Wicked Truth

by Mae Doyle

  “I guess so. Do you guys have any idea what we could look for that would clue us in to who the council is or what the rogues and harpies are up to?” My palms were a little sweaty and I wiped them on my jeans before I took the first yearbook from Harper.

  “I think that we know the goal of the harpies and the rogues.” Maggie sighed, grabbing a book from Harper. “They want to get you to leave. But I still don’t really know why, do you?” She locked her eyes on me and waited for an answer, her hand poised to flip the cover of her yearbook.

  I felt my skin get clammy as I looked between my two friends. Now really was the time to come clean about my past with Brett, but I didn’t know how to do it. I wasn’t sure how to put the story into words, or what they would think about me once I told them the truth, so instead I shook my head. “Not really sure, unless they want me gone because of something that happened with me and Brett when we were younger.”

  Neither one of them said anything at first, but finally Harper sighed and flipped open her yearbook. “Well, let’s see what we can find. If nothing else, we’ll be able to look at some crazy pictures of our classmates’ parents, right?”

  Right. If only this were for us to just look at ridiculous pictures, then I would be happy. But I knew that something had to be hiding in these pages. There had to be something in them that would help me find out the truth about the council. Something that would lead me to them so that I could destroy them.

  We flipped silently through the yearbooks. I had no idea how bad the fashion was back then. Even though the Taylor Prep uniforms had pretty much stayed the same, the hairstyles were ridiculous. I was in the middle of pointing this out to my friends when something caught my eye.

  I’d been spending so much time looking at the poised photos that I hadn’t really paid much attention to the candid shots, but once I did, I noticed something. It wasn’t in all of the photos, of course, because you couldn’t see the hands and wrists of all of the students in each shot. I leaned closer, even bringing the yearbook up to my face a little so that I could get a better look.

  “You find something?” Harper sounded amused, and I shushed her.

  “Gimme a second. I think that I did.” I dropped the yearbook back down into my lap and turned the page, quickly scanning all of the shots. There it was again. I turned the page. And again.

  I was onto something.

  “Look at this.” Getting excited now, I flipped the yearbook around on my lap so that my friends could look at it. “Do you guys see something in every photo here?” It took them a moment of looking, but all of the sudden Maggie gasped.

  “Look what they’re all wearing!” She slammed her finger down on one of the pictures. “See the bracelet? And here!” She pointed to a new picture, then another. “They all have on matching bracelets.”

  I grinned at her and turned the page. This time Harper started pointing them out. “There and there. You were right, Rose, they all have on these bracelets.” She sat back down on her seat and flipped to the candid shots in her yearbook. “It’s the same thing here! I mean, the bracelets are all different from the ones in your yearbook, but the students all have on the same one.”

  “Do you think that we could find the student without a bracelet? Would we be able to find the student who was…me?” It seemed way too far-fetched that we’d be able to find a student – if there was any – who didn’t have on a bracelet, and after a while of looking, we decided we couldn’t.

  “You know,” Maggie mused, “we probably can’t find them because they’re not in any of the photos. I doubt that they would want to put someone in the yearbook if they did their best to run them out of the school, you know?”

  She was right, and Harper and I both nodded. “I already know that they’re going to try harder this semester. That’s what they said, anyway.” I could still feel the rage that coursed through my body when the rogues told me that I had to leave. They were pissed, but I was livid. I was sure that my anger would last longer than their little temper tantrums.

  “Hey, you never told us how your math test went. Did you pass it?” Harper’s voice ripped me from my reverie. I knew that I shouldn’t think about what it was like to be alone in my room with the rogues. I shouldn’t think about kissing them, or touching them, or how they all made my stomach twist.

  I should have been thinking about how they teamed up with the harpies to get me out of Taylor Prep.

  “Yeah, I passed. Barely, I think, but a pass is a pass. I get to go on to algebra 2 this semester, so I’m a little worried about that, honestly. I don’t want to have to get a tutor right away, but it’s probably the best option that I have for keeping my grades up.” Taylor Prep had a zero tolerance policy about poor grades, and I was sure that they wouldn’t hesitate to kick me out if they had the chance.

