.
Blake lets out an exaggerated breath, cocking his head to one side as he stares me down. “I am so glad that you received our notes Africa.” His hands stay wrapped behind his back as he prowls forward, circling his friends, but his gaze doesn’t break away from mine. I look at Blaire, feeling the anger roll off her. The hurt in her eyes says it all.
She didn’t think it would be her brother doing this, but here we are.
I turn my gaze to Maisie, who’s teeth are bared like a predator ready to attack their prey, her arms crossed over her chest as she leans on one leg, the other slightly bent.
“We thought we might take you down memory lane, you know, for fun.” Blake carries on, now standing before me. He’s holding a remote. My chest heaves and my nostrils flare as he presses a button, bringing down a white screen covering the windows, removing any natural light from entering the room. I look around the room to see that we have been joined by the whole academy, but I can’t see Miles anywhere in the crowed. Ruby is sitting on the Royals table, her face plastered with an evil grin, chewing on some gum as she enjoys the show.
Blaire takes a step forward. “Blake, what the fuck are you doing?” she confronts her brother, but Blake doesn’t budge. He nods his chin towards some other students, and they grab Blaire and Maisie by the arms, pushing them to the floor on their knees. Blaire screams the whole room down, trying to break free but it’s no use.
“Right, well let’s get to it,” Blake slaps his hands together, rubbing them hungrily in front of his chest. “We had a lot of digging up to do, but surprisingly it wasn’t so hard. All we had to do was give them some money and … voila,” he chuckles, taking a brown manilla file from Ruby. As he opens it my attention falls onto the white screen, where a picture of my mum has been blown up, showing her lifeless body with the shot wound.
It’s the day she was shot.
I am unable to breathe, but I can’t contain it any longer. “What the fuck?!” I scream, trying to run towards Blake, prepared to punch him. Someone grabs my arms, kicking behind my knees and pushing me to the floor. I refuse to look ahead of me, but this guy grabs my hair and forces me to look up at the screen.
“Zara Adams, murdered with a gunshot to the chest. She was rushed to the hospital but remained unconscious for a few days until she died,” he reads from the file.
My breath is hot, coming out in puffs from my lips. Anxiety has taken over my body, and all of a sudden, I can’t breathe, choking on the tears daring to spill out. My body gives up against the strong hands gripping me, and I hear Blaire shouting at her brother from behind me while Maisie do
es the same.
Blake crouches down, cupping my chin so that I’m forced to look at his dark, amused eyes. “Why did you kill your mother, Africa? Was it your plan to come here?” His breath lands on my skin as he speaks.
I’m unable to reply, tears spilling down my bruised cheeks, exposing the blue and purple skin as the makeup washes away. My tears crash onto the hard wood floor beneath me and Blake looks victorious.
His conquest to destroy me has succeeded. I feel dead inside.
“You’re are a murderer Africa,” he whispers and the whole academy laughs, shouting out ‘murderer’. The voices all blend into one, becoming faint whispers as everyone starts to filter out of the room. Inhaling a deep breath, I swallow the bile in my throat.
“I didn’t kill my mother, you sick fucking cunt.”
I grind my teeth to the point my jaw starts to hurt. Blake shrugs his shoulders at me and turns around, facing his friends. Royce is still unable to look me in the eye, his hands now in his trouser pockets.
What a fucking prick.
Hugo and Charles stand with Blake having a conversation, and Blaire has been let go by the guy who was holding her. She storms towards Blake and slaps him in the face, the sting leaving a hand mark on his perfectly chiseled cheeks. She and Maisie then scurry towards me as I’m still kneeling on the floor, my arms wrapped around my waist, my body trembling with anger and anxiety. I’m unable to move and it takes both of them to pick me up from the floor. They put their arms around my shoulders, letting me lean on them as we make our way back to the dorm.
I still haven’t said a word to them, and they’re trying to get me to talk but I can’t bring myself to do it. My throat is in agony from the screaming, every swallow I take feels like someone has stuffed stinging nettles down there. My eyes are blood shot with the tears still pouring out. We get back to the dorm, where I promptly lock myself in the bathroom, crouching down on the cold tiles of the shower. I don’t remove my uniform, instead I turn on the shower, letting the scalding hot water fall onto my skin, burning with every drop. My uniform is now heavy as it soaks up all the water, my skin red and raw from the heat of the liquid still pouring down. I seem to be making this a habit.
A knock at the bathroom door startles me out of my daze. I turn off the shower and peel off my academy uniform, leaving it on the tiled floor. I wrap my white fluffy robe around my body and tie my hair up in a messy bun on the top of my head.
“Ade, are you okay?” Blaire whispers on the other side of the door. I can hear the disappointment in her voice after what her brother did to me. I know how bad she feels, not knowing her brother would set me up like this. She’s been an amazing friend since I started at the academy, even standing by my side against her own brother.
Opening the door, I face Blaire whose eyes are rimmed red from all the crying she has done. She leaps and wraps her arms around my neck, nuzzling her face into the dip between my neck, sobbing. I hug her back tightly to reassure her that everything will be okay.
“Hey, don’t worry about me Blaire. I’ll be fine.”
Understatement of the year.
A few weeks have passed since the incident in the dining hall. I have hardly spoken to anyone other than Blaire, Maisie, and Miles. I’ve kept to myself, concentrating on my assignments, my dance routine with Miles, and working at the club. I have refrained from visiting my father’s house and haven’t had another elocution lesson in a while.
Thank god.
I think if I saw Ms. Veronica anytime soon, I’d punch her in the throat.
