by Rebel Hart
“I don’t need any favors, Connor,” I growled.
Connor seemed unphased. “I’m just trying to be a dad, just like I was before.”
To say I was unconvinced would be an understatement, but I didn’t care. I was so uncomfortable that my skin was starting to crawl, so I accepted the statement and got out of the car. I made my way into my house and back to my bedroom. I quickly pulled out my phone. Sicily probably should have been the first call on my list, or at least Annika, but my hands went almost of their own will to one number only.
The phone trilled a few times, and then the other line picked up. “Oh my god,” Cherri’s voice was wavering like she’d been crying. “Where are you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said, feeling the closest to tears I’d ever been in my entire life. Just hearing her voice was such a relief. I could barely focus. “I had to hear your voice.”
“I needed to hear yours,” she replied. “Deon. I’m sorry. I’m so…” She sniffled. “Are you going back to prison?”
“I don’t think so,” I responded.
“What happened?” she asked. “Hi,” she said suddenly, and it didn’t sound like she was talking to me.
“Cherri?” I asked.
“Sorry,” she replied to me. “Hang on. Avery’s here. I kind of passed out earlier.”
“What? Are you okay?” I asked, panicked.
“Yeah. Hang on.” I could hear Avery and Cherri speaking back and forth before Cherri finally thanked and said goodbye to Avery. “Dee?”
“I’m here,” I replied. “To answer your question, I have no idea what happened. She just fucking flipped out, Cherri. She started asking me about Nathan, she asked if I wanted her to get down on her knees, and then she jumped out the motherfucking window.”
Cherri let out a weak chuckle. “Not the first body that’s ever hit the ground in front of you. You were just at the top this time.”
Hearing it laid out that way started to make me wonder. It couldn’t be a coincidence that two bodies fell from the sky in my life. One of them appeared to be deeply embroiled with my dad and brother. Did that mean the other one was too?
“Suddenly, I’m feeling like all this shit happening in my life isn’t just a series of terrible accidents.”
Cherri scoffed. “I know what you mean. I think we’ve both realized we’re in the center of the spider’s web a little too late to get out.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Fuck.”
24
Cherri
Alistair kept an arm wrapped tightly around my shoulders as we walked toward the front doors of the school the next morning. Spending the night talking to Deon had calmed my nerves some, but I barely got any sleep and was exhausted. The only silver lining, if there was one to be had, was that classes had all been canceled in consideration of helping students process what happened with Miss Abrams. School counselors and Principal Hix walked around, passing out pamphlets about how to deal with grief, suicide, and trauma, among other things, and special staff had been called in to host seminars in each of these subjects. Students weren’t required to attend any of the seminars but were required to stay on school grounds and check in with their homeroom a few times throughout the day.
“Thanks for picking me up, Ali,” I hummed. “I just didn’t think it was a great idea for me to drive.”
“Are you kidding?” Alistair said. “You know I’ve always got your back. You know, one of the girls would have done it, but…”
“I know. Avery told me. Colette had to help organize, and she came early to help. It’s okay. You’re just as good.”
He laughed. “Well, I know that’s not true, but I’ll take it.” I rested my head on his shoulder. The relief felt a lot like a hangover, so I relied on his weight to keep me upright. I kept my eyes peeled for Deon, though he didn’t seem to be around, at least not yet. To break the silence, he asked, “Which of these things should we go to?”
None of them sounded appetizing, but before I could decide which was the least of several evils, Alistair was ripped out of my grip. I was leaning against him so much that I nearly toppled over, but Nathan caught me and wrapped an arm possessively around my waist.
“Keep your hands off her,” he hissed at Alistair.
“Stop it,” I barked at him.
Nathan looked at me, slightly shocked, but did back down. “Come on. We’re meeting the rest of The Royal Court in the gym.”
Neither Alistair nor I argued. I didn’t have the energy to, and Alistair and Nathan didn’t get along, so Alistair often avoided any arguments with Nathan. We followed him to the gym and behind the bleachers where Kyle, Brayden, Nikita, and Jaxon were already situated. Jaxon almost immediately started handing out travel-sized bottles of booze. A few minutes later, Avery and Colette found us, and we all sat and drank in silence, apart from Alistair, who didn’t like to drink.
“All right,” Alistair said finally. “I’ll ask the question we all want to ask.” He looked directly at Nathan. “Did that woman kill herself because of you?”
Nathan scoffed at Alistair as though he’d just suggested blasphemy. “I don’t know why she jumped. Don’t accuse me of stupid shit.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time one of your leashes snapped and killed someone, now would it?” Alistair asked.
Nikita brandished one of her sharper blades and pointed it in Alistair’s direction. “Shut your fucking mouth.” Alistair seemed far from affected.
Everyone in the group seemed to know what Alistair was referring to but me, but I couldn’t be bothered to dive for any more information. I sat quietly, and Avery snuggled up to me, put her arm around my back, and rubbed quietly.
“What’s wrong with you?” Brayden asked me.
“Mind your own fucking business, brat,” Avery snapped.