  I wasn’t going to give them that opportunity.

  They grinned at me and I took a deep breath before answering. “I passed, but Mr. Gessler scheduled the test right when the vocal competition was. Remember?”

  My friends fell silent. They’d forgotten that I’d missed the vocal competition, and that hurt, but not as bad as knowing that it was Amelia, and not me, who led the team to a victory. Mrs. McKearin had fought with Mr. Gessler to change the time of my make-up test, but he was adamant about the date and time. I was pretty sure that the harpies or rogues got to him to keep me from the competition.

  “I forgot Rose, I’m sorry.” Maggie leaned over and squeezed my hand. “This semester will be better, I promise.”

  Returning her smile, I couldn’t help but hope that she was right. I wanted this semester to be better. Our driver turned the limo up the long driveway to Taylor Prep, and I sighed. This had been the perfect opportunity to come clean with my friends about the history that I had with Brett, and I’d squandered it. Even though I knew that I needed to tell them the truth, the thought made my stomach twist.

  Hiding behind the lies was easier than telling them what he had done and what he had done to me. If I came clean with the truth then I’d also have to try to figure out why I was feeling the way I was about him, and that sounded impossible.

  Chapter 3

  I wasn’t sure why I thought that getting moved back in would be easy, or that maybe things would have gone back to normal over Christmas break. The Taylor Prep staff met us at our limo and quickly gathered up Harper and Maggie’s luggage, but left mine on the ground.

  “I’m sorry, this is really heavy, do you mind to help me?” I smiled at the porter, hoping that I could lay on a little charm and he’d help me carry it. My backpack was slung across my back and I had the second chocolate cake in my arms. There wasn’t any chance that I wanted to accidentally drop it.

  He looked at me, his eyes skating down my body and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Miss Bennett. No can do. I’m here to help Miss Pierce and Miss MacKenzie.” He shrugged, almost like he was apologetic, but then turned away from me. My friends stared at me, their jaws hanging open.

  “Did that just happen?” Harper frowned at the porter as he walked away. “I mean, I’ve never heard of anything like that going on here. They’re supposed to help all of the students.” She crossed her arms and frowned.

  “We can help you carry it.” Maggie shifted her backpack and leaned down to grab a strap of my luggage. “Ugh, what do you have in here, Rose? Rocks?”

  Not exactly.

  “We’ll do it.” The voice behind me made the hair on the back of my neck prick up. Even though I hadn’t heard that voice in over three weeks, I knew exactly who it was, and I could easily picture the look on his perfect face. I turned slowly, eyeballing Brett.

  “You’ll help me with my luggage? After wanting me to leave all last semester?” Brett stood flanked by Jackie and Kaleb, his strong arms crossed across his chest. He had a slight scowl on his face that made my stomach twist and turn when I looked at it. Jackie and Kaleb were silent, but I could feel them watching me, so I turned to them. “You two going to help
him? Are we all friends all of the sudden?”

  “Oh, I didn’t say that we’d help you up to the dorm, Rose. I’ll lift it back into the limo though so that he can drive you right back to your gutter. We told you not to come back, or did you forget?” Brett casually ran his hand through his hair. His leather bracelet peeped out from the cuff of his shirt and I frowned.

  “I didn’t forget. I just didn’t take you seriously, that’s all.” Turning to Kaleb, I lifted my chin a little and looked him in his eyes. His very green, very gorgeous eyes. “And I thought that you’d like to know that I passed my algebra test with flying colors, so thanks for your help.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “It was all you, Rose. I don’t know why you bothered to take the test when you knew that you shouldn’t come back.”

  Feeling petulant, I stamped my foot and then ground the toe of my shoe into the dirt. “I belong here just as much as you do.” I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I knew that it was one of my friends trying to calm me down, but I just shook them off. “What about you?” I turned my attention to Jackie. “Aren’t you going to help me carry this up?” He could probably lift it over his head and stroll up the stairs with it without breaking a sweat, but he just shook his head.

