by Bella King
“Go on,” Daniel urged, placing a hand on my back.
“Don’t push me,” I yelped, panicking at his touch.
“I’m not pushing you. Just drop down and you’ll be fine,” Daniel explained.
“You are pushing me,” I said, grabbing at his hand.
Daniel laughed, and shoved me out of the window.
I felt myself falling through the air. For a moment, my body surrendered to its fate, tumbling through the abyss with not a single care in the world. I had been through so much that I didn’t care much if this was the way I went. I always wondered what it would be like to fall to my death.
Then, my feet hit solid ground, much sooner than my body anticipated. I crumpled in a heap on a dirty stone ledge, banging both knees against it with a painful thud. I caught myself on my hands and looked up.
I was about five feet below the window I had been seated on, my hands and knees covered in moist debris and dead leaves that had blown onto the narrow ledge. A few inches further, and I could have slipped over and fallen to my death. There was a real disregard for safety with the people at Ridgeview Boarding School.
I saw Daniel’s legs dangling down over me, and I jumped out of the way as he began to fall. He landed on his feet as I scrambled to mine. He smiled at me as though this were all fun and games and said, “Let’s go.”
I stepped aside, letting him lead the way. Daniel walked along the ledge and around a corner of the building. From this high up, we could see the entire field behind the building. I didn’t go outside very often, even during recess, but there was something quite pleasant about being up here with a view of the outdoors. I wanted to stay here instead of going back into the dormitory.
I made a mental note to come back out here sometimes and watch the sunset. It would be the perfect spot for it.
“Come on,” Daniel urged, poking his head back around the corner.
I followed after him, stepping carefully around the wall and onto the other side of the school building. I followed him along the ledge for another 20 feet until we came to a rusty ventilation exhaust protruding from worn stone on the side of the building.
Daniel reached his large hands around the grate and tugged on it, pulling it out of place. How the hell had he found his path to the dormitory? He must have been doing some crazy shit in order to stumble upon this sort of route.
“You can climb up here, and it’ll drop down into the shower room,” Daniel said. “I’ll circle back around and wait for you at the staircase.”
‘Wait,” I said, grabbing his sleeve before he could leave. “Can you come with me?”
He chuckled. “Why?”
I looked at the open ventilation shaft, afraid of the darkness within it. I didn’t want him to know I was freaked out by it, but I also didn’t want to go through that thing alone. “What if I get lost in there?” I asked, looking up at him with large, pleading eyes.
“It’s one way. There’s no way for you to get lost if you keep moving,” he said in a condescending tone, patting me on the top of my head.
I suppose he thought that was a cute thing to do, but I didn’t like to feel like I was small and helpless. This whole time, I was being bossed around by a bunch of big men, and I needed to make sure they knew their place. I wasn’t a joke.
I swatted his arm away, frowning at his demeanor toward me. “I’m not an idiot,” I declared.
Daniel smirked. “I never said you were.”
“Listen buddy, I’ve been through hell and back, and just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I need you or anyone else’s help here,” I said, turning a bit pink in the cheeks.
He chuckled, which only made me angrier. “I mean it,” I said, gritting my teeth.
“I was the one who saved your ass from Laney,” he said, his smirk growing into an arrogant grin.
“I could have saved myself,” I said, crossing my arms. That was a straight-up lie, but he didn’t need to know that.
Daniel shook his head. “I have no idea why Andrew brought you on board. You’re a little shrimp of a woman.”
I punched him in the chest as hard as I could, but my hand bounced off his pec with a light thud. Daniel burst out laughing, nearly slipping off the ledge as he keeled over in amusement. There were tears in his eyes as he laughed at my expense.
I was frustrated with my inability to fight back, and Daniel was only making it worse. It wasn’t my fault that I wasn’t built like a goddamn tank like him and the others. I did the best that I could, and that had to be enough.
“Stop laughing,” I demanded, pushing him.
