Broken Rich Girl: A Dark Academy Bully Romance

by Bella King

  “Go fuck yourself,” I said, the tears beginning to slow as anger replaced my sadness.

  “That’s not very nice,” Trent said, taking a puff of his cigarette. “You seem to have forgotten what I just told you.”

  “I don’t care what you have to say,” I replied, pulling once again against the men who held me in place.

  “You’re going to care very much in a moment,” he said, holding up the stack of bills. “You said you were cold, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Then I’ll make a fire,” he said happily, placing the money down in front of him and pulling a small container of lighter fluid from his back pocket.

  “What are you doing?” I squeaked as he popped the lid off the fluid and squirted it over the stacks of money.

  “Keeping you warm,” he said, his voice frigid as he emptied the entire container of lighter fluid onto the bills. He crouched down and held his lighter up to the doused money.

  I gasped as the stack went up in flames, the bright orange fire dancing in Trent’s eyes as he watched the money that my father had given me burn in the graveyard. It was a fitting place to watch my hopes die.

  Trent stood up, the long end of his navy coat brushing across the hot flames. “Now, let me tell you exactly what happened to Emily.”

  Chapter 7

  I returned to the dormitory with my father’s soggy note in my hand, the blue ink running through the paper to render it barely readable. Trent had told me everything I needed to know about who had killed Emily, but I didn’t know whether to believe him or not.

  On the one hand, he knew that I had money, which meant he hadn’t been lying when he said he had eyes everywhere. He could easily know about Emily. On the other hand, he had chosen to bully me instead of working with me, manipulating me to gain power. He was a bad man, and his actions sickened me.

  How could a man that handsome be so cruel? It seemed like he could have anything he wanted in life, but he had chosen to go down the worst possible road. It wasn’t like he was stupid. The man was clearly quite clever, but he used it for evil.

  I sighed, shaking my head as I returned to my bed. I placed the note beneath my pillow and let the sheets soak up the rainwater in the paper. All I wanted to do was to go to bed now, but it wasn’t time for that yet. We still had a few hours before the lights were shut off.

  I sat on the bed and placed my head in my hands. My face was hot, but my hands were so cold from the outdoors. Trent had told me everything, ultimately keeping his end of the deal, but what was the cost of doing that? I had lost so much money in the process, and I wouldn’t ever be able to get it back. It was ashes in the wind now.

  At the end of the day, I was better off. Money was something that I loved, but revenge was even sweeter. The woman who had pushed Emily off the ledge and caused her death would be punished. I would be getting my revenge soon.

  Trent had told me about a girl named Angela, who Emily used to hang out with occasionally. They would get lunch together and talk about guys. I remembered seeing her a few times, and I had even talked to her once or twice. I knew enough about her to find her again, although she wasn’t in the same room as me in the dormitory building.

  Tomorrow, I would be plotting my revenge, but now, I needed to think. Trent had told me that he didn’t know the reason why Angela had killed Emily, but that it was probably something involving a guy named Brock. I wanted to find this man and talk to him, but I feared that Angela would know it was me who had enacted revenge on her if I did that. I wanted to keep a low profile. This was going to be a quick hit, and then it was back to normal. No more Trent, no more thinking about Emily, no more crazy stuff. I was going to behave myself until my time at Bayside was up, and I could go home.

  “Hey Samantha, another something for you,” a scratchy female voice said from in front of me.

  I looked up, seeing the butch girl again, holding another package. I was surprised that she had something else from me. I guess it was from my father again, but that was quick. I doubted it was more money, but you never know.

  I took the package from her. “Who are you?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

  “None of our business,” she said, flashing a smile before turning around and walking away.

  I watched her disappear out of the room and then looked down at the new package in my hand. Whatever it was, I wasn’t going to let Trent take it from me again. This was a gift from my father, and I had let him down by getting the money he had worked hard for stolen like that. Never again.

  I shoved the package underneath my sweater and made my way to the showers again. I needed to rinse the taste of Trent’s thug’s fingers from my lips before it became a permanent addition to my taste buds.

  I pushed through the doors that led to the showers and found a stall at the back of the room where I would feel safer in. For some reason, I kept having thoughts about cameras in the shower room. Could that be how Trent knew that I had the money?

  I looked up at the ceiling but saw nothing to indicate that anyone had planted a camera in the room. My paranoid thoughts weren’t leaving me alone, but I knew that it was more likely that one of the girls in the dorm saw he money while I was opening the package for the first time and reported it to Trent. It wasn’t just men who were involved with his gang.

  The new package was wrapped in the same way as the first one, with many layers of tape and black plastic. I rubbed it against the door hinge on the inside of the stall in a similar manner as before, ripping through the plastic enough to pull out what was inside.

  There was a single stack of 20 dollar bills inside and a box along with it. I breathed a sigh of relief. At least I had some money to work with. This would make my life a lot easier.

  A note sat on top of the box, which I picked up and read before opening it.

