Mine.
That word does all sorts of strange things to me. Rage fills me in this unstoppable inferno, and I find myself stepping toward Callum. I haven’t forgotten that he keeps a knife in his pocket. He stiffens up slightly when my hand dips into the front pocket of his hoodie, but he doesn’t stop me as I draw it out, sidling up beside Vic.
His dark gaze briefly flicks to mine, but he quickly returns his attention to Mitch.
“What’s your point? And why are you suddenly so protective of Bernadette Blackbird.” Mitch scoffs my name like I’m worth less than dog shit. “Didn’t you torture the shit out of her during sophomore year? Is that your thing, Bernadette, to fuck the people that treat you like crap? Must be why you like your pedo stepdaddy so much.”
Without thinking, I find myself darting forward, the knife slipping from inside my palm. Nobody expects me to move, so I find little resistance when I bounce up the steps. Swear to god, there’s nothing going on inside my head when I slam the blade into Kali’s shoulder. She lets out a scream as the metal sinks in, and blood blooms bright on her pale skin.
In a split-second, the world erupts into chaos. Kyler comes at me, Callum skirts around the side and tackles him. Billie grabs Kali as she collapses back, but I’m already retreating, stumbling down the steps as the two groups clash.
It only lasts a minute or two, but by then there are crowds of students watching from the first and second floor windows of the school, cheering on one side or the other. The entire campus security staff as well as our personal pair of cops appear and a few, brave teachers approach, tearing the two sides apart.
“Oh, honey,” Ms. Keating says as she kneels down beside Kali and pulls out her phone, dialing up 911. Me, I’m just standing there as the rain starts to come down on top of us in thick sheets.
“Who did this?” Principal Vaughn roars as the boys walk off the fight on opposite sides of the brick walkway. He’s pointing at Kali who’s moaning and milking the moment for all it’s worth. She’s no more injured than I am, but I have a feeling that things are not going to go as well for me as they did for her. She is not above tossing me to the administration for punishment.
I open my mouth to admit to it before Kali can get the satisfaction, when I hear Hael’s voice.
“I did—” he starts, but Aaron’s own words drown him out.
“It was me,” he announces, and our eyes meet across the rainy courtyard. “It’s my knife.”
The cops cuff him quick and take him away in the back of a squad car while the rest of us are shuffled into Mr. Vaughn’s office.
With one student on their way to juvie, one on the way to the hospital, and eleven more crowded inside the narrow space, our corrupt asshole of a principal doesn’t have much choice but to assign us all two days of suspension starting tomorrow, followed by two weeks detention, and then cut us loose.
Prescott High cannot afford to expel thirteen students and lose all that state funding.
Besides, I know Principal Vaughn is still actively recruiting girls for his little side project.
And I’m willing to bet that he’s not forgotten how much I know about that.
The last two classes of the day are a serious drag. I can feel all the eyes on me, the wandering gazes that take in Vic’s gym shorts, that linger too long on my face. They’re all wondering why I’m shacking up with the boys that everyone is afraid of, wondering why I let a man I hate put his cock in me, wondering why I love it.
After class, I head outside and find Hael waiting for me.
“Let’s go,” he says, jerking his head toward that cherry red sportscar of his. My fingers trail appreciatively along the shiny paint job before I climb into the black leather front seat, trimmed with red detail. It smells like new car and Hael Harbin in here.
“Am I in trouble?” I ask, and one of Hael’s dark brows goes up.
“With who?” he asks, his voice so cocky and self-assured. I wonder if it’s all a front or if he’s as sure of himself as he pretends to be. “With Vic?”
“With Havoc,” I correct, because I can’t stand to hear Victor’s name right now. I shift on the seat, and the ache between my legs intensifies. My body wants more at the same time my heart is repulsed by what I’ve done.
“Why would you be?” he wonders, genuinely curious, his honey-brown eyes shifting my direction. Too pretty to belong to a jerk like Hael. “Yeah, maybe stabbing that bitch in front of the whole school wasn’t a good choice, but you’re new. You’ll figure things out.”
“Thanks for trying to take the fall for me,” I grind out, even though the words make my mouth hurt. Hael just gives that braying laugh of his and runs his fingers through his bloodred hair.
“Don’t thank me. It’s my official job, to be the fall guy. But Aaron just had to step in there and defend his sweet, little ex.” He laughs again as I tighten my mouth into a thin line, and we pull up in front of Aaron’s house. Vic’s bike is already parked on the curb. He leans against it, smoking a cigarette and staring into space.
