by Mae Doyle
I let my eyes slide over her body, taking her in while trying to ignore the ridiculous clothes that she has on. Nora could easily fit in at Kennedy Academy with that face and that body, but she doesn’t want to. It blows my mind.
For the first time since she came to stay with us, Nora keeps up a steady stream of chatter on the way to the school. We park and I walk in with her, making sure to hold the front door for her. See? I can be a gentleman. It feels strange to try to be so kind to her, but I have to admit that I like how she looks at me. Maybe I can stop being the bully. Maybe Nora can be the person I need to make me into someone else. Maybe I can be the hunter and something more. The thought hadn’t crossed my mind before, but now that it has, I can’t get it out.
She falls silent as soon as we walk into the building. At first, I think that she’s just taking a breath, but then I look up and around. Everything’s changed in here.
The school is now an homage to Nora. Well, to Nora’s incident on Friday with the trash can. There are huge posters of her all over the school, all of Nora. Bethany had sent everyone pictures of Nora throwing up after school on Friday, but I guess that she didn’t get the reaction that she wanted.
Her entire squad had to be in on it to have this many huge posters of puking Nora up on the walls. NO matter where you look, you see Nora, blowing chunks. It’s…not pretty.
It has to be Bethany. She was the one who gleefully texted me these same pictures after Nora got sick after school. She probably spend hundreds of dollars blowing up pictures of Nora hunched over the trash can and came in to plaster them all over the walls.
It’s a fucking art gallery in here, and Nora is the star.
Even though we got here a little early, the buildings are already packed. Looks like Bethany also sent out some texts to make sure that Nora would have a proper welcoming when we arrived. I was expecting my football team to be here early, but not the entire school. Students are all pointing and laughing at the posters, congregated in groups down the hall. At first, they don’t see us, and Nora and I stand for a moment in silence, taking it all in.
You have to admire Bethany’s dedication. The posters are all down the hall, plastered onto the doors, and even taped up on the water fountains. I have a feeling that Bethany didn’t miss a single door and that the bathrooms are also done up with Nora’s face. When Bethany goes all out to hurt someone, she doesn’t leave a single stone unturned, and I have a feeling that she’s out for blood.
Nora’s there in all stages of throwing up. Somehow Bethany managed to get shots of her through the whole process. It’s fucking amazing. Everywhere you look, there’s Nora. It’s over the top and ridiculous and I can’t stop the laughter that’s threatening to boil up inside of me.
I shouldn’t laugh, but fuck it all if I can help it. The sound bubbles up and out of my, my entire dream of being a better person for Nora instantly forgotten. I can’t help the fact that, even though this is totally fucked up, it’s still pretty incredible.
Nora’s face is staring down at us, eyes bulging, huge chunks of vomit on every poster. It’s grotesque, even for me. Even for Bethany, who is one of the most fucked up people that I know. The old me can’t stop laughing, even as the person I want to become is looking on with horror. I guess that people can’t change as quickly as you may want them to.
“What is this?” The door slams shut behind us and all of the students in the hall turn to look at us. Nora goes pale and reaches out for me for support, but I step out of the way. There’s no way that she’s dragging me down with her on this one. When she doesn’t feel me next to her, she turns to me, panic on her face. “Did you know?” Her voice is a whisper, but still it cuts through the silence in the hall. I’m sure that everyone near us can hear the strangled sounds she’s making.
I laugh, a loud sound that cuts through the silence and breaks the ice for everyone else in the hall to start laughing. Nora steps back, away from everyone, but doesn’t turn to go through the door.
“Why?” She asks me, tears already forming at the corners of her eyes. “Why would you do this to me?”
I didn’t do this to her, but everyone in the building is staring at me. Nora’s going down, a social outcast at Kennedy Academy, and if I don’t want to go down with her then I need to be very careful.
Thinking fast, I lean forward. What I’m about to tell her is for her ears only, and I don’t want everyone else in the school to hear what I’m about to say to her.
“Because, Nora, you belong to me. I told you that I was taking you to hell with me, remember? This is just the beginning.” My lips are so close to her ear that she can feel my breath and I can smell her scent. She smells light and airy, but underneath it is a distinct smell that I instantly recognize. Fear. Nora is still terrified of me.
“But…the woods.” Her eyes search mine, and I imagine that she’s looking for any signs of compassion, but she’s going to be sorely disappointed when she finds that I don’t have any. Not for her. Not right now. I can’t right now. I can’t be seen as weak along with her. Whatever I thought that we were going to be able to have together is gone. Right now, I just need to make sure that I can protect myself the best possible. “I thought that we…” She flaps her hand between the two of us. “Connected?”
It’s obvious how badly she needs me, and I should like that, but I don’t. I don’t want her to be weak. I want her to laugh this off and pretend like it never happened, but the look of horror on her face tells me that that’s not going to happen. I want her to fight like me and be strong so that when all of this blows over, she will survive it.
“Connected?” I bark out another laugh. “Nora, the only way that I want to connect with you is when I shove my cock into your tight pussy and make you scream out my name. How hard is that for you to understand?” I reach out and shake her by the arm, pushing her roughly away from me. She gasps and steps back, fear lighting up her face.