  “No can do, Rosita. Good luck to you, though. I hope that you find your room just as comfortable as when you left it. I’m happy to take that chocolate cake off of your hands if you want, though. I’m always in the mood for something sweet.” He winked at me, and the look on his face made me pause, but I didn’t have time to try to figure out what he meant. The limo was pulling away and there was a line of cars behind us, waiting to drop off their students.

  Scoffing at him, I leaned down and yanked on my luggage. It barely moved, but I swore I felt something pull funny in my shoulder. Ignoring the pain, I yanked it again, but this time both Harper and Maggie had grabbed it. Still balancing the chocolate cake on my right hand, I led the way across the quad.

  We had to stop and rest about ten times before we made it to the dorm, but by then Woods and Everett had seen us struggle from an upstairs window and came down to help us. “Let us handle it,” Woods said, gently pushing me out of the way. I sighed, stepping back, and watched as the two guys took my luggage inside.

  “You okay? You look really pale. Do you need to sit?” Harper took the cake from me and I massaged my shoulder, trying hard not to wince at the pain.

  “I’m fine. I’m just…thrilled to have such a warm welcome.” My friends smiled at my sarcasm and we turned to go into the dorm, but before we could, we heard someone calling our names.

  “Miss Pierce! Miss Bennett! Miss MacKenzie! Just what exactly do you think that you’re bringing onto school campus? You know that you have contraband!” Mr. Taylor was stomping across the quad towards us. I hadn’t met him in person and only recognized him from the photos on the website, but I remembered that both Harper and Maggie had been called into his office last semester because they refused to wear the leather bracelets given to them by the rogues and harpies.

  “Oh, crap.” Harper’s voice was so low that only the three of us could hear her.

  Mr. Taylor stopped short just in front of us, his round face red with the exertion of stomping across the quad. He had thinning black hair that he swept over the top of his head to hide a bald spot and wore a small red bowtie that perfectly matched the bright color in his cheeks.

  “Mr. Taylor, I’m Rose Bennett,” I said, reaching out my hand.

  “I know who you are,” he snapped, his dark eyes flicking across my face. “You’re the homeschooler who has shaken up this entire school, am I right?”

  Shaken up the school? I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking…”

  But I didn’t get to finish because he held his hand up to stop me and then turned to Harper. “You know better than to bring contraband food onto these premises. Do you have any other contraband in your luggage or backpack that we need to know about?”

  Contraband? Was this guy really that upset over a chocolate cake? It was laughable, and I wanted to smile, but the look on his face warned me that that would be a mistake

  She shifted uncomfortably. “No, sir. Just this cake.” I could tell that she wanted to ask him if she could keep it, but I also knew that there was no way the three of us were walking out of here with that cake still in our hands. I wasn’t surprised when he reached out and gently took it from her.

  “The staff at Taylor Prep thanks you for the cake.” His greedy eyes widened as he took a sniff. I had a sudden urge to grab him by the back of the head and slam it down into the cake, but I resisted by clenching my hands into fists.

  “Can we go?” Harper’s voice sounded unusually high and tight, and I glanced over at her, unsurprised to see that her eyes were glistening.

  He sighed. “You may leave. But remember, you three, I’m watching. Oh, and Miss Pierce? This will result in marks against you. That’s a very poor way to start off this semester, so I strongly advise you to shape up so that you don’t have to leave halfway through your junior year. I can’t imagine that your family would be very pleased, can you?”

  With that he turned and stalked off. Harper was so angry she was practically shaking, and I reached out to take her arm. “Harp, I’m so sorry about that! I had no idea that he would take the cake. How do you think he even found out?” My voice faded away as I looked to where she was staring.

  Amelia and Kelly stood about twenty yards away, both of them smirking at us. When I caught her eyes, Amelia flipped her hair and wiggled her fingers at me before looping her arm through Kelly’s and walking over.

