Empire High Betrayal

by Ivy Smoak

  And then Rob started laughing so loud. He put his finger through some of the shit on the table and licked it off.

  For a second I almost started throwing up too.

  But then Rob winked at me.

  Oh no. It wasn’t poop. It was pudding. I was pretty sure I was one of the only people that knew it. And now I knew why Rob said he needed blueprints of the apartment. So that he could make sure to set this up just right. And why he kept joking around about an abundance of pudding.

  So.

  Much.

  Pudding.

  “Do something, Richard!” Mrs. Pruitt screamed again. “Someone do something!” She put her hands out as some of the water from the burst pipe shot in her direction. She tried to dodge it and slipped in the pudding, landing face first in the mess.

  I gasped. Oh God.

  My dad stepped forward to try to help Isabella off her porcelain throne, but he slipped on the pudding too. He grabbed the arm of the guy next to him and they both tumbled into the pudding, one of them knocking into the broken china cabinet. And this time the cabinet toppled forward, smashing into the dining room table.

  The second chandelier fell to the ground and as someone went to dodge it, they somehow hit the turkey carving fork. It sailed through the air and stuck into the family portrait. Right in the middle of Isabella’s painted forehead. The forked dragged down, ruining the portrait as everyone continued yelling and running around.

  Holy shit.

  Rob leaned across the broken table, not caring at all about his dress shoe stepping in the brown goo, since he knew it wasn’t poop. “Good one, Sanders,” he said and lifted up his hand.

  I just stared at him. This wasn’t part of the plan! Put your hand down, you crazy person!

  I heard another person vomiting.

  “I’m going to kill you!” Isabella screamed at me. “I’m going to fucking kill you, you monster!”

  I didn’t do this. I backed up, knocking into Matt. He grabbed my arms to steady me.

  “You’re going to fucking die, Brooklyn!” Isabella screamed.

  “Isabella,” I said. “I didn’t…”

  “Shut up, you bitch! I’m going to kill you in your sleep! How could you do this to me?”

  Matt’s hands fell from my arms.

  I turned around. “Matt, I didn’t…” my words trailed away. How was I going to explain this?

  Matt looked over at Rob, who still stupidly had his hand raised in the air for a high five.

  “Best prank ever,” Rob said. “A classic Hunter, Sanders mess around.”

  No. No, no, no!

  “That was definitely worth all the planning,” he said. “Don’t leave me hanging, Sanders.”

  What the hell, Rob?!

  Matt looked down at me. “I can’t believe you.” He stepped away from me like I was poisoned.

  “It’s not what you think,” I said.

  He just shook his head and walked out of the dining room.

  “Matt!” I yelled and ran after him. “Wait!”

  Matt stopped at the Pruitts’ front door. “What the hell is wrong with you, Brooklyn?” For weeks he’d kept his cool. Trying not to stress me out. But it was like something snapped inside of him. He was seething, his chest rising and falling as he tried to hold himself together. It looked like he was going to explode. “Were you seriously hanging out with the Hunters behind my back to plan…that?”

  “Yes. I mean, no. I didn’t know…”

  “You didn’t know that you were hanging out with Rob and James behind my back?”

  I didn’t even know what to say to that. Tears started falling from my eyes and I tried to wipe them away.

  “You promised me you wouldn’t,” he said. “You promised me you were on my side.”

  I wasn’t sure whether he was going to punch the wall or cry. “I am on your side, Matt. I did this for you. I wanted you guys to be friends again.”

  “You made Isabella shit herself and fall through the ceiling to make me friends with those dickwads again? How does that make any sense?”

  “It was pudding.” My voice sounded so small. How could I make him understand this? My mind seemed scrambled as I searched for the right words. I wasn’t even sure what I could say to fix this. The way he was looking at me…it was the same way he looked at Isabella. Like I was a monster.

  “We just talked yesterday about no more secrets,” he said. “And you were hanging out with them this whole time. And that?” He gestured toward the dining room. “We talked about revenge. And I told you that you were better than this. You’re not supposed to be like them!”

