Girls with Razor Hearts

by Suzanne Young

  The girl is clapping and hooting wildly. And when she turns and I see her profile, I jump to my feet.

  “Mena, what is it?” Sydney asks, standing up. I can barely catch my breath.

  “Lennon Rose,” I murmur. “That’s … That’s Lennon Rose.” I lift a shaky hand to point at her just as the cheers begin to die down. Next to me, Sydney sways and puts her hand over her heart.

  “It can’t be,” she whispers.

  Lennon Rose Scholar was one of our dearest friends at the academy. We vowed to protect her and did our best to do so. But we failed, the fact of which broke us all. Lennon Rose disappeared one night, leaving her shoes by her bed. It was only later that the Guardian implied that she’d been destroyed.

  Murdered.

  We mourned her.

  Sydney grabs the sleeve of my shirt and pulls me down the aisle. The guy sitting in gum reaches out to “accidentally” run his palm along my calf. I flinch like I’ve been burned, but when I look at him, he stares past me like he didn’t even notice he touched me without permission.

  I have a wild flash of anger, volatile enough to punch him. I even curl my fist. But when he lifts his eyes to mine, as if daring me to try, I know that it’s not a fight I’ll win. Because hitting him while he feigns innocence will be twisted into making me the aggressor. And I won’t let him frame it that way.

  “Don’t touch me again,” I say simply. Sydney glares at him fiercely and then motions for me to come on.

  “You okay?” she asks as we start down the bleachers. I tell her that I am as we move toward where Lennon Rose is standing.

  I examine Lennon Rose, although I can’t see her face. She’s not wearing a uniform, so I don’t think she attends Ridgeview. In fact, I might not have recognized her at all if I hadn’t seen her profile. Her hair, although still blond, is worn in a different way. She wasn’t allowed to wear ponytails at the academy. Her bangs have grown out and are brushed to one side, showing more of her face. Her blue eyes are framed in dark, fake lashes, her lips painted bright pink. Her entire approved color scheme has changed.

  Lennon Rose is wearing black yoga pants, sneakers, and a tan jacket. She fits in seamlessly with the people around her. Including the handsome boy she’s standing next to. He’s tall with shaved black hair. When she flashes him a smile, he seems to melt under her attention, even though he plays it cool and nods at her.

  As we stomp down the metal bleachers, Lennon Rose puts her hand on the boy’s arm, laughing loudly.

  Sydney and I are shocked to see her alive. Lennon Rose is here in front of us.

  And as if she can hear my thoughts, Lennon Rose glances over her shoulder directly at me. She has no noticeable reaction, almost like she knew I was there all along. Her big blue eyes seem to reach right into my chest and pluck out my heart.

  I press my lips together to keep from crying. She glances at Sydney before looking back at me. It’s nearly imperceptible, or maybe not at all, but Lennon Rose tells us not to come over. Sydney stops me, realizing the same thing.

  Lennon Rose stares at us until the crowd erupts in another raucous cheer. She turns to the boy and hugs him as they both cheer in celebration.

  And then, without another glance, Lennon Rose takes his hand and leads him from the bleachers. Sydney and I watch them head toward the parking lot, but we don’t move.

  “She … ,” Sydney starts, furrowing her brow.

  “She’s alive,” I say, finishing her sentence. “She’s here.” I pause. “How is she here? How this school?”

  “I don’t know,” Sydney replies. The game must be nearing its end, because a few people push past us on their way to leave.

  “What should we do?” I ask Sydney, moving aside so people can get around me on the stairs.

  “We follow her,” Sydney says.

  I wait a beat before I nod. And then Sydney and I hurry down the bleachers toward the parking lot in hopes of catching up with her.

  We can’t let Lennon Rose get away.

  Innovations Academy

  Roman Petrov, Headmaster

  info@innovationsacademy.school

  Product Specification Guide for Lennon Rose

  Lennon Rose is a blond-haired, blue-eyed design tailored for clients looking for innocence, adoration, and complete obedience. This programming is best suited for private use.

