by Bella King
Angus would be helpful if he turned out to be on my side. With what Trent had said, it looked like I would need to find someone else to confide in. It wouldn’t be easy, because I didn’t know how many people were on Trent’s side. He had eyes and ears around every corner. I couldn’t be too careful.
I jumped back up to the vent shaft and swapped the packages, shaking the one I received to check if it had similar contents. I heard the same maraca sound of a loose powder inside. Whatever it was that Trent was having delivered to him, the differences were subtle from the mistaken package. I had to test the powder in my pocket to find out what it was.
I straightened up the vent in the hiding spot and climbed back down from the toilet, dropping the new package into my bookbag and slinging it over my shoulder. I sat down on the toilet seat and waited for the bell to ring, signaling that it was safe for me to go outside.
Minutes after I was lost staring at the graffiti on the interior walls of the stall, I heard footsteps, and then a knock on my stall.
Chapter 9
I pulled my legs up, hoping that whoever it was would go away if they thought nobody was in the stall. They didn’t.
“Hello?” A small and polite voice asked from the other side.
I remained silent.
“Hello? I know someone is in there because I heard you earlier. Are you skipping class too?”
I sighed, and put my legs down, standing up from the toilet and taking a step toward the stall door. I unlatched the bolt and swung it open toward me. I was surprised to see a rather small woman with a face as sweet as they came, standing in front of my stall with her hands clasped in front of her.
“Can I help you?” I asked, a little confused.
“Perhaps,” she answered with a dimpled smile. “I’m pretty bored sitting in the bathroom alone.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, same. What’s your name?”
“Lisa,” she answered cheerfully.
“Cool, I’m Samantha,” I replied.
“Oh, I already know that,” she said, her expression not changing at all.
“Oh?”
“Yes, you’re dating Trent, right?” she asked, tilting her head to the side so that her short auburn hair fell against her shoulder.
I laughed. “Hell no, but I know him.”
“You seem to know him well,” she said with a wink.
I scoffed. “You seem to know me well. What’s your deal, anyway?”
She giggled, but it sounded a bit fake. I was beginning to grow suspicious of her. If she knew who I was, then it was likely that she had been sent by Trent to keep an eye on me. That, or she was one of Angus’s workers coming to check me out. He did say he would run me through the system. Was this what he meant?
“I heard you have money, so I wanted to see if you’re in need of any services. I already have deliveries running for the Killers, and the 24 Block Thugs as well. I don’t pick sides.”
Great, somebody with connections. It was frightening how much people seemed to know about me around this school, even though I tried to keep myself subtle. She could help me, but she could just as easily side with Trent and leak information to him. Why should I trust her?
“So, you’re sided with the Killers?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh no, I don’t side with anyone. I’m an independent woman,” she said, beaming at me with rows of perfect white teeth. She was an odd girl, but she seemed to know her business.
I didn’t think it would hurt to give her a try. “Don’t tell Trent what I’m doing, okay?”
“Your orders are safe with me,” she said, maintaining an air of professionalism as she spoke.
I felt like I was getting my taxes filed as opposed to standing in the bathroom, talking about illegal orders at a boarding school for delinquents. This was the first time at this school that I had encountered cheerful and professional service, and I had to say that I liked it.
“I have some stuff with me, but I don’t know what it is,” I explained. “Could you get someone to test it for me?”
“Drugs?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I’m not really sure what it is at all,” I said, pulling a pinch of the gray powder from my pocket and showing it to her in the palm of my hand.
She leaned in for only a moment before responding, “Gunpowder.”
“What?” Surprised that she knew that so quickly.
“Gunpowder. By the looks of it, single-base gunpowder, but don’t quote me on it,” she explained.
What would Trent need with gunpowder? What was he trying to do with it? This new information confused and intrigued me. I wanted to know more.
“So, if I asked you to get some, you would be able to?” I asked, squinting at Lisa.
She nodded. “For the right price, yes.”
I rubbed my chin. “Okay, let me think for a second.”
“Take your time.”
I spun a few ideas around in my head, trying to figure out my next move. I wasn’t sure how much stuff cost on the market, but I didn’t worry too much about it. I had a decent sum of money tucked in my pocket right now. Trent hadn’t succeeded in robbing me blind just yet.
I wanted to get back at Angela for the atrocity that she had committed against Emily, but at the same time, I wanted to ensure it never came back to me. What I needed was a stern punishment without much noise or commotion. The best thing I could think of on the spot was getting her kicked out of school.
Then, it hit me. She would be kicked out of school if security found something on her bad enough to warrant jail time. She deserved to be in jail for what she had done to Emily. All I would have to do was to plant something on her that would make a loud beep going through the security scanner.
“I need a piece of metal and some strong drugs,” I said with a slight smirk.
Lisa raised an eyebrow. “You want a knife or something?”
“Yes, that would be fine, as long as it’s metal,” I said.
“Okay, so a knife and some drugs. Anything in particular?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
She almost rolled her eyes but stopped herself. “You want pills, grass, sleep medication?”
