by Elle Thorpe
“Banjo?” I mouthed unconsciously. What the hell was he doing sitting up there with the students? My head spun in dizzying circles as I tried to make sense of what was happening here. His face split into a wide grin, and my heart fluttered, but at the same time, my brain caught up. He was either the dumbest twenty-one-year-old in the history of forever and had repeated senior year multiple times.
Or he wasn’t twenty-one.
His cheeks blushed pink, and he shrugged sheepishly. I couldn’t help it. I smiled and shook my head at him, just a tiny bit. Damn. He was cute. For a liar. If he lied about his age, who knew what else he lied about.
Colt elbowed him sharply, and Banjo broke his stare-off with me in order to shoot him a dirty look. I couldn’t hear them from where I stood, but Banjo seemed to ask what Colt’s problem was, and Colt argued back.
“…okay, then. That’ll do for this morning. Rafe, can I see you, please? Everyone else, happy first day of school. Make it a good one.” Principal Simmons switched off the microphone and gestured toward the main exit.
Groans rang out around me, echoing my internal one that grumped that this had been a stupid idea. I kind of agreed with it right now. I shifted my backpack to my shoulders. Kids streamed down the bleachers, but I kept my attention glued to Colt and Banjo. They loped down the stairs, both taller and broader than most around them. I didn’t know if it was solely the fact that they were both big guys, or perhaps the fact Colt seemed ready to burn you alive if you got too close to him, but people gave them a wide berth. They paused at the bottom, slapped hands, and went in different directions, presumably to their first class of the day. Banjo shot me a look, and mouthed, “Later.”
I bit my lip to fight from smiling. He might be a liar, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if I had a friend. Could I consider someone I’d barely met but considered giving my virginity to a friend? Surely that made us friend-ish? My attention snared on Colt as he strode by me, closer than he really had to. His intoxicating scent washed over me once more, and something low in my belly clenched.
He walked with such confidence it would probably be called swagger. Like he owned the school.
And knew it.
“Lacey, this is Rafe,” Simmons said, interrupting my drooling over Colt.
The third guy, the one who’d been talking with Banjo, stood by the principal’s side. Whoa. His profile had not done the guy justice. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his shoulders filling out a T-shirt nicely. His red-and-black Converse sneakers matched a pair I had at home. I wished I’d worn them today. Not that they went with my outfit.
“Hi.” I stuck my hand out.
He took my hand and smiled, but it didn’t really reach his eyes. “Nice to meet you.”
Simmons beamed. “Look at you two getting along so nicely already.” He clapped his hands. “Rafe will be your guide. He’ll show you around, introduce you to students and teachers. I’m sure he’d be happy to sit with you at lunch, too, right, Rafe?”
Rafe seemed like he’d rather watch paint dry than do any of that. “Sure. Yeah. Whatever. Can I go?”
Principal Simmons nodded.
Rafe walked off without another word, leaving me to chase after him. But I refused to be a follower. His long legs had a good few inches on mine, but I lengthened my stride and hurried my gait in order to walk side by side with him as we burst out into the sunshine again. He didn’t say anything, just strode on like a man on a mission.
“Don’t you want to know what my first class is?” I asked, confused because we seemed to be walking in the complete wrong direction to all the other students. Instead of joining the tail end of the teenagers streaming back into the school, we were headed toward the back of the gym.
A wooded area loomed beyond the school grounds. Or at least I assumed it was beyond the school grounds. There were no fences to mark a boundary. Perhaps the school used the woods for cross-country running or archery practice.
“Are there classrooms out here?” I asked, half-running to keep up.
My God. Their gym was ginormous. We followed the long side of the brick building, each step taking us farther and farther away from everybody else.
Rafe took a sharp right when we ran out of wall to follow and led me behind the gym.
I stopped abruptly. “There’s nothing here.”
“Exactly,” he answered.
