The Princess and the Bully (Goldsworthy University Book 1)

by Tiffany Ransier

  “You’re sick. You all are,” I spit. “And what did Heath do to you two?”

  Jamie scowls. “He dumped me last winter when he found out I was only seventeen and he got a new girlfriend right away, forgetting about me completely. But I was happy when he left her too.”

  Brandie smiles. “We met at orientation and hit it off but he dumped me a month later. I tried contacting him the rest of the summer and he ignored all my fucking calls. Not cool, Mera. Not cool. Jamie and I happened to meet on a We Love Heath forum.”

  God, things like that actually exist?

  “But you see, even if Heath found a new girlfriend, we knew she’d get dumped just like we did. That was all that kept us from making his life hell. We knew he’d never be satisfied or happy.” Brandie pauses and edges forward to my side. “Until something happened. You showed up and all of a sudden you’re the bright new shiny thing. The instant it was confirmed you two were a couple, the both of us could tell something was different.”

  Every word sends another blade into my heart. I am responsible for his death.

  “Never once did he announce that we were together anywhere, yet with you he paraded it in front of the world.”

  It was fake, I want to cry out. It was never even fucking real.

  “So, yes. Heath deserved to die. He didn’t deserve to be happy if it wasn’t with us,” Brandie says, pulling a knife out of her purse. “Turns out he chose wrong though, didn’t he? You moved on so quick with his brother. How sick is that? He would’ve been better off with Jamie or me. But anyway, now you know. Before you die, tell me one thing.”

  My heart pounds in my chest frantically as the knife hovers above my stomach.

  “What?” I manage to ask.

  “Did Heath fuck you?” she asks, peering at me with wide eyes.

  I’m assuming the correct answer is no. If I’m going to die, why should I give them the satisfaction of hearing the truth even if it’s what they want to hear? No matter what I say, they’re going to kill me.

  “Yes.”

  Brandie looks visibly disturbed and Jamie’s jaw drops open, showing more emotion than she’s shown all night. “So we were right. She was special,” Jamie mumbles, turning to Brandie.

  There’s no way. Could Heath have been…a virgin? What about all of the girls that completed his challenge?

  Whatever, might as well roll with it. I muster up every bit of energy I can. “I guess it would also suck to hear that he asked me to marry him that night. Guess he fell in love with this pussy.”

  Brandie screams bloody murder and just as the knife starts to come down, I watch it go flying from her hand, landing on the bed next to me.

  I try with all my might to move my hand, but nothing happens.

  My head swims as I turn my head to see the cause and find Callan wrestling Emerson to the ground.

  My eyes bulge out as I watch him jab a knife into Emerson’s side several times. Emerson falls over, collapsing and clutching his side.

  I hear loud shouts from the bathroom. Oh God, Ginger’s awake again.

  “Hang on a little longer, Wil,” he says calmly, thrusting the knife at Brett who dodges it.

  Jamie and Brandie are on the floor with Emerson trying to help him stop the bleeding when he motions with his head to the knife on the bed next to me.

  “Call–” I gulp. “Callan.” But my words are so low now. He didn’t hear me. Brandie snatches the knife up and moves toward Callan. He seems to notice her coming as he shifts to look at the both of them at once.

  But not Jamie.

  Jamie, who kicks him in the leg, causing him to buckle and Brandie finds her opening, shoving that knife right into his shoulder.

  His cry makes my heart jump out of my chest. He hangs his head lowly, clutching his shoulder. “Fuck.”

  And then, like a flash, his knife that he was holding with his injured arm is in the air as he jumps right at Brett. He doesn’t move back in time as the knife slices right across his neck. Blood pools out of it quickly and a look of horror comes over his face as he coughs blood and falls to the floor. There’s loud gasping noises as he tries to breathe and then there’s silence.

  Brandie yells angrily and dives for Callan. All I can do is watch as she goes low, stabbing him right in his stomach. Callan’s face twists into pain and I sob as his blood spills to the floor. But she goes still and shudders. When she falls backwards, I’m barely able to see Callan’s knife stuck in the middle of her chest. Jamie runs past Callan, out the door, neither of us being in any shape to chase her.

