Chapter 1
“Rumor!” Brock bangs on the door to my room.
I sigh as I walk over to open it. “What?”
He’s standing there wearing a dark suit, shirt, and tie. It’s Friday night. Why is he in a suit?
“What the hell were you thinking?” he yells, shoving the door open and coming into my room.
“I didn’t know she was the principal’s kid.” I turn to walk back to my bed, but he grabs my arm and comes around to face me.
“It doesn’t matter whose child she was! You don’t punch someone. Who the hell taught you that? Your mother?”
“Yeah.” I roll my eyes. “Mom used to go around punching people all the time. It’s the nature of artists. Violent. Out of control.”
“You think this is funny?” He tightens his hold on my arm. “Do you know how much this little outburst of yours is going to cost me?”
“Don’t pay it. Let them kick me out. I’ll go to Legion. Problem solved.”
“You arenotgoing to Legion. You are going to Twisted Pine, and you are going to learn how to behave.” He releases my arm. “Get dressed. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”
“Why? Where are we going?”
“We have a meeting at the school.”
“With who?”
“Principal Edwards. He wants to discuss what happened today and decide on next steps.”
“Next steps? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’ll be writing what I assume will be a very large check to make this incident go away, along with whatever he feels is a suitable punishment for you.”
“I’m not letting him punish me. I didn’t do anything. Kristen’s the one who did this. I was just reacting to what she said.”
“And what did she say?” Brock asks, folding his arms over his chest.
“She called me a trashy orphan.”
“That’s it? All this was caused by her calling you a name?”
I can’t tell him the other part — how she ordered me to stay away from Jackson. But that wasn’t the only reason I punched her. My anger with her had been building since we met. Calling me a trashy orphan just sent me over the edge.
“Just let me quit. It’s not worth paying some stupid fine. Send me back to New York. It’d be cheaper to get me an apartment there than to send me back to Twisted Pine.”
“Actually it wouldn’t, and you’re not going back. You’re a minor and you’re my responsibility until you turn eighteen.” He storms to the door. “We’re not arguing about this. Put on a dress and do something with your hair. You have eight minutes and then we’re leaving.”
He slams the door.
“This is so stupid,” I mutter as I go to the closet and take out the dress I wore to dinner with Brock’s girlfriend. It’s the one with the black lace that I call my funeral dress. It seems appropriate for this meeting.
What kind of punishment is Principal Edwards going to give me? Suspension? If that’s the case, I’m all for it. I’d love to get time away from that place.
If he’s expecting me to apologize to Kristen, it’s not gonna happen. The bitch deserved to be punched. Telling me I can’t be with Jackson? Calling me names? I’m sick of her controlling everyone and getting away with it. So what if her dad’s the principal? That doesn’t give her the right to do whatever she wants.
At five thirty, I follow Brock down the now dimly lit halls of Twisted Pine Academy to Principal Edwards’ office. The same office where I saw him fighting with Kristen earlier today. Now I get why she yelled at him like that. She wasn’t being a student. She was being a daughter, fighting with her stepdad.
“Principal Edwards,” Brock says, knocking on his half-open door.
