Empire High Betrayal

by Ivy Smoak

  I bit the inside of my lip. He had gotten into business with Cupcake because of me. Another thing to add to the ever-growing list of things I’d messed up.

  “Felix, I’m so…”

  “It’s fine, newb. It’s better that I’m out of distribution. Hell, I think I’m done with the whole thing. I might just sell Cupcake my client list. I don’t want to be my parents. I had to fly halfway across the world for them to even talk to me. They’re dicks. I don’t want to be anything like them.”

  “Really?” I couldn’t help but be excited. Felix was too good for that business. “You’re going to stop selling altogether?”

  He laughed. “A very smart girl once told me that I’m better than that.”

  “You are better than that.”

  He looked back over at Cupcake. “Besides, I don’t want to work with someone like him. I talked to him about what happened with Kennedy. He swears it went down differently than…”

  “Kennedy wasn’t lying.”

  He winced. “I didn’t say she was. I believe you. I believe her. But he…” He shook his head. “Kennedy should talk to someone about what happened. Cupcake isn’t going to listen to me. And he should pay for what he did to her.”

  “She doesn’t want anyone else to know.”

  “Maybe I could talk to her?”

  “No. I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone. I shouldn’t have even told you. Please don’t say anything.”

  “But someone needs to…”

  “Please, Felix.”

  He pushed his hair off his forehead. “Okay. I won’t say anything. But what if he does it again?”

  Isabella. Cupcake was dating her now. I knew she was terrible. The literal worst human being I’d ever met. But shouldn’t I warn her? About what Cupcake was like?

  Felix and I both looked at each other.

  “I’ll try to talk to Kennedy again,” I said. “To see if she’ll come forward. And in the meantime…I guess I should warn Isabella? Somehow without telling her about what happened with Kennedy.”

  “I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t warn Isabella,” Felix said.

  “Yeah, but I’d blame myself if he did something to her. Maybe I’ll write a menacing letter to her about it in red lipstick.”

  Felix laughed. “Dump Cupcake or else?”

  I smiled. “Yeah, something like that.”

  Coach Carter blew the whistle, signaling the end of class.

  “Think you can run faster than me now that you got fancy new kicks?” Felix started running backward.

  I laughed. “Yes.” I sprinted past him.

  “Shit,” he said with a laugh as he caught back up to me.

  Chapter 25

  Monday

  Felix and I walked into the cafeteria together. “Save me a seat?” Felix asked. “I want to go talk to Cupcake real quick. But I definitely don’t want to sit at that table.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, no problem.” I watched him walk over to the Untouchables’ original table. I wanted to go over to Isabella right away and somehow warn her about Cupcake. But Cupcake was sitting right next to her. I couldn’t exactly do it in front of him.

  “Everything okay with that?” Matt asked as I sat down next to him at our table.

  “With Felix or Isabella?”

  “Both?” He smiled. “You look worried. What’s wrong?”

  “Everything is fine with Felix. I told him about us. And he just wants to be friends. For real this time.”

  “That’s good,” Matt said and pulled me onto his lap. “So you’re worried about Isabella then?”

  It was weird. I was nervous to have to go talk to Isabella about Cupcake. But it wasn’t really a decision. I had to do it. Despite everything, I’d never forgive myself if Cupcake did something to her. But that awkward conversation wasn’t what was bothering me.

  “I didn’t receive any notes from her today,” I said.

  “Maybe she finally got the hint that they’re not going to make you stop coming to school.”

  “I guess.” I was used to the threatening notes though. Not getting any? Somehow it seemed more menacing. I looked back over at Isabella’s table. It was just her, Cupcake, and Felix now. Where had all her minions disappeared to?

  “I brought your salad,” Matt said.

  “You’re the best.” I kissed his cheek.

  The flash of a camera made me turn to Kennedy. “You two are so ridiculously cute,” she said.

  I smiled up at Matt. It was so weird being snuggled up to him in the cafeteria. When school had started, I’d never imagined we’d wind up here. Only in my dreams.

