“To the Ten,” Madison answers. “What did you think this was, a tea party?”
I look around at the other Ten members, both new and old, who stand there surrounding me, and I have the distinct sense of being circled by predators.
“Let me guess,” I say, turning back to Madison, my voice hardening. “This was my initiation. Were you trying to kill me?”
“We weren’t going to let you perish, Emmaline.” Madison glances back at her entourage. “Were we?”
Angela opens her mouth to speak, then thinks better of it.
“Prudence’s task was to save you,” Tessa says simply, without further explanation.
I turn to Pru, confused but, once again, immensely grateful. I’m about to thank her for saving my life when Tessa continues. “After she threw you in.”
A chill creeps up my body, starting at my toes and ending at the top of my head. And even though my clothes are soaking, this feeling isn’t a result of the cold.
“After you threw me in?” I turn back to Pru, not believing what I’m hearing.
“We helped, of course,” Tessa adds blandly. “You’re not that light.”
“You tied a brick to my leg!” I protest.
“Kettlebell. But same difference. Pru borrowed it from her crew team.”
“That’s crazy.” I turn back to Pru. “You wouldn’t…” When she doesn’t answer, I scan the circle. Not everyone’s here yet. Not all ten of us. But those who are watch me, especially Madison. She couldn’t look more pleased with herself. And Tessa looks exceptionally smug. Prudence doesn’t defend herself. Which means it’s true. She did this.
“But, Pru. Why would you… How could you—?”
I stop. Her face is pure anguish. I can tell that tossing me into Dark Lake was the last thing she’d ever want to do. But she did it anyway.
“Prudence takes her position in the Ten seriously,” Madison explains. “You’d be wise to do the same.”
“Or what?” I ask, the tremor in my voice nearly betraying me.
“Or suffer the consequences.” Madison’s voice is cold, and I’m not only chilled now. I’m shivering, and sickened at what Pru thought she had to do. Did Madison and the others threaten her? Is that why she was convinced she had to follow their orders? How twisted is this Ten business? The first chance I get, I’ll talk to Pru about this, in private.
Tessa hands me and Pru towels from a tote bag. “You’re dripping,” she says. I take one, still shell-shocked.
“Let’s go, everyone,” Angela says softly. “It’s nearly midnight.”
“We have one more stop to make before we commence the first midnight session of the school year,” Madison says with authority. “Follow me.”
We do, because we’re soaked through, and because now doesn’t feel like the right moment to defy Madison. Not when we’re vulnerable like this. Pru wraps her arm around my waist, and we plod up the grassy hill to school. We keep our distance from Madison, Tessa, and Angela, who walk several feet ahead of us, and Maude and Archer, who follow behind a few paces. Pru grabs my hand and squeezes it. I let her, even though a part of me wants to shout at her and make her explain. How could she bring herself to throw me in the lake? Did she think about saying no?
I check the time on my plum, thankful for its waterproof capabilities up to a thousand feet. There’s a notification waiting for me. Apparently Dash was about to send out an emergency alert after my blood pressure increased dramatically from the adrenaline then dropped dangerously low. But I was rescued before the alert went out.
“Thanks, Dash,” I whisper. “What would I do without you?”
“I would prefer not to find out,” he replies.
“Emma,” Pru says, her voice fierce. “You have to know. I would never have let anything happen to you.”
I’m too overwhelmed to respond. I believe Pru. I do. I know without a shadow of a doubt that she would never hurt me, not if she could help it. She’s always been the one person at this school, besides Oliver, whom I’d trust with my life. And tonight, it came to that. I shiver in my wet clothes, reminding myself how Pru worried about me this summer after Ollie died. How she buzzed me that she’d give her right arm to get him back for one last day. One last hour. One last minute. It was the only thing anyone said to me that gave me comfort. It gives me comfort now.
And yet, it doesn’t stop the feeling of dread that floods my veins like a lethal injection of black-market pharmas.
