by Payton Reed
When she reached the front, she was startled to find the food was considerably better than anything she’d seen in a school cafeteria before. There were three entrée choices, and they were all delicious-looking and sounding. She finally chose the lasagna roll-up and a salad before getting to the end of the line. She was used to having a lunch card she had to present, but there was nothing as gauche as that allowed at Dunwich. Meals were included, so she had no one to report to for a card swipe. She just needed to grab a drink and join the crowd to find a seat.
She picked up a bottle of water and turned, dread taking over as she looked for a place to sit. All around her, there were hostile faces, and she certainly wasn’t eager to share a lunch space with any of them. She decided to move deeper into the room, hoping to find at least apathetic faces before she chose a table.
She took a few steps forward, and suddenly she was boxed in. Malone was on one side, and Dalton was on the other. Three boys stood behind her, allowing her no escape that way either. She could only walk forward, and they were starting to steer her. “What’re you doing?”
“Making sure you know where you belong,” said Malone in a snotty tone.
“You’d be a scholarship kid if it weren’t for Dad,” said Dalton with a sneer, “So you’d better sit with the eskies. That’s where the trash belongs.”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t look quite trashy enough.” As Malone spoke, she unscrewed the cap on her juice bottle. Her intent was obvious to pour it over Willow’s head. Willow tried to step back, but the boys blocked her in. She moved closer to Dalton, and that proved to be a mistake when she felt what she was certain was an erection pressing against her hip.
She recoiled in shock, which jostled her into Malone. Malone took a step back, and she would’ve fallen if it hadn’t been for Lex appearing behind her. He put out a hand to keep Malone from falling, and with the other, he took her juice and tossed it in the nearest trashcan. “That’s not very nice, Malone.”
She turned to look at him. “I couldn’t care less what you think, Lex.”
Lex ignored her, moving past her to put his arm around Willow’s shoulders. He and Dalton shared a glare for a moment, and to her surprise, Dalton took a step back. Lex seemed confident, and he was already steering her toward a table. “Wanna sit with me today?”
“Sure. Thanks.” She breathed a sigh of relief as she put down her tray beside Lex’s and sat beside him. There was still some space between them, but their knees brushed now and then, and it caused her heart to flutter each time they did.
“Sorry about that,” said Lex. “I got there as soon as I realized what was going on.”
She took time to have a sip of water before answering. “I appreciate it. I guess they thought making me sit with the scholarship kids would be a bad thing.”
His friend, whose name she hadn’t yet learned, wrinkled his nose. “Why would you sit with the eskies? They’re beneath us.”
She was about to open her mouth to set him straight on that when the lunch monitor, wearing a hairnet and apron, stopped at the table. Surely no older than Willow, she looked harried, and she carried a dishpan propped on her hip. “Do you have any dishes?” She looked around the table as she waited.
“No, but I’d like another water. Flat, please,” said the pretty girl sitting beside Lex’s friend.
“I’m not a waitress, Cynthia. I’m the busser.”
“Nah, you’re a charity case,” said the jerk. He laughed. “Is it true that you don’t get to eat unless you work in here?”
Beth glared at him, but her tone was neutral. “We’re required to work a certain number of hours around campus to maintain our scholarships. Not that you’d know anything about work, Wills.”
Willow giggled, which earned her a glare from Wills and a quick smile from the girl.
“I know plenty about work. It’s what little people like you do for me.” Wills spoke haughtily.
The girl laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself. Nothing I do is for you. Now, do you need dishes bussed?” She looked at Wills’ is mostly empty plate. “I know you can’t be bothered to walk over to the bussing station. Should I call for your valet to carry you?”
He looked angry as he lifted his glass and tossed it at the girl. She barely ducked out of the way, and it hit the floor with a shattering sound. The jerk grinned in delight. “I hope that comes out of your salary, if they pay you anything.”
The girl looked a little rattled, but she didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reply.
Willow had one ready though. “That was a really awful thing to do. You should apologize and clean it up yourself. She’s not your freaking maid.”
Wills’ attention turned from the malicious grin he shared with the girl sitting beside him to focus his gaze on her. “What’s your problem?”
“My problem is you don’t treat people like that. What’s wrong with you? You could’ve hurt her with that glass, and it seems like you’re only being a jerk because you have more money. That doesn’t make you special.”
“Who the hell is this, Lex, and why is she sitting with us?” asked Cynthia.
Lex shrugged. “She’s new here, and I like her. I also agree. You shouldn’t have done that, Wills.”
“Screw you both.” He stood up, holding out a hand for the girl, and the two of them walked away.
Realizing no one was going to help her clean up, Willow got her feet, moving around the table to kneel and help the girl pick up the broken glass. “I’m sorry about that. I don’t know him or anything, but I’m sorry he acted that way.”
The brown-haired girl smiled, though her eyes were blinking. “It’s all right. I’m used to pigs like that. Just being here challenges their status quo and what they think the world should be.” Within a moment, her expression had cleared, and her eyes no longer blinked. “I’m Beth Knudsen, by the way.”
