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“Not without encouragement. I meant Morgan. What did she put Savannah up to?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He goes to grab the doorknob, but I shift to block it. “Cade, I have to get to class.”
“We’re not leaving this room until you tell me what happened Friday night.”
There’s some fear on his face as he takes a step back, his hand clutches the strap of his bag, pulling it tighter on his shoulder. “It’s none of your business.”
“Yes, it is. This is my fault. She’s fucking with you to piss me off.”
Hurt. That’s the only thing in his eyes now. “Not everything is about you. Me, Cade. They did it tome.”
Son of a bitch. I’m gonna kill them all. “What. Did. They. Do?”
“I’ll never tell you. It’s not worth it.”
I’m confused as fuck, and my mind is going places it shouldn’t. “There’s nothing good going through my mind so if I have to, I’ll just beat the shit out of every one of them until I get answers. Whatever they did, they will pay.” I don’t know which ones were involved, but I know they all have a connection to Morgan, so it won’t be that hard to figure out.
“It’s not even that bad.” His eyes drop to the floor.
“Then why won’t you tell me?”
“Because they filmed it. And they said if I told you, they’d post the video. I don’t want to be the highlight reel at this week’s pep rally.”
I don’t know what to do. Every bone in my body aches with tension. Every muscle is rigid with rage. “I’ll make sure the video never gets out.”
“You know that’s impossible. I’d be surprised if it’s not already.”
“Neil, whatever they did, I will make them regret it. I just want to know what they did. And I want to know you’re okay.” He doesn’t speak so I continue. “Did they hit you?” He shakes his head no. My stomach lurches as I ask, “Did they assault you… sexually or something?”
He shakes his head quickly and part of me is relieved. “Did someone hurt Savannah?”
Another no. “I’ll only tell you if you swear on our friendship, that you won’t do anything to retaliate. We’ll leave this room and pretend that night and this conversation never happened.”
“I don’t know if I can do that.” I respond honestly because I don’t know what they did.
“Then I can’t tell you.”
Fuck. “Fine,” I regrettably agree.
“You swear?” Neil starts fidgeting.
“I swear. What did they do?”
He slowly walks over to the nearest lab station and drops his bag on the table. “Do you remember the night before school started… the cemetery party.”
“Yeah.” What does that have to do with it? Have they been fucking with him this entire time? “Neil.”
He lets out a breath and says, “I told them about cockroaches living for a week without a head. They were fascinated by it. I felt like they actually cared; they seemed amazed by the nerdy information.” His eyes glaze over like he’s reliving the memory, a half-smile spreads on his face before it’s overtaken by sadness. “He knew I had them for my science experiment because I told them all about it.”
He stands and paces around the room. “Savannah and I were in my room. We were just kissing when Lenny barged in with some random girl. And when I told him to get the hell out of my room, he flew off the handle. He started yelling about you being a talentless prick who everyone was kissing up to, and I wasn’t about to kick him out of another room without getting some action.” Neil lets out a little chuckle. “I guess it is your fault too. He was yelling about you having sex with Morgan in front of him and not letting him in on it. He said you’ve always thought you’re better than him and whining about how Morgan stays on your dick.” He looks to me. “I don’t blame you. I really don’t.”
I do everything I can not to shake the rest of the story out of him, but I wait as patiently as possible because I can see he’s struggling and re-experiencing it as he’s telling it.
“Lenny stormed out, and I thought it was over until he came back with Becks and Zulich. Before I knew what was happening, Becks had Savannah pinned down on his lap. Zulich held me down, then Lenny set up his phone to record. I thought they were gonna hurt her. And I couldn’t do anything about it. She was begging for them to leave, and I couldn’t do a goddamn thing about it. But Lenny said he only wanted to hurt me. And I was relieved. At least they weren’t gonna violate her.”
He takes a few seconds before he says, “Lenny told me if I didn’t do it, he’d screw her in front of me like you’d just done to Morgan in front of him. So, I did as he instructed. He shoved all ten cockroaches in my mouth. I gagged the entire time while they laughed, but I ate every single one of them and prayed they wouldn’t go after her even though I was doing what they wanted. They humiliated me. They laughed about it. The biggest kick they got was when he made sure I only bit the head off the last and it flopped around on the floor still alive. They laughed a little more, but they left after that.”
God, I don’t know if I can keep my word. Because I want to murder every single one of them.
