Page 71 of Their Wicked Secrets: Untouched, Vol 5 of 6

Kenz comes up and sits next to me. “What was he saying?”

I shake myself out of it and breathe out as I meet her eyes. “Same shit, different day.”

“I’ve never seen Ms. Sullivan that angry before.” Kenz takes my hand and squeezes it. “I’m totally going to kick Tanner in the balls next time I see him.”

“No, I don’t want you to get kicked out of school. I’m okay. Ignoring him was my plan.”

She grins. “Worked out for you.”

I nod, a little dazed. Kenz squeezes my hand one more time and heads back to her chair. The conversation rises to a new level as people leave their seats to talk to their friends, probably trying to guess what happened.

The door opens, and everyone rushes back to their seats, but Caden walks in with his eyebrow raised. Someone laughs and people migrate again.

When Caden takes his seat, I feel the students’ eyes on me again.

“What happened? Where’s Ms. Sullivan?” Caden hooks my chair with his foot and drags me closer.

“Tanner said something. She overheard and kicked him out of class. Like kicked him out entirely.” It still hasn’t registered as I meet his green eyes.

He smiles. “Good. He’s a fucker. If I could find a way to get him expelled, I would.”

When he turns to check on Nico, I look at where we are in the planning phase of our art project. A little burst of excitement rolls through me. I can pull out every piece of Tanner from this. Every idea, every color choice.

It will be just mine and Caden’s now. A weight lifts off my chest.

Eli

The bell rings, and I head out for lunch. I catch Ashley’s arm and lead her away from the crowd walking toward the cafeteria.

“Hey,” she says, but I keep going.

I push open the doors to the outside and pull her out with me. This entrance isn’t used by a lot of people, but it leads to a side of the building the teachers don’t monitor during lunch as well.

I release her, and she glares up at me.

“Sidney tried to drug Luke.” No need to beat around the bush.

“Fuck, what did he do to her?” Ashley cradles her books against her chest as she watches me. She’s not a stupid girl.

“We want her taken down.”

She opens her mouth, maybe to protest.

“We want to install you in her place.”

She narrows her eyes on me. “You want me to be queen bee? Why?”

“You’re the only one who can do it.” I cross my arms. “You’re smarter than Sidney. She’s the only thing that’s been holding you back. I can give you everything we have on her conversations about how she’s better than everyone else. But I think you probably already know how she feels.”

Ashley nods. “When?”

“Let her think she’s winning. But we want Homecoming to be her last time in the spotlight.”

Her brow furrows. “She’ll still be in cheerleading. She’s the captain.”

“Take it from her.” I step in closer and make sure we aren’t being listened to by other students lingering nearby. “She admitted Zach’s feeding her drugs to fuck her. Those things don’t always show up in tests, but she’s got to be taking something to counteract the effects.”

This morning Penny looks like the walking dead. Like even the caffeine barely hit her, and she just took a sip of the laced sherry. I haven’t seen Sidney looking like that.