The Royals have also been leaving me alone, apart from Ruby and her stupid friends. I still have my tutoring sessions with Hugo in the library, but lucky for me he takes his tutoring sessions very seriously so not even bullying is allowed. I still haven’t spoken to Royce, after seeing the pain in his eyes when he was standing before me with the Royals, not able to look me in the eyes. Even after he apologized, it hurt me the most. It felt as though he stabbed me with a sword straight through the heart and twisted it. I would have been a lot better if he just didn’t apologize to me in the first place, but that was probably the plan.
Destroy Ade – complete.
I’m sitting in English lit, right next to the demon himself, Blake. I can’t even pay attention to what the sub teacher is saying at the front of the class, my chin resting in the palm of my hand. My long dark hair - which I haven’t even styled in weeks - falls around my face, hiding my features as if it were a mask from Blake who doodles on his notebook. I had handed in my assignment on ‘Romeo and Juliet’ early thanks to Hugo, so I’m expecting my grades to be higher than normal. Fingers crossed.
The sub teacher, who’s name I didn’t even register, comes over to our desk and hands both mine and Blake’s assignments, both marked. Oh, so he also handed in his assignment early. Staring at the red markings on my assignment, my eyes go wide at the big B on the first page. I faintly smile to myself, proud that I have improved since last time. I don’t dare to look at what Blake received. To be honest I don’t care anymore. I don’t see this as a competition anyway, as long as I’m happy with my grades, that’s all that matters.
As I go to put my assignment in my folder, Blake tears it out of my hand, scanning my grade, clearly pissed off.
“Do you mind?” I snap, tearing it back from him and stuffing it into my folder away from him. I’m surprised by myself, snapping at Blake, considering these are the first three words I’ve said to him in weeks. I wouldn’t be shocked if he took offense to it and got me back later, but I don’t think he can do anything worse to me than what he did.
Accusing me of being a murderer and killing my own mum.
“How the fuck did you do better than me?” he retorts, shaking his head as he stands up from the chair. Now I am happy. I know I said it’s not competition but the fact that I did better than Blake is comical and rewarding. Instead of responding to him I turn on my heel, not concentrating and bumping into a rock-hard chest. My hands linger on the muscular chest, feeling how ripped Royce is even under his button up shirt. I look up and our eyes meet for the first time since the club. The pain is still evident in his eyes and his jaw ticks, not removing his eyes from mine.
Immediately, I take a step back, looking down at the floor before I barge past him, our shoulders brushing as I leave. I don’t look back. The guy actually had the audacity to approach my desk, and after all this time, he looked at me. I want to ask him if he’s okay, give him a big hug and tell him it’s going to be okay, but for what? Why am I feeling like this? Those guys ruined my life and I’m not sure how much more I can take.
I practically speed walk to the dining hall to meet Blaire and Maisie at our usual table. Blaire hasn’t spoken to her brother since the altercation either and Maisie has ignored all of the Royals, who she used to be friends with. They seemed to have broken all three of us, but technically, they didn’t do anything to Blaire and Maisie.
Blaire stares at me with concern. “How was your day hon?” she asks, looking up at me from the top of her phone screen. She’s just as worried as I am, not knowing what else the Royals will do. Could be anytime soon that they pounce, and we want to be prepared.
“Well, I got a better grade in English Lit than Blake, and to be honest, he didn’t take that too kindly,” I chortle in joy.
“Hopefully, that doesn’t fuel his fury.”
I order myself a chicken salad, as I can’t stomach a lot of food without feeling queasy. The girls think my eating disorder has gotten worse over the past few weeks, my body turning into skin and bone. Even Miles has noticed, saying my energy levels have gone down and it’s evident in our routine.
But at least I’m eating, right? It could be worse.
“We seriously need a girl’s weekend away to rejuvenate, and I am really feeling a makeover,” Blaire suggests, wiggling her eyebrows.
Actually, that sounds great. I need something that will make me feel like me again and a makeover could do exactly that. I haven�
��t even cut my hair in months, my long locks just below my ass now, which is getting harder to style. The colour is so dull and boring, I need something that will brighten up my face. Smiling in Blaire’s direction, I say, “I think that is a brilliant idea.”
“How about instead of going to the Halloween party, we have a girly weekend then?” Maisie suggests, and that is the best idea I’ve heard in a long time. I couldn’t think of anything worse than attending a stupid Halloween party with drugs, alcohol, orgies and of course, the royal assholes. I’d much rather get pampered and have a makeover with my best friends. Blaire and Maisie have both been so supportive since finding out about my father, not telling a soul about my secret. In fact, they find it entertaining that I have to take part in elocution lessons to become a ‘proper lady’ and the fact that I want to practically murder Ms. Veronica.
Unlucky for me, this weekend I have another one of my elocution lessons at my father’s house, which I am not in the mood for. The only reason why I’m excited to visit is so that I can pick up my box of photo albums that I left behind last time I was there. I also have a break from working at the club this weekend. Apparently, they’re hosting an especially important private meeting and only a few of the staff are allowed.
After I demolish my chicken salad, the girls and I split ways in the main hall as I make my way to the dance studio to meet Miles for practice. When I’m on my own, the other students still tend to whisper and shout out ‘Murderer’ in passing. I’ve even had the pleasure of my mum’s picture plastered on my locker with the word ‘Murderer’ written in red paint. I seem to have grown accustomed to their accusations and just let it slide, hoping they give it up when they realize it’s no longer affecting me.
I put on a brave face, walking the halls of the haunted castle, but as soon as I enter the dance studio, the mask slips and I break down. I can’t perform my usual routine of sitting in the shower and letting scolding water burn my skin, which makes me feel another sort of pain. I suppose it’s a form of self-harm.