by Kai Juniper
"No." His jaw tightens and I notice his hand clenching up. "It was from my father. He picked it out."
"And you don't like it?"
He just shrugs. I guess that means he didn't want it. Why would his dad give him a car he doesn't want? Seems like a waste of money.
"You said your dad's out of town?"
He nods. "In Germany. He won't be back for a week."
"What about your mom? Did she go with him?"
"They're divorced. She lives in Australia."
"Really? That's a long ways away. How often do you see her?"
"Never." He stares out the window. "She has a new family. New kids."
"Oh." I feel like I shouldn't have asked. He seemed uptight just talking about her and now he's nervously tapping his hand on the side of the door.
"He's gonna fucking kill me," Calvin mutters.
"You mean your dad?"
He looks at me. "What?"
"You're worried about your dad being mad about the car?"
He shakes his head. "Just forget it."
"I don't know why he'd be mad. It's not your fault it didn't start. My dad says new cars always have problems, although sometimes I think he just says that as an excuse to only buy used ones. I think he secretly wants to buy new but he doesn't want to spend the money."
I look over at Calvin. His eyes are focused on the road, blankly staring at it.
"Calvin?"
He blinks a few times. "Yeah. New cars are great."
I laugh. "You didn't hear a word I said, did you?"
"Go left at the stop light." He points to it. "Then follow the road up the hill. My house is at the top. You'll have to stop at the gate."
Another gated mansion. Does anyone at my school live in a normal house?
"So you and Briggs," Calvin says as I drive up the hill. "You aren't like...doing stuff with him?"
"With Briggs?" I choke out the words, coughing a little. "I hate him. He's the absolute last person I'd ever be interested in. You saw how he tortured me sophomore year."
"But then he left you alone."
"Only because he ran out of ways to torture me."
"I'm sure he could think of more stuff to do to you."
Yeah, he could ruin my future if I don't do what he wants, but I'm not telling Calvin that.
"Why does he keep talking to you?" Calvin asks.
I look at Calvin. "Why do you care? It's between Briggs and me and I'm handling it."
"So he's bullying you again."
I don't answer as I slow down at the iron gate at the top of the hill. It's surrounded by shrubs that are so high I don't even see the house. "Is this it?"
"Yeah. I can just walk the rest of the way." He opens his door, even though the truck is still moving.
I slam on the brakes. "Calvin, wait. I'll drive you."
He closes his door and points to the left. "The entrance is there."
I turn and pull up to the metal box in front of the gate. "You want to get out and punch in the code?"
"It's 2798."
I'm surprised he gave it to me. He always seems so secretive, like he doesn't want anyone knowing anything about him.
I punch in the code and wait as the gate opens. Looking ahead, I see the sprawling mansion set far back from the road. It's all white, and a long rectangular shape. It's not the least bit warm and homey. It almost looks like an institution.
"Nice house," I say, thinking maybe it's nicer inside than out.
"I hate it," he says, looking at it with disgust.
I stop and park in front of the black metal door. "Hope you get your car fixed."
"Yeah, bye." He hops out of the truck and goes up to the house. He punches numbers into a panel and the door opens. He glances back at me, and I quickly look away and drive off.
I'm not sure what to think of him. Everyone at school thinks he's crazy, and he does seem a little odd, but I think he's just someone who's more comfortable around computers than people. There's nothing wrong with that, and it definitely doesn't mean he deserves to be picked on.
I'm so sick of that school and the people who go there. I can't believe someone took my assignment. Getting an incomplete on that paper could've dropped my grade enough to lose my first place ranking in class. I don't know how close Briggs is to catching up to me but I'm not taking any chances. I need to do everything possible to make sure I'm still ahead, which means keeping a closer eye on not just him, but everyone at school.
From here on out, I trust no one.
Chapter Nine
Briggs
Wednesday morning I'm at my locker when Ella appears. "You said you'd wait!"
I close my locker and casually look through my phone.
"Briggs!" She reaches for my phone but I hold it above her head and send a text to Parker, telling him to meet me outside the cafeteria before lunch. I have another assignment for him, one that involves the tiny, hot-headed brunette who's trying desperately to get my attention.
"I'm not even going to consider this if you're going to go back on your promise."
"I don't make promises." I turn away from her and walk off.
She chases after me, stopping right in front of me. "You said you'd leave me alone this week and every day you've—"
"What? What have I done?"
She lowers her voice. "Stealing my assignment. Making your friends block me from leaving school?"
I laugh. "I heard about that. You and Calvin. How'd it go? Was he any good?"
She glares at me. "I gave him a ride home. That's it."
"The guy's a psychopath. You might want to find someone else to take your virginity." I continue down the hall. She doesn't follow me this time, which is disappointing. She usually doesn't give up that fast. Maybe this will be easier than I thought.
I've been testing her this week, seeing what she'd put up with, seeing how far I could push her. But I kept our agreement. I left her alone. Everything that's happened to her this week was done by someone else. I was behind it but I didn't actually do it. And I had nothing to do with what Finn and Parker did in the parking lot. That was all them. I wasn't even there. I'd already left to meet up with my father for another one of his show-off-my-son events that make me want to kill myself.