  “What’s your costume for the Halloween party?” Kennedy asked Matt.

  “It’s a surprise.” He reached around me to grab a fry off his plate.

  “Wait, you’re really not going to tell us?” I asked.

  He laughed. “All you need to know is that I’m going to make an entrance.”

  I shook my head at him. He was the ridiculously cute one.

  “Oh, I can’t wait,” Kennedy said. “Your annual Halloween party is always one of the biggest events of the year.”

  “Well, I think Brooklyn and I are going to try to top it this year,” Matt said.

  I could feel my cheeks turning red.

  “We picked a date for our wedding,” he added.

  Kennedy opened her mouth and then closed it again. “Shut up. For this year? When?!”

  I laughed. “Saturday, December 22nd.”

  “This is amazing.”

  “And I had a question to ask you,” I said. “Will you be my bridesmaid? Or maid of honor? Or whatever you want to be called? You’re my only one.”

  Kennedy squealed. “Do you seriously even have to ask? Yes!”

  Matt held me even closer.

  “What made you decide to do it so close to Christmas?”

  “It gives us more time to celebrate during winter break,” Matt said.

  That had been the original reason. But the more we’d talked about it, the sweeter Matt’s reason was. He knew the upcoming holidays were going to be hard on me. Just thinking about not waking up and celebrating Christmas morning with my mom made tears come to my eyes. The wedding was the perfect way to keep myself from not getting upset during the holidays. And we were creating a new family. The two of us. It would be hard to be sad during Christmas when our toes were in the hot sands of the Bahamas.

  “You two are the best couple ever,” Kennedy said. “Are you going to eat all of those?” Kennedy asked and pointed to Matt’s French fries.

  “Kennedy, if you want French fries, you should just order them,” he said with a laugh. “Why are you always stealing mine?”

  “Because I like green beans too. I just want a mix.”

  Matt laughed and shoved his tray into the middle of the table.

  “You gotta keep him,” Kennedy said. “He’s the best.”

  “I plan on it.”

  “Hey guys,” Felix said and sat down next to Kennedy.

  “What were you doing talking to the enemy?” Kennedy asked as she stole another fry.

  “I’m selling Cupcake my list of clients. I’m done selling.”

  “Really?” Kennedy’s whole face lit up.

  I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her quite this happy. Maybe she’d finally admit she liked Felix now that he wasn’t going to be a drug dealer anymore.

  I looked over at Isabella’s table and was surprised to see her sitting all alone. It was a sight I never in a million years would have thought I’d see. And I couldn’t think of a better time to go talk to her than now.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said and stole one of Matt’s French fries too.

  “You guys really need to get your own fries,” Matt said.

  “It’s way more fun to just steal yours.” I kissed his cheek and climbed off his lap. I didn’t tell him I was going to talk to Isabella, because I knew he’d try to stop me. I’d explain it to him later. Right now I just needed to get it
over with as quickly as possible.

  Isabella smiled at me when I sat down across from her. “I’m not supposed to talk to you, Sissy.”

  “I just need to tell you something.”

  “Regardless, Daddy will be mad if he knows we spoke.”

  “I won’t tell him.”

  She dropped her fork on her tray. “Let me make this clear then. I don’t want to talk to you. So you should probably run along back to your boy toy.”

  “Matt’s not a boy toy.” Whatever that is.

  “Yes he is. You’re only with him to grate on my nerves. And you’re failing. Because I know for a fact that he doesn’t even like you. He’ll come crawling back to me soon enough. Just you wait and see.”

  Fuck off. “We’re getting married.”

  She laughed. “No. You’re not.”

  “Actually we are.”

  “You’re adorably absurd,” she said. “You’ll be gone soon enough.”