Midnight Session
“Girls, you’ll be coming with me,” Madison dictates as we reach the front steps of Cypress. “Archer, it’s time for you to retrieve the guys.”
“Roger that, Captain,” Archer jokes, moving off toward one of the dorms.
Madison turns to the rest of us—me, Tessa, Prudence, Maude, and Angela. “Up to the third floor. And be quiet,” she warns. We follow her silently up the stairs and down the hallway, stopping in front of the penultimate door.
“Left side or right?” Tessa asks Madison.
“Left,” Madison replies, but she isn’t looking at Tessa. She’s staring at me. Madison reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out a pair of gleaming metal scissors. She thrusts them toward me.
“What are those for?” I balk.
“Initiating our final female member of the Ten. Archer is waking up Sunil Bhat, the other senior member, and collecting Levi.”
Levi. I’d let myself forget for a second, but now I have no choice but to remember. He’s part of the Ten. There won’t be any avoiding him, at least not tonight.
“And you’re tasked with initiating Theodora,” Madison adds.
Theodora. I’d almost forgotten about her rank. Second in the junior class. “If you think I’m going to throw Theodora into Dark Lake, you can think again,” I snap.
Madison laughs. “As though any of us would enjoy a repeat of that. No, initiating Theodora is only going to take a few minutes.”
“What is it we’re going to do to her, then?” I ask, though I’ve never wanted an answer less in my life. “And what are the scissors for? Stabbing her in the back?”
Madison ignores that last comment. “It’s not what we’re going to do, Emmaline,” she says, her eyes dancing. “It’s what you’re going to do.”
“Can we get this over with?” Tessa whines. “You’re cutting off her hair.”
“Yeah, right,” I say. Except Tessa’s face is emotionless. She’s not kidding. “You aren’t serious—”
“It’s Darkwood tradition,” Madison reminds me. “Each new member initiates another new member. Prudence initiated you. You initiate Theodora.”
“And if I refuse?” I ask.
“You won’t,” Madison says. “Because then you’d be booted from the Ten. You’d be automatically reslotted into last place. Check the Darkwood handbook if you’re shaky on the details.”
“That’s not in the handbook, and you know it,” I snap. I’m certain the administration hasn’t given Madison permission for this kind of hazing. They think of the Ten as model students. Whatever hazing goes on without Ransom’s knowledge is definitely not sanctioned by the school. But I believe her that I’d lose my spot, because who knows what lies she’d tell Ransom about me. And I may not be obsessed with scores and college applications, but I don’t want to be reslotted into the ninetieth place of the junior class and have to explain to my father why I discarded my coveted top ranking. He wouldn’t understand, and we already have too big of a gulf between us.
“Would you get on with it? It’s a haircut, not a lobotomy,” Tessa says.
I stare at her, slowly comprehending what she’s asking of me. Not just the haircut itself, but the reason why she wants me to do this. “You want me to cut off Theodora’s hair, so she won’t look like you anymore. Wow. For some of the smartest kids at this school, you really are an immature bunch. Give me those sc
issors.” I snatch them out of Madison’s hand and push my way into Theodora’s darkened room. Light from the hallway illuminates the space enough for me to see what I’m doing.
Theodora’s sleeping in the left bed. The bed on the right side of the room is empty, and I realize now that it must be Maude’s. The two are roommates.
I lean down, picking up a few strands of Theodora’s hair. When I’m done, she’ll still look like Tessa. There’s nothing anyone can do about that, short of plastic surgery. But this move is cruel and hurtful, and I know that, even as I begin my first cut.
“Above the shoulders,” Madison says. “A trim won’t count.”
“Why don’t you do it yourself if you’re going to micromanage,” I snap, but in a whisper. I don’t want to wake Theodora. Because once she realizes what’s going on… No, I can’t think about that. I fight the feeling of dread that settles in my stomach, reminding myself that this haircut might be humiliating for Theodora, but it will grow back. Gritting my teeth, I grab a more sizable chunk of Theodora’s hair and lop it straight off. I grab another chunk, and another. Brown locks fall around the two of us as Theodora starts to stir. I’m cutting off the last, uneven chunk when her eyes pop open. I make my final snip then step back, not wanting to give her a heart attack.