It’s not the entire truth, and my stomach twists when I say it, but it’s what she needs to hear. There’s no way that I’m telling Nora that I started to feel something for her that day in the woods. That when the guys in the jeep threatened us that I was actually worried…for her.
That I want to protect her. That seeing her like this, so disappointed in what’s going on at school, is damn near enough to do me in. It’s fucked up that I should feel like this, but if I don’t admit it to Nora then I don’t have to admit it to myself. I can simply stuff it all down where it belongs and pretend that these feelings aren’t happening.
No, she’s the social outcast of the school and I still have a reputation to maintain. I can fuck her, sure, and nobody will care, but if anyone knows that I’m starting to catch feelings for her then I’m as fucked as she is.
This time when she takes a step back, she turns and runs out of the door. She won’t get far, I know it, because Bethany’s not stupid. She’ll make sure that Nora will have a personal escort back to the building. Nora may think that she can escape Kennedy Academy, but there’s one thing that she hasn’t learned yet.
You may think that you can get away from here, but you can’t. Once you’ve come to Kennedy Academy, you’re here. It’s our own version of hell on earth, and I’m taking over as the ruler. It’s the only way to survive. I thought that she could possibly become my queen, but Bethany is making sure that that will never happen.
Even though part of me wants to go and comfort Nora, my self-preservation is screaming at me to stay still.
She’ll be fine.
Girls like her always are. If nothing else, I’m sure that she’ll be able to get some great tortured art out of this experience and she’ll end up thanking me later.
Turning back to the hall, I raise my hands over my head in triumph. Everyone erupts and starts clapping and cheering.
I don’t know why Nora can’t see it as clearly as all of the rest of us can – she doesn’t belong here. She’s too good to be at Kennedy Academy. She’s not broken like the rest o
f us are, but if she doesn’t get out quickly, she will be.
She hasn’t belonged from the day she stepped foot on the campus, and she never will. If you’re not willing to play the game at Kennedy Academy then you’ll end up being used as the pawn. The sacrifice.
Nora was supposed to be the person I could use to become what I wanted.
A hunter.
Respected.
But something happened to me and now I can’t stop thinking about her.
She’s too afraid to play the game and now she’s going to suffer for it.
She’ll be an outcast. When she thinks that she can’t possibly break any more then she’ll come to me for help.
And I’ll destroy her.
It’s the only way for me to survive, right?
Chapter 10
Nora
I stumble away from the school, away from the posters of me, away from everyone laughing and mocking me, but I don’t get far. The cool morning air hits me on the face as soon as I step outside the building, and I gasp at it, feeling it fill my lungs. The morning is bright and clear, making the school look warm and inviting.
But I know that it’s not. It’s filled with vipers, students who are willing to hurt me at a moment’s notice to help themselves. I thought that Teague may be different than all of the rest of them, but I made a mistake.
Right now, though, I have to get out of here, but, of course, I don’t. There wasn’t a chance that I would have enough luck to avoid having to see the person who worked so hard for this to happen. Luck isn’t on my side this morning and there was no way that I was going to be able to escape from Kennedy Academy now. Almost as soon as I get out of the school building and start down the sidewalk, my progress is stopped by none other than Satan’s spawn, Bethany.
“Nora, baby, where are you going so fast?” She steps in front of me, blocking my path and grinning. I pause long enough to see if I could scoot around her, but she has her whole squad spread out behind her. “You look like something’s wrong. You want to go get a coffee and we can chat, girl to girl?”
“Let me go, Bethany. Don’t you think that you’ve done enough?” My voice cracks a little and I hate myself for it.
“Me? Oh, no, Nora, don’t you dare think that this was all me. I mean…I did take the pictures and print off the posters, so you have to admit that it was a little brilliant, right?” She grins at me and I take step back, even though I don’t have anywhere to go that is safe. “But it really wouldn’t be fair of me to take all of the credit on this one, even though I’d love to. No, Nora, it takes two to come up with such a great plan.”
“Teague?” Even as I say his name, I know that it’s the truth. He’s hated me from the moment I came to stay with him, so it makes sense that he would team up with Bethany to try to drive me out. Even though she doesn’t nod, I know that I’m right. Rage flares in me. Whatever shit he was pulling at breakfast this morning was a lie just to get me to school and make me let my guard down. That hurts even more than the fact that she would print of hundreds of posters of me throwing up. I was actually starting to trust him. How stupid can I be? “You two belong together, you know that?”
Bethany laughs. “Not interested, but thanks. Besides, Teague’s a little too fucked up, even for me. But he loves playing games, doesn’t he? Do you like this latest one we worked on?”
That’s it. I have to get out of here. Turning, I start to walk to the parking lot, even though I don’t have anywhere I can go. Bethany calls after me, but she and her cronies don’t chase me. I didn’t think that they would. They’re much more interested in the psychological damage they can cause.
Even as I walk to the parking lot, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Teague made sure that I didn’t have access to his keys again, and I don’t know anybody who would give me a ride. I wind my way between expensive cars, wishing more than ever that I had something to drive. Some way to get out of here. I’d leave everything behind and just get on the road, pick up my mom, and get out of here.