“Pills, I guess,” I replied, not knowing much about them.
“Uppers, downers, psychedelics?”
“I don’t know. Something very illegal,” I said.
“You’re wild,” she said with a laugh. “The harder the substance, the more it’s going to cost you.”
“I know. Just get me something that’ll fuck me up,” I said.
“Careful with that,” she said, giving me a funny look. “We’ve had enough overdoses around here already.”
“I’m not going to overdose,” I replied. Hell, I wasn’t even going to take it. This was all for Angela so that she could be caught with a clear baggy of drugs taped to a knife in her bag. It was an easy hit, almost too easy.
Lisa drummed her fingers against the side of the bathroom stall frame. “I can get you something strong, and something pointy, which I’ll estimate would be around,” she paused to think, “a hundred bucks.”
“Deal,” I eagerly replied, pulling a wad of banknotes from my pocket.
Her eyes widened when she saw them. “Don’t let people see you with that,” she warned.
I thumbed out five twenties and handed them to her. “I already learned that lesson the hard way.”
“Shame, but that’s the way most people do,” she said, taking the money from my hands.
“Hey, how do I know you’re not going to disappear with my money?” I asked, testing her one final time before we went on our own merry ways.
She laughed. “I’m not looking for trouble, sweetheart.”
“Fair enough,” I replied.
The bell rang, signaling that it was time to leave the bathroom and get to the next class. “How do I find you?” I asked as Lisa began walking toward the exit.
“I’ll come to you when I’m ready,” she replied, exi
ting the bathroom and leaving me there alone, once again.
She had better hold up her end of the deal. I was sick of being screwed over.
Chapter 10
Trent. What an arrogant prick. There he was again, leaning against his locker like the world owed him everything. I hated him, but what I hated even more was the fact that he was chatting it up with an attractive blonde woman.
I ran my fingers through my own blonde hair. Maybe he had an affinity for blondes, but that just made it worse. Was he a player? I had never actually seen him with a woman other than me until now, and Lisa had even thought that he and I were dating. Strange.
Trent nodded to the woman as she left, staring at her ass as she walked away. Disgusting. I was sure he did that kind of shit to me when I wasn’t looking. It only confirmed that he wasn’t the respectful man that I hoped to meet one day.
Still, I was drawn to him again. I felt my body taking control and guiding me toward him even though I didn’t want to be there. I had his package, I reasoned with myself, and that was why I was heading in his direction. Of course, it was because I wanted to drill him on the woman he was just talking to, like how he had pressed me about Angus. Was it petty if we both did it?
“Delivery for Mr. Trent,” I said in a joking tone as I approached Trent.
He turned around with a frown, but his eyes softened when he saw that it was me. “Samantha. About time. I was beginning to think someone pushed you off the school building or something,” he said with a cocky smile.
“Not funny,” I said, placing my bag down in front of him. I had tried to be lighthearted with him, but he had already ruined it. “How do you want to make the swap?”
“Just hand it over. I’m tired of being coy. The administration doesn’t have shit on me anyway,” he said, making a beckoning motion with his large hand.
“Cool,” I said, unzipping my bag and handing the box to him.
“Alright, well, I’ll put in a good word for you, and maybe someone will get back to you about the whole black market thing,” he said once he stuffed the box into his bag.
I didn’t tell him that I had already gained access. That would just make him suspicious. The illusion of control that he had was a good thing for me because it meant that I could dodge his attempts to manipulate me.
I smiled. “Thank you,” I said politely.
“Don’t expect any other favors,” he said.
“You haven’t done any for me yet,” I replied with an edge of snark.
“One more thing before you leave,” he said as I tried to turn away.
“I’m listening,” I said.
Trent’s eyes flicked down over my body, taking me in before he spoke. “A few of the gang want to see more of you.”
“I’m not a whore,” I said, frowning at him and shaking my head dismissively.
“For me, you probably would be, but that’s not the point I’m making. I mean, the guys want you to come with us to the lake tonight,” he said. “There’ll be other people there too. Women and stuff.”
I was confused, but that seemed to happen often at Bayside Academy. I wasn’t savvy with the way these types of people were. Was ‘lake’ slang for something else?
“I knew you’d be confused,” he said, cracking a smile. “Thanks to some sewage pipelines, there’s a way off the school campus. Not everyone knows about it, but I figured since you were tight with the Killers, maybe you’d want to join.”
“I’m not tight with your silly gang,” I said, but I had to admit I was more than a little curious. Was it actually possible to leave Bayside whenever I wanted to?
“So, I’ll tell them you pass on the offer,” Trent said, waving a dismissive hand.
“Hey, I didn’t say that,” I blurted, unable to contain my excitement about the option of leaving the school.
“Here’s the deal,” he said, leaning against his locker again. “We leave from one of the basement bathrooms. I have a key to get down there, but once you’re out, you’re not coming back in until tomorrow when school starts again.”