Theodora sits up, confused and disoriented as her eyes dart from me to Madison, and then to the others. “What’s going on? Is it morning? Is there a fire?”
Madison surveys me. “Nice work, Chance. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
You and me both, I think. I hate what I’ve done.
“What’s going on?” Theodora asks again more urgently, fingering the chunks of hair littering her bed and finally putting two and two together. Her hands fly instinctively to her head, and she slides from beneath her blankets and runs to the mirror above her desk, flicking on the light. Eyes wide, Theodora takes in her altered appearance, then turns back and zeroes in on me—and the scissors still in my hand. There’s no point in trying to pretend. She knows I did this.
“Welcome to the Ten,” I say, resigned, and before anyone can do or say anything else, in the only act of solidarity and penance I can think of, I take the scissors to my own hair.
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, the ten of us huddle around the virtual fire in the turret room at the top of Cypress. We sit in a circle, not talking, staring at the gold-framed photos that line the opposite wall—portraits of past Ten members. I shoot a glance at Theodora, who keeps running her fingers through her butchered hair. Maude sits next to her, but they don’t talk. Next to them is Levi. He isn’t wet, nor does his hair look any different, so I wonder what they did to him. Maybe I’d rather not know.
Madison sits pin straight in a hardback upholstered chair in front of the door. Legs crossed, her lean body tense with anticipation, she monitors the time on the plum strapped around her wrist. At midnight on the dot, she stands to lock the tower door with her key. Hers must have that extra capability, since she’s the Ten leader.
“Welcome, new initiates,” she says, clearly relishing her authority. “You survived your first hour as one of the Ten. Like many of your predecessors”—she indicates the portraits on the wall behind her—“you will go down in history as among the most talented students to walk these hallowed halls. Well, some of you, anyway.” Madison’s eyes land on the Similars. “There are a few of you who may be here for other, questionable reasons, but it is entirely Headmaster Ransom’s business if he chooses to weight the stratum test in favor of certain…new transfer students. And scholarship students.” Madison looks right at Levi, Theodora, and Maude. “And scholarship students.” Then she rests her gaze on Pru. I feel bile rising in my throat. Is she calling out my roommate and friend as a scholarship student? Pru’s a legacy—her father attended Darkwood some twenty years ago. And even though he’s had a successful career as a journalist, Pru’s told me in confidence that her family’s finances are strained. Especially since her mom got sick and all the medical bills piled up. From what I can tell, they may never catch up. But I know for a fact that Pru earned that stratum ranking fair and square. By being the smartest and the best. I’m about to jump up, fiercely protective of my friend, but Pru levels me with a look to keep my thoughts to myself.
“As you may already know, being one of the Ten doesn’t make you special. It makes you invincible. If you survive your junior year in this coveted club, you’ll be automatic members next year, like us.” She gestures at Tessa, Angela, Archer, and Sunil. “You’ll go on to great things. An Ivy League university. A career in whatever industry you choose. Wealth and connections will be at your fingertips. But all those spoils come at a price—the price of being simultaneously adored and despised. The price of demanding excellence from your peers at all costs. The price of being gifted.
“Darkwood was founded on the belief that our peers are our best critics. It is not solely the job of our teachers to light a fire under us, which is why we must exhort our classmates to be their best, to try harder, to excel. As one of the Ten, you must uphold that vision. You must be ready to make decisions for the good of the whole, not just the individual. You must be ready to surrender to being one of the Ten, even when the agenda does not personally suit you. Does anyone object?”
I object, I scream somewhere deep within myself. I object to throwing people in Dark Lake and cutting off a girl’s hair, and I object to you.