  Callan hobbles over to me, slumping at the edge of the bed. He clutches my hand, touching his bloody one to mine. We’re both completely saturated with it. The walls of my room are blood splattered. It’s everywhere. “They should be here any minute,” he murmurs. “You’re going to be okay.”

  The banging on the bathroom door won’t stop.

  “We,” I say.

  His face is pale as he winces. “I’m sorry you were betrayed. And I’m sorry you had to see me do that to people you thought of as friends only an hour ago.”

  “S’okay.” I don’t want him to talk at all, but he continues.

  “And I’m also sorry for all of the shit I put you through. I was wrong for everything. I’m sorry for what I did on the roof. And I’m sorry for not checking on you this week. My dad…was trying to deport you. Tried to find him all week.”

  Don’t say all of this now. It’s too much to say. Too much to process I can only manage to say, “Stop.”

  He nods. “You didn’t deserve any of this. I heard everything they said. Don’t think you killed Heath. They did.” His eyes soften. “I love you, Mera. I guess you won the game.”

  He falls back with a sickening thud against the floor as his hand slips from mine.

  “Callan.” I chant his name. “Callan.”

  As everything starts to slip away I murmur my final words, “That name sounds foreign coming out of your mouth. It’s Wil. Your Wil. You can’t just say you love me and pass out like that. You have to hear me say it back.”

  In the distance, I hear the ambulance wailing, but they’re too late.

  Way too late.

  And I allow myself to be pulled into the darkness.

  The beeping of the machine is the first thing I hear. It’s so loud.

  I peek an eye open and find the whiteness of a medical room. I’m in a hospital?

  And then, all at once, I remember everything.

  Oh God, Callan. Is he alive?

  Please, please, be alive.

  I stare around the room and spot no light around the window. Is it still night?

  I move a leg off the bed, wincing as I have to use my arms to grab the IV drip. After I’m off the bed, my feet hit the cold floor and I walk slowly, keeping hold of the IV drip as I open the door.

  A nurse on her way to another room spots me leaving mine. “Hey, you aren’t supposed to leave your bed,” she gripes. “Wait right there and I’ll get you back to your bed.” She disappears into the room she was heading into.

  No! I don’t want to lay down a moment longer. I move down the hall, looking in each room to find they’re empty. All of these rooms are larger sized private ones. They’re much more expensive. It’s sad that there are some empty ones when people could use these. When I get to the end, I peek through the window and spy a familiar head of dark hair in a bun. Collette.

  I open the door and her and two other people, an older looking Callan with strips of gray through his hair and a striking woman with red lipstick and bloodshot eyes.

  “Princess of Kardenia, I don’t think you should be in this room,” she utters, wiping at her eyes with a tissue.

  While she looks completely wrecked, Mr. Goldsworthy is stone faced. “I think it’s best that you go and rest. You’ve both had an ordeal.”

  “What she needs to do is stay away from our son,” Mrs. Goldsworthy insists.

  I stare down at the bed, finally laying eyes on Ca
llan. The machine says he’s alive, but his body is wrapped up and his face is still as pale as it was the last time I saw him. At least he’s alive.

  “Mom,” Collette blurts. “Let her come in. Don’t you see her arm shaking?”

  I glance down to the arm holding the IV pole and sure enough, it’s shaking like a leaf.

  She moves off of the chair she was sitting in and offers it to me, to my complete surprise.

  “Callan is lucky to be alive. If that knife had gone deeper into his stomach he’d have been dead. The wound in his shoulder was worse. You’ve both been asleep for an entire day. It’s Saturday night.”

  Thank God. When he wakes up, I have a lot to say.

  “Those four in the room,” Collette murmurs, “what happened to them?”

  “They killed Heath and wanted to kill me. Callan came just in time.”