“Willow Munroe.” She dumped in the last handful of glass into the dishpan before getting to her feet. “You handled it really well. I might’ve smacked him.”
With a grin, Beth said, “I might pay to see that.” With a friendly wave, she moved on to the next table. This was the one Willow had tentatively identified as the scholarship kids’ table. They all sat quietly with their heads down. None of them gave Beth any problems, though Willow kept her eye on the situation as she sat down. She wasn’t Beth’s savior, but she liked to observe to see who the decent people were around here, and who were the jerks.
She turned to look at Lex, wondering if he was a jerk. He’d been nice her so far, but he also kept awful company. She might’ve been glaring at him, because his expression changed.
He looked worried. “Is something wrong?”
She frowned at him. “I’m just wondering why let your friends do that?”
Lex’s light-blue eyes widened with shock. “How am I supposed to stop them? I can’t control their actions.”
She nodded after a moment. “That’s fair, but you can speak up when he does something so horrible.” She looked down at her tray, realizing she’d lost her appetite. “I’m going to take off now. Thanks for letting me sit with you and saving me from Malone and Dalton.” She meant to sound sincere, but her tone came across as a little brusque, with a chill to it as well.
He looked upset as he mumbled, “Bye,” and she left him without looking back. After bussing her tray, she left the dining hall, glad to be out of there. If Lex proved to be the same kind of jerk as Wills, she would sit with the scholarship kids any day over people like that.
Chapter Six
Willow
She couldn’t stifle a groan when she entered her next class right after lunch and found Dalton sitting in the middle row three desks back. She’d hoped to avoid having any classes with either one of her step-siblings, especially after they’d unleashed their claws. Knowing they didn’t like or want her around was still quite different from having them act like it.
With that in mind, she took a seat in the first row near
the teacher’s desk. It was a strategic choice, but not because she wanted good grades. If Dalton wanted to mess with her, it would be more difficult with the teacher right there.
It seemed he did indeed plan to mess with her, because as the seats started to fill up, he left his and took the desk behind hers. She scooted forward a bit, and he followed. He grabbed a handful of her hair and tugged hard enough to make her eyes sting. She jerked around to glare at him. “Keep your hands to yourself.”
“Why? Are you going to cry?” He set forward, looking eager, and she was certain he was ready to inflict pain upon her.
With a sound of disgust, she turned back to face forward, and he jerked on her hair again. Gritting her teeth, she reached into her backpack and pulled out a ponytail holder. She scooped up her hair and wound it into a bun before wrapping the elastic band around it as the bell started to ring.
“This is Math, not hair time,” snapped the professor standing in front of her. The attractive woman had appeared almost from nowhere, though Willow was certain she’d just been looking down while doing her hair and hadn’t seen the professor approach. She was barely over the bell, but she put her hands on her desk and nodded.
“I’m Professor Suzanne Barnes, and this is advanced mathematics. If you don’t belong, leave now.” Her gaze focused noticeably, and for a long moment, upon Willow.
Willow scowled, but she didn’t reply. She belonged there just fine. Math had been one of her strongest subjects at her old school, and even if the public school wasn’t quite as advanced, she was confident she could handle this.
With visible disappointment, Suzanne’s gaze moved along, and her speech continued. “I expect hard work and a mastery of math. If you want to pass this class, you have to attend class, do your homework, and you can’t fail anything. One failed quiz, and you might as well resign yourself to taking this class again. I have very tough standards.” There was a note of warning in her voice, and her gaze returned to Willow. She was wearing a visible grimace, as though she found Willow unpleasant.
Willow barely resisted the urge to sniff her armpits to ensure her deodorant hadn’t stopped working. Clearly, the teacher had decided to take an instant dislike to her. Just what she needed on top of all the other stresses in this place.
Suzanne got right to it, and Willow breathed a sigh of relief when she realized they were discussing a topic she already knew. She was able to breeze through the problem when Suzanne called her up to the front of the class to work it on the chalkboard. She saw Suzanne scrutinizing it, and the other woman’s face fell with disappointment and disgust before she turned back to face the class and say in an unenthusiastic voice, “The answer is correct.”
Suzanne seemed to want to torture her by the way she kept calling her to the board to do the problems. Eventually, she must’ve realized she couldn’t keep calling just Willow up to the front, so she moved on and called a few other students in between singling her out. Willow still ended up doing four of the fifteen problems that day. Yeah, Suzanne definitely had a hateboner for her. At least she’d answered the questions properly.
It was almost a relief to be called up to the front to work a problem, because in between, Dalton was doing his best to make her miserable. He kept kicking the back of her foot and pulling the little hairs on her neck. Toward the end of the class, he sharpened his pencil and then used it to poke her in the shoulder. It was getting painful to ignore, so she was relieved when the bell rang.
Most of the students scattered, but Dalton was a little slower. She was faster than him, but she turned to face him as he stood up. “Leave me the hell alone. I’ve done nothing to you.”
He sneered. “You’ve inflicted your presence on us, and you want to be family. You don’t belong here, and you don’t belong in the Westerly household. I’m just reminding you of that.”
