“Mr. Lopez? This is Nick with Wallace Security. The silent alarm is currently going off at your residence. Do you require assistance?”
I sigh. “No, Nick, it’s just my bumbling idiot of a stepsister. You can kill it.”
“Kill–”
“The alarm, Nick. Thanks, buddy.” I hang up on him and finish stapling the last flyer up in the library announcement section. The dining hall ones disappeared, but this is just phase one of my mission to make Scarlett’s life hell.
Honestly? I don’t give a fuck if she receives a single email–although, I do rip some of the tags off, just to give people the idea that someone’s interested. I just live for her embarrassment and suffering.
Once my handiwork is done, I head downstairs and check in for my first tutoring session. It’s a grudging act, but I’d rather not dig myself into a deeper hole.
In a way, it’s good that the security system works. With twenty grand hidden in my closet, it’s nice to know who’s coming and going. Plus, there are little sensors on all the first-floor windows too.
Scarlett won’t be able to so much as crack a window without me knowing.
I smirk. The control of it all is going straight to my head. And I haven’t even seen her reaction yet.
“Your tutor isn’t here yet,” the girl at the desk says. “Take a seat, okay?”
I grimace. “How long do I have to wait to get credit for showing up? Like, if they don’t?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
I start the stopwatch on my phone and flash it at her. “Great. Thanks.”
She sighs and motions me into the room. I saunter past her and scan my options. There are five round tables, all covered in gaudy, overly colorful plastic tablecloths. Each one has six chairs. This room must double as something else…
Two of the five have students seated at them, their heads bent together over textbooks.
Gross.
I drag out a chair at the farthest table and drop into it. My back to the wall, I have a clear view of everyone coming in and out. I drop my phone on the table and lean back, crossing my ankles. The stopwatch ticks onward, first one minute then six. Only nine more and I’m free.
What I should be doing is focusing on my upcoming fight. It’s tonight, but the location is still undetermined. I’ll get a text an hour prior, along with everyone else on the list. From there, it spreads by word-of-mouth. Invite only.
Of course, tons of extras usually show up. Half the students at SVU end up in the crowd. That’ll be fun, letting them all see me lose…
As it has every time I’ve thought about it since that meeting, my stomach cramps. I can’t believe I’m willingly doing this. In my spare time, I’ve been apartment shopping. But part of me likes the idea of making Wallace uncomfortable, and how am I to do that from somewhere else? Giving up the house is like giving in.
The memory of coming downstairs and finding her sitting next to my mother on the couch, watching a movie, rears its ugly head. The hatred that rushed through me in that moment was hard to control. I had to leave the house before I exploded.
In that regard, she’s already taking pieces of my family that she doesn’t deserve.
I drum my fingers on my thighs. My phone shows twelve minutes when someone rushes into the room.
My lip curls.
“Sorry, sorry,” Scarlett apologizes to the girl at the desk. “Who am I tutoring?”
She turns around, and I grimace.
“You’re kidding me…”
My thoughts exactly. Not that I’d ever admit it out loud.
I watch Scarlett visibly shut off her disdain for me. She puts her shoulders back, stands up straighter, and marches across the room. She stops across the table from me, her expression carefully blank.
Her honey-blonde hair is caught up in a messy pile on top of her head. She’s wearing glasses, which I haven’t seen on her before. It, plus the dark eye makeup, makes her green eyes pop. Unfortunately. Paired with the oversized hoodie, sweats, and sneakers she’s got on, I’d say she’s really trying tonotimpress whomever she thought she’d be tutoring.