This one was at the office. I'm supposed to start working there this weekend. I have no fucking clue what I'll be doing and I don't want to find out. I keep hoping I can find a way out of this but he won't accept any of the excuses I've given him. He's determined to ruin my life, and making me work there is step one. At least it's only on weekends. This summer he expects me to work there every damn day. I'd rather shoot myself.
When it's time for AP Chem, I walk into class and see Ella talking to Ms. Higgins. They both turn and look at me.
"Briggs, could I speak with you?" Ms. Higgins asks.
"Sure." I walk over to her, noticing the smirk on Ella's face. She's obviously up to something.
"Ella has brought up a concern," Ms. Higgins says.
"Is that so?" I glance at Ella. "I'm assuming it involves me?"
"Yes." Ms. Higgins stands up straighter, like she's working up the nerve to tell me what I did wrong. She knows my power at this school, and she's the only teacher here who thinks she can change that. I'm guessing she was an Ella back in the day. The girl who had no friends and only cared about school and got picked on by the popular jock. "Ella has informed me that you took her assignment for French class so that she would be unable to turn it in."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because you thought it'd be funny," Ella says, scowling at me, which I find hilarious. Part of the reason I like making her mad is to see the looks she gives me. Even when she's furious with me, it's more of a look of frustration than anger. If she wants to really show anger, she should take lessons from Aubrey. The girl looks fucking evil when she gets mad, but I can give it right back. I've mastered that threatening look that makes people cower and do what I say. I learned it from my father, the
king of evil bastards.
I give Ms. Higgins my most charming smile. "I can assure you I would never do such a thing. Ella is clearly mistaken, but if she really believes I did this, I'm happy to look over her evidence."
Ms. Higgins looks at Ella. "I assume you saw him take your assignment?"
"I didn't see it happen but I know he did it."
"Ella, you can't be making accusations you don't know are true."
"I'm not even in that class," I say to Ella. "Why would I take your paper? And why are you telling Ms. Higgins this instead of your French teacher?"
"I'm on the student disciplinary committee this semester," Ms. Higgins explains. Her eyes bounce between Ella and me. "I was hoping you two could get along but perhaps I'll need to find you different lab partners."
"You don't need to," I say. "We're good."
The bell goes off.
"Go ahead and take your seats." Ms. Higgins hurries back to her desk.
When we get to our lab station, Ella slams her backpack on the table. "I know you did it. You said you'd wait and you lied. Why am I even surprised?"
"Wait for what?" I ask as if I really don't know. That scornful look appears again on her pretty little face, which makes me want to laugh but I don't.
She turns to me. "You said you'd wait to do whatever shit you think you're going to do in your sick, twisted attempt to get me to agree to what you want."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I look down at her body. She's wearing ripped jeans and a white t-shirt that has yellow stains on it. "Seriously, do you ever look in a mirror?"
She ignores me, probably thinking I'm just saying it to insult her, which is partially true but she really should check a mirror now and then. She obviously spilled something on her shirt and doesn't even know.
"You are one of the worst people I've ever met." She yanks a notebook from her backpack and slams it on the table. "Let's just do the assignment so we can get out of here."
"Everyone should've read the lab for today," Ms. Higgins says as class starts. "Come get your supplies and let me know if you have questions."
Ella races up to get the supplies, but halfway there she turns and runs back to get her backpack, assuming I'll do something to it if she leaves it. She's paranoid, which is understandable given her fear of me and what I might do. I admit, I feel slightly guilty for that. My intention wasn't to ruin her life. I was hoping it wouldn't come to that. But I have to look out for myself and there's no fucking way I'm living under my father's rules for the rest of my life.
"I didn't take your assignment," I say when Ella returns.
"You didn't, but you paid someone to." She lines up the chemicals for today's lab in a neat little row, checking the assignment to make sure they're in the right order.
I pick up the first chemical and put it in the flask. "I said I wouldn't do anything and I didn't. I never said other people wouldn't be involved."
She turns to me, her hands on her hips. "So you admit you did it. You just used other people to do your dirty work."
"As any good leader would," I say, adding another chemical to the flask.
"You weren't supposed to add that yet," she snaps, taking the flask from me. She sets it on the burner. "Whatever. We'll just do it wrong and both get a bad grade."
I check the assignment. It doesn't say anything will happen if you mix the chemicals before heating them so I'm guessing we're good.
Ella reads over the homework for tomorrow as we wait for the chemicals to heat.
My phone dings and I see a text from Finn. It's a naked pic of the girl he was with last night. It's someone he met when he was out having sushi with his brother. The girl's hot and looks a few years older than us. I don't know why she'd be interested in Finn. She could do a lot better.
Another text pops up. I smile when I see who it's from. "Looks like Charlotte's going to the party Friday."
Ella's eyes dart up from her homework. "No she's not."
"Then someone else sent this text." I turn my phone so Ella can see it.
She looks stunned, and a little hurt. "That doesn't make sense."
"You don't seem to get the power I have over people. If I tell them to do something, they do it. You're the only one who doesn't listen."