She glared at him. “As if I could forget. I don’t to be here either, and I don’t want to be your family. I’d rather be back at my old school in my old life than stuck with you guys, but can’t we just avoid each other?” She looked around, noticing everyone had gone, except Suzanne. She was at her desk, head down and clearly avoiding witnessing any of the drama. “It’s a big school, and there’s no reason to interact, so what do you get out of this? I can stay out of your way if you stay out of mine.”
He leaned in closer, a menacing expression on his face. “Pleasure is what I get out of torturing you. It’s hilarious, and we’re going to make you as miserable as possible until you leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I promised my mother I’d stick it out in this horrible place.” Had Hannah realized Dalton would be part of the misery to endure?
He glared. “Your gold-digging mother is a whore, and so are you.”
Pushed her to the point she couldn’t control herself, her hand flew up. She brought it back before slamming it forward to slap him, and she almost grazed his cheek before he caught her.
He held her wrist like a vise, squeezing hard enough to press on the bone. Willow couldn’t help a small whimper, but she refused ask him to release her. She’d tried being reasonable, and that wasn’t going to work with him, but she wasn’t going to show weakness
Even when he leaned closer, bringing his face almost to hers, she forced herself not to back away. “Try that again, and you’ll regret it even more than you’ll regret ever coming here.”
His breath brushed against her cheek, and he smelled nice. She hated noticing that about him, and she hated the way her heart rate accelerated at has proximity. She tried to tell herself most of all she hated him, and she glared back at him, refusing to flinch. “I already regret it, but I’m not going to let you chase me away.”
His anger seemed to fade, and he smiled, though it was a cold sneer that conveyed peril rather than amusement. “We’ll see about that.” With one last firm squeeze of her wrist, he released her and flung her back a little, making her stumble into the desk behind her as he angled past her to leave the room.
Willow glanced at Suzanne, who was looking down, but wore a happy smile. She had no doubt the teacher had witnessed the incident, and it had clearly amused her. Willow had no idea why the professor might dislike her so strongly, but it was clear she would find no help in that woman.
Chapter Seven
Lex
Lex was at the library to study, since Wills liked his music loud, and Lex found that distracting. Though only the second day of the term, and the first day of real work, he already had homework, just like everyone else.
As he slipped through the main part of the library to take a shortcut to his favorite quiet spot, he paused at the sight of Willow’s head, bent over a thick book at a nearby table. For a moment, he questioned whether he should approach her after the way she’d left him earlier, but he wanted to speak to her again. He wanted to get to know her better, and he wanted to show her he wasn’t like Wills. With a deep breath, he approached her table, hoping he came across as casual. “I didn’t expect to see you here already.”
She looked up, though she was clearly uncertain for a moment before she gave him a tentative smile. “I have to do a little catching up. Shockingly enough, public school didn’t prepare me for this place.”
Sympathetic, he nodded at the seat across from her. “May I sit?”
“I don’t own the school,” she said with a grin, though it faded slightly, and she looked apprehensive when she said, “Unlike the Westerly’s, I don’t claim to either.” She waved at the seat.
He sat down across from her and leaned over to look at her book. “What are you reading?”
“On The Wings Of A Dove by Harry James. I have to catch up for my literature class. Why are you in the library?”
“I came to study, since Wills is way too loud.” Realizing he’d accidentally brought up his friend, he winced. Her expression betrayed that she was thinking about what his friend had done again. He hastened to say, “Wills is my roommate, and we’re friends, but he was a real asshole today.
I should’ve spoken up and said something, especially since I know Beth, and we’re friends.”
She looked skeptical about that. “Yeah, okay. I agree you should’ve spoken up.”
“So how do you like this place so far?” It was an inane question, but he couldn’t seem to think of a better one.
Her expression was distant, and her tone was cool. “I’m not sure hate is a strong enough word.”
He laughed awkwardly, hoping she was joking, at least a little. “It’s not all bad. I’m here.”
After a moment, her expression warmed again, and the corner of her lips turned up. “I guess that’s a selling point.”
He put a hand on his chest. “I’m wounded.”
She rolled her eyes, but she did giggle too. He took that as a good sign. “So, tell me about you.”
She arched a brow. “Not much to tell. We lived in a small town outside of Portland until my mom married her boss three months ago. He thought it would be great to send me here along with Malone and Dalton, and I couldn’t be luckier.” She gave him a bright smile, though her tone was dripping in sarcasm. “Guess I should be so grateful that I’m here.”
He shrugged. “There’re some good opportunities, but the place can be a real drag too. I’m a legacy, which sucks. After two or three generations of sending your kid to the same place, it sort of becomes ingrained in the families, and the schools assume you’ll be there with your next generation too. It’s hard to be in the shadow of your older brother, your father, your grandfather, etc.”
Her tone was difficult to read when she said, “I see. You’re just a poor little rich boy?”
He felt defensive and frowned at her. “I didn’t say that. Just that it was difficult at times. It’s not like coming here is sunshine and roses for everyone, you know? I’m trying to say I understand how you feel. Or at least kind of how you feel.”
