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Beside him, Gabriel bounces on the balls of his feet, his shirt open to reveal his butterfly tattoo swirling around his regal neck. George looks between us, confusion written across her features. I hope she likes our surprise.
“We waited for you.” Gabriel throws open my door and tugs me out. “Hurry that sweet arse up, would you, Mac?”
Gabriel links arms with me and George, dragging us toward the entrance. All around us, voices swirl with laughter, with shock and surprise, as the word of what we did spreads through the student body.
We pass under the colonnade into the main courtyard. It’s so crowded with students craning for a look that it’s impossible to see a thing. Noah glares around us until people step aside and let us through.
“Mackenzie, is this some kind of—” George’s eyes widen, and her hand flies to her mouth as she lets out a whoop. “Is that… Alec’s car?”
“It sure is,” I beam.
Alec LeMarque kneels on the cobbles, his head in his hands, while students toss spitballs at him and snap photographs of his shame. In front of him, in the middle of the quad, is his beloved car, taken to pieces and perfectly remade again – only now, there’s a statue of Leda and a swan growing right through the middle of it, so the swan appears to be driving with its beak.
In her hands, Leda holds a picture. It’s a photograph taken by accident on my phone as it was flung into the sand, and then saved automatically to my cloud account. It shows Alec, his face carved in cruelty, as he leans over a girl held against the hood of a car. You can’t see her face, but she’s clearly not enjoying herself.
Beneath the picture are the words, “Alec LeMarque hurts women. So we fucked up his shit.”
Mackenzie
I hit reply on the video again, slowing down the speed to watch Alec’s face as a student captures his humiliation on their camera phone. Nothing ruins a self-centered fame-whore like Alec better than a public scandal.
The images are plastered all over social media, and just as I suspected, stories have started to come out about his treatment of female co-stars and producers. There are rumors the police will open an investigation. Two major film projects dropped him from their cast, his agent fired him, and many say they’ll never work with Alec LeMarque again. Principal Foster sent around an emergency announcement declaring he’s been expelled from school and offering counseling services to anyone victimized by him. Even his own father has taken to Twitter to denounce his son and publicly cut him off.
All this hours after we walked into school. The Stonehurst student body sensed Alec’s blood in the water, and they tore him to shreds.
Thanks to us, Alec LeMarque is done in Emerald Beach.
“Wow, Mac. You know how to bring a man down,” Gabriel whistles as he pulls up a particularly damning article on the large-screen for us all to see. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
We’re back in Gabriel’s apartment, which seems to be ‘neutral territory’ for the guys. I’m not bringing them to Malloy Manor, and Eli and Noah never offer up their houses for reasons I’m sure have to do with Eli’s father being in jail and Noah’s family having their beef with the Malloys.
I’m high on the sheer audacity of what we did. Who knows how many women we might’ve saved from Alec? Every loop of the video sends a thrill down my spine. My veins flush with heat, and I’m itching to do something… momentous to mark my triumph.
George arrives from her shift at the vintage store, and she dumps an armload of clothing and shoes on my lap. “These look about your size,” she tells me. “I know you’ve probably got a whole wing of your house filled with clothes, but I wanted to do something to say thank you for your public service.”
“You didn’t have to… but these are fucking beautiful.” I pull out a red halter top and high-waisted shorts set with rows of silver buttons. I hold them against myself. George digs out a pair of red stilettos with rhinestone straps that match perfectly. I got to the bathroom, toss my uniform on the floor, and pull on the outfit. Everything fits perfectly, including the shoes. George is a miracle. I fish around in my bag for a red lipstick and apply it in the mirror with an expert hand. Those YouTube makeup vloggers know their shit – I’m an expert at applying my armor now. I blot the lipstick and strut out into the room.
Eli makes a choking sound, spitting his drink down the front of his shirt. Noah’s eyes narrow before he looks away. Gabriel wolf-whistles.
“Fuck, Mac. I thought you were hot in that school uniform, but your ass is unreal in those shorts.” Gabriel holds his hands over his heart. I whack him with a pillow.
“Ow, yeah, hurt me, baby,” Gabriel grins as I whack him again. “I’ll do anything you want, as long as you’re wearing that outfit.”
I toss the pillow down on the sofa and glare at them all, hands on hips. I’m running this show. “Let’s go out. We should celebrate properly, with ridiculous cocktails and too-loud music.”
“Not me.” Eli glances at his watch, then glares at Noah. “Someone’s making me do an early morning training session tomorrow, and I’m currently running on two-hours sleep.”
Noah shakes his head. “I told Grace I’d be home early tonight.”
He turns away so I can’t see his face. I know he cares a lot about his stepmother Grace, but I wonder if he’s declining for another reason.
George looks from Gabriel to me. I suspect she feels the tension crackling in the air between us, because she quickly says, “I have to be home tonight, too, but I’d love to do something this weekend.”
“It’s a date,” I grin. “I’ll text you.”
Her whole face lights up. She leans forward and wraps her arms around me, squeezing me surprisingly hard for such a tiny human. “Thank you, Mackenzie. You don’t know what this means to me.”
I can guess, but it’s George’s story to tell. I hug her back. George – my friend. I never had one of those before, and now that I do, I’m not going to let her forget it.