“I have to sleep outside?” I asked, feeling a glimmer of doubt.
“We sleep in an abandoned storage cabin out there. It’s not a big deal. All the supplies are there already, so you don’t really have to worry about anything,” he explained.
“How do I know this isn’t a trick?” I asked, studying his face for the truth.
He chuckled. “Why would I be tricking you?”
“You did it in the graveyard before,” I reminded him.
Trent shook his head, giving me a look as though I was stupid. “Come one, you know as well as I do that what I did was punishment for lying to me. Don’t lie, and there won’t be consequences. You got it?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sure,” I said, but I didn’t fully believe him. Despite all that, I still wanted to join him and the others by the lake tonight. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to escape the hellhole that was Bayside Academy for a little while. I needed to enjoy some freedom again.
“Are you coming or not?” he asked, glancing at a plastic clock hung on the wall across from us.
“Yeah, I’ll go,” I replied. “But don’t try anything funny.”
“I would say the same for you, darling,” he said, winking at me.
I shook my head at him, but I liked the attention. Maybe it was that I had been cooped up in this place for too long to remember what normal men were like, but the devilish charm of Trent was starting to grow on me. I planned on keeping a distance, but that was becoming increasingly difficult with him. He seemed to have a magnetic effect on me, and that was just the beginning.
The lake could have been a ruse to get me alone with him and his gang again, but there was something in his tone that made me want to trust him. I shouldn’t have been giving him another chance, but I did anyway.
“When and where do we meet?” I asked, spinning a lock of hair in my finger.
“Meet me back here when the final bell rings. I’ll show you where to go from there,” he said, pushing himself off his locker in preparation to leave.
“See you then,” I said.
“See you.”
I watched him walk away. His swagger was exaggerated as usual. I loved to hate him, but this time I let myself admire his figure as he disappeared into the throngs of students heading to their next class. Only when he was completely out of view did I leave his locker, heading for another dull lecture before the end of the day.
Chapter 11
I had worn a jacket today. It was drizzling outside again, the rain light enough to be ignored, but persistent enough to wear it cooled the air. The afternoon was going to be great, I thought to myself as I looked out the window during my final class of the day.
The mood around the school was as gray as it was outside, but I wasn’t as depressed as everyone else. I felt excitement bubbling beneath my skin. And hope. I hadn’t felt hope in a long time, and yet it was there too, shyly presenting itself to me like the first rays of sun after a winter storm.
I peered out the window again from my new favorite spot at the center of the classroom, admiring the beauty of the rain. I used to go out and dance in the rain with my mother. She really enjoyed that sort of thing before she had died.
I clutched the gold heart pendant from my necklace in my hand as I watched the droplets of cold rain roll down the window. She would have loved this sort of weather. I wondered what she would think about me being at Bayside Academy, though. Would she be disappointed in my father and I for the road we had taken?
I tried to put those thoughts behind me. They couldn’t rule my mind the way that I had let them rule me when I first got locked up. I had grown stronger since then. I wasn’t the fragile, rich girl who had once been scared to walk down the hallway with all the other students. I was broken now, but I was piecing myself back together with a stronger glue. This time, I prayed that it would hold.
Another day, another boring lecture. I was beginning to u
nderstand why the teachers at this school looked so lifeless. The subject matter was as dull as it was useless, and I’m sure they had recited it hundreds of times already. This was useless compared to the education that I had received from my private school. I would kill to go back there.
“And I want to see you all at the exam tomorrow. No excuses,” the teacher finished right before the bell rang.
Exam? Shit, maybe going to the lake tonight wasn’t that good of an idea. I had no idea what was going to be on the lecture. Shouldn’t I study for something like this?
As everyone jumped out of their seats, I lingered in mine for a moment, trying to think about the consequences of choosing the lake over studying for an exam. I doubted the material on the exam would be especially difficult, but I wanted to make sure that I didn’t fail it. That, along with nearly every wrong thing you could do, would result in detention. Repeated failures would have you flunked and tossed into jail.
My foolish brain convinced me that I could study at the lake, or at least look over the material that we had covered in class. If Trent and all the other people going to the lake didn’t see the point in studying for the exam, then maybe it wasn’t that difficult.
It didn’t take me long to dismiss the exam entirely. I was too excited to finally get out of the school campus and experience true freedom without the fear of constantly being monitored. I mean, fuck, I couldn’t even adjust my bra without it being caught on camera. It was frustrating.
I got up from the warm metal seat that had tried it’s best to make my ass go numb and pulled my jacket over my arms. The leather felt good against my skin, giving a quiet creak as I moved. I always opted for leather over synthetic fabrics for jackets, but that was just the rich girl inside of me. I would always be one at heart, no matter how poor I was. Daddy didn’t raise a beggar.
I took a sip from my plastic water bottle and made my way to Trent’s locker. He was leaning on it when I arrived, the usual smug look plastered on his aggressively handsome face. He had shaved again, displaying the details of his strong chin under the weak lights in the hallway.
