“Ms. Waite,” she spoke in a pleasant voice that turned my heart to ice. “If you would follow me.”
“But Courtney—”
Headmistress West curled one taloned finger over, beckoning me. The tears spilled over as I slammed my foot into my locker door, kicking it shut with a loudBANG. Several hyenas jumped. I glared at them through tear-soaked eyes as I followed the headmistress down the hall to my doom.
As I trudged past him, Trey leaned over, his eyes dancing with glee as he whispered in my ear. “You’re not new meat any longer. You’re dead meat.”
Chapter Eleven
After the locker incident, I was left mostly alone. Apart from snickers and insults that followed me everywhere, no one did anything massively cruel. I wanted to enjoy this lull in the bullying while it lasted, but instead, I walked everywhere with a knot in my stomach, wondering what they’d throw at me next.
It didn’t help that I still wasn’t sleeping. Thescritch-scritch-scritchon our walls wouldn’t stop. I went to one of the women in the grey smocks to see if they could lay some traps, but she told me to stop being such a spoiled brat. “It’s an old building. It makes noises. Deal with it.”
She was right. She was ordered around all day by snobby rich kids who thought they were better than her even though they’d never done an honest day’s work in their lives. I hated myself for bothering her. Of course I could deal with the rats in the walls. I’d dealt with far worse in my life.
The only bright spots in my day were rehearsals for the school production with Greg, and watching my name jump up several places on the points board. Despite the headmistress docking me 20 points for the mess in my locker, which she made me clean up myself, two more perfect test scores and the school production had put me over 150 points. It wasn’t anywhere near Trey’s 1305, but I was gaining.
I spent most of Friday dreading the weekend and the new tortures the royal court dreamed up, but actually, it was two of the most pleasant days at Derleth. Trey and Courtney and their friends were off doing their own thing, so they weren’t around to torment us. Loretta and I spent most of Saturday in the library, trying to catch up on assignments. Greg and Andre joined us for some of it, but Greg kept shifting in his seat and fidgeting. The dude could not sit still. After two hours he let out a huge sigh and said, “Let’s go do some archery.”
I’d never even seen an archery set up close before. My school back in Philly didn’t even have a field. We had to use a nearby park for outdoor sports – and you always had to watch out in case you stood on a used needle. Derleth not only had two perfectly manicured lawns to play on, but an entire room filled with expensive sports equipment students were free to use. Greg dragged out two targets and four bows and showed us how to set them up along the west field.
Greg started us all on the thirty-foot line. He showed us how to attach the arm guards, notch the bow and stand with our feet lined up with the target and our bodies rigid. I let loose my first arrow, enjoying the satisfyingTWACKas it slammed into the target. A cool breeze rustled my dreads, and I felt badass, like Katniss in the Hunger Games. It was Dante’s favorite film, so I’d seen it a hundred times.
“Where did you learn how to do this?” I asked Greg as I notched another arrow.
“My father taught me. He loved to hunt. I shot my first deer with a bow when I was six years old.” A dark cloud shifted over Greg’s eyes for a moment.
I found it so hard to picture gentle, caring Greg who loved show tunes and wanted to be a fashion designer going hunting with his dad. Not for the first time, I wondered how he lost his parents, but I didn’t want to ask. This school already knew too many of his secrets. He needed to keep his pain for himself, as I did.
We shot all our arrows and went to collect them. Loretta’s arrows had all overshot the target and stuck out of the earth like porcupine quills. We found all but one of them. “It must have gone into the bushes,” Loretta said, reaching toward the row of small shrubs bordering the field. As I looked closer I realized they were rose bushes, with thorns on the branches and a few drooping blood-red flowers remaining on the plants, between large red fruits. The ground around them was littered with red petals and dropped fruits.
Greg grabbed my arm. “Don’t go in there!”
“Why?”
Greg pointed at the fruits on the ground. “You mean aside from the fact that you’re walking into thorn rose bushes? These are rose hips. They contain prickly hairs that are the main ingredient in itching powder. If you got those on your skin, you’ll be in agony. Just leave the arrow, no one will notice.”
As we went back to the line and I lifted the bow, I noticed movement on the field beside us. A lacrosse game was getting underway. Guys ran up and down the field, swinging their silly stick things. Trey, of course, took up position in the mid-field, calling instructions to the other guys. Courtney and her friends stood on the sidelines, jumping up and down in tiny skirts.
“Courtney’s legs must be freezing,” Greg said, pulling the collar of his jacket up against the icy wind. “They’re turning blue.”
“Maybe that’s why she’s doing all that jumping,” I said. “Trying to stay warm.”
“Nah, she’s just imagining herself jiggling up and down on Trey’s cock,” Greg piped up. Andre and I cracked up.
I grinned. “Shall we cause some trouble?”
Loretta stared at me in concern. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m just going to cheer on my fellow students, in the spirit of school camaraderie.” I set down the bow. “You guys coming?”
Loretta shook her head. “I’m going back to the library,” she muttered, sprinting across the lawn before I had a chance to reply.
“Ignore her,” Greg said. “She’s afraid. People are being worse to her because she’s your roommate.”
I didn’t know that. I only had one class with Loretta, and she never sat with me. I wondered if that was the reason. “That makes me so angry. Why would they pick on someone who can’t defend herself? What are they doing to her?”
“Just the usual, saying lewd things, calling her your lesbian lover. Trey printed out pornographic images and glued her class photograph on them. Loretta’s mom killed herself when Loretta was really young because she was raised in one of those Southern Baptist families and she couldn’t live with the shame of being gay. So Loretta takes it kind of personal.”