  The way she said it made a chill run down my spine. “Look, I didn’t come over here to argue with you. I came here to warn you about your new boyfriend…”

  She laughed. “Cupcake and I aren’t exclusive. I’m only casually seeing him to annoy your friend. You see…” She leaned forward like she didn’t want someone to overhear our conversation. “I’m going to break you, Sissy. And I’m going to do it by breaking everyone around you. I’m going to make it so that I’m not the only one that wants you out of this city. Every. Single. Person that you call a friend? Or lover? They’re going to hate you soon. I made sure of it. Starting with Matt.” She looked down at the watch on her wrist. “Tick. Tick. Boom.”

  I laughed because I didn’t know what else to do. Her words made my chest hurt. And my lungs feel tight.

  “So is that all?” she asked. “Because I’m in the middle of lunch and you’re making me lose my appetite.”

  “Isabella, I came over here to warn you that…”

  She held up her hand to stop me. “Oh, darling. No. You came over here so I could warn you. And I just did. So leave, garbage person.” She flicked her wrist to dismiss me.

  I took a deep breath. It didn’t matter that she was hateful. She was still a person. And technically she was my sister. “Isabella, I know for a fact that Cupcake uses drugs to take advantage of people.”

  She laughed. “I know. He was the one that gave me the idea to drug Kennedy at homecoming. He’s such a catch. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think we should go steady. Don’t you think? Just for a while of course. Because I’ll be dating Matt as soon as you get the hell out of my city.”

  I clenched my jaw so tightly that it hurt. “You’re such a bitch.” I’d texted Rob yesterday to let him know the prank was off. But this conversation really made me want to go back on that decision. How could she laugh about drugging Kennedy? What was wrong with her?

  She laughed again. “Daddy doesn’t like it when we curse. I’ll be telling him about that offense.”

  Damn it. I was trying to warn her. And all I was accomplishing was getting myself upset. “Just be careful with Cupcake. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “That’s funny. Because I do want to hurt you. Which is exactly why I’m winning this game.”

  God, this conversation was pointless. I’d warned her. And I’d had enough. I stood up, but Isabella grabbed my arm with her freezing cold fingers.

  “You should probably go out in the hall,” she said. “You have about five minutes before the bell rings to announce the end of lunch. And based on how long my friends have been gone…you’ll probably need more like twenty minutes to undo the damage. Oops.”

  “What damage?”

  “You’re wasting precious time. The longer you dilly dally, the easier you’re making it on me.” She looked down at her watch again. “I think Matt and you will be over by the end of the day at this rate.”

  Fuck. I practically ran out of the cafeteria. I didn’t even look over at my lunch table to see if anyone had noticed me leaving. But as soon as I stepped out into the hall, I prayed that no one was following me.

  Shit.

  There were printouts of me covering every inch of the hall. Taped to lockers. Scattered all over the hallways of Empire High.

  Shit!

  They were everywhere, covering practically everything in sight. Even the water fountain had pictures. All the images were a little fuzzy, but they were all of me. In my underwear at the hotel. From the night Isabella had tried to kill me. She must have gotten them from the security cameras.

  And there were hundreds. Thousands. What the hell? There were pictures of me running around the hotel with the makeshift map dress. And there were a lot of me holding James’ hand in the hall as we both sprinted away from Donnelley. Actually, most of them were of me and James together. Half-naked. Holding hands. God.

  But it wasn’t just the nudity that was upsetting. It was the words written on every single one of them. They were advertisements for my prostitution services. My phone number was on each one. Some even had those little tearable tabs at the bottom so you could easily take it and give me a call later.

  I grabbed one of those and tore it from the wall. I grabbed another and another. I heard laughter and turned around.

  Cupcake was standing there with a stack of more printouts in his hands.

  Matt was going to freak out when he saw these. I could feel tears blinding my eyes as I tore down another picture. And another. I tried to grab some of the printouts off the floor but there were too many.

  “Cupcake, what the hell?!” I yelled.

  He laughed and threw his hands up into the air, sending hundreds more flyers fluttering down onto the ground. “What? I didn’t do anything. You’re selling your services, Brooklyn. Pretty sure you’re the only one that looks guilty here.”