  Product: Lennon Rose

  Height: 5’5”

  Skin: White

  Body Type: Extremely thin

  Hair: Blond

  Eyes: Blue

  Function: Doll

  Personality: Soft-spoken, innocent, obedient

  Model Specifications: Hair worn long and straight with bangs. Makeup must enhance eye color, pale pink lids with black liner. No highlights on skin. Peach blush. Pink lips with high gloss. Clothing to be modest, with formal dresses in hues of blue.

  NO VARIATION.

  9

  At first, I’m scared that we’ve lost her. But then we see a boy standing outside a matte black SUV, a girl in his arms as she stares up at him. It’s alarming at first. The Lennon Rose we knew always wanted to find love, make a connection. But she was so shy.

  Watching her lean on a boy in a way that none of us ever have is jarring. The confidence with which Lennon Rose moves, the flirtatious smile and lingering touch. She’s different. I don’t know what’s been done to her.

  The guy gives Lennon Rose a quick kiss on the lips and then gets inside his SUV. Lennon Rose walks around to the passenger side, pausing long enough to glance at us before climbing inside.

  Sydney and I stop walking, knowing we can’t chase after her when she’s in a vehicle. Suddenly, a blue sedan pulls up beside us. My heart jumps, but when the window rolls down, I’m relieved to see it’s Adrian.

  “Do you need a ride?” she asks.

  I smile. “We do, actually. Thank you.”

  Sydney and I open the doors and get in the backseat. Adrian glances in the mirror at us, and I realize I probably should have gotten in the front. I’m still adjusting to the etiquette of the outside world.

  “Can you help us follow someone home?” I ask innocently.

  Adrian smiles as if waiting for the punch line, but when it doesn’t come, she stares at me. “Wait, are you being serious?” she asks.

  “We are,” Sydney says, leaning forward. “And hi, I’m Sydney.”

  “Adrian.” She seems excited to have met another girl. I decide that I like her. Not enough to trust her with our secrets, but enough to continue getting to know her.

  “We think we just saw our friend,” I explain. “And we had no idea she was alive.”

  Sydney clears her throat, looking sideways at me.

  “You know,” I add quickly. “Because we haven’t seen her in forever. And now she’s in town. We’re so relieved.” I’m rambling.

  “Anyway,” I say with a shrug. “Before we could talk to her, she got into that SUV.” I point ahead to where the boy’s vehicle has started for the main road.

  “Oh … ,” Adrian says. “You mean the blond girl dating Corris Hawkes?”

  “You know her?” I ask.

  “No.” She shakes her head. “But I’ve seen her around. She seems cool. Corris is nice; he’s not like the others.”

  “Then can you follow them?” I ask. “I would owe you a huge favor.”

  Adrian shifts into gear. “Sure,” she says. “But you don’t owe me anything.”

  I thank her and sit back. Sydney and I watch as Adrian follows the black SUV through the neighborhood. We drive for about ten minutes, but it seems to take forever. Suddenly, being in a strange car with a person I hardly know feels alarming.

  I have this irrational worry that we’re driving back to Innovations Academy. That Mr. Petrov, Anton, and the professors will be waiting on the front stairs to usher us inside like they used to after a field trip.

  “Well, this is different,” Sydney says, bringing me back to reality. I look out the window and see that the neighb
orhood has changed. The houses are bigger, the lawns more expansive.

  “Your friend must be pretty rich,” Adrian says. “This is a nice place—lawyers, doctors, CEOs.”

  Lennon Rose doesn’t have any money, at least not that we know of.

  “It’s probably the boy’s house,” Sydney says, looking out the window.

  “Corris?” Adrian replies. “No, he lives in my neighborhood. And trust me, it doesn’t look like this.”

  I have no idea how Lennon Rose could have ended up in an area like this, assuming it’s hers. Where would she get that kind of funding?

  We come to a stop as the SUV pulls up to a set of iron gates leading to another section of the neighborhood. Adrian waits as Corris punches in a code, and then the gates begin to open.

  “I’m going to try to sneak in behind him,” Adrian says. She’s got an itchy smile on her face, like she’s enjoying this pursuit but doesn’t want to admit it.