  What did that mean? “I’m not. I’m…”

  “Give me a break. You’re just like Isabella. You laughed at someone’s pain. You plotted to hurt someone. I was marrying you to fucking save you from becoming a Pruitt. And you became one anyway.”

  His words made my chest hurt. “I didn’t ask you to save me.” I asked you to love me. “And I’m not like them. I didn’t know it was going to go this far. It was just supposed to be laxatives and a little pudding on her chair. That was it. I just wanted her to stop messing with me.”

  “She fell through the freaking ceiling half-naked!”

  “But I didn’t know that was going to happen! And you can’t stand there and tell me that she didn’t deserve that after everything she’s done to me.” She deserved worse.

  He shook his head. “I can’t even look at you right now.”

  It was the exact same thing Kennedy had said to me yesterday. I grabbed his arm. “Matt, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. If you’d just give me a second to explain.” None of this was coming out right. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “You didn’t mean to talk to James and Rob behind my back? Or you didn’t mean to lie about it? Or you didn’t mean to keep this crazy revenge plot from me? Or you didn’t mean to lie about keeping secrets? Or you didn’t mean to stoop to Isabella’s level and publicly humiliate her when I thought you were the bigger person? Which thing didn’t you mean?”

  God, what had I done? “All of it.” I tried to blink away my tears.

  “My mom was wrong. You can’t marry out of this crazy family. They’re toxic. All of them.”

  Is he calling me toxic? I tried to wipe away my tears. But I couldn’t stop crying. Because he was staring at me like I was a stranger. Like I was toxic. Like I was a Pruitt and not a soon-to-be Caldwell. Isabella’s a disease. Those were some of the first words he’d ever said to me. I’d known that’s what he thought. That the Pruitts were all toxic. I just prayed he didn’t lump me in with the rest of them.

  “You’re not the person I thought you were.” He grabbed the doorknob.

  “Yes I am. Please just stay and hear me out.”

  “Like you heard me out when you believed I’d sleep with my best friend’s girl? You didn’t give me the time of day.”

  Matt. My chest ached not just because he was angry. But because what he was saying was true. “I’m sorry…”

  “I fought for you. For us. I tried to be patient and understanding about what you were up to all that time you weren’t speaking to me. But we’re together now and you still look me in the eye and lie and keep secrets and sneak around behind my back. How the hell am I supposed to be understanding about that? You don’t care about my opinion at all. You don’t care about me.”

  “Of course I care about you.” My tears were falling so fast that he was blurring in front of me. How could he think I didn’t care? I loved him so much that it hurt. “Yes, I planned a stupid little prank to get back at Isabella, but I never meant for it to go this far. And I was doing it to fix your relationship with James and Rob.”

  He shook his head. And he didn’t say it. But I knew what he was thinking. That I did it because I was a Pruitt. That their blood was in my veins. That I was a monster.

  I couldn’t think straight. Nothing was coming out right. But I was crying too hard. And I could feel so many eyes on me from the dining room.
I couldn’t breathe. “You have to believe me,” I choked.

  “That’s the whole problem, Brooklyn. You haven’t given me any reason to believe a word you say.” He opened the door.

  “Matt, you promised you wouldn’t walk away.”

  “I guess we’re both liars.” The door slammed shut behind him.

  Chapter 38

  Friday

  I guess we’re both liars. The words kept rolling around in my head as I stared up at the ceiling of my bedroom at the Pruitts’. I hadn’t slept at all. My whole body ached. My heart most of all. The prank was supposed to fix everything. But if anything, the Hunters and Caldwells just hated each other even more. And everyone hated me.

  Matt wasn’t speaking to me. Kennedy still wasn’t answering my texts. I’d yelled at Rob and James, even though James swore he didn’t know about that part of the prank. They were probably mad at me now too. As far as I knew, Felix was still in jail because of me. And Mason was pissed at me too. He’d left shortly after Matt and told me not to bother to come back to the house.

  Even Isabella had called me a monster. I didn’t care about her opinion. But that one did hurt. A monster had called me a monster.