  Dear Samantha,

  I misplaced this when I sent the first package. This is the rest of the money. Use it wisely. I’ve also included something your mother used to wear. I had someone take it from the house. I meant to give it to you before I got sent away, but I didn’t have the chance. Stay safe.

  Love,

  Dad.

  I would have been brought to tears by the letter had I not just endured Trent’s psychological torture half an hour earlier. I felt too tough to cry over a letter from my father now, even if he had also mentioned my mother in it.

  I put the note down with the money and opened the box. Inside of it, there was a gold necklace with a heart dangling at the center. It was cute and was something my mother had worn religiously before she passed away. I had thought she was buried with it, but apparently not.

  I took it out of the box and felt the cold metal in my hands. It was lovely. I unlatched the small hook holding it together and re-latched it around my neck, letting the heart fall between my breasts. It felt like it should have been there this whole time. It was natural.

  I stepped under the showerhead and turned on the icy water. Today, it didn’t feel so bad against my skin. Maybe that was because I was too deep in my own thoughts to acknowledge the world around me. I was numb, but not in a good way. There was a steady fire that had been lit inside of me, and I didn’t feel like it would go out any time soon.

  Being motivated by revenge is never a good thing, but it gave me something to occupy my brain during my imprisonment at Bayside Academy. Here, you risk losing your mind if you can’t find something, anything, to distract yourself with. At first, it had been Trent, but now, it was Angela.

  I rinsed the smell of burnt money from my hair, then turned off the water. I felt a bit better now that I had received both the tools and the information to begin enacting my revenge on Angela. First, I would need to gain access to the black market at the school, but I wouldn’t be doing that through Trent. I would have to find somebody else.

  I shoved the money into my pocket and left the empty box in the shower stall to be cleaned up by the janitor. I was going to be as low-profile as I could, a
nd I wouldn’t be letting the money see the light of day until I was ready to begin buying things with it. I couldn’t risk Trent knowing about it and taking it before I could put it to good use.

  I returned to the main room with my wet hair tied in a sloppy bun on top of my head, counting the beds as I went back to mine. Blue, Black, Blue, Black.

  Chapter 8

  He was a handsome man, not unlike Trent, in some ways. His hair was parted neatly on his scalp, and his clothes were a bit neater than the average student. He looked like he had money, and that’s precisely why I knew he would have information about the local black market. If he had money, then he was probably using it.

  “Hey,” I said, feeling shy as I came up to him in the hallway.

  He gave me a look of mild surprise. “Hello there. Can I help you?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me where I could buy something around here,” I said, using soft language while still being direct about my intentions.

  He nodded, shifting his eyes left and right while sucking his lips into his mouth. “I think I might be able to do that, but I need to know you’re not going to rat my contacts out.”

  I made a cross over my chest. “Cross my heart, hope to die,” I said, trying to sound as sweet and innocent as I could.

  The man laughed. “You’re adorable, but that’s not going to work on me.”

  I pouted. “Okay, so what do I have to do then?”

  He pushed his fingers through his thick brown hair and grinned. “I could think of a few things, but I’ll settle on a simple background check from one of my boys. What’s your name?”

  “Samantha,” I said eagerly, standing on my toes briefly.

  “Samantha. And your last name?”

  “Briar,” I replied.

  “Samantha Briar,” he repeated as he stored it in his memory. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Until then, hang in there,” he said, winking at me.

  “Will do,” I said happily. He seemed like a nice enough guy, and he was definitely the right person to talk about when it came to the black market. I had struck gold.

  He walked away, and I watched him go. I was beginning to grow fond of the muscular builds that everyone at this school seemed to have. It had a dangerous allure to it.

  “Who the fuck was that?” A powerful voice said from behind me, causing me to jump.

  I spun around and came face to face with Trent. “Jesus,” I said, clenching the heart necklace on my chest. “You scared me.”

  “You should be scared,” he replied, squinting at the back of the man I had just been talking with. “You’re talking to Angus? Bad move, darling.”

  “What’s it to you?” I asked, taken aback by his aggression and nosiness.

  “It would mean a lot to me if you didn’t fraternize with the enemy,” he stated, still glaring at Angus as he disappeared down the hallway.

  “Need I remind you that it is you who is the enemy?” I said, holding up a finger.

  “Shut it,” he said, finally looking at me directly. “You’re not allowed to speak with him. Do you understand?”

  I wondered why he was so angry about me talking with Angus. As far as I could tell, there was no active conflict between the two men. I had never seen then fight or even cross paths.

  I crossed my arms. “Don’t tell me what to do, Trent. You burned my money, and I don’t like you.”

  “You don’t have to like me in order to obey me. In fact, I would prefer you didn’t like me. It makes things easier,” he grumbled.

  “I’m not going to obey you just because your goons are running around the school committing petty crimes. It’s pretty lame,” I said.

  He laughed angrily. “Oh yeah? And what have you done that landed you at Bayside, huh? Did you give a cop the middle finger or something?”

  I shook my head but kept my mouth shut. He was still curious as to how I got here, but I wasn’t going to tell him that my father was a mafia boss. I didn’t want him to know that much about me. He couldn’t trick me into telling him either.