I start to raise my hand, but before I can fully extend it, Pru grabs my arm, pulling it down and squeezing my forearm so hard it hurts. It’s clear she wants me to stay quiet. She must really believe we have to do this, to go along with Madison’s agenda. Is that why she threw me in the lake?
“No objectors,” Madison responds. “Good.”
I shoot my other hand in the air. Madison glares at me. “Yes?”
“Emma!” Pru warns, but I ignore her.
“You must have drugged me,” I say, the mechanics of my own initiation suddenly crystalizing in my mind. “To get me into Dark Lake. There’s no way I was sleeping that soundly. It was an injective, wasn’t it?”
“Go ahead and tell yourself whatever you want, Emmaline. But you and I both know that your little pharma habit took care of our job for us.”
I don’t have a response to that. She’s right, of course. I did take more than the recommended dose of my pills today. Still, I don’t believe her. And I’m not done with her. Not even close. I break my gaze with Madison, and my eyes land on Levi, who crosses his arms over his chest. The slight movement catches my attention. As usual, Levi is acting emotionless and unfazed—like this Ten business is just one more item on his to-do list. I don’t know whether to be angry or impressed that he doesn’t take any of this seriously. I look away, pained that he’s taking up my brain space once again.
“Moving on,” Tessa pipes up. “Your next action item as Ten members, and this one might be tricky considering, well…”—she indicates the Similars—“you’re completely new to the school. Darkwood’s esteemed founders wanted the school to be a place of excellence. Historically, the Ten have taken it upon themselves to prune the student body. By doing so, we ensure that mediocrity has no home here. We ask that at the next Ten meeting, you bring us the name of a student who isn’t living up to that standard. Have fun.”
Fun? As I start to connect the dots, I feel sick to my stomach. Is this what the Ten secretly does, without the school knowing? They make students suffer? They hurt them? Encourage them to leave, or worse? How many students who transferred out of Darkwood midyear were forced out by the Ten? How many kids who plummeted off Hades Point were driven there by their peers?
I won’t do it. I can’t. My heart tells me to leave. This room, the Ten, and even Darkwood. But no, I’ll never do that. Leaving school’s not an option, and not simply because my dad would never allow it. I can’t leave because of Oliver. This is where we spent two of our happiest
years together. Our last two years. It will always be the place that reminds me most of him. Being here with Levi might be torture, but I have to stay. I’ll simply refuse to do what Madison’s asking.
I stand abruptly. All nine other students turn to look at me.
Madison’s voice cuts through the silence. “I haven’t dismissed you yet, Emmaline.”
“I’m freezing. I want to change into dry clothes and go to bed.” I need to get out of here, to go somewhere I can think.
Madison’s smile is tight. “I said, I haven’t dismissed the meeting yet. Does everyone understand the task at hand?”
The others nod, but I can’t bring myself to.
“All right, then.” Madison turns to face me. “You are now officially dismissed.”
Pru and I huddle together as we walk down the dark Cypress hallway. We don’t speak until we reach the privacy of our room. As soon as the door shuts behind us, Pru starts talking.
“I had an alert ready to send to the infirmary,” she explains. “I cued it up the minute they ordered me to throw you into the lake and pull you out again. You know how strong my arms are from rowing. Plus, I’m certified in CPR. Otherwise, I never would have agreed to it. Emma—I would have died before I let you drown. You know that, right?”
“Of course I do,” I say, and I mean it. “I just can’t believe the Ten is so…twisted. Although with Madison in charge, I guess I can.”
“We could report her,” Pru suggests. “There’s no way the administration signed off on the hazing stuff she put us through today. The school would be horrified if it knew what their most accomplished students were up to in the middle of the night.”
“You don’t think Ransom knows about any of it?”
“I doubt it. He’d be in so much trouble if anything happened to one of us…” She pauses. “Emma?”
“Yes?” My heart is pounding as I try to process what went on tonight. And what it means for me and Prudence. And the other Similars in the Ten, including Levi.
The Similars Page 6