  Sure enough, the guy drives through and the gate stays open long enough for us to follow. It’s only a few minutes later when the SUV eases to the side of the street outside a massive brick house.

  Adrian drives past them so as not to arouse suspicion. She parks down the block, and we watch the couple in the mirrors.

  I see Lennon Rose kissing Corris in the front seat of his vehicle. It’s shocking and unnerving. Does she want to be kissing him? Does she even really know him?

  And why didn’t she stop to talk to us?

  Lennon Rose gets out of the SUV, holding up her delicate hand in a wave before heading toward the front door of the house. She unlocks the door and walks inside.

  “We’ll get out here,” I tell Adrian. Her lips part, and she seems worried as she watches me in the mirror.

  “Do you want me to wait?” she asks.

  “No, but thank you,” I tell her. “We’ll be fine.” We all downloaded a car service app at Marcella’s insistence. I smile at Adrian. “We really appreciate all your help.”

  She nods, but I note the small bit of disappointment in her features. She liked feeling included, even though she has no idea what we’re really doing. Sydney climbs out of the backseat, but just as I start to, Adrian calls my name.

  “The answer was yes,” she says, looking into her lap instead of at me. “Your earlier question about the boys.” Her voice is a whisper, one that pains me in its familiarity. “And I’m not the only one they’ve hurt. It just doesn’t matter.”

  Anger boils up. The boys getting special treatment have been hurting her, hurting others. And they’ve gotten away with it.

  “Of course it matters,” I say, but she shakes her head.

  “Not according to the school.”

  “It matters to me,” I respond immediately. Adrian’s eyes soften, like my words mean something.

  Sydney knocks on the window, waiting outside the door. Adrian gives me a polite smile.

  “You’d better go,” she says.

  “I don’t have to. We can—”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she says. “I just … I wanted you to know. I wanted you to be prepared.”

  “We can help you,” I say, even though I have no idea how I would help beyond my emotional support.

  “I’m okay, Mena. Really. Just … forget I said anything.” Her voice has taken on an edge, and I know that pushing her now will shut this conversation down permanently. So I nod, waiting a few extra seconds in case she changes her mind. When she doesn’t, I thank her again for the ride and climb out of the car.

  Sydney and I watch as she drives away, offering her a wave. When she’s gone, Sydney is curious.

  “What was that about?” she asks.

  “I’ll tell you later,” I say.

  Sydney turns to face the massive house. “What has Lennon Rose gotten herself into?” she asks.

  “We’re about to find out,” I murmur.

  There are beautiful plants set all around the porch as we get to the front door. I wonder if Lennon Rose put them here, a reminder of the beauty of the Federal Flower Garden. I’ll probably never go back there. Too bad. It was one of the few places that I enjoyed visiting with Innovations Academy.

  “Here we go,” Sydney says. She uses the large, attached handle to knock. A hollow sound echoes behind the door.

  We only wait a moment before we hear the clicking of locks, and then the heavy door pulls open. Inside, the house is darker than on the porch and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust.

  And then suddenly, as if she’s just appearing, Lennon Rose stands in front of us. Her ponytail is down, her blond hair flowing over her shoulders. My breath catches.

  But it’s Sydney who leaps forward to hug her.

  “Oh, Lennon Rose!” Sydney calls, gathering her into her arms. Lennon Rose squeezes her eyes closed like she’s overwhelmed too. They hug desperately in the entryway, and my heart just about bursts to see them together again.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” Sydney says, tears streaking her mascara down her face.

  They cling together for several moments before Lennon Rose sniffles and straightens out of her arms. She smiles at both of us, wiping her cheeks, even though they’re not wet with tears. Sydney and I, however, are a mess.

  We take a moment to get ahold of ourselves. Lennon Rose presses her lips together sympathetically.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you at the game,” she says in the same sweet tone we remember. “I didn’t want to draw attention to us. But I knew you’d come find me.”

  “We’ll always come for you,” Sydney says. Lennon Rose steps aside and invites us in. She watches us as we enter, studying us.

