Ms. Aurelia collects our papers and grades them while we wait on the rest of the class. Harley flicks through his notes like he's grading himself from memory, and I'm forced to stare around the classroom in silence. It's pretty clear that at least four of the students are going to be lucky to stay in the class, the panic easy to read in their posture as they slouch over their work.
“Oh dear, Mr. Arbour,” says Ms. Aurelia, and Harley's head snaps up to look at her. His eyes are wide.
“You got 99 percent, with only one question wrong. A very good score.”
He exhales, and then his eyes narrow. “What's wrong with that?”
“I know you enjoy being the top of the class. Miss Anderson got 100 percent. I don't think you've ever been beaten in my class before, so I hope you’re up for a challenge.”
If I thought he had looked angry when I'd called him a gangster, it was nothing compared to his face now. Avery turns to smile at me, but it’s the smile of a predator who has identified their prey. Dread leaves a trail of ice down my spine.
Maybe I have made a mistake coming to Hannaford.
* * *
Lunch is a hellish experience, and I desperately wish I could eat out in the sunshine on the grass.
My stomach rumbles loudly at all the delicious smells coming from the buffet tables, and once again I fill my plate to the brim. The long table is bustling and overflowing with students, and I have no choice but to take the first empty seat I can find. The girl to my left gives me a hard look and turns her back on me. The boy on my right leers at me and tries to peer down my shirt. I elbow him, hard, and then start in on my food. The noise in the room is raucous and deafening, so when it suddenly dies down to whispers, I look up.
The guy from the office, the older Beaumont kid, is standing in front of a group of freshmen kids seated at the end of the table, not too far away from where I’m sitting. He's flanked by four other students who are all smirking.
“Move.”
The freshmen look at each other, and then one of them, a guy I haven't seen before, says, “We haven't finished yet. You have to wait.”
All of the whispers stop.
You could hear a pin drop in the room; even the kitchen staff are silent.
“Get. Up,” he says again, but the guy stares at him blankly. The flush on his face betrays him.
“Let me explain to you how this works. I'm a Beaumont. My family is old money, so old it will never run dry. In fact, I wipe my ass with more money than your pathetic little family has ever made, and I have the connections to not only ruin your life, but to end it. If I tell you to move,you move.”
All the freshmen stand at once and move. The guy who spoke grabs his tray and manages one step away before Beaumont slaps the tray and covers him in his lunch. He hisses as the hot soup splashes on his face and down his uniform.
“There is a clear hierarchy in this school, and you are at the bottom. Don't fucking forget it.”
No one moves to help the guy, and I can see angry tears welling up in his eyes. The kitchen staff starts motioning for the kids in the line to move along, ignoring the situation happening before them.
Fucking rich kids.
I focus on my food again, except now I can hear the older kids talking because they're sitting so close to me.
“How are the twins settling in? I'm thinking about fucking your brother, by the way. I like the scowl on his face. It'll be like fucking an angry, miniature you.”
“You're such a slut, Harlow. Make sure he pays you well.”
The girl just laughs, like she enjoys this pompous dick speaking about her like she's nothing.
“Maybe I'll do him right after I do you, just to see who fucks better.”
The group laughs again, and they start a terrible game of comparing their conquests, loudly and in detail. I chew faster to get out of the room. I don't want to attract their attention. I can’t help but listen to them, though.
“I want to fuck Morrison, just to say I've had him. Joey, get your sister to get me in with him. I've heard she's the gatekeeper to all three of those boys.”
Joey, who is the older Beaumont sibling, scoffs.
“She's a little cunt, just like Mom was. You have no chance there; I've always assumed she's fucking them all. I'm expecting her to get knocked up by Ash and them to have a three-headed, incestuous baby. Father would be so proud.”
