Bryce’s face lights up. “You hit Lance Cain? And you’re still living in his guesthouse?”
“It’s his father’s guesthouse,” I remind him. “I caught them arguing once. It seemed nasty. Maybe Arthur Cain is happy I stood up for myself. I’m sure he knows what his son is like. Otherwise, I’m confused as to hell why I’m not already homeless.”
Bryce laughs again. “I still can’t believe you hit him. And what, Lance did nothing?”
“I live to tell the tale,” I say with a smile.
Danna points at me and looks at Bryce. “She is just badass.”
“It’s going to be super weird though,” I say. “Arthur Cain has this big charitable event that he is hosting at his home. Some charitable event for a non-profit that works with homeless in the city. I can only imagine the price tag he charges to come to a party like that.”
The three of us finish our lunch. Bryce says bye to us and heads towards his locker, but Danna continues to look at me.
“What are you doing now, Danna?” I start to walk towards my locker, and she follows.
“I’m worried,” she says. “Can we talk?”
“I’m going to be late for—” Danna yanks my arm down and leads me to an empty hallway that’s near the janitor’s office.
“I need to tell you…” Danna says, looking around. “I’m worried about you. I’ve been at this school for years, and I’ve never seen anything like this. You start at Ryland, and all this weird shit starts to happen. I think this all has to do with you.”
I shrug off her arm. “Danna, have you been sleeping? You’re getting paranoid as fuck.”
Danna ignores me. “The night we snuck into the school, and I got that leather book with the monster symbol on it from the guidance counsellor’s office, was the weirdest thing that ever happened to me.”
“Same here, but what does it have to do with me? You’re freaking me out.”
“I’m not sure yet. Call it a hunch. Anyways, when I got home that night after we escaped whatever the hell was going on in that clock tower, I was about to dive into the book and learn everything I could. Hell, maybe even go to a news channel about it, if it was juicy enough. I put the book beside my laptop and went downstairs to make a sandwich. Call me crazy, but running from hooded guys with torches makes me hungry. I came back to my room, and it was gone. My laptop was open, and someone had typed a message on a word document. It said, ‘I know what you did. This is your only warning.’”
My eyes widen. “Why didn’t you say anything to us?”
“I freaked out. I decided to take the warning seriously. I told you guys I didn’t want to be a reporter anymore, but it was out of fear.”
I sigh. “So, you’re not afraid anymore? Maybe you should take this shit seriously.”
“Something is wrong at Ryland Academy, and you’re a part of it.”
“Shut the fuck up with this shit,” I say, walking back towards my locker. Danna quickly follows behind me. She reaches for my arm, and I shrug her off quickly. “Like I don’t have enough to deal with. All these shitty rich kids want me gone from their school, and you’re going to lay this on me now?” People are noticing me talking, but I couldn’t care less anymore.
“Elle,” she says. “Just listen to me.”
I get to my locker and ignore her. When I open my locker, a small white envelope falls from the side. I pick it up and look at it. In bold letters is my full name: Noelle Mavin. I look at Danna, and she looks concerned. I open the letter and read its large typed bold letters. Danna peeks over my shoulder to get a look.
You will pay. I’ll make sure of it.
Chapter 3
I slop a nacho into a glop of what looks like cheddar cheese. When I do, half the chip breaks off, and I swear to myself. How is it that nachos and cheese still looks the same when it’s made from a chef who works for a billionaire? I assumed when I ordered it from Anna Green that it would look…well, fancy.
Nope.
Just cheese, that may not be cheese, and plain nachos.
Did Anna make it this way for me? Give the poor girl some ghetto nachos and cheese. She doesn’t deserve the fucking good cheddar.
I pick up the remote and flick through daytime television programs, trying to find something—anything—I can bare to watch. Anything to keep my mind off what happened at school.
I took the rest of the day off school. I was super paranoid. I couldn’t focus.
You will pay. I’ll make sure of it.
Who the hell is messing with me?
Does some rich brat think I owe them money?
Is this Selina or one of her fucking minion friends just trying to mess with my head?
I didn’t know what to do when I found the note. Danna insisted I tell the principal.
Principal Aldridge freaked out more than I did. He told me to take the rest of the day off without any penalty, and that he would investigate this personally. I’m not sure how the hell he would do that. I didn’t see any cameras in the hallways near my locker or anything like that.
Times like this, I wish I could call my friend Candice—wait, excuse me, Autumn Darling. Oh right, I have no fucking phone.
Thanks a lot, Lancelot Cain.
I reflect on all the shit I’ve gone through in the short amount of days I’ve been in the town of Ryland. How can such a small town be filled with so much drama?
I’m sure Danna and Bryce would have texted me if I had a phone too. At least I can confirm that two people in this town like me.
Everybody else can just fuck off.
I angrily push