I probably should have been concerned by the situation I’d gotten myself into. I was alone with a guy I didn’t know, well away from the school buildings, which held the people who wouldn’t hear me scream. But oddly, I wasn’t scared. Rafe’s attitude was full of disinterest, but he wasn’t remotely threatening.
He pulled a lighter and a hand-rolled cigarette from his pocket and lit up. He took a long drag, and as he blew out the smoke, I realized I’d been wrong. Not a cigarette. A joint.
“Seriously, dude? It’s not even ten.” I folded my arms across my chest.
“Don’t know what the rules were in your last fancy-ass school, but round here, there’s no rules on what time we can get high.”
I somehow doubted, even at a school like Saint View, you were allowed to get high on school property. “You couldn’t wait until you’d delivered me to my first class? I really don’t want to get kicked out of school on my first day because you wanted to smoke a joint.”
He held it out to me. “Relax. You look like you need this more than I do.”
I shook my head stubbornly.
He shrugged. “If you change your mind, you know where I am. Trust me, Saint View is a lot easier to deal with if you’re a little baked.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
I spun around at the feminine voice behind me. A girl, about the same height as me, but in a short, tight denim skirt and a top that showed a sliver of her toned stomach joined us. Her long hair fell down her back, a deep crimson that looked fresh out of a packet of cheap hair dye. But it suited her. I kind of wished I had the lady balls to try a color that bright. My hair looked downright mousy in comparison, even though I’d paid two hundred dollars at my last salon appointment.
The girl plucked the joint from Rafe’s fingers, inhaled, and blew the smoke in his face.
Rafe didn’t seem to mind. Just took the joint back from her without a word.
I eyed her carefully, a little on edge after Gillian’s hostility this morning, and at being caught out here alone with Rafe. Was he her boyfriend? That’d be all I need. Another girl hating my guts because of something her boyfriend did.
But the girl’s red lipsticked lips stretched into a wide smile when she turned in my direction. It lit up her entire face, her dark eyes gleaming. “New girl. Right? Stacey?”
“Lacey,” I corrected. I stuck my hand out for her to shake.
She ignored it, and to my surprise, hugged me instead. I breathed in her perfume, an unfamiliar scent. Or perhaps it was just the fact it was mixed with the smell of pot smoke. It wasn’t unpleasant, though. She squeezed me tight, while I stood awkwardly, not exactly sure what to do with my hands.
“You’re scaring her, Jag,” Rafe drawled, leaning back on the brick wall of the gym. “Go easy.”
“Oops, sorry! I’m Jagger. And I’m a hugger. But it’s better you know that upfront anyway, since we’re going to be friends.”
I shook my head, pulling out of the hug. “We are?” I asked before I could think about it. My head spun. And I was a little suspicious after Colt and Gillian had been so icy this morning. Were they setting me up? But then I looked into Jagger’s smiling face, and either she was a terrific actress or she was sincere. I wanted to believe the latter.
She hooked her arm through mine and steered me away, throwing a wave at Rafe over her shoulder. “Of course. I’ve just been waiting for someone interesting to come along. There’s only so much of Gillian and her crew I can handle. And everyone else is as dull as dirt. Come with me, Rafe is a useless guide. And anyway, Banjo sent me to rescue you. He said you�
�re a good one, so that’s enough for me.”
“He did?” I asked.
What the hell? Banjo and I had barely spent thirty minutes together. He couldn’t know if I was a good or bad anything. This entire morning had been overwhelming. I needed a minute to catch my breath and perhaps take some notes. Colt, Gillian, Banjo, Rafe, Jagger. At least I remembered their names. Five out of a school of hundreds. It was a start. I was suddenly regretting not taking a hit from that joint. It probably would have calmed my nerves.
“Yep. So let’s get you to your first class, because you strike me as the type who doesn’t like to be late. Am I right?”
I couldn’t deny that.
Jagger put her hand out. “Schedule?”
I riffled through my backpack and fished out the now slightly crumpled piece of paper and handed it over.
Jagger paused to squint at it and then looked back to me. “You’ve got math in the D block. It’s at the other end of the school. Come on, I’ll take you there.” She set off at a brisk pace.