  Miller and Donnelley were both stationed outside my room to make sure Isabella didn’t make good on her promise of killing me in my sleep. But what would it have mattered if she had? No one would miss me. Everyone would be better off if I was gone.

  I wiped away my stupid tears as I looked at my phone. I’d left dozens of calls and texts for both Matt and Kennedy. And my screen was still blank. I just stared at it, waiting for something to come through.

  But why would it? I was a liar. They’d both said so.

  I was a monster.

  I was a Pruitt.

  I sat up and pressed on Matt’s name on my phone again. I’d tried to explain it a million times already, but one more time wouldn’t hurt. It rang once and went to voicemail.

  He’d rejected my call. He’d seen it was me and ignored it. Even though he had to know how much I was hurting too. His silence literally made my chest ache. I tried not to cry as the voicemail switched on.

  “Matt, it’s me.” Of course it was me. Who else would leave him so many repetitive voicemails? “Can you please call me back? I know you’re mad. And I would be too. But you have to believe me. I never meant for it to go that far.” I ignored the tears rolling down my cheeks. How could he ignore me right now? He wasn’t supposed to cut me out. He was supposed to be by my side. Always. He promised me.

  “How could you compare me to Isabella? How could you think that I’m like her when you know me better than anyone else? And how could you ignore me when I’m hurting?” I wiped away my tears with my fingertips. “I gave you so many second chances when we first got together. All I’m asking for is one. I think you owe me that after everything we’ve been through.” Didn’t he see that? How could he treat me this way? I was still crying, but they were angry tears now. And I didn’t bother to wipe them away. “You’re a hypocrite, Matt. You’re a fucking hypocrite.”

  I hung up the phone and let myself cry. Because I was pretty sure yelling at him instead of apologizing was something that Isabella would have done too. I’m not like her. I’m not. God, maybe I am.

  There was a knock on my bedroom door.

  “Princess, can I come in?” My dad walked in. He gave me a small smile. “How are you feeling this morning?”

  I felt my bottom lip start to tremble. “I messed everything up, Dad.”

  He rushed over and put his arms around me. “Nonsense. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  He was one of the only ones that believed me when I said I didn’t know about the whole prank. It was just supposed to be a stupid fake poop prank. I hadn’t meant to do any structural damage to the apartment. Or ruin Thanksgiving.

  “Everyone hates me,” I sobbed into his chest.

  “I don’t hate you.” He leaned back so he could look down at me. “You’re an angel, Brooklyn.” He cupped my face in his hands. “My angel.”

  That was kind of him to say. But it wasn’t true. I was a freaking demon.

  “Everything is going to be fine. I promise,” he said.

  I shook my head. “How is everything going to be fine? I upset everyone in my life except for you.” What if Matt never spoke to me again? What if Kennedy didn’t? I was going to be all alone again. I couldn’t start over again with no one. I couldn’t do it. Despite what Matt said, I wasn’t strong. And who knew if he’d even meant that. Because he’d said it himself…he and I were both liars.

  “Do you know what you need?” my dad asked. “A spa weekend. I’ll call some people in. That’s what Isabella always does when she’s upset.”

  I’m not Isabella. God, or am I?

  “Or maybe something else?” he said with a smile. “Name it, and we can do it.”

  “You said you’d teach me how to play golf. Could we do that?” I’d never taken him up on his offer to go to his country club. And a little father daughter time might help lift my spirits.

  “Well, you won’t be able to this weekend. But soon, of course.”

  “I can do it this weekend. I’m pretty sure I’m uninvited to Friendsgiving. And I could really use the distraction. I’m just going to be sitting around the house bored.”

  He lowered his eyebrows, as if my response confused him. “You’ll be resting, yes. That’s just what you need.” He patted my knee.

  I wasn’t sure if that was true. I didn’t want to rest and get pampered. I just wanted Matt back. “I really didn’t mean for it to go that far last night,” I said.

  “I know, princess. But it was good to see a little fire in you.” He smiled at me.

