That’s toxic masculinity, friends.
A boy who never grew up, preying on our girls. Play-acting the cop who’s supposed to find who’s killing them.
We all know how this will end. More Chaminade students hauled in. More time wasted. More tips and real suspects ignored. Until finally someone figures out that the real criminals are the ones in charge of catching them. They’re the ones letting a killer go free. And until we start looking at them the way they’re looking at us . . . more girls will die. So now it’s our turn to speak up. To start asking them the questions: Why haven’t they found the killer? Why were they so quick to target us from the beginning? What do they have to hide?
Thank you, Principal Walker, for letting me read this statement at this afternoon’s assembly. I know it must be hard for you, hearing what your students—and your own daughter—had to go through these past few months. I know that you only wanted to do right by letting these cops go stealth in our school. But we’ve all learned the truth about them. In fairy tales, there is good and there is evil. And now we know which side is which.
(Silence)
PEDERSON: You . . . read that to the whole school?
FLYNN: At this afternoon’s assembly. And I posted it online. Three thousand reshares so far. (Chair slides.) When all this is over, you should come play Red Dead with me and the boys sometime, Officer Pederson. It’ll be like old times.
(Door closes.)
CHANG: (quietly) I told you, Pederson. I told you . . .
PEDERSON: I tried to call Rebecca. I tried to smooth things over. She wouldn’t answer.
CHANG: How many times did you call her without an answer? Twenty-eight? That’s what Adam did to Ariana, right? Isn’t that what Princes are supposed to do? Demand an answer. Get an answer. Keep calling, Cally Cal. Keep calling. (Chair scrapes.)
PEDERSON: What’s that supposed to mean? Chang? Where you going?
REBECCA
Voice mail from CALLUM PEDERSON—Tuesday, May 19, 10:01 a.m.
“Rebecca . . . it’s Callum. I know you’re not going to pick up. But I needed to say this out loud. For you and me. So you know how I really feel. I’m sorry, Rebecca. I’m sorry for being a fuckup and an asshole and like all the other guys, when you thought I was different. I care about you, and that’s why this hurts so bad. You’re the first girl I’ve ever felt like I could be myself with. More than that. You’re the first person I could be awkward and weird and vulnerable with, all the things guys aren’t allowed to be. And instead of making me feel ashamed for it, you made me feel wanted. What else can a person ask except to meet someone who lets them be more themselves. I’ve never had that in my life. I always felt I was playing a part to fit in. Trying to be like the other guys. Trying to be the kind of prince that gets the girl of his dreams. But you didn’t want that kind of prince. You wanted me. That’s probably why I couldn’t stop staring into your eyes, like you weren’t real. Like you were like some kind of fairy princess that I didn’t deserve. Because I don’t deserve you. You’re too good for me. You’re honest and real in all the ways I can’t be for you. And I just hope . . . I hope that when enough time goes by, you realize how perfect and beautiful and amazing you are, inside and out, and how nothing I did should make you doubt that. I know you thought I wasn’t like the other boys. I thought I was special too. But I’m not. I’m not the good guy. Your real prince is out there somewhere. You deserve a happy ending far, far away from me. Maybe one day I can learn from you how to find mine. Okay. Bye, Rebecca.”
CALLUM
CHANG: For the record, this is the exit interview of Callum Pederson, conducted by Lieutenant Joseph Chang on Tuesday, May 19, at 4:32 p.m. I worked with the chief to get you a decent severance. (pause) Don’t give me that face, Callum. I did what I could.
PEDERSON: Heard there’s a sixth girl found this morning. Who?
CHANG: Not our case anymore, Callum. FBI has a suspect.
PEDERSON: Then tell me how he killed her.
CHANG: Let it go.
PEDERSON: How? Rapunzel? Red Riding Hood?
CHANG: For your own sake, Callum.
PEDERSON: HOW?
CHANG: Pinned with a donkey tail. Her nose replaced with a long stick. The words “Who’s Next” carved into it. Alright?
PEDERSON: Fuck. I can’t sleep. It’s like the answer is right there, slipping around in my head, and I can’t grab hold of it.
CHANG: Leave it. Move on.
PEDERSON: Who’s the suspect?
CHANG: Older guy. Fifties. Flynn gave us a tip that paid off. What are you going to do now?
PEDERSON: I’ve been bunking with my mom. Doing shifts at the diner with her. Might stop. Too many parents of students coming in, giving me looks. Not sure what else to do. Always thought I’d be a cop. How about you?
CHANG: Put back on desk duty. Feels like home.
(Silence)
PEDERSON: Hung out with Eric, Adam, and Flynn on Saturday.
CHANG: Really?
PEDERSON: Eric asked if I’d sub in for a league scrimmage. Wanted to say no, but . . . I felt guilty somehow. Now that there’s a suspect. Like I was still holding on to something, even after they’d all moved on. I mean, they should be the ones who hate me. (pause) You said Flynn tipped you off on the suspect?
CHANG: Callum—
PEDERSON: Who’s the guy?
CHANG: Drifter who’s been living under the bridge. Been harassing girls for months.
PEDERSON: That’s the Princess Killer? That’s the murderer meticulously luring teenage girls and re-creating famous fairy tales?
CHANG: You’re young. Best thing you can do is get on with your life.
PEDERSON: Who do you think did it?
CHANG: About your severance and benefits—
PEDERSON: They had the motives. The Princes. But then they had alibis too.
CHANG: Which is why none of them was the killer.
PEDERSON: Like Adam. Ariana was spreading word that he was a bad hookup. That embarrassed him. Killed his rep with other girls. Plus, she was blocking his texts day after day, ignoring him at school. He didn’t show the slightest remorse about her death.