Daniel’s eyes popped open in panic as he lost balance and began falling back off the ledge. In a second, he saw his entire life flash right before his eyes before his hand found the steady grip of cold metal on the edge of the ventilation shaft.
“Jesus Christ! Are you trying to kill me?” He shouted.
I shrunk down against the wall. I hadn’t meant to push him that hard, but he had pissed me off. “No,” I said softly.
He grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me from stuff comfort of the stone wall, bringing me toward the ledge. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t toss you off,” he growled, his eyes lit up with fury.
Daniel, like Andrew, was apparently quick to anger. I should have known better than to test him. Although he looked more innocent than the others, he could be just as cruel. I had to remember that there was probably a good reason why he was part of the gang. Andrew didn’t bring on weaklings.
My throat felt like it was closing up as Daniel’s sharp eyes pierced into mine. “I didn’t mean to push you that hard,” I managed to say.
He shook his head, his hand still firmly scrunched up against my shirt. “Maybe Andrew thinks that you’re good enough to be on the team, but I don’t feel the same way.”
“It’s not for you to decide,” I said, trying to pull his hand off my shirt.
“I could say it was an accident,” Daniel said, his eyes gleaming with evil intent. He seemed excited about potentially throwing me off the ledge and watching me fall to my death.
“I don’t think they would believe you,” I replied.
Daniel squinted his eyes at me. “Watch your step, Rose. This isn’t a game,” he said before letting go of my shirt.
I stepped away from the edge of the ledge, smoothing out the wrinkles in my shirt with one hand while bracing myself against the solid stone of the building with the other. I was relieved that I hadn’t been tossed over, but rightfully pissed that he would even consider it. I thought Daniel was nicer of the bunch, but perhaps I was wrong.
“I guess I’ll go now,” I said, starting to walk toward the ventilation shaft.
“Wait,” Daniel said, grabbing my wrist.
I twirled around to find him standing an inch away from me, his face dangerously close to mine. I gasped at the sudden advance, but I knew what he was doing. Like Andrew and the others, he was into me. I didn’t think threatening to toss me off a building was a great way of showing that, but he was a bit fucked up. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was his way of flirting.
“I’d watch yourself at the party tonight,” he said in a deep voice.
“And why is that?” I challenged, tilting my head and pouting my lips.
“The guys get rowdy when they’re having fun. You know how that goes,” he said, lifting a finger and tracing it along my jawline.
I shuddered at his touch. Daniel was going hot and cold on me. One second he was pushing me out of a window, and the next, he was hinting that he and his gang were going to screw my brains out tonight if I teased them enough. I knew this game, and I liked it.
“Maybe you should learn to control yourselves,” I suggested with a small shrug.
Daniel cracked a smile. “I’m not very good at that, as you can see.”
“No, I guess not,” I said, crinkling my nose at him in the cutest manner I could muster.
Daniel leaned in a little more. “I’m serious about yo
u being careful. Natasha couldn’t handle us,” he said.
“I’m not Natasha,” I replied sharply.
He leaned back an inch in response, his smile widening. “I was hoping you might say that. Natasha was no fun anyway. Too much of a prude,” he said dismissively.
“I’m not a plaything for you and your boys either,” I said, standing my ground.
Daniel pressed a finger against my lips to hush me. I could feel his pulse through his finger against my hot lips. He had control over me, but this wasn’t how I wanted it to be. I was my own woman. Even if I belonged to their gang, I didn’t belong to them.
“We’ll see about that,” Daniel said, then backed away.
I licked my lips, tasting the finger that he had withdrawn. I had a stirring in my lower belly that was unmistakable. I was horny from his words alone, and that could very well spell trouble for me tonight at the party. Who knew what those men were planning to do with me now that I had joined them?
I shuddered, but I couldn’t tell if it was from a stiff breeze or in anticipation of what was to come. I crossed my arms, keeping myself warm as I turned around and went to the ventilation shaft to return to the women’s dormitory.
