AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m realizing that pretty quickly,” I grumble shrewdly. “And you all run around doing to others what has been done to you.”
“I just feel so alone. We may have had to do fucked up things to stay on top, but that’s what was expected of us,” she explains in a wavering voice. “But I had my friends and I had Emmett. Then everything just crumbled down overnight.” Her arms fly up dramatically. “I held onto Bernadette, even though my parents told me we could never speak to any of the Jamesons again. And we both realized what was happening to us was similar to what happened to Lily…We felt bad for her. Tried to take her back in. I even thought I could get Emmett back and things could sort of go back to how they were before. At least at school. Then I realized Emmett didn’t love me anymore and that he was with you. Then Bernadette ran off. Now Lily is gone, too.”
“I never realized you cared so much, Vivian,” I offer sincerely. “I thought you were just a cold, heartless bitch.”
“Well, that’s how I’m expected to be,” she barks. But then with a sigh, she relaxes. “Ophelia, I really was worried about Emmett’s mom the other night,” she explains gently. “I know I tried to make things hard for you and Emmett because I was jealous, but I was just so scared of losing her, too. She’s like a second mother to me. And with my parents going away and everything else that’s going on…I just panicked when I thought she might be gone, too.”
“I had no idea, Vivian. I’m sorry.” It had never occurred to me that Vivian’s emotions at Emmett’s might be genuine. No wonder he got so angry and I ended up looking like a bitch. I was the one being heartless. But who could blame me after the way Vivian has treated me?
Worse, it pokes holes in everything I thought I had figured out. I was convinced that Vivian called Emmett and me over to wail about his mom just to distract me. That everything went as she had planned, putting me right in Malcolm’s arms so Lily could take that picture, doctor it, and send it to everyone.
I figured she must have thought that after all of that, Emmett would be hers. It would have made perfect sense, and maybe part of it is still true. But regardless, Vivian was legitimately upset that evening. Afraid of losing one of the few familiar parts of her life that were left.
I think over all of her words, and then it hits me like a ton of bricks. “Wait a second…what did you say a second ago? Did you say Bernadette ran off?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what I said.” She waves me away dismissively. “I feel like I haven’t slept in weeks.”
I want to press her about it, but Emmett has already talked to her and is convinced she knows nothing. I am done sticking my nose too far into this thing with Bernadette. He asked for my help, but everything I’ve tried to do has only ruined things more.
“What will you do now?” I ask finally, willing to just let her slip go. Emmett’s not even talking to me right now anyway. “After your parents’ sentencing?”
“I have an aunt in New York,” she states plainly. “I could go stay with her. Change my name. Try to start over and finish high school somewhere else.”
“I hate that you have to do all of that. All because of what your parents did.”
“Maybe it’s for the best.” She perks up her chin with a deep, optimistic breath. “This way I won’t have to keep up this ridiculous charade. Treating everyone like shit just to protect some familial social status. It couldn’t have lasted forever, anyway. No one gets to stay on top forever after treating people the way our families had.”
I’m blown away by her humility and self-awareness. I’d always figured if the Elites had any understanding of the damage they caused to others, they must get off on it. I thought they were so entitled that they relished in other people’s suffering. But now Vivian claims it was all just a farce, which matches what Emmett always claimed to be true.
“Want one?” Vivian asks, pulling a pack of cigarettes out from her bag.
I shake my head. “No, emphysema and lung cancer are kind of a runner’s worst enemy,” I joke dryly.
“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes as she lights up.
“Won’t you get in trouble?” I ask as she barely cracks the window to catch the wafting smoke. “We’re not exactly in hiding back here. The teachers will smell it.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Her eyes spark at me. “We can do whatever we want, Ophelia. Even with everything that’s happening to my parents, I’m still one of the Elites. Whatever that means now. The teachers aren’t going to say a fucking word to me.”
I purse my lips, not wanting to question her. I’m sure she knows better than I do.
“You could take advantage of some of that, too, you know,” she adds. “Now that you have Emmett.”
“I don’t have Emmett,” I remind her. “That fucking picture. You know it was fake, right?”
She studies me intently.
I realize she didn’t know it was fake. Her insistence with Emmett the night it went out was genuine. She truly was just looking out for him, convinced that I had cheated on him.
“I didn’t know.” She flicks her ashes onto the ground. “But it doesn’t surprise me.”
“What do you think will happen with Malcolm?” I ask.
“Nothing,” she blows out a long stream of smoke. “Absolutely nothing.”
“Is there anything I can do?” I offer finally.
“There’s nothing someone like you could do,” she scoffs. “You can never really understand all of this. What it’s like to grow up here, the way we have.”