  I looked down at one of the printouts in my hand. For a good night, contact Brooklyn Sanders. She’s been entertaining all the boys of Empire High and comes highly recommended for a very affordable price. I looked up and Cupcake was gone.

  What the actual fuck?!

  Oh God. I do look guilty. It didn’t matter that the pictures were all of me in my underwear. Isabella had made it look like I was trying to sell my body. No one was going to believe me over her. I ripped off another picture from a locker as the tears burned my eyes. I tore down handfuls of them. But there were too many.

  The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

  Screw me.

  Chapter 26

  Monday

  The first thing I heard was the laughter as I tried to pull more pictures off the lockers. I grabbed more printouts, but it was no use. There were too many of them.

  “She’s such a whore,” Isabella said from somewhere behind me. “I can’t believe she’s sleeping with James and Matt. And now she wants to take on even more clients?” She laughed. “Oh my, it even says she’s affordable. I bet her going rate is a dollar.”

  All her minions laughed.

  I tried to ignore them as I got down on my hands and knees to pick up some of the printouts from the floor.

  “Slut,” someone said.

  “I knew she was a prostitute.”

  “One of the cheap ones too.” More laughter spread through the hall.

  “She’s even on her knees right now.”

  My tears burned my eyes as I crawled around on the Empire High floor.

  “Baby?” Matt’s voice in the hall made my tears run even faster down my cheeks.

  I tried to pull more of the pictures into a pile on the floor. Not that it mattered. He’d seen them. He’d seen me in my underwear holding James’ hand. And even though I’d told him about what happened that night, seeing it was a million times worse. “I’m sorry,” I choked.

  “Come with me,” Matt said. He grabbed my hand to pull me to my feet.

  “I’m so sorry…”

  He pulled me toward the closest bathroom. I tried to ignore the rude words being thrown our way. Matt seemed to be ha
ndling it better than I was. I thought he’d be pissed, but he was so calm.

  “Look, she’s holding someone else’s hand now,” some guy said.

  Matt ignored him, sidestepping to pull us closer to the bathroom.

  But then the guy added, “I wonder how much her escorting services go for?”

  And it was like Matt snapped. He let go of my hand so fast that I didn’t know how he had time to wrap it around the guy’s neck. “Say another word about my girl and you won’t be able to recognize yourself in the mirror.” Matt shoved the guy backward, slamming him against a locker.

  I swallowed hard. I guess he wasn’t as calm as I thought.

  “Show’s over!” Mason said from somewhere behind us.

  I turned to see him hit his fist against a locker a few times to get everyone’s attention.

  “I said show’s over!” he yelled. “Everyone get to class.”

  Matt pulled me into the closest bathroom and locked the door behind us.

  I could still hear the laughter in the hall. I thought Matt would be pissed. I thought he would have screamed at Isabella and started to pull the pictures down too. But he had been eerily composed until that guy had basically called me a prostitute. He seemed calm again now as he pulled me into his arms.

  “Are you okay?” he asked. “Can you breathe?”

  His words just made me cry harder. He was angry. But he was more concerned about whether or not I was having a panic attack.

  “Baby, look at me.” He grabbed both sides of my face. “Are you okay?”

  “Of course I’m not okay. Isabella is trying to freaking ruin my life. She wants you to leave me. She said she was going to turn everyone against me. I can’t handle being on edge all the time. I feel like I’m about to lose my mind.”

  “Isabella can do whatever the fuck she wants. But she’ll never tear us apart. And she’ll never break you down. Do you hear me?”

  I nodded. I wanted to believe him. But Isabella was hellbent on ruining us. On ruining me. And it wasn’t a fair game. Instead of fighting fire with fire, I’d stopped fighting altogether. I swallowed hard.

  “Are you sure you can breathe alright?” he asked.

  “I’m okay.” I shook my head. I wasn’t okay. Not really. “Isabella’s framing me. But I didn’t put those pictures up, Matt. I didn’t…”