AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m still here.
West Emerald Preparatory Academy might be best known as the gilded cage for wealthy teen spawn but its highbrow reputation is protected with a strict set of behavioral rules.
Today isn’t the first time I’ve broken those rules. I doubt it will matter much who started the fight. What matters is how I ended it.
As I stare blankly at the glass wall overlooking the main campus corridor, a trio of sophomore girls pause in the middle of their stroll and elbow each another with smirks. One of them raises a phone to snap a photo of me sulking in here with dark spots of blood decorating my school uniform.
The blood isn’t mine. But right now I’m not amused by anyone’s giggling interest. Slowly, I roll up my middle finger as a warning.
The three of them lower their heads and hustle down the hall. Smart girls.
Meanwhile, there’s been no sign of life coming from the school director’s office and the minutes just keep ticking by.
“Does anyone know I’m sitting out here?” I fire the question at the office assistant, who has been stapling papers at her desk while humming with terrible pitch.
She stops her humming and stapling but doesn’t look at me. “I’m sure the wait won’t be much longer.”
The humming resumes. I think it’s a song from Grease but I don’t have a great ear and she can’t carry a tune.
The chair I’m sitting in is the worst. High backed with no cushion and as uncomfortable as a Puritan church pew. I can’t even slouch and my ass is numb.
My phone has been buzzing at irregular intervals, insistent as a begging dog. It stays in the backpack by my feet. Either my mother or my sister will be on the other end. I don’t need to be reminded that I fucked up. I’m very aware.
The door to my right finally cracks open and Brett Halloway steps out with his hand on his fly. I had no idea he was in there. He’s a senior. They always are, the boys who emerge from that office with smug grins on their horny faces after a private counseling session with Director Dick Sucker, who has earned her nickname for a very obvious reason.
Brett looms over me and rubs his crotch with a smirk. “Still warm. You can have the next turn.”
“Asshole.” I kick him in the shin.
The humming from the reception desk gets louder. This time it’s ‘You Are My Sunshine’.
Strange choice.
I used to love that song when I was a kid. My grandmother would sing it to me and Lita. We even made up our own private lyrics. But my grandmother’s been dead for ten years and my twin sister and I don’t sing songs together anymore. We hardly speak.
Brett makes an obscene gesture, pokes his tongue into his cheek and then shuffles to the door.
I fucking hate this place.
The bell rings and within ten seconds the hallways fill up. I’m starting to wonder if I’ll be stuck in this goddamn chair until Christmas.
But Oliva Davison (a.k.a. Director Dick Sucker) has finally decided to slither out of her cave. Her eyes drift right over me and her high heels click over to the counter, where ‘You Are My Sunshine’ has abruptly stopped.
I don’t know how the hell anyone walks in heels like that. They are practically stilts. Personally, I think someday scientists will dig up stilettos and think they were torture devices. Lita owns a vast collection of heels but you’ll never catch me wearing that shit unless forced.
My phone buzzes in my backpack again. I ignore it again.
Olivia recites a series of boring administrative orders. There’s no mention of my name. Maybe no one would notice if I stood up and left.
From here I can see all the way to the courtyard, which has become a hive of activity as students travel at varying paces. My longstanding habit is to scan crowds for Conner and I’m not shocked to see him. His favorite hangout is out there beside the courtyard fountain and he’s rarely in a hurry to get to class.
As usual, Conner is flanked by his two cousins, Micah and Gage. It must be nice to have cousins you actually like. My own cousins are a vile basket of macho excrement. I avoid them.
Conner looks kind of glum right now. His arms are crossed over his broad chest and he says something to Micah, who wears his usual pissed off scowl, like he’s one insult away from committing homicide. Gage stands on Conner’s other side but for a change he’s smiling, which probably has something to do with the pretty brunette clinging to his arm.
Things seem to come easy for that girl. I envy her for that.
Dani Gallagher has some kind of hard luck backstory and no parents. She lived with her author uncle in a shitty neighborhood until the guy struck it rich and then married Micah’s ditzy mother.