CHANG: He didn’t do it, Callum. We have proof he didn’t do it.
PEDERSON: And Naveen—he might be a good guy, but Anika Gelt rejects him for prom. A “wench.” The lowest of the low on Chaminade’s scale. That stings Naveen hard. He tells everyone she’s racist. That’s how he gets over it. But then she takes a black guy to prom. A black guy the killer fakes a note from to send a poisoned cake to Anika . . . It all points at Naveen.
CHANG: He didn’t do it either.
PEDERSON: And Phillip too. Kelly Blake figured out that he and Luke Stoeckel were hooking up. She texts him that she knows his secret . . . Maybe Phillip even hooks up with her, too, just to put her off. But Phillip’s still nervous. All this time, he’s gone to such great lengths to act the prince, making a play for half the girls in school. Suppose Phillip’s dad finds out? The deacon of a gay-hating church? But then Kelly ends up dead . . . It has to be Phillip. Same story with Kristoff, who had that ugly history with Madelyn, a girl who made him feel like garbage, no matter how cool Kristoff plays it . . . Of course he’d want her dead. And Eric—Charlotte Lawson cheated on him after he betrayed her trust.
CHANG: None of them did it, Pederson.
PEDERSON: Which is why a catcalling drifter’s taking the fall.
CHANG: Callum. I’m begging you. Let it go.
PEDERSON: They acted as if none of it ever happened. When I was at school, there was always a distance between us. But it was different on Saturday. The scrimmage was a shit game, but Eric let me score the last goal, right when he could have had it. He said something after: “Princes save each other.” Like I was part of their club. Like I was finally one of them. The guys even asked me to a party last night, but I said no. It’s strange. I wanted to say yes so bad. To be one of them. Maybe I should have said yes. Maybe this is the world giving me anoth
er chance. To be a real man. To have real friends. Princes who save each other. That’s not so bad, is it?
CHANG: If only these girls had Princes to save them. Alright, let’s get this paperwork over with.
PEDERSON: Kristoff said something like that. About the girls. Remember?
CHANG: No idea. FBI has the tapes.
PEDERSON: I do too. Backed them up on my phone.
CHANG: Which is completely illegal, and now I’ll have to impound it.
PEDERSON: (Tapping sounds) Here. Right here. Listen: “Five dead princesses. No prince to save them. Fairy tales end with a moral, don’t they? Well, these girls are trying to teach us one. You just got to figure out what it is. Then you’ll find who’s responsible.” No prince to save them. That’s what he said. “No prince to save them.” What’s the moral of the story, then? There’s no prince to save them, because—
CHANG: “Princes save each other.”
PEDERSON: Princes save each other.
(Silence)
CHANG: Impossible. What you’re saying is impossible.
PEDERSON: Then why are you thinking it too? They each had motives. And they each had alibis. Flynn even said it in his statement: the idea that “one of them” was the killer was laughable. But it wasn’t one of them. It was never one of them. It was all of them.
CHANG: Callum . . .
PEDERSON: Hiding each murder by having a friend do it instead. Loyalty put to the test. Kill a Princess for another Prince. To be a Prince. The ultimate club.
CHANG: No one would pay that price.
PEDERSON: That was the game, Chang! The way it was at school! Score with the Princesses. Not for the sake of the girl. For the sake of the guys! Proving yourself to them. Being a man. And the girls were starting to fight back. The Princes were going to lose the game. They were going to lose everything! Unless the Princes did something . . . That’s why they started. Every girl who dared to cross a Prince, taught a lesson. Every girl who stepped out of line, punished. That’s why they hung out together, to give themselves alibis. That’s why Naveen pointed the finger at Adam, knowing Adam couldn’t have done it. To make himself look like a “good guy” helping us out, when he was just another Prince. And now I’m one of those Princes. Just like I always wanted to be. I’m part of their game . . . Don’t you see? Eric said it himself. “Princes save each other.” And now I’m a Prince. Only I’m not, because there’s no way I could ever . . . (softly) Chang?
CHANG: (Gasps.) No . . . no no no . . .
PEDERSON: Wait . . . wait, Chang . . . no!
CHANG: I told you to let it go, Callum. I told you—
PEDERSON: She’s the body, isn’t she . . . She’s the one they found . . .
CHANG: Oh God, Callum!
PEDERSON: Adam kills Charlotte for Eric. Naveen kills Ariana for Adam. Phillip kills Anika for Naveen. Kristoff kills Kelly for Phillip. Flynn kills Madelyn for Kristoff. And now someone kills . . .
CHANG: Rebecca . . .
PEDERSON: For me.
CHANG: We’ll go to the chief! We’ll go to the feds!
PEDERSON: (Rasps.) The party last night. I told them I wouldn’t go . . . I don’t have an alibi, Chang . . . If I pin it on them, they’ll pin it on me . . . They’ll call me the liar . . . Pinocchio. That’s how they killed her . . .
CHANG: To keep you quiet. To warn you.
PEDERSON: No . . . More than that. They killed for me, Chang. But that’s not the real Princess Game. The real game is what I’m willing to do for them. What every boy is willing to do for them. To be one of them. To be a Prince. They’re not warning me. They’re asking me . . . “Who’s next?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2019 Steven Gray & Chad Wagner
Soman Chainani is the New York Times bestselling author of The School for Good and Evil series, which has sold nearly three million copies, has been translated into thirty languages, and will soon be a film from Netflix. A screenwriter and director, Chainani was also named one of Out magazine’s Out100.
The Princess Game (Faraway collection) Page 4