“Enough, all of you,” Kyle spoke up in a rare moment of interference. “A woman fucking died yesterday. Don’t you people have any goddamn respect?” The group seemed to calm at this, but Alistair and Nathan remained glowering at each other. “Nathan. Alistair’s question is a good one. What was the last thing you said, did, whatever with Miss Abrams. If this is going to come back on you, we need to get ahead of it.”
“It’s fine,” Nathan said. “My dad asked, but I told him that I had nothing to do with it.”
“Really?” Colette asked with a raised eyebrow. “Nothing at all?”
Nathan suddenly threw a fist out and punched the metal bleachers. “I fucking said I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“What’s gotten into you?” Brayden asked. “You seem agitated.”
It was rare for Brayden to say anything that could be seen as insolence against Nathan, so the fact that he was willing to mention it so boldly meant that even he was officially uncomfortable with how Nathan had started to behave as of late.
“This is an agitating situation,” Nathan said like it made perfect sense. “Right?”
Everyone let out their own sounds of affirmations. He wasn’t wrong. It was a pretty chaotic situation to crop up out of nowhere, especially knowing there was a thread that led back to me.
“I believe that you’re not involved,” Kyle said, “but if they go digging through her office or something, are they gonna find anything that could link this to you?”
“No,” Nathan grumbled. “Besides, we know who was in her room last. Two dozen students were there when Deon flipped out.” Nathan looked sideways at me. “Do you have any idea why he was there?”
“No,” I replied. “Why would I?”
“You seem to know a lot about Deon lately,” he said. “And Brayden’s right. You do seem quite out of sorts. Did something happen?”
“I just don’t feel well,” I snipped back. “I’m not allowed to be sick?”
“Not pregnant, are ya?” Brayden asked with a laugh, but Nathan and I each just glared at him, and he slunk back. “Sorry.”
Nathan looked down at me and then over at Nikita and Jaxon. “You
two, find out why Deon was in Miss Abrams’s class yesterday. I want to know everything. Fucking gut someone if you have to. I don’t care.”
Jaxon and Nikita didn’t waste any time. They crawled out from behind the bleachers and headed off. I was terrified, thinking of what may transpire if Nikita and Jaxon crossed paths with Deon. I was worried less about his safety and more about him hurting himself, finding the bullet he seemed to have dodged with this whole mess.
I waited a few minutes and then quietly said, “I have to pee.”
No one protested, shockingly enough, so I crawled out from behind the bleachers and made my way for the nearest bathroom. As soon as I was behind the door, I dragged my phone out of my pocket and started a new text to Deon. I was only halfway into the first word when the bathroom door burst open.
I flipped around, and Nathan was standing in the doorway. “What are you doing?” I tried to shove my phone away, but he rushed me and snatched it out of my hand. He looked at the screen and then back up at me. “I knew you were cheating on me with him.”
“I’m not,” I snapped back.
His eyes were a little wild and crazy as he started to laugh. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not. I’ve never cheated on you,” I said.
“Oh yeah?” he said. “Then you need to prove it.”
“Prove it?” I asked. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Nathan turned around and locked the bathroom door. “Get down on your knees.”
“Fuck you!” I spat. “I should have broken up with you the other night. Give me my phone.” Nathan smashed my phone on the ground. “What the fuck, Nathan!”
I balled my hands into fists. “I’ll fucking fight you. I’m sick of your goddamn attitude. Down on my knees? Who the fuck do you think you are? Have I ever been that type of girl to just relent to something as nasty as that? I barely want to fuck you now. If you don’t believe me that I didn’t cheat on you, then so fucking be it.”
More angering than the fact that Nathan would even suggest I do something so horrible was the fact that he said it with simplicity like he actually believed I was gonna do it. After everything I’d been through with him, everything I’d dealt with, everything I’d forgiven. That he could say something so disgusting and disrespectful to me was beyond the last straw. If I had to knock Nathan’s lights out, I’d do it without thinking twice about it.
“Move, or I’ll make you move. You and I are done. I’m not dealing with your shit anymore,” I said.
“We’re done?” Nathan said with a laugh. “You think you can leave me?”
“Watch me,” I hissed.
With a loud click that echoed off the bathroom walls, Nathan pulled a gun from behind himself and pointed it right at my face. My world shattered, and my whole body went slack with fear. “N-Nathan.”
He reached one hand down and started to unbutton his pants. “I said, down on your knees.”
25
Deon
I slunk into the kitchen the next morning, convinced my mom would have heard about what happened at school and have some questions, but when I walked in, she just smiled at me from where she was cooking and continued. While she cooked, I sat down at the kitchen table and watched and waited for any change in her behavior, but it was as if it was just another morning for her.
“Morning, Mama,” I finally greeted.
“Good morning, baby,” she replied sweetly. “How’d you sleep?”
What the hell was going on? Even if I could assume that Connor had somehow kept the school from calling my mom about what happened, shouldn’t it still be news that a teacher killed herself?
“Uh, I slept okay.” It was a complete lie. I barely got any sleep. Between the fact that talking to Cherri made me miss her even more and the fact that Sicily had to bring me to collect my mom’s car, driving by loads of police to do so, my anxiety was through the roof. “How about you?”