  “Shame about that cake. Mr. Taylor was really unhappy to hear that students were bringing contraband onto the campus. I’m actually surprised that he didn’t search your bags.” Amelia sounded flippant and bored, and I pulled Harper back when she took a step towards her.

  “You’re a bitch.” Harper’s skin was hot under my fingertips as she tried to yank away from me. “What the hell is your problem, Amelia? Why do you have to be so awful?”

  In response, Amelia laughed, the sound carrying through the quad and making people turn to look at us. “Maybe if you weren’t friends with a little gutter rat I would have let you keep your chocolate cake, Harper. Make better decisions and I promise you, your time at Taylor Prep will be me enjoyable.” She turned to Maggie. “The same goes for you. We can forgive you two for your stupid decision to hang out with Rose last semester, but now you should know better, so don’t act like you haven’t been warned.”

  “She’s our friend. Why would we abandon her now?” Maggie stepped closer to Amelia. I could see the hot pink patches in her cheeks and I knew how pissed she was. “Why can’t you guys just back off?”

  Amelia rolled her eyes. “Listen, I know that you got in for your money, Maggie, and not because of your brains, but maybe I can explain this to you in a way that even you can understand. Rose isn’t welcome here. I don’t know why, except for the fact that she’s a stupid gutter rat with a slut for a mom, but that’s good enough for me. It should be good enough for you, too.”

  Quick as a whip, Maggie lunged forward, planted her hands on Amelia’s shoulders, and shoved. There was no way that Amelia could keep her balance in her stilettos, and she fell backward, landing loudly on the ground.

  One look at Maggie showed me that she realized she’d messed up. Her face was pale and her mouth formed into an O.

  “You bitch.” With Kelly’s help, Amelia quickly got back on her feet. “I don’t know why the hell you thought that was a good idea. All we need to do is get Rose to leave. Do you want to go with her?” Her face was turning purple.

  I had to do something. Taking a deep breath, I pushed my way between them. “You guys, stop. I don’t want anyone else getting involved. Maggie started to say something, but I whipped around. “Go upstairs. Let me handle this. Please.”

  She paused, but then finally nodded and walked off when Harper pulled her by the
arm. I watched my friends go, then turned back to Amelia. “Okay. You say that I need to go, but I have a right to know why. So, spill. Then we’ll talk.”

  Kelly hadn’t said anything this entire time, but she finally decided to speak up. “Amelia, I don’t know that this is a good idea,” she said, her voice a warning.

  “Hush.” Amelia had her eyes locked on me. “You want the truth, Rose?” When I nodded, she continued. “I wish I could be the one to give it to you. All I know is that you’ve been picked to leave. Something you did, something you saw, something – has come back to bite you in the ass. It’s so good and it’s also that simple.”

  “It’s not that simple.” My heart pounded in my chest. I had a pretty good idea that I knew what the problem was. I knew why people wanted me to leave, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to. Even though I still didn’t know who the council was, it was obvious that they were working with the rogues and the harpies.

  If the rogues were involved, then so was Brett.

  If Brett was involved, then it had something to do with his dad. I knew it.

  Maybe it was time to come clean to my friends.

  Chapter 4

  Everyone was silent when I got off of the elevator and turned down the hall to my room. We were all in the same rooms as last year, which made finding my friends really easy. It also meant that everyone knew exactly where my room was. I was looking forward to getting to my room and pulling my schedule off of the door to compare with Harper and Maggie.

  But when I pushed my way through the crowd in the hall, I saw that something was wrong. My two friends were hovering by my open door, their boyfriends a few steps back. The hall grew suspiciously quiet as I walked towards them, and I felt my heart leap into my throat.

  “What’s going on?” Harper grimaced when I asked the question, but didn’t answer. Instead, she stepped to the side, out of my door. Doors were unlocked on move-in day, so I wasn’t surprised to be able to see into my room. If they were all locked then the porters wouldn’t be able to move students in.