“Tell Nurse Courtney I said hello,” Bonham called over his shoulder before disappearing down the corner.
Fuck.
The Heirs were determined to punish me, and that meant that they reveled in our peers doing most of the work for them. If they knew that I’d been getting help from Nurse Courtney, they might want to make life difficult for her, which was the very last thing that I wanted.
Aside from hating me, they didn’t like it when I had anyone on my side. It was why no one asked me to homecoming. It was why I couldn’t go to any school games, and why I couldn’t even walk to my locker without having curses and names thrown at me. It was also why every girl in the school looked at me like I’d caught leprosy. They didn't want to catch the guys’ wrath like I had. It was understandable.
Bonham, Luis, Godfrey, and Rogue didn’t just run the school. They were practically going to inherit all of Savannah. Their parents had the three C’s: cash, connections, and capability. This city was in the palm of their hands.
By the time I made it to the nurse’s office, the bell had long since rung for the next period. My mama would probably lecture me about my tardiness later. These teachers were the worst narcs ever. Any little thing that happened, and they ran off to Principal Livingston. Just another reason for Mama to be disappointed in me.
I threw open the door and looked around, relieved when I found that it was empty of other students, but the nurse was behind her desk. Nurse Courtney was a thirty-something ex-debutante. She came from a long line of good Savannah blood, but my mama said she ruined her life when she married beneath her. Her filthy-rich parents cut her off and disowned her for it.
Now, she was stuck giving out ice packs for fistfights and Tylenol for period cramps to a horde of entitled teenagers. If I were her, I would’ve been bitter as hell. Nurse Courtney looked up from her phone where she sat at her desk, and her eyes immediately widened at my partially soaked, bloody, and bruised self.
“What happened this time?” she asked, getting up from her seat to come assess me.
I shrugged. “Same bitch, different day.”
Nurse Courtney’s lips thinned. “I wish you’d let me report Stephanie.”
I shook my head and followed Nurse Courtney to the chair while she pulled out some antiseptic and cotton balls. “No, it would only make it worse,” I said.
“That girl used to kiss your feet. Hell, y’all used to be friends,” she reminded me.
It was true. I used to hold the entire school in the palm of my hand, all because I was the Heirs’ queen. The Stephanie Palmisanos of the school worshipped me, because they wanted to be me. But the moment Bonham put word out that I was yesterday’s news, they all dropped me like burnt hot cakes.
As we got older, the guys became notorious for having sex with girls and then tossing them away, but not me. With me, they were always different. I never slept with any of them, but I was part of their inner circle, and I cherished our friendship. Until seven months ago.
The other girls were jealous, but they wouldn’t have ever dared to be mean to me. Rogue would’ve destroyed them. He was best known for being the destructive yet protective one of the group. No one dared to mess with me and risk pissing him off. Funny how fast things can change.
I was their friend since we were seven years old. I thought we’d always be together. Now, I was the scum of this prep school, and the entire student body liked to remind me of that everyday. And the girls? They relished in my downfall.
Nurse Courtney pressed the cotton ball against my lip, making me hiss in pain. She tsked while she went to work cleaning off the blood streak that Bonham had made. It was the first time any of them had touched me for months. I actually got a little sick satisfaction from it, even though he did it to bring me more pain. But then, I’d always been fucked up when it came to them.
“It won’t always be like this, honey,” she whispered in a low tone, a secret reassurance meant only for me.
I knew she was right. I knew it was temporary. Graduation was just around the corner. I had the acceptance of a legacy at Harvard and a new life waiting for me.
So why did it make me sick to think of leaving the guys who were tormenting me?
“Just gotta survive the next six months,” I said through gritted teeth, hoping I sounded tougher than I felt.
“Look, I’ll give you a pass to excuse you from your next class. Why don’t you go blow off some steam, sugar?”
My body perked up. Yeah. That’s exactly what I needed.
Chapter Two
It was lucky that Nurse Courtney had given me a pass, because it wasn’t easy skipping class when your mama was the principle. I’d stolen a pack of excuse slips from her office just a few weeks ago for when my anxiety got bad, but a legitimate pass was even better in case Mama asked me later.
Every time I saw Stephanie’s pleased face and Bonham’s disgusted scowl, my stomach churned with the anxiety that I’d grown so accustomed to. It wasn’t always like that. I wasn’t always so resigned to my place in the world, but I found that it was easier to run than it was to fight. It kind of scared me, if I was honest with myself. I couldn’t keep rolling over and taking this shit, no matter what Mama threatened me with.
Earlier that morning when I got to my locker, there was a used tampon hanging from the handle. The dried blood made me gag, and when I turned around, I saw a group of Stephanie’s girls laughing. I knew in my gut that one of the guys had put her up to it. It’s what they did—used others to make my life miserable so that they didn’t have to get their hands dirty. Cowards.
I could feel the joint I’d swiped from Mama’s desk in my pocket. She confiscated it during a locker search the day before, and the moment she had put it in a baggie, I knew it was mine. I’d been stealing things from her office since I learned I could get away with it. Seemed like the universe knew I’d need it today.
Like any good stoner, I went under the football bleachers to light up. I didn’t smoke often. Mostly when shit just got too much to handle, which seemed to be often lately. I didn’t like having anything in my body that could hurt my chances with gymnastics, but since Mama made me quit and ripped that dream from my fingers, it didn’t really matter anymore.
The moment the herbal scent hit my nose, I knew it was shitty weed. The preppy kid that bought it probably paid premium price and had no idea that it was dank. Of course, the only reason I knew anything about weed in the first place was because Godfrey and Luis liked to indulge. A lot.
Fuck. Why did everything always remind me of them?
I put the joint to my lips and inhaled low and slow, letting the smoke sit in my lungs for a bit while I closed my eyes. I held it in my chest until I knew I was going to burst, then exhaled with a cough. Yeah, it was bad. Not bad enough to stop, but bad nevertheless.
“Getting high under the bleachers? I wonder what Principle Livingston would say about this,” a dark voice said.
I was laying on the concrete ground and using my backpack as a pillow. With my knees bent and feet planted on the ground, I held my skirt down with my hand before dropping my knees open to get a look at my intruder.
Rogue fucking Kelly.
It was a silent understanding that Rogue was the leader of the Heirs. His family dabbled in everything. Oil. Arms. Real Estate. If it had a price tag, the Kelly name had its greedy hands in it. Their fiscal portfolio was so diverse, I wouldn’t know where to start.