  Collette’s eyes widen as she covers her mouth. “Oh my God.” It comes out muffled and I hear a gasp next to me and watch their mother grab Mr. Goldsworthy and cry into his shoulder.

  “Where’s his body?” she asks, a lone tear sneaking out from the corner of her eye.

  “I don’t know. They never told me.” I wish they had.

  “We’ll get it out of the orange haired one,” Mrs. Goldsworthy remarks.

  I turn to face her. “Sorry, but Ginger wouldn't know. Only the other four would.”

  “The other three in the room are dead,” Collette says in a low tone.

  “Jamie isn’t. The fourth member of their little group. She ran out of the room before Callan could get to her.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Goldsworthy look at each other and stand up. “Thank you for letting us know,” Mr. Goldsworthy says, touching my shoulder.

  The moment his cold hand touches my shoulder, I get a sick feeling in my gut. He smiles. “Thank you for all of your help.”

  And thank you for trying to get me deported, I almost say.

  “While they’re gone, I’m calling everyone in,” she says in a hurried tone as she pulls out her phone.

  Minutes later, a group of eight walk in.

  Immediately, Luella, Ashlynn, and Gemma surround me.

  “We’re so glad you’re okay. We wanted to see you, but they said since you were asleep they could only let family in,” Luella says with relief on her face.

  Gemma sighs. “I’ve been trying to figure out what could’ve happened. Ginger was no help at all. She just kept crying about Callan. The only thing I could come up with is they killed Heath and wanted to kill you too. Am I correct?”

  I nod slowly, and there’s a shocked silence.

  Callan’s three friends have a weird look on their faces. Scar isn’t facing me. Peyton shakes his head, “How could we have known? They hid their true faces behind those masks so well.”

  “They said it was my fault,” I mumble looking at my hands.

  “No, Mera. That’s not how it works. They took it upon themselves to kill him,” Gemma explains.

  “They saw me as a threat. They thought Heath had finally found the girl meant for him. But they were wrong!” I exclaim.

  “Heath only cared about me as a friend. We…had a fake relationship. That’s the part that kills me. They believed our act so strongly. I should’ve never agreed to it.”

  Collette frowns. “So you guys tricked me and everyone else.”

  “It wasn’t my idea. But it still hurts that because of that scheme, Heath is dead. I hope they find Jamie and figure out where his body is.”

  “Jamie was in on it too?” Ashlynn gapes.

  “I was right again,” Gemma says. “I told you. If Emerson was there, Jamie must have been too.”

  “And what about Nadine?” Collette asks.

  “Innocent,” I say. And Kane is too. I feel guilty for thinking he might have killed Heath.

  We all sit in silence after that. Soaking it all in. I manage to find a clock and notice it’s almost 9 PM.

  At some point, I fall asleep to the sound of the machine beeping. And when I wake up there’s no one around except for Callan and I.

  I slide closer to his bed and touch his hand, being careful of the IV.

  “You saved me,” I say softly. “My knight in shining armor. I love you Callan. Rest as long as you need to.” I let his hand go and lean over onto his leg, resting my head on it ever so gently.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Callan

  There’s something warm on my leg. It’s a little heavy. I blink my eyes open and look down to find a messy platinum blonde bun. That beautiful head of hair can only belong to one person.

  I shut my eyes, seeing Wil on that bed completely naked and soaked with water and blood. I thought we were both going to die in that room. I was scared shitless I didn’t save her in time. If only one of us was going to make it out, I wanted it to be her.

  From the end of Sorority Row, I saw the four of them go into ZDB. I was going to run and stop them until I saw the knife. I stole a phone from some girl I found walking and called 911 and immediately ran into ZDB.

  I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and went upstairs. I got to hear almost all of what they said. With every word about Heath, it felt like that knife was twisting in my gut. I’ve never felt a blind rage like that before. But I also felt guilty for listening to them talk while Wil lay fucking paralyzed on the bed unable to defend herself. She was depending on me and only on me.

  But now, it’s over with. I’ll never let her suffer like that again as long as I’m still breathing. She’s going to be okay.

