“You don’t seem fazed by your welcome gift.” Ivor’s eyelids slowly lower as he looks down at me from the steps.
“I’d rather a school T-shirt.” I stop to keep distance between us.
“I’m afraid they were out of those.” He shoves his hand inside his black leather jacket and pulls out an envelope. “An invitation. Just for you. No entourage.”
Ivor steps down and pulls me off to the side of the hall. He unbuttons my uniform jacket and slides the envelope into the inside pocket. He closes my jacket and buttons the front, running his fingers along the front seam. All I can focus on is his lips, how plump and red they are. I didn’t move and didn’t want him to see the effect that he was having on me. When he was done, he walked past me to the door.
I stood there, shaking. It couldn’t have been them. They were too busy stalking me in the woods. My hands began to feel numb and tingly. Then suddenly, someone pushes me from behind. I stumble forward but catch myself before I fall face-first into the steps. I turn around and braced myself, uncertain as to what I’m going to come face-to-face with.
It’s Alexandra.
“If you know what’s best for you, you’ll stay away from my brothers. This is your last warning mutt.” Alexandra’s eyes practically glowed; she was so angry. I was betting she had never had anyone ignore her threats.
She only stayed long enough to spew those few words at me. Then she was gone.
“Are you okay?” Una’s eyes did a quick glance over my body, looking for wounds I guessed.
“I’m fine.” I straighten my jacket and hair, but my eyes remain fixed on the door where Alexandra had just left.
“I’d take her threat seriously,” Una said, as she ushers me in the dormitory. “She never loses a fight.”
Chapter 7
“You’re in here with me,” Una shoves a card into the door’s swiper and walks into our shared room.
The room is small but functional. On each side of the room is one bed, a small desk and an armoire. Una had already chosen her side and what looks to be part of mine. The door of my armoire is filled with her clothes. Una notices my snarl and immediately closes the armoire door.
“Sorry, I thought I would be alone, so I took over both spaces. But don’t worry I’ll get all my stuff out.” For the first time Una seemed embarrassed, and perhaps I was a little harsh on her earlier.
“You can use it. All I have is what’s in that suitcase,” I point to the suitcase on my bed. They didn’t let me go back to Nelly’s to get any of my things, which was fine as most of what I owned would probably fit in one drawer. I couldn’t recall the last time I purchased something new. Nelly had a firm grip on the house, and what came in and out of it.
“How can that be all that you own?” Una was clearly confused, as it looks like she had never been denied anything.
“Positive.” I jump back on my bed and test its bounciness. It’s a spring bed, with a memory foam mattress. The most comfortable bed I had ever been in. I lay back on it and enjoy the full sensation.
“You act like that’s the first bed you’ve ever been in?” Una sat on her bed and swung her legs back and forth. Reminding me of a little girl.
“One this comfortable, yes,” I said, sitting up. The walls on my side of the room were empty, but Una’s side was covered in old antique paintings. There was a corkboard with pictures over her desk. Her space looks homey and cheerful while my space looks more like a prison.
“You can take a painting from my side,” Una raises her hand toward them, “they were daddy’s idea. Not really my style.”
“That was some pretty crazy stuff out there,” I said, hoping that she would be open with me. If this had happened before, she would know.
“I wish I could say was an isolated incident,” Una’s eyes drifts to the floor, and she wipes her hands along her skirt. “It’s nowhere near the first death on campus.”
“How many deaths have there been?” A slide my butt to the side of the bed so that my feet touch the floor. I was finally about to get some answers. Una seems to know everyone’s business.
“It didn’t use to be like this. It started last spring. She was a new girl. She didn’t fit in.” Una jumps off the side of her bed and opens her drawer in her desk. “I took notes if you want to see them.”
Una passes me the notebook, and I put it on the bed beside me, “isn’t anybody investigating the murders?”
“There’s some sort of secret counsel. I don’t really know the details. I just know it keeps happening.” Una sits next to me and I feel uncomfortable.
I’ve never had a girl as a friend. Even at Nelly’s house, there were girl hunters but none that I had ever grown close to. I’ve never trusted a girl, it was a gut instinct. But I was willing to try with Una. She looked like a supermodel. With long blond wavy hair, perfectly styled. And she smells like roses. I give in and trust her, mainly because I assume that Clark made this arrangement. I wonder how much she knew about me.
“It must feel pretty scary around here. Has anyone figured out any patterns?” I open her journal and flip through the pages. I shift awkwardly, catching glimpses of her personal thoughts.
“Let’s stop talking about this. This is your first day here, and the last thing you need to be thinking about are murders. I’m sure Principal Stanton will figure this out.” Una stood up and flips her long blond hair. She checks out