"Then apparently I'm the only one with a brain. I can't believe she agreed to go." Ella gets her phone out and starts texting.
"She's not going to listen to you."
"Doesn't mean I'm not going to try."
"Just go to the party. You can keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't have any fun."
Ella looks up at me. "You think having you and your friends torture her is fun?"
"Why would we torture her? She didn't do anything."
"Neither did I and yet you won't leave me alone."
"Shit," I say, noticing the stuff in the flask is boiling over. I grab it, forgetting about the hot glass and almost dropping it as I set it down. "Fuck!"
Ella laughs. "You deserve that."
"Really?" I hold up my hand, showing her my fingers, which are already swelling up.
She stops laughing, concern covering her face. "Let me see." She takes my hand, then lets it go and races to the front of the class, forgetting to take her backpack with her. She hurries back with the first aid kit.
"Set your hand down," she orders, taking a small tube out of the first aid kit.
"What are you doing?" I ask, watching as she dabs gel from the tube onto each of my burned fingertips.
"It'll take away some of the pain and reduce the swelling. You have to rub it in a little."
"I'm good. Just leave it."
"It won't work sitting on top of the skin. You have to rub it in."
"I'm not touching it. It hurts like hell."
"Don't be such a baby." She grabs my hand and lightly rubs her finger over mine, which actually doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would, and the sting from the burn is starting to go away.
Why is she doing this? She hates me. Even my own mother wouldn't do this. Growing up, she couldn't deal with me getting sick or hurt. She said it made her queasy. She'd make the nanny deal with it.
I watch as Ella continues to care for each of my fingers, then gently sets my hand back on the table.
"You should put more on when you get home. It's not blistering yet so it's probably okay."
"It's fine," I mutter, feeling uncomfortable that she did that. I'm also kind of angry. I've learned to feel nothing but hate for this girl and it's all I ever want to feel. She didn't do anything to deserve that hate but it doesn't matter because it's how I feel and I refuse to feel differently.
"I'll finish the lab." She goes to get a new flask, then starts the experiment again, doing it correctly this time.
I move back, giving her space to work, but also wanting to get away from her so I can go back to hating her and get rid of the guilt I'm feeling for what I've done to her and am about to do.
When class ends I get up and leave, not saying anything to her.
At the end of the day, I'm still feeling off and just want to go home and sleep. Maybe when I wake up I'll be back to feeling like myself again.
"Why didn't you show up today?" Parker asks, catching up to me as I go to my car.
"What are you talking about?"
"You said to meet you outside the cafeteria. You weren't fucking there."
"Shit, I forgot. I went to the gym and worked out."
"So what did you want?"
"Nothing. Just forget it."
Finn's Range Rover pulls up beside us and he sticks his head out the window. "One of you fuckers want to go get shitfaced at my brother's house? He's having a party tonight."
Finn's brother is just like him but a few years older. He used his trust fund to buy a house where he parties all night and sleeps all day. He has no desire to get a job or do anything with his life. Finn's the same way. He's planning to move in with his brother this summer and do nothing but drink, sleep, and have sex. I
wish I could be that carefree, not giving a shit what I do with my life, but unfortunately I inherited my father's drive to succeed. I just refuse to succeed the way he tells me to. I want to do it my own way.
"I'll pass," I tell him. "I need to go home. I'm not feeling well." I open the car door, my fingers stinging when they press against the handle. "Fuck!" I shake out my hand.
"What happened?" Parker asks.
"I burned my fingers in Chem lab." I use my other hand and open the door.
"What about you?" Finn asks Parker. "You coming over?"
"Can't. I told Scarlett we'd go out tonight."
"You fuckers never want to do anything." Finn looks back at the car honking behind him. "Go around!"
The car backs up and I see it's Brielle, a girl I dated sophomore year. She kind of looked like Ella back then but now she looks totally different. She shot up in height and dyed her hair blond.
"What the hell she's doing?" Finn asks.
"Going the other way because she can't get around you," Parker says.
"She's got plenty of room," Finn says to us, then he yells back at Brielle, "Fucking learn how to drive!" He looks back at us. "So what are we doing Friday night? Should we take her in a room? Make her think we're going to do something?"
He's talking about Charlotte. I told him we'd do something to her at the party but I didn't say what.
"Forget it," I say. "It's not worth it."
"What the fuck?" Finn glances at Parker. "I thought we were going after Charlotte to mess with Ella."
Parker told Finn about my plan to take down Ella, even though I told Parker not to tell him. It's just like I said, the guy can't keep a secret.
"I'm doing it," I say, folding my arms over my chest. "You're not. Stay the fuck out of it. I've got it under control."
"Maybe I'll go after her myself," Finn says. "I'm sick of those bitches acting like they're better than us."
"They don't act like they're better than us," I say. "What the hell you talking about?"
"Is she really showing up Friday?" Parker asks.
"Charlotte? Yeah, but leave her alone. I'm going after Ella, not Charlotte."
"But that's how you get to Ella," Parker says. "She doesn't want us messing with her friend. That's the whole reason you invited her."
