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“As you are all aware, an unsanctioned party took place last night on school grounds. The nature of this party was indecent and horrifying. Not only were students engaging in sexual acts, but alcohol and narcotics were found on site, too. Many of the students we detained coming back into the building were so inebriated that they had to be confined in the recovery room in the nurse’s office this morning.”
“Locked in the nurse’s office for a fuckinghangover,” Seb growls to his friends. “Are they that fucking stupid that they don’t realize most of us are hungover every fucking day?”
“To say I am disappointed in the actions of our senior year would be an understatement. I’m shocked and appalled. Frankly, I have no words for what I’m feeling right now—”
“Then shut the fuck up?” I haven’t noticed Beth sitting a table over from Seb until she mutters this. She looks tired. Her hair is tied back into a messy bun. Looking up, she makes eye contact with me and the pure hatred she sends my way is breathtaking.
Way to make enemies, Voss.
“As a result of last night’s antics, three of Toussaint’s pupils have been expelled and sent home to their parents. By the sheer grace of God, a number of you got lucky and have been issued with warnings. Please note that there is no three-strikes-and-you’re-out policy at Toussaint Academy. If you step out of line again, youwillbe expelled and asked to pack your belongings immediately.
“As for the rest of you…you were clever enough to sneak back into the school undetected, but please know that you willnotbe getting away with your involvement with this party. The entire senior year will be punished for this lack of decorum. Starting this evening, you will no longer have access to any common spaces on your floors or in the main part of the building after six p.m. There will be no more weekly social events. No more movie passes. No more television privileges. No Genesis Ball. After speaking with your parents and explaining the situation, none of you will be issued with passes to leave school grounds at the weekends under any circumstances—”
A collective cry of dismay fills the dining hall, drowning out Principal Ford’s voice. Everywhere I look, my new classmates are throwing down their napkins, slamming hands against the tables, red-faced, yelling at the speaker about the unfairness of this last ruling.
“They can’tdothat!”
“Fucking bullshit!”
“I have to be in Seattle for my coaching on the weekends. They can’t stop me. My parents will never—”
Principal Ford must be a mind reader. “I repeat: I have wasted my entire day calling and speaking to each and every one of your parents, and they have unanimously agreed to suspend all pass privileges for the foreseeable future. This punishment will be lifted as and when we deem it appropriate. Until that time, you will also be prohibited from using the library after five pm. Any homework or assignments you need to complete after this time must be done in your rooms. You are only allowed one other student of the same gender in your bedroom at any one time for study purposes. All students must be back in their own bedrooms by eight pm. A monitor will come to each floor every evening to make sure everyone is where they’re supposed to be. You will be held accountable!”
Uproar.
The dining hall descends into blind madness. On the other side of the room, one of the guys who was running around shirtless with Seb last night hurls his water glass at the wall, screaming something about injustice. He’s quickly collared by Dr. Farr, who whisper-shouts admonishments at him as he frog-marches him out of the hall.
“Lastly,”Principal Ford continues.“We will be implementing a student enrichment program in the evenings, in the vain hope that it will engage your minds with more…healthy preoccupations. Once a week, students will be selected to teach a new skill or perform for their senior year classmates. Participation is mandatory. Again, a register will be taken. You will not pass your senior year if you do not attend—”
I can’t hear shit over the cries cycling around the room; for a moment, Principal Ford’s words are drowned out by unified rage.
“—presence is required tonight in the auditorium. This is non-negotiable. Any student not marked present in the auditorium in just under thirty minutes will be automatically suspended without review. That is all there is to say on the matter.”
“She can’t fucking do this,” Sebastian seethes. “My parents wouldneveragree to this. This is unconstitutional or something.”
I feel so outside of this. Ford’s inane punishments do seem a little harsh, but they matter very little to me. For starters, I and can walk out of here any time I like. They’d have to physically restrain me, and I’d like to see them eventryand accomplish that. Secondly, I won’t have to suffer under this new police state for long. A couple of weeks? Maybe a month? I’ll be out of here, long gone, my task complete, and I’ll never give this place a second thought.
But for now…
I glance down at my phone, checking the time. It’s seven fifty-three. I have until eight-fifteen before I have to head to the auditorium, wherever the hell that is, and I still need to talk to Ruth.
The heavy door slams against the wall as I rush out into the hallway, holding the phone to my ear. It goes straight to voicemail. I try again when I hit the stairs up to my floor.
Straight to voicemail.
At my bedroom door.
Voicemail.
Frustration dances a dervish in my chest, provoking me to pace up and down the length of my room like a caged lion.This is not good. This is not good. This is not good.I watch the minutes tick by painfully slowly on the phone’s display, waiting for the read-out to hit 8:00. The second it does, I try Ruth again, and for the fourth time, the call goes straight to voicemail.
“What thefuck.” I overshoot when I hurl the phone down; I aim for the bed, but it bounces off the edge of the mattress and hits the wall instead, making a worryingly loudcrack!when it hits the bare stonework.
Please don’t be broken. Please don’t be broken. Please don’t be broken.
Ahh, fuck. It’s broken.
The screen is a spiderweb of fractures, so dense and interlaced that I can’t even see the screensaver of my fake family that Gaynor saved on there as part of my backstory. That’s no big deal, but…phew. I press the button on the side of the phone and it still brings up the facial ID. I can still unlock it. A couple of finger taps here and there reveals that the screen surprisinglydoesstill work. Just very sporadically.
