“I’m glad we’ll get the chance to get to know each other better.” He grins down at me in a way he must think is suave.
He smells like old beer and slightly like mildew. I just grunt noncommittally and try to walk around him but he moves to block me again.
“I’m just right down that hall. Diane usually passes out pretty early so we have the whole evenings to ourselves.”
“Not interested,” I say flatly and push past him. My body physically recoils at the brief contact.
Being hit on by some gross old man who lives in my foster home is the perfect end to a perfect day.
At the top of the stairs I hear laughing from outside. I walk into the bathroom and look out the open window which looks down into the backyard.
There’s a fire and I can see figures sitting in lawn chairs around it. I don’t think you’re allowed to have fires in residential areas, but it’s not like anyone in this neighborhood is going to call the cops. There’s two large figures and one smaller one which I assume is Olivia. I hear her fake giggling and it makes my stomach clench in fear.
I need to save my sister from these guys—and also from herself.
4
I hold my head high the next day at school. I’m trying not to look like all the other students are getting to me, but they are. My second day at Marter High and I almost get into two fights before lunch. I avoid the lunchroom and find an empty staircase to eat my cold pizza in.
As I’m on my way to my next class after lunch, I run into the asshole from yesterday—actually, I’ll have to be more specific, because I met a lot of assholes yesterday. The one who made me clean off his shoes. I’ve come to learn that his name is Daire, because some students whispered it as he walked past in the morning.
He’s blocking my way and I look up into his face. It is an unreadable mask. He’s with his friends, Theo, Brax, and a fourth guy whose name I don’t know. They are all lined up and blocking the entire hall.
All the other students seem scared of these guys—and the students at this school are all terrifying so these guys must be monsters.
I move to go around Daire’s large frame but he steps to block me.
I try to go around the other side but Theo blocks me. What the hell?
“Go the other way,” Daire commands.
“What? Why? My class is over there.” I point uselessly.
He just shrugs.
I look to the other guys, but they all look at me like I’m worthless. They seem kind of pissed off and I wonder what I ever did to them to deserve this.
I make another move to go around but Brax blocks it.
“Go.” Daire repeats in a deadly voice that leaves no room for disobedience.
I glare at him, but I recognize when I’ve been beat. I spin on my heel and stomp off down the other way.
I end up having to go down to the creepy, deserted basement and then come up the stairs on the other side of the school so that I can finally get into my classroom. What the fuck is his problem? I wonder.
When I’m sitting in class, fuming over what happened in the hallway, the girl from yesterday, the one with the greasy hair who tried to fight me, comes up to my desk. I groan. I do not want to deal with her. She has a big smile on her face—but it’s not a nice smile.
“You fucked up, girl,” she says gleefully. “You did something to piss off the Vicious Crew.”
I make an educated guess that she’s talking about the four guys in the hallway.
“I’d run as far away from Marter as fast as I could if I were you.” And with that warning she heads back to her desk.
Great, just great. Another thing I have to deal with. I don’t know what I did to piss them off but maybe just the same thing I did to piss everyone else off, be born into a wealthy family.
The rest of the students here are intimidating enough, but the Vicious Crew are scary. Every day that I set foot in this school, I’m stepping into enemy territory, but if those guys have it out for me, then my situation could really become dangerous—and I live with one of them. I can’t escape.
I try to avoid them for the rest of the day. When I see any of them coming down the halls, I duck into an empty classroom or quickly walk the other way. I hate that I’m hiding, scurrying around like a frightened animal, but it’s what I have to do to survive. It’s only for another couple months and then I graduate and I’ll be free—free to do what? I’m not sure. I can’t afford college anymore, and I can’t afford to live in New York, so all my plans for my future are out the window.
I’m not paying close enough attention though because near the end of the day I round a corner and run straight into a hard chest. I bounce off him comically, but manage to regain my footing. I look up to see what I’ve hit when suddenly my arms are empty and there're pieces of paper and books flying through the air.
I look up into Daire’s hard green eyes which are laser focused on me. All my books land on the ground with a thump and the papers flutter down after them.
“What the hell?” I start but Daire just walks away. He leaves a large boot print on my textbook.
I’m so pissed. He knocked everything out of my hands on purpose.
I bend down to pick up my scattered belongings. Everyone in the hall is snickering at me. I’m so mad that I want to do something rash, but I know I can’t. To retaliate would be suicide. I just gather all my stuff then race away in the opposite direction to get out of that hallway.
It’s hard to get a break when you live with one of your bullies.
“Tough day at school?” Brax asks with a smirk as I walk into the house.
He and Theo are sitting on the couch smoking weed and watching music videos on the large TV with a crack in the screen. I open my mouth to tell him off, think better of it and close it again. I stomp up to my room and slam the door instead.
An hour later I can hear Olivia’s home—because I can hear the muffled sounds of her laughing at whatever stupid thing Theo and Brax are saying. I go downstairs, not because I want to but because I don’t want Olivia to be alone with them.
“Hello, Highness!” Brax says as I walk into the ratty living room.
Olivia’s sitting in one of the chairs next to them.
“Want to get food?” I ask her.
“Nah, I’m good. I ate with my friends. We went to a convenience store on the way home.”
Disappointed, I head into the kitchen. The pizza I bought yesterday is gone. Typical. I head over to the cupboards to look through them again, even though I know from my previous searches that they are bare. However, my tenacity pays off this time and I actually find a half-empty box of granola bars.
I grab it and take it with me. As I’m about to leave, the foster mom’s sleazy boyfriend comes into the room and I internally groan. I try to slip out quickly, but he moves much faster than I would have thought possible for him and blocks my way.
“How was your day at school?” he asks with a lecherous grin. I’m sure that in his drunk, scrambled brain he probably thinks he’s being suave.
“Fine,” I say flatly and try to go around him.
He won’t move. In exasperation I turn around and walk straight out the backdoor.