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“You stupid bitch!” Victoria shrieks, but Captain slides in front of her and she clamps her mouth shut.
At that same moment Maybell comes out the door.
I look to Maddoc, then the other two.
All three hold the same expression.
Shock and suspicion. Confusion. I ignore the worry that’s also clearly there.
I know what I did – purposely broke the main house rules in front of everyone, so it can’t be brushed under the rug.
I’ll be kicked out, but I don’t care.
I get sent home, and I’ll fight there, pay my mom’s debt while keeping the guys from being drug into my mess, and go back to my regular day to day.
Without them.
I ignore the ache the thought causes.
Maybell sighs and turns back inside. “Come on now, girls. Get your things and head for school. Raven, your things will be packed when you get back.”
I chance a glance at the boys.
The way their features harden, it’s clear they don’t understand my decision, not that they could.
How would they know if I didn’t clear her, they’d come for me?
Fuck my mom, fuck this place, and fuck them.
Most of all, fuck this life I was cursed into.Vienna catches up with me once I step into the school hallway. “Why’d you do it?”
I ignore her, bypassing my locker on the way to English – no reason to pull out a book for a class I won’t be in tomorrow.
“Raven—”
I spin on my heel, leveling her with a bored stare. “Look, I get it. You want in on the gossip so you can spread it around and be the one in the know for once. Well, sorry to break it to you, there’s no juice to spread. I felt like fighting, Victoria was within range, and there you have it.” I start to spin around but turn back halfway. “Oh, and it’s Rae.”
“Wow,” she calls after me and still, for some ungodly reason, follows. “That was good, I’ll give you that. It’s all a bold faced lie, though. Maybe you forgot or didn’t care to notice, but my room faces the gap between the houses, Rae.”
I turn on my heels and she meets me in the middle, stepping right in front of me. “I don’t give a shit what you think you saw or understood. I don’t give a shit what you tell these people and I surely don’t give a shit what you think, Vienna, so give it up already.”
My chest is heaving, and rage is once again building ... and she laughs.
What the hell?
“Man, Raven.” She shakes her head, fighting a smile. “You really are more fucked up in the head than I thought.”
“What are you doing?”
“I was coming to tell you I was pissed at you for going and getting yourself kicked out. You’re the only one – well were the only one – in the house I could stand. Guess it’s back to convos with my radio.”
“That’s pathetic.”
She shrugs with a half grin. “It is what it is, right?”
I survey her, finding she really does seem uninterested.
Honest.
I relax some. “Sorry to kill your house vibe.”
“Sorry I won’t get a chance to use you to get to ride on the Rolls Royce.” She wiggles her ass.
I laugh lightly. “Yeah, bet if you asked, he’d let you use him.”
“Just like that, huh?” She grins.
I sigh for dramatic effect. “Unfortunately, yes.”
The bell rings and she glances down the hall then back to me. “Well, stay real, Raven.”
I offer her a half smile then stand there and watch her leave.
Annoyed with myself, I smack the closest locker and lean my head against it.
I hate knowing that I bummed her out. It’s one of the exact reasons I don’t like people or making friends. I don’t want to have to meet other’s expectations or consider other people’s thoughts or feelings. Shit, I didn’t even realize Vienna and I were some sort of, I don’t know, not friends but two people who are comfortable around each other, before now.
Not that it matters at this point.
“Raven.”
Ugh, shoot me. Why didn’t I go to class?
I turn. “Principal Perkins. Hi.”
“Everything all right?” He approaches me, his hands slipping from his pockets as he does.
I square my shoulders and rid my face of any feebleness I may have let slip. “Fine. Going to class.”
I go to step around him, but he blocks my path, now standing to his full height.
“You sure? You seem a bit ... distracted.”
“How the hell would you know?” I go on the offensive.
His jaw sets at my tone, but he fights to stay professional. “I only mean, you seem like you could use someone to talk to. Do you need someone to talk to Raven? Maybe about some of your classmates? Are any of them being overly... authoritative?”
I ignore the question he’s pretending to ask and give him the answer to the one he really wants to know. “The Brays and I are far from on the same level, Mr. Perkins. They wouldn’t waste time on little old me.”