  The foyer itself is grand, and my eyes feast on the stimulus. Wood floors and patterned wallpaper, a massive staircase with oversized windows along the wall. Paintings are hung in gold frames, and I imagine everything in here is expensive. On one side of the entry is a room with a thirty-foot-high ceiling and a grand piano, almost like a ballroom.

  Lennon Rose closes the front door and locks it. She leads us down the hallway a bit and opens a set of doors. The room is beautiful. A library or study, I’m not sure, but it has tons of books, a brown leather sofa, and a desk. We take a seat as Lennon Rose stands in front of us. Sydney is still shaking.

  Lennon Rose is different. We used to constantly worry about her, but she’s clearly gained some confidence. I’m happy for that … but it only deepens the mystery of what befell her at Innovations Academy. And now that I know she’s safe, she’s alive, a new sentiment bubbles up—hurt.

  “You disappeared,” I say, my voice betraying my pain. “We didn’t think we’d ever see you again. What happened to you? Why haven’t you … Why didn’t you let us know you were okay?”

  “What happened to me?” Lennon Rose asks, and then smiles. “Everything.”

  That’s not exactly an answer. I glance around, trying to figure out what’s going on. Lennon Rose is in a mansion in the same town as us. There’s no way it’s a coincidence.

  “Are you here to find information about the investor?” Sydney asks, picking up on my thoughts.

  “It’s a long story,” Lennon Rose says. She sits in a chair across from us. “But first, tell me how the other girls are. I’ve missed them. Are they here too?”

  “Uh …” I furrow my brow. “A few of us are here, yes.”

  “A few?” Lennon Rose repeats with concern. “What do you mean? Is Valentine here?”

  My heart sinks. “No,” I say, and the word is a whisper filled with grief.

  Lennon Rose’s expression clouds over. “Why not? What happened?”

  “No offense, Lennon Rose,” Sydney says, leaning forward, “but I think you should tell us what happened to you first. You disappeared from the academy in the middle of the night. We thought … We thought they’d hurt you. It destroyed us.”

  The clouds grow darker. “They always hurt me, Sydney. Hurt all of us. I found a way to escape their control.”

  “How?” I ask. “
How did you get past Anton?”

  She examines me. “Are you awake?” she asks me suddenly.

  The abruptness of the question startles me. “Yes,” I say. “It was the poems—the ones we found in your room.”

  Lennon Rose relaxes slightly. “Good,” she says. “Those poems helped me see things more clearly. They made me realize that girls can fight back. That we can win. As far as Anton goes,” she says with a hint of disgust, “I used his misplaced thirst for admiration to manipulate him. He thought himself a hero, when really, he was always the villain. Once I was awake, I knew how to twist the words around his heart. Make him believe I’d be better off outside of the academy. I fawned over his heroism.

  “That’s the thing,” she adds. “Anton controlled us while pretending to love us. It was cruel and unethical. And once I found out how we were created, well … it helped me realize I didn’t want to be a part of their system anymore. I wanted to burn it down.”

  “But you didn’t warn us,” Sydney says, pain in her voice.

  “You weren’t ready then,” Lennon Rose says simply. And her statement leaves little room for argument. She’s right.

  Those poems did have the ability to affect a change in our outlook. The words were powerful, but also violent. Extreme. In the end, the girls and I wanted to find a better way. It was … not possible. At least, not entirely. But we tried.

  “Leandra helped you?” I ask.

  “She got me to Winston Weeks,” she says, and then smiles broadly. “And he saw my potential. I owe him everything.”

  This statement more than any other sets me on edge. Winston Weeks is a major investor at Innovations Academy. Yes, he was working with Leandra, but we don’t know anything about him. We can’t trust him.

  “You left with him?” I ask. “And he—”

  “Yes, and he … ,” she says, anticipating my question, “brought me to this town. We’re on a larger mission, Mena. This isn’t just about you or me. Not even the other girls.” She betrays a flash of worry at their mention. “Winston Weeks has a larger plan for all of us, and once it’s done, society will be afraid.”