Chapter 11
“Two hits, and you’re sky-high. Believe me. This stuff will melt your goddamn brain,” Andrew said, handing a tightly rolled blunt wrapped in cigar paper to Troy.
“Two hits? I doubt it. You can’t get anything good around here,” Troy said, taking the blunt.
“We have a new supplier from outside. Anything is possible now,” Andrew said with a confident flash of his pearly whites.
I walked up to the two men with Daniel close beside me. I had taken a while to find the right thing to wear to a party, since I wasn’t planning on attending any this year. I had settled on a simple red dress that was cut right above my knees. It looked considerably classier than anything anyone else was wearing, but it was what I had.
I thought that a strict boarding school for delinquents meant that there would be no parties, but I was wrong like I had been about nearly everything at Ridgeview. Apparently, the students threw parties every weekend.
School administration was light on the weekend, and the ones that were here were on damage control mode. They would grab anyone who wasn’t acting up, and parties mostly went unmonitored as long as no fights broke out. Even rival gangs generally got along so that the parties didn’t get busted.
One of the several parties around the school was being held in the courtyard around the back of the school building. It was a hot evening, but the tall castle-like structure behind us cast a long shadow over the party venue, ensuring that it didn’t get too hot. It would have even been a good idea to bring a light jacket, but it was too late for that now.
“Oh hey, little Rose,” Andrew said when he spotted me. He seemed in a better mood since he had left me in the dormitory after I nearly got killed by Laney.
I shook my head at his nickname but smiled anyway. It was nice to see him in a cheerful state. I was a bit afraid of him when he got angry. “Just how wild do these partied get?” I asked, eyeing the blunt that was in Troy’s large hand.
“Pretty nuts,” Andrew replied with a wink.
Oh yes, Daniel was right. I did need to be careful around these guys. I knew even better than he did that it wouldn’t take much for me to get naked in front of them. I had done it before, and I could do it again.
“Rose,” a female voice said from behind me.
I turned to see Eden walking toward me, a drink clenched in her small fist. She completely ignored the men around me as she began talking. “I totally wasn’t expecting you to be here. Usually new people don’t attend parties because they don’t know about them, but you know. I have info about that sort of thing.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I was told as well.”
Eden looked up at Daniel, who was still standing beside me. “What your step, thief,” she said with a hiss.
“Woah,” I said, holding up a hand. “Daniel is chill.”
Daniel held his hands out with the palms up in a gesture of innocence. “I’m chill,” he repeated, almost seeming to tease Eden.
She glared at him. “I doubt that very much.”
“You’re going to have to go easy around these guys,” I said, motioning to the entire group who had now turned their attention to her.
Eden looked around, realizing that I was rolling with a gang of huge tattooed studs. She looked a few of the guys up and down, which made me feel a pang of jealousy.
There was no reason to feel jealous about it. I couldn’t have all of them… Or could I?
Eden licked her lips, changing her tone the moment she realized how attractive the men I was with were. “Um, how about we get a drink,” she suggested to me.
I looked at the full glass in her hand. “Don’t you already have one?” I asked, somewhat amused.
“I think maybe you want one,” she said, gritting her teeth to show that she had something else in mind.
I sighed, then turned to Daniel. “I’ll be back.”
He gave me a smile and a nod, and I rushed off with Eden.
The moment we were out of earshot from the guys, Eden grabbed my arm and gave it a shake. “Why didn’t you tell me you joined a gang full of the fucking hottest guys in the whole fucking school?” She asked, her eyes popping from her head.
I laughed. “You warned me about getting involved so I was trying to keep it a secret.”
“Fuck,” she exclaimed, looking back at Andrew and his gang. “You’re going to have to get me in on this.”
“No way,” I said. “It’s dangerous.”
“Yeah, you could drown in their cum,” she joked.