“Oh, you know how it goes. First couple hours were okay, but I’ll really get to rest once you’re gone,” she said. “Would you like cheese on your eggs?”
No police had come banging down my door. The event seemingly hadn’t made the news yet. Was I really going to be able to just go back to school as if nothing happened?
I forced a smile at my mom to not raise any flags. “Yes, please.”
She finished cooking breakfast and sat it on the table in front of me, then dished up her own plate and sat it across from me. I remained suspicious that she was hiding her true feelings or was suddenly gonna flip, but she carried on eating and talking about work as if there were no issues at all.
To be sure, I opened my phone and navigated to the school website. I checked every page and attached social media site, but there was no news about Miss Abrams. So instead, I did a general Google search, assuming there would be a news article or something, but looking up the school and Miss Abrams only brought up articles about the previous year’s scandal when Nathan was caught sleeping with Miss Abrams.
Had Connor truly managed to keep an entire school worth of students quiet about what happened? How the hell would something like that even work? Moreover, if he was capable of a cover up to that degree, why didn’t he do the same when Nathan and Miss Abrams were caught together?
I backed out of my search engine and navigated to my texts with Sicily.
Hey. How is what happened not national news? My mom doesn’t even know about it.
Yeah, my parents don’t know anything about it either. I walked downstairs, ready to answer questions, and Annika had to cover my mouth just to keep me from blowing it.
It doesn’t make sense. Can you find out?
You know I can, compadre. Let’s connect when we get to school. I’ll let you know what I find out.
Cool. See ya soon.
“You aren’t normally so glued to that thing. Don’t tell me you’re turning into a regular kid,” my mom said.
I locked my phone, sat it down, and looked up at her. “You worked so hard getting it for me, so I just wanna get your money’s worth.”
She shook her head. “All kids your age need one of those fancy phones. The overtime was worth it.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll pay you back someday, I promise.”
“You pay me back by making the most of your second chance,” she replied. “You’re a great man. I didn’t want to see what happened to you ruin your life. Now look at you. You’re in school. You can’t put your phone down. Friends, dates, parties. You’re turning into a proper teenager.” Her cheeks got a little darker, and she smiled wide. “That’s payment enough.”
The world didn’t deserve my mom. When I thought about letting her down, nothing made me sicker. She just wanted what was best for me. I had to try harder to keep myself straight. I’d take Connor’s coverup if for no reason other than to not disappoint the woman who’d given up so much for me, but I wanted my handouts from him to end there.
“Hey, can I ask you a question,” I started, curious.
“Sure,” my mom replied.
I took the final few bites of my breakfast before saying anything else, letting the few moments help me phrase my question. “Did you hear about what happened last year? With Nathan and that teacher?”
My mom seemed truly shocked and a little disturbed by the question. “You aren’t…associating with your brother again, are you?”
“No,” I replied. “I mean, I see him around, but no. I’m pretty much just friends with Sicily.”
“Good,” she said, letting out a sigh of relief, “and I did. Had a hell of a time escaping it for a while.”
“Escaping it?”
“Yeah, well, the ladies at work all know who your dad is, so it was forced on me. Like I should somehow be more concerned. I was concerned, don’t get me wrong. No kid should be in a situation like that, but it didn’t entirely come as a surprise to me. It seemed like Nathan was a chip off the old block.”
“How does a teacher not get fired for that?”
At that question, my mom went totally silent. She stared at me as if she knew something and was debating whether or not to tell me. Eventually, she just shrugged. “Strange things happen when you associate with the Loches.”
That brought my suspicions about Connor and Nathan back into my mind, along with Cherri’s guess that we were deep in the spider’s web. “So I’m learning.”
The silence that followed was awkward as my mom finished her breakfast and then eventually we realized simultaneously that I was late leaving the house. Even if Connor had somehow managed to cover everything up, not showing up to school would create real bad optics, so I quickly grabbed my backpack, kissed my mom on the cheek, and bolted out the door.
Despite the fact that the news of Miss Abrams hadn’t gotten out of Postings Proper, the state of things on the school grounds was entirely different. Word had clearly spread, and there wasn’t a person who didn’t have their eyes on me as I walked from my car to the school. No one seemed to be whispering about it, at least, just keeping an eye on me, some with fear, others with piqued curiosity.
“Jesus,” Sicily hissed at me when I finally walked through the front doors. “Where the hell have you been?” he asked.
“I got to talking with my mom about…everything. I didn’t tell her about Miss Abrams, but she obviously has a different insight on some of the key players. I lost track of time,” I explained. “Did you figure some stuff out?”
“Yeah, man. We shouldn’t discuss it here, though.” He fanned his hands around. “Class has been canceled for grief counseling and shit, so let’s go find a corner, and we can—”
“Mr. Keane.” My heart sank as I turned around and saw that Principal Hix was approaching me.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hello,” he replied. “Can you come with me for a moment please?” He looked at Sicily. “Your friend can come too. It won’t take long.”