  “You’re cute, Samantha, which is the only reason I haven’t snapped your skinny little neck. I expect you to step in line or deal with me directly,” he said, his voice getting deeper the more he spoke.

  “Or what?” I challenged.

  “Don’t tempt me,” he said, his eyes once again burning a hole through me. His gaze was so intense now that it was making me uncomfortable. I couldn’t tell if he was about to tear me to shreds or kiss me.

  “Just leave me alone, okay? We don’t have any more business together,” I said.

  “Actually,” Trent replied, pulling out the same package that I had delivered to him before. “We do have business. This isn’t what I wanted, and I need you to put it back where you got it. I’m making a switch, so you’ll have to get the new package tomorrow.”

  “In your dreams,” I said. “I already did your task. This is over.”

  “No, you didn’t complete it because this isn’t the right box. The damn corridor got confused and gave me the wrong item.”

  “That’s not my fault,” I said, hoping that he realized how insane he sounded.

  “That doesn’t matter. You’re going to switch them back. Take it,” he said, holding the box out to me.

  “No,” I said, keeping my arms crossed tight against my torso.

  “Take it, and I’ll get you a line into the black market,” he said with a glint of mischief in his eye.

  “What?” I asked, surprised at how much he knew.

  “That’s why you were talking to Angus, right?”

  “Were you listening in on me?” I asked, growing irritated that I seemed to have no privacy from Trent.

  “That’s beside the point,” He said smugly. “Do you want access or not?”

  “I’m going to get it from Angus anyway. I don’t need you,” I said, taking a step back in an attempt to end the conversation.

  “No, you won’t. Angus is going to look you up and find out that you’ve done work for me. He’s not going to give you shit after that,” Trent said, a smile of triumph gracing his stubbly face.

  Did the school gangs have a database with information about everyone in it? Just how advanced were these thugs?

  I rolled my eyes. “So, you want me to swap the package, and that’s all?”

  He nodded, softening his expression in an attempt to feign innocence.

  I couldn’t believe I was agreeing to this. He was such a manipulative prick. I reached out and snatched the package from his hand, glaring at him. “Same place as before, right?”

  “Yep,” he replied, looking smug.

  I shook my head. “You better hold up your end, and we’re not going to meet in the fucking graveyard again.”

  He held out his hands, smiling sweetly. “I promise you. I’m being fair.”

  I had enough of his nonsense. I shoved the package in my back pocket, giving little care to how visible it was, and walked away.

  I felt that Trent might not have liked Angus, but there had to be more to it. I almost felt like I heard jealousy in his voice when he was telling me not to deal with him. Trent was possessive, as I already knew, but was it possible that he was attracted to me as well? I had caught him giving me suggestive looks in the past. It was entirely possible.

  That was wrong, though. I wasn’t going to get involved with him. The more time I spent around him, the worse things got for me. He was the entire reason for everything bad that had happened here, aside from Emily’s death. Then again, he was also the only reason I wasn’t bored out of my mind.

  I made my way to the bathroom, where I had to switch the package with a fresh one. He had wanted me to do it as soon as possible, and to be honest, I didn’t feel like going to class anyway. I’m sure they wouldn’t miss me, as long as I stayed in the bathroom until the bell rang. If I was caught in the hall without a pass, that would get me in trouble. In the bathroom, I was safe.

  I reached the bathroom, ducking inside
as security wandered down the hall. I had arrived just in time to sneak in without getting caught. Now, all I had to do was to switch the package and wait an hour in the bathroom. It was a long time to wait, but it wouldn’t be much different from staring out the window in class. At least I didn’t have to hide the fact that I didn’t care in here.

  I made my way to the back of the bathroom, passing a few open stalls and one closed one before arriving at the back where I could make the switch. I shut the stall door quietly, jumped up onto the toilet, yanking out the grate with no grace, and peered into the dark hole in the wall.

  There was another box, almost identical to the one that Trent had given me. As I took the old one out of my back pocket, I got the urge to check what was inside. Nobody would notice if I looked inside because it had already been opened before.

  I stepped back down from the toilet, spinning around and sitting on the lid with the old package in my hand. I turned it over, examining the obviously out-of-place tape. I was too curious a person to let this opportunity go to waste, and besides, I didn’t have much respect left for Trent after what he had done to me.

  I peeled back the tape, being careful not to cause more damage than necessary to the wrapping while I reopened it. The sound of the tape was loud in the echoing bathroom. Even though nobody would know or care what I was doing, I still felt the need to hide the sound. I hunched over the box with it on my lap as I finished opening it, excited to see what was inside.

  I was surprised when a thin gray power leaked out into my hand. It was like sand, only darker and finer. At first, I thought it could be drugs, but I had never seen drugs like this. It looked like someone had ground up gravel and placed it in a box. I took a pinch and put it into the small pocket at the top of my jeans, closing the box and wrapping it up as best as I could.

  I wanted to find out what this stuff was, but it would take time to do that. I found myself wishing I had more connections to go through. It would be easy to have someone else test it for me.