  “You’re happy that I made Isabella and all that pudding fall through the ceiling?”

  He laughed. “Between you and me? I’m glad you stood up for yourself.”

  At least he understood. And he didn’t look at me any differently. I disgusted everyone else. But my dad thought I was an angel. Maybe that was the whole problem. Maybe his views were skewed because he was used to living with Mrs. Pruitt and Isabella. Anyone was better than them.

  But better than them wasn’t good enough. I looked down at the ring on my finger. I was a Pruitt. Matt didn’t want me to be who I was. His parents didn’t want me to be who I was. But if I wasn’t me, then who the hell else was I supposed to be? I thought I was finally fitting in to my new world.

  “I don’t want to become Isabella,” I said and sniffled.

  “Brooklyn, you are your mother’s daughter. You’re…you. You can’t possibly be someone else. Who’s filling your mind with things like that? Matthew?”

  I pressed my lips together.

  “You deserve someone who believes in you enough to know that you’re special. You are. I’ve never met anyone so caring and generous.”

  I wasn’t sure what I’d done yesterday was in any way caring or generous. I had no idea why he’d chosen those two words to describe me. And I didn’t tell my dad that Matt stopped believing in me because I’d given him a reason to. Because I was a liar. “Thanks, Dad.”

  He patted my knee. “Now, I’d love to keep chatting, but it’s just about time for your appointment.”

  Oh, I’d completely forgotten about that. “Dad, I really don’t feel like going anywhere today.”

  “Dr. Wilson came here of course. Come on, you wanted to see what was in that room down the hall anyway, right?”

  What did that have to do with Dr. Wilson? “Um, yeah, okay.” Maybe it would be good to move around. Besides, I didn’t want to be alone right now. Talking to Dr. Wilson would at least keep my mind preoccupied.

  I walked out of my room and tried to hide from Miller’s judging glare. Although…he didn’t look so disapproving this morning. He just looked…sad. For me? Because of me? I had no idea. I could add him to the list of people that hated me right now.

  His eyes locked with mine. “You don’t have to do this,” Miller mo
uthed silently to me. “You can still back out.”

  What? Why was everyone so concerned about whether or not I was on birth control? It was no one’s business but mine. I just turned away from him. I didn’t have the energy to fight with him right now. All the fight in me was gone.

  We stopped outside the locked room down the hall and my dad started to type in the code.

  “Do you think that maybe everyone was better off before I got here?” I asked. That was the question I kept coming back to. Before I came to New York, the Hunters and Caldwells were friends. Kennedy had never dated that creep Cupcake. Miller was probably happy. Felix hadn’t been in prison. And my uncle wouldn’t have had to waste his final few months on this earth taking care of me. I swallowed hard. I was the worst.

  My dad shook his head. “How can you possibly say that?”

  “Because it’s true.”

  “You saved my life. In more ways than one. Truly, Brooklyn. You are my angel. And I’m so grateful every day that you walked into my life.”

  “Really?” I blinked back my tears. It was exactly what I needed to hear. Maybe I had made one person’s life better. And even though I had been wary of my dad at first, he’d made my life better too. I didn’t know what I’d ever do without him now. Maybe when my mom was pregnant he hadn’t wanted me. But he wanted me now. And today I really needed to feel wanted.

  “Really.” He kissed the top of my head and pressed enter on the keypad. The door made a weird hissing noise and he opened it.

  The room was blindingly white. I blinked a few times, waiting for my eyes to adjust.

  “Oh good,” my dad said. “You’re already here.” He shook Dr. Wilson’s hand.

  I looked around the white room. There was a bed, a chair, and lots of weird machines. It kind of looked like a hospital room. I shuddered. I hated hospitals. And I knew my dad hadn’t asked me much about how my mom had died, but he knew she’d gotten sick. Why would he think I wanted to see this room? I’d basically lived in a hospital room like this the past few years. And why the hell did he even have a room like this?

  “It’s good to see you again,” Dr. Wilson said. “How about you lie down for me and we can get started?”