He barely looks at us as we get out.
“Well?” Hael asks, as I notice one of the neighbors staring at us from across the street. We look too out of place in this perfect suburban neighborhood, like some sort of incurable blight. It’s only in that moment that it occurs to me what I’ve just done.
I’ve risked Aaron’s safety with his sister and cousin.
He’s just taken the fall for me.
The color blanches from my face, and I feel suddenly dizzy.
“Oscar and Callum are picking the girls up from school. Then we need to take Sophia to the police station to sign off on Aaron’s arrest.”
“Sophia?” I ask, but Vic doesn’t bother to look at me. It’s like we never had sex, like that moment never happened. Good. That’s how I want it anyway.
“Sophia is this old druggie recluse we pay when we need someone to pretend to be Aaron’s mom,” Hael says with a shrug. Vic’s face tightens up, but he doesn’t correct his best friend. Instead, we stand there in the drizzle and wait for the minivan to show up.
“Bernie!” Kara shouts, leaping out of the van and racing over to throw her arms around my waist. Guilt surges anew, and I feel a pit form in the bottom of my stomach. I’m guessing the boys used ‘Sophia’ to get the girls out of school, too.
Ashley gets out of the car next and then stands awkwardly near the garage, like she isn’t sure what to do. I have a feeling that I’m going to need to swallow my guilt at getting the girls’ brother/cousin locked up and deal with this.
“If we can get my sister out of her after-school program, I can stay here with the girls while you guys deal with Aaron.”
Vic nods and gestures in Hael’s direction.
“Take Bernadette where she needs to go; I’ll stay with the girls until you get back.” And then Vic moves forward and lifts Ashley off her feet. The smile that blossoms on her face … it does something strange to my insides. I can’t stop staring at the little girl giggling in Vic’s strong arms.
“Alright, let’s scram, Blackbird,” Hael says, flicking his cigarette into the grass and grinning like he wasn’t just suspended, like his friend didn’t just get dragged away in cuffs. I follow after him, murmur some vague directions, and then we sit in silence with the rain pelting the windshield.
“Why did Aaron do that?” I wonder aloud, almost without meaning to.
“Seriously?” Hael asks, his fingers tightening slightly on the steering wheel. “You’re really asking that question?”
I glance over at him as he flicks on the blinker and turns into the parking lot of Heather’s school. Her after-school program technically runs for another hour, but I don’t want her taking the bus home if I’m not going to be there. Quickly, I tap out a text to my mom, telling her that I’m taking Heather to the mall.
Hopefully she’ll be out at one of her parties until late and won’t notice that we don’t come home.
“Aaron’s in love with you,” Hael says, and my head jerks up from the screen of my phone to look over at him. He’s staring at me like I’ve lost my fucking mind. “You seriously didn’t know that?”
“How would I know that? He dumped me to join Havoc. He tortured me for half a year.”
“I barely managed to keep the girls from ending up in foster care.”
I bite my lower lip to hold back a sound of frustration. Today has been … less than stellar, my arm still hurts like a bitch, my body still remembers the feel of Vic, and now I’ve added worry about Aaron on top of it all.
Besides, if my mom actually checks her phone messages and finds out that I’ve been suspended, who knows what kind of shit will go down?
“Mm.” Hael doesn’t bother to respond. Instead, he turns the engine off and lets the rain pound the windshield. “You finally got Vic to crack, huh?”
“Excuse me?” I pause with one hand on the door handle, my gaze landing on the ridiculously smug expression on Hael Harbin’s face. “What makes you say that?”
He reaches out and grabs the edge of my shorts, giving them a little tug.
“How was it then?” he asks, and then quirks up one corner of his mouth in a cocksure sort of smile, like he already knows the answer to that question. “The sex, I mean. Did you like what he did to you, Blackbird?”
“Fuck you, Hael,” I snap, climbing out into the rain and taking off for the doors of the library. They’re locked, so I knock and wait patiently for one of the staff members to open them. I’ve been authorized as Heather’s emergency contact since I was sixteen years old, a blessing I don’t dare risk. If Mom or the Thing wanted, they could take away my authority to pick up my sister. It’s a threat and a punishment I don’t think they’ve thought of, a secret that I keep carefully guarded.
“We’re working on creative writing,” Heather tells me excitedly as I smooth her hair back and adjust her ponytail, thanking the teacher and apologizing for barging in before the end of class.