I jogged a few steps to catch up. “Don’t you need to get to your own class?”
She shrugged. “Already late. And, hey, wouldn’t want to set my new teachers up for anything other than disappointment on the first day. Best they know now that I’m perpetually late for everything.”
I smiled at that. We couldn’t have been more different, and just knowing I was already late for class made my skin itch. But there wasn’t much I could do about it, and I would have been a whole lot later if I was still waiting for Rafe, so I was grateful.
We walked along the now empty halls, passing classrooms with teenagers lolling at desks. I peeked into each open door as we went, but it all looked much the same as Providence. Students all barely paying attention to their teachers. I guess money didn’t change that.
“So, you don’t get high?” Jagger asked.
I shook my head. “No. Never really felt the urge to try it.” I eyed her sideways, wondering if she’d give me a hard time about it. There were plenty at my old school who liked to party. Though I’d never seen anyone smoking a joint at school, first thing on a Monday morning. That would have been risking expulsion. And getting expelled from Providence…I couldn’t even imagine the uproar that would have created.
“That’s cool. I don’t normally at school either. But Rafe always has good weed.”
“Does he do that a lot?”
She shrugged. “Define a lot?”
I chuckled. “Sounds like a yes then.”
“Probably.”
“Has he ever been caught? It’s not exactly an original hiding spot he has there. You seemed to know exactly where to find him.”
Jagger took a sharp left into a new corridor, and I tried to memorize the path we were taking. This school was humongous.
“Oh, all the teachers know. But Rafe is an Untouchable.”
“A what now? Is that a club?”
Jagger stopped abruptly and faced me. “Sort of? I mean, not officially. It’s just what most of us here call them.”
“Them?” I hated to sound like a parrot, but my interest had been piqued, and my need to get to class on time died. My whole reason for being here was to find out who had been at the fire that night. And learning about the students and staff was the best way to do that. If Jagger was a gossip, all the better for me.
“Yeah. The boys who can do no wrong. Or rather, do everything wrong, but everyone turns a blind eye. Rafe’s surname is Simmons. That’s what gives him membership.”
It only took me a second to catch on. “As in, Principal Simmons?”
Jagger beamed like I was a puppy who’d just learned a new trick. “They’re father and son.”
I blinked. “Oh wow.”
“Kinda hot, huh? Principal Simmons is a fox. And Rafe is just the younger, faster, sleeker version. Though he probably wouldn’t appreciate me calling him fast. Not exactly a complimentary term for most guys. If you know what I mean.”
I’d have to be pretty sheltered not to. I grinned. “So, Rafe is untouchable because his dad is principal. Got it.”
“And because he’s on the football team.”
My heart thudded, and I was suddenly considering Rafe in a whole new light. “Football players are Untouchables, too? Or just him?”
“All of them, really.”
“Who else is on the football team?”
She raised one eyebrow. “You want me to rattle off the entire list? Girl, I ain’t got all day, and we’re hella late for class.”
“Right, of course. Sorry. Where is my class again?”
Jagger pointed to the room across the hall. I nodded and thanked her. I’d taken two steps toward the closed door of my classroom when curiosity got the best of me. “Wait, Jagger?”
She’d already started walking to her own class, but she spun around. “Yeah?”
“Banjo? Is he an Untouchable?”
She nodded. “He’s their star quarterback.”
I rushed on before she tried to leave again. “Colt?”
“You know Colt, too?”
I shook my head. “Sort of. Not really. We met this morning.” If you could call him keeping my phone hostage and sexual innuendo a meeting.
“No, he’s not on the team.”
I frowned. “Oh. Okay.” I wasn’t sure why that bothered me.
“He is an Untouchable, though. I’ve never really been sure why. Maybe because he and Rafe and Banjo have been best friends for a million years?”
“Or maybe because he’s just scary intimidating.” It wouldn’t have surprised me if all the teachers were as wary about Colt’s dark eyes as I was.