  Not a spec of blood can be seen on her hospital gown or her hair.

  Why is she lying here?

  I look past her at the silver pole. She’s hooked up to an IV and monitor just like I am.

  “Wil,” I rasp.

  She jumps up quickly, straightening and staring at me with wide eyes. “You’re awake.” She reaches forward to hug me, pulling back at the last minute when she eyes my shoulder.

  “I probably shouldn’t hug you. Are you in pain? Should I call the nurses? The doctor?”

  “No. They have me hooked up to some good fucking stuff.” I gesture to all the tubes and wires in my arm. I don't feel any pain at all. The only thing bothering me right now is knowing that the people responsible for my brother’s disappearance were so close right from the start. I never knew or even suspected.

  After all of that fucking detective work.

  “I should go look for your sister and parents,” she says with an exhausted smile. “They’ll want to know that you’re awake.”

  “What day is it?” I look toward the window and find it’s at least night time.

  “It’s Saturday night. Everyone was just here not too long ago. Maybe they still are.” I grab her wrist before she can leave.

  I don’t want her to leave my side yet.

  Scooting over a little, I make room in the bed for her. “Come lay next to me, princess. Everyone else can wait a little longer.”

  I can still feel the pull of sleep. I don’t know if it’s the meds or my body trying to help me recover.

  Slowly, she lays her body down next to mine, making sure not to touch me. Her face is only inches away from mine as she lays her head on the same pillow.

  She wets her lips for a moment and sighs, speaking softly. “Right before Ginger showed up, Kori, Jamie’s roommate, came to talk to me.”

  Kori. I only know one person named Kori. “Kori as in Nadine’s Kori? She’s Jamie’s roommate?” I should say was. If Jamie isn’t dead by her own fucking hand by now, she’ll be in jail, not back at college. I wouldn’t be surprised if she took the easy way out.

  “She told me about what Brett, Emerson, and those other guys did to Nadine. Did you know about that?”

  I shake my head. I was still a senior in high school. The only way I would’ve heard about it is from Heath. “Heath never told me. That was my first time hearing about it.” I did wonder why Nadine wasn’t here. I assumed she took a leave of absence.

  �
��For a while, I thought Kane might’ve killed Heath because Heath didn’t interfere. I’m glad I was wrong.” Her eyes are regretful as they stare into mine.

  If she was willing to think that about Silverstone on her own, maybe it’s time…

  Time I tell her why I fucking hate him.

  There’s no one else on this Earth alive now who knows. It’s just me.

  Her eyes are open, trusting, loving. To deserve all of that, I need to give her all of myself in return. “He might not have killed Heath, but he’s still a monster.”

  She opens her mouth to protest, when I say in a low tone, “He tried to drown me when we were kids. Out in the lake.”

  She freezes, mouth hanging open. Confusion, anger, sadness, they all flash on her face before she cups my cheek in her hand.

  “What happened?”

  So I tell her, finally opening up. It’s hard going over the details, experiencing the drowning all over again as if it just happened yesterday. But by the time I’m done, I know it was fucking worth it.

  Now she knows what I see every time I look at him and understands me that much more.

  It’s Friday night when I finally get wheeled out of the hospital. Wil got discharged a few days ago and has been sleeping in my room ever since.

  She walks next to the wheelchair until it stops at the edge of the sidewalk next to Coll’s G-Wagon. The nurse opens the passenger side door and I hoist myself out of the wheelchair and use the side step to get in while Wil hops in the backseat. I’ve only felt the smallest amount of soreness in my shoulder since yesterday. But I still feel the ghost of the knives digging into my flesh. It’s annoying and I hope it eventually goes away.

  Ty, Noel, and Vin visited when they could. Coll has been hanging around more, actually getting along to my surprise with Mera.

  My parents have been scarce. No fucking explanation why. My mom saw me the night I woke up, but every time since, it’s only been my fucking dad. They keep dodging my calls and don't answer texts. I hope it has something to do with Jamie, but I don’t know anything.