“Jesus, it’s not like that,” I said with a laugh, but I wasn’t entirely sure that it wasn’t. In fact, I was pretty sure that it was.
Eden walked up to a group of girls who were all sipping on colorful drinks by an open cooler. The cooler was overflowing with crushed ice, and there were bottles of fruity alcohol shoved into it. Eden pointed to one nodded at one of the girls, who picked it up and opened it with a bottle opener that she kept in her hand. She handed the drink to Eden, who then handed it to me.
“Drink up,” Eden said.
I threw the drink back, chugging down two-thirds of it in one go before lowering the cold glass from my lips. “Good stuff,” I noted, looking at the bottle. It had no label on it.
“The girls brew it themselves,” Eden said. “But you should be careful. It’s a lot stronger than It seems.”
I knew what a strong drink was. My ex-boyfriend used to get moonshine from a friend of his that would make the strongest stuff imaginable. It tasted like cherries and would leave you wasted after just a few shots. I had a lot of wild nights one that stuff.
I placed a hand on Eden’s shoulder. “I can handle my booze,” I said.
“That’s they all say until they’re naked in the men’s shower room,” Eden said, taking a sip of her drink.
I didn’t want to tell her that I had already been running around the school naked without a drop of alcohol in me. People seemed to think I was a lot more innocent than I actually was, but that was because they didn’t know about my experiences. I wasn’t a bad person, but I had known plenty. They rub off on you after a while, whether you like it or not.
I laughed with Eden, but I knew that nothing was out of the question at this point. What had started as a wild ride had turned even wilder. I had faced death multiple times already and I was still only in the first week of school. What was to come, only God knew. Him, or maybe it was Satan who knew.
“Let’s get back to your sexy friends,” Eden suggested.
I grinned at her. “They’re all mine. Don’t touch them.”
“Aw, come on. Let me have one,” she said.
I thought about Daniel’s attempt to push me off the building. “You know what? You can have Daniel, the pretty one.”
“Just my type,” she said, ra
ising her glass to me.
I took a sip of my drink in response, and we began walking back to our group.
When we arrived, Troy and Martin were standing together with silly grins on their faces and eyes as red as blood. Whatever they had been smoking was strong, because they didn’t even acknowledge my or Eden’s existence when we came up.
“I want to show you something,” Andrew said, looking me dead in the eyes.
His look was so strong that Eden took a step back, wanting to leave us together. She turned to Daniel and started talking to him in the most flirtatious tone she could manage. I wanted to laugh at her antics, but I was too distracted by Andrew’s intensity.
“What do you want to show me?” I asked him, taking a sip from my bottle to calm my racing heart. It was always like this around Andrew. It was like every word he said was a powerful stimulant, working its way into my bloodstream. There wasn’t much I could do to stop it.
“You’ll see,” Andrew said, a smirk flickering across his face.
I studied his expression for a moment before nodding. He looked innocent enough, but these guys never were. I guess I had to trust him if I was going to be a complete member of the gang.
“There is a garden that’s no longer maintained down the hill. The administration doesn’t like us going down there, but they’re not watching anyone right now,” he said beginning to walk away from the group.
I followed, flashing a smile to Eden as I left. She was too involved in her conversation with Daniel to notice me at all.
“Very romantic of you, bringing me to the garden,” I said in a joking tone as I caught up with Andrew.
The ever-present smirk on his face grew a sliver larger, as though he were amused by my innocence. “The garden can be whatever you want it to be, but for me, it’s a place to reflect.”
“What are we reflecting on?” I asked him.
“You ask too many questions. Perhaps you should learn to listen,” he replied, but showed no signs of irritation.
I huffed, crossing my arms and walking beside him in silence as we left the party. We walked together far enough away from the building to be basked in the yellow glow of the evening sun. My skin seemed to rise up at the feeling of the natural warmth. It was a welcome change to the stuffy heat that occupied the school during the day. I hadn’t realized how little I had actually been outside until today.