She cocked her head to one side. “You think?”
“You don’t?”
She shrugged. “He’s not so bad. He’s actually kind of nice when you get to know him. Sometimes, anyway.”
I’d barely met the guy, but somehow ‘nice guy’ just didn’t fit his vibe. “Are we talking about the same Colt?”
“Tall. Hot. Always has a snarky blond hanging off him?”
“Sounds about right.”
“Definitely an Untouchable.”
I’d apparently run out of questions, so I didn’t stop Jagger when she continued on her way. Instead, I turned to my own class and cringed as the teacher gave me a disapproving glare and told me to stay behind after class.
Seemed I wasn’t an Untouchable. What a pity.
5
Lacey
I managed to find my second class on time, and, to my relief, the teacher didn’t ask me to introduce myself. I supposed it was unnecessary after Principal Simmons had given me such an over-the-top welcome in front of the entire school. My biology teacher, a middle-aged woman with stress lines creasing her forehead, just pointed me to a seat in the front row and started with her lesson. It was work I’d done two years earlier and knew I could do in my sleep. So I tuned out and let my mind wander over the idea of Untouchables.
I was called to see the guidance counselor during lunch, which was a relief since it meant I didn’t have to face the embarrassment of having no one to sit with. The counselor—short, dumpy, and definitely not capable of carrying me out of a burning building—talked me through my class options and asked what I wanted to do with my future. He seemed surprised when I laid out plans centering around music, but he steered me in the right direction, and I was actually looking forward to the classes I’d chosen. Anything had to be better than the boring biology and math classes I’d endured today.
Gym was my last class of the day, where I spent the entire time studying the other students and trying to narrow down my suspect pool. But it seemed like Saint View had an overwhelming amount of big, muscled seniors. There were half a dozen in this class alone that could bench press me if they’d wanted to. I’d slipped out right as the bell rang, hurrying for the school gates, ready to get back on my home ground and relax for the night. I hadn’t anticipated how tiring a new school and playing detective would be. Mentally tiring
, that was. I hadn’t exactly exerted myself during gym class.
“Lacey!”
I stopped and waited for Jagger to catch up. She hugged me, and I was a little less stiff this time, managing to hug her back.
“Girl, what happened to you at lunch? I searched for you everywhere!”
“You did?”
“Of course. I wasn’t going to let you eat alone. Meet me out front of the cafeteria tomorrow, okay? I’ll introduce you to everyone.” She slung me a sidelong look. “Everyone you don’t already know, anyway. You already met all the hotties, apparently.”
“I’m sure there’s more than three hotties, but thank you, that would be great.”
“Where’s your ride?”
“Oh, it’s just…” I glanced across the huge parking lot to where my bright-red convertible sat gleaming in the afternoon sun.
A group of kids stood around, admiring it. Or gossiping about the owner maybe. I was uncomfortable at the thought, realizing it was another faux pas. I should have parked a few blocks away and walked. Or caught a bus, not that I knew how. Did buses even run through my neighborhood? I couldn’t recall ever seeing one, now that I thought about it. While the school lot was filled with cars and a handful motorcycles, only a few seemed new. And even those that still shone with all their paint still intact, were cheap models. My convertible had been a gift from my aunt and uncle when I’d turned sixteen. I’d put a few dents and scratches on it while I’d been learning, but all I’d had to do was tell my uncle, and the next day it had magically been fixed. This lot was full of cars with dents and scratches and mismatched panels. Some of these cars were older than I was. A lot older.
Heat flushed my face.
“Did you walk?” Jagger made a beeline for an old green Dodge with rust spots on the bumper. “Jump in, I’ll give you a ride.”
Oh Lord, no. That would be worse. I didn’t want to completely alienate my only new friend by bringing her to my massive house. I doubted the guards on the gates of our community would even let us pass in that car, though it hurt me to think about how downright snobby that was. Reluctantly, I pointed to my car. “No, it’s okay. Mine is down there. The red one.”
