I feel a little dizzy, and I close my eyes, taking a deep breath in my nose before I open them again. We’re still in the same position. He’s got me pulled so close to him that I could easily rest my head on his chest. Before I can think anything else, though, I look up and lock eyes with Alice.
She no longer looks like the prettiest girl at school. Her nostrils are flaring and her eyes are dark. Even though she’s all the way across the cafeteria from me, I can practically feel the rage radiating out from her.
Sitting up, I scoot my chair as far away from Quinn as possible, but this time he doesn’t stop me. He smiles at me, a slow smile that splits his face in two and makes him look darker and scarier than I’ve seen before.
“You’re going to be just fine, Abigail. I think that you and I are going to get alone just fine.” Quinn’s voice sounds friendly, but the look on his face gives me chills.
“Yeah, sounds good.” As hungry as I was just a few minutes ago, I don’t think that I can possibly eat anything now. I push my food away and flash Madeline a smile. “I’ll see you after class, right?” We’d made plans to get dinner together, and I was hoping that she wasn’t going to back out now that Quinn had decided to put me in Alice’s crosshairs. She nods and I get up, grabbing my tray.
Quinn follows me, dumping his food at the same time I do, then slips his arm around my waist. “What do you say that you and I head down to the art wing? I’ll give you a little private tour if you’d like.”
Normally I would like that, but Alice’s gaze is still locked on me. Thinking fast, I duck out from under his arm. “I have to pee. Like, bad.” He frowns like he doesn’t believe me, but I dart away from him across the cafeteria to the bathrooms. If I can just get away from him and clear my head then maybe I figure out how to navigate this school.
Looks like there’s more to Trinity Prep than meets the eye.
Of course, like everything else at Trinity Prep, the bathrooms are amazing. There’s a huge chandelier in the girl’s bathroom, which would be over-the-top enough, but it really tied the space together with the pink fluffy chaise lounge and the silver and white tile. I’m washing my hands, enjoying the high-quality lavender soap when the door slammed shut behind me.
Glancing up in the mirror, I feel my heart sink low in my chest. Alice is leaning against the closed door, her arms crossed across her chest, staring at me.
“So, you’re the new whore.” Her voice is softer than I would have expected. Locking eyes with her in the mirror, I turn off the water and wipe my hands on a paper towel before turning around.
“Not a whore but yeah, I’m new. I’m Abby.” The paper towel sinks into the trash can on my first throw and I grin to myself, but my smile falls off of my face when I see the way she’s looking at me.
“Not a whore.” She scoffs, then crosses the bathroom to me. I want to hold my ground, but I instinctively step back. The counter presses into my lower back, and I suck in a breath of air. I don’t want her to know that I’m a little scared of her, but the look on her face tells me that she’s pissed and that she means business.
“What’s the problem? I just popped in here before going to class.” Taking a breath, I step to the side, getting ready to walk past her, but she leans in front of me.
“Oh, no, not so fast. Abby, is it? Well, listen, Abby, you need to understand something. That guy that you were snuggled up next to at lunch? Quinn? He’s mine, so keep your dirty whore hands off of him.”
“I wasn’t the one touching him. In case you didn’t notice, he pulled me over to sit with him, not the other way around.” Normally I think that that would work, if the person were sane, but Alice is clearly off her rocker.
Before I can even move, she reaches up and grabs the side of my face, spinning around and slamming me into the wall. My vision immediately goes black and I gasp, sucking in a breath at the pain. Leaning back, I try to move my head from the wall, but her hand is on my face, pressing me to it so that I can’t move.
I feel her fingernails digging into my skin, and tears spring to my eyes, but I do everything I can to blink them back and keep from crying.
I won’t cry in front of her.
She hisses at me. “I told you to stay away, Abby. What the fuck did you not understand? You come near him again and I swear that I will make your life a living hell, do you get it?”
I’m sure that she wants me to nod or something, but she has my face pressed so hard up against the wall that I can’t move. Instead, I hold up a hand.
She probably expected a thumbs up.
But I flick her off.
“Fucking bitch.” She leans closer, her breath hot on my cheek. “You can’t pretend like you don’t know the rules when I’ve made them really fucking clear for you. Back off of him, you got it?”
This time she releases me and steps back, once again crossing her arms over her chest. I lean on the wall for a moment, still blinking, enjoying the way the darkness at the edges of my vision slowly recedes.
“According to what I heard, Alice, you don’t have a whole lot of say in who he spends time with. Sounds to me like he dumped your skinny ass.” It’s the wrong thing to say, and I
