Courtney waved her arms above her head. The crowd stopped dead. She waited until she had everyone’s attention. “This way, New Meat,” she trilled, turning on her heel so that her short skirt flared out, giving those below her on the staircase a look at her lacy black underwear and garters. I didn’t want to turn my back on the crowd, but I felt like Courtney and Trey were more dangerous, so I followed them up the staircase, across the landing, and down a wide, vaulted corridor lined with classrooms and lockers. Apparently, because the dorms were on the opposite side of the school to the dormitory wing, all the students had lockers as well.Lazy asses.
Something hit my back, and the corridor erupted with laughter, but I ignored it.
As we passed the classrooms, I peered inside, surprised at the timeless quality to the school. Everything was extremely fancy – from the elaborate moldings to the thick drapes on the windows and the ornate wooden desks for the teachers, but soold. I didn’t see a single laptop on a desk or electronic blackboard on the wall. Weren’t fancy schools like this supposed to have all the latest tech?
“Hey Courts, Trey. Is that the new meat?” A guy fell in step beside us. Shoulder-length dirty blond hair hung over amber eyes that sparkled with mischief, and his mouth turned up in the corners into one of those dazzling smiles that probably had girls prostrating themselves at his feet. He wasn’t as tall or broad as Trey, but he was definitely fit and knew it. I caught a whiff of a distinctive scent – coconut and sugarcane and something spicy. Playful and flirty, like that smile.Is everyone at this school a movie star?The new guy licked his bottom lip as he looked me over. “She’s tasty.”
Ah, so he may be handsome, but he’s also a dick. He’s dicksome.
“She’s barely a morsel,” Trey grinned, but there was no mirth in his smile. “She’s all yours if you like your pussy ragged and gaping.”
Jesus fucking Christ.I glared at Trey, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“Hey, all pussy is good pussy. What’s your name, Meat?” The guy draped his arm over my shoulder. I shrugged it off, noticing the edge of a tattoo peeking out from his white cuff. It looked a little like a Nordic rune – I knew all about runes because the skinhead gang at my old school used them. But this guy didn’t look like a skinhead. For one thing, he had that luscious hair that just begged for fingers to run through it…
New Guy was looking at me with amusement. I realized I’d trailed off into my thoughts without answering his question. “Hazel Waite,” I replied.
“Well, Hazel Waite, I’m Quinn Delacorte, and I’m here to show you a good time. I’m your King and resident manwhore. Any time you get sick of Trey’s shit, you come to me. I’ll fuck you until you forget his name. I’m not picky. I’ll take any pussy, tight and gaping and everything in between.”
Quinn’s easy smile suddenly felt malicious, threatening. He tried to touch me again, and I shrunk away. He burst out laughing. Trey and Courtney joined in, their guffaws stabbing at my chest.
“See you later, Meat.” The swarm of students swallowed Quinn, leaving me at the mercy of Trey and Courtney. We passed over a covered stone footbridge into another building, through a double set of doors, and turned into a long wing. Instead of marble tiles, my feet sank into a deep pile carpet. There were no lockers here, only rows of doorways with looming gilded portraits and cork notice-boards hanging between them. Each door was numbered with a gold plaque bearing a student’s name. Students disappeared into the rooms, swinging their bookbags and calling out to their friends. I peeked inside at sumptuous suites filled with four-poster beds, ornate furniture, and framed artwork on the walls. Was this how rich kids lived? The apartment I’d been renting didn’t even have a bedroom – I’d just been sleeping on a couch. When I lived with Mom, my room had been barely larger than a closet, with a cheap bedspread and hip hop posters and Dante’s artwork stuck to the walls with old chewing gum. These students dorms were what I’d always imagined a palace to look like. If I have a room like this to escape to, I could deal with people like Trey and Courtney.
Maybe Derleth Academy won’t be so bad after all.
At the end of the hall, Trey shoved me toward a narrow staircase – the kind installed in medieval houses for servants to use so they’d be seen and not heard. “You’re down here,” he said.
Confused, I descended with Trey and Courtney at my heels. Down, down, down I trudged. Three narrow flights of winding metal stairs, lit by a single dim bulb. The echoes of laughing teens faded into a dull roar as I reached the base of the stairs. No lights lit the dark chasm. Panic rose in my chest.Where am I? Did they take me to some kind of basement so they could torture me in secret?
Trey flicked a switch behind my head, illuminating a line of dim fluorescent lights running along a narrow corridor. On either side were wooden doors, riveted with large iron bolts. With the old candle sconces still hanging from the bare stone walls, the place really did look like a dungeon.
I ran my hand along the stone. It was damp and cold to the touch. “What is this place?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Trey swung me around, pointing my nose to the center of a door. A small number was scrawled directly on the wood in white chalk.
S02.
But that’s… my room number.My Derleth welcome pack had identified my room as S02.
“Welcome home, Meat,” Trey rasped in my ear. His tongue flicked out and licked my earlobe.
I should have been disgusted, but my body reacted by flushing with heat. Trey’s touch was like throwing gasoline on a raging fire—
At the thought of fire, my body tensed up and my skin crawled. Trey sensed my reaction and laughed cruelly. He must have thought that it was him, but it wasn’t.
“Stop that.” I spun around, my hand swinging up toward his face. I’d learned a few dirty fighting tricks from Dante and the Puerto Rican students at my old school. You didn’t survive in the Badlands of Philly without knowing how to break a few fingers or a nose. Maybe what Mr. King-Of-The-School needed was for someone to ugly him up a bit.
But it wasn’t going to be me. At least, not today. Trey grabbed my wrist, stopping my punch midair.
“Tut tut, Meat. You don’t raise your hand to your betters,” he sneered.
“Let go of me. If you don’t want to get punched, don’t fuckinglickpeople without permission.”
Trey sighed, as though he were thoroughly exasperated with me. “I’m going to go easy on you, because you’re new and haven’t yet learned that in this school, you’re not considered aperson. You’re a bag of bones and meat that takes up precious oxygen I could be using.Tastymeat,” Trey licked the bottom of his lip, mirroring his friend Quinn, only in a more menacing way, “but meat all the same. Now, open your door like a good girl and we’ll all see just what my parents’ scholarship money will buy a gutter whore.”
Do I have to do this with them watching?This room was supposed to be my private space, my sanctuary. I didn’t care how shit it was, because obviously I wasn’t getting a suite like the students upstairs.Fine, whatever. I don’t care. But it was supposed to bemine.I didn’t want them invading it.
Trey folded his arms. Courtney cocked out her hip. My monarchs had spoken.Guess I’ve got no choice.My hand trembled as I inserted the key into the lock. It took me three tries to get it to turn. Trey’s cruel eyes crawled up my back.