But there’s nobody that I can trust to help me get away from the school. Except maybe Jade.
I hesitate, trying to weigh the possibility of her helping me even though she’s participating in that stupid bet. Before I can make up my mind, however, I see the first kind face of the morning.
Mrs. Carlson waves at me from across the parking lot. She’s the only person here who makes me feel like I could belong. Not only does she teach art, which I love, but she doesn’t dress in heels and dresses like the rest of the teachers. She lets me come to her room early in the mornings and hang out later in the afternoons when I don’t have a ride home right away.
Even though she knows about my mom and my living situation, she never brings it up. Instead, she just lets me talk about whatever I want to talk about without making me feel uncomfortable.
She is, as my mom would say, my people.
“Nora! What are you doing here so early?” Instead of continuing to the school, she cuts across the lot and comes over to me. Wiping my tears and trying to smile, I wait on her. God, I hope that she can’t see the tears on my face. I’d give anything to have this morning not happen, but since it did, I just don’t want anyone else to know. Especially not her.
Then the mortification of what’s waiting on her in the school hits me. if she goes in there, she’ll see me in all of my puking glory. I don’t know if the other teachers didn’t see the posters or simply didn’t care, but she’s the only one I can count on to give a shit.
“My ride had to come early, so here I am.” I drop my hands by my side and try to look happy about it.
“How’s that going? You’re staying with Teague Ward, aren’t you?” She narrows her eyes as she looks at me and I feel like I’m about to cry under her scrutiny. My backpack straps dig into my shoulders and I shift my feet, trying to ignore the way she’s looking at me.
But there’s no way I can tell her the truth. He hates me? He wants to rape me? No, that won’t work around here. “Things are good,” I lie. “I hardly see him.” That part’s the truth, at least since the episode in the woods.
“Okay. It just seems like maybe there’s something more going on.” When I don’t answer, she shrugs. “Let’s go in then, shall we? I have a new painting technique that I want to show everyone in class, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be allowed to get a sneak peek.”
If we go in, then she’ll see everything and know exactly how much people here hate me. It feels like letting down my mom, but worse.
Because my mom doesn’t know enough right now to care about me or worry about me.
Now is not the time to think about the fact that she hasn’t returned any of my calls since I got up here. She left me, just like my dad did when I was little, and that’s why I want so badly for Mrs. Carlson to like me.
While I’m having this inner debate, she walks past me. “You coming, Nora?” When she pauses and looks over her shoulder at me, I nod and job to catch up with her. “You know, you can come to me anytime you have a problem. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to solve it for you, but I’m a really good listener and I’m happy to bounce ideas off of you, okay?”
I nod, wishing that I could go to her. Even if I talked to her about what’s going on, I know that she wouldn’t be able to do anything to help me. Teague is untouchable, which hardly seems fair, but he’s managed to turn himself into the golden child of Kennedy Academy.
A golden child ruling with an iron fist and fucked up insides.
As we get closer to the school building, my hands start to grow clammy. I don’t want to go in there with Mrs. Carlson and have her see what Bethany and her crew did to me. If she sees it and then looks at me…I don’t think that I’ll be able to hold it all together. But all of the cheerleaders are gone from the outside of the building, so maybe something good happened to me for once. I realize that I’m holding my breath and force myself to try to breathe normally. Maybe everything will be back to normal. I rush in f
ront of my teacher to hold the door for her and to get the first peek inside.
“Thanks, this door is heavy.” She walks through and I close my eyes, waiting to hear what she’s going to say.
Nothing. She says nothing. Slowly I open one eye, then the other, but the walls and doors are clear. Students are walking around talking to each other, but there aren’t any posters on the walls.
What the hell?
I know that I didn’t imagine this.
“Care to come see the technique?” Mrs. Carlson pauses at the entrance to her room halfway down the hall. I’ve walked with her in awe, turning and looking at everything, searching for a poster.
Nothing.
How did this happen? There’s no way that Bethany would allow the posters to be taken down without a fight, but there is one person who may have the power to make that happen. Would Teague have actually gone out on a limb for me to fix this? The thought seems really far-fetched, but I’m so desperate for help that I’m willing to hold onto it.
Ripping my eyes away from the empty hall walls, I look at Mrs. Carlson. “I would love to, but I think that I forgot to tell my ride something.” Backing away from her room, I ignore the funny look she’s giving me. “But I’ll see you later, okay?”
Before she can answer, I turn and bolt down the hall. Some of the students turn and watch me go, but nobody reaches out to stop me. Nobody calls my name. Not like I expected them to, really, but it would be nice to think that someone here cared.
I’ve finally learned my way around the school, and I bolt down the hall, my backpack slapping my back with every step. I don’t know what magic Teague had to pull to get the posters pulled down, but it makes sense that he was the one who was able to fix things. He’s the only person at this school with the power to make people listen to him like that.
Right? Maybe he’s not so bad. Maybe Bethany was lying about him helping her put up the posters. Something doesn’t make any sense, and I’m determined to figure out what it is.
