Chapter Seven
Amelie
True to his word, Monty found Susan and had her returned to me. She looks a little worse for wear, with a couple of scuffs and some grass stains, but I’m just surprised the screen didn’t shatter.
Elsie is out today doing prep for her extracurricular activities.
I’m sure she mentioned what it was, but it escapes me.
The only upside to it being the day before my birthday is the fact that the punishment for skipping my detention with Sawyer will not be handed out until Wednesday. That, I can handle.
I think I’m finally starting to get a grasp of where my classes are.
Susan pings and I read the message:
Urgent meeting with Headmaster Knox in fifteen minutes.
I smile, remembering how successful last night was.
This will be fun. I find my map and type in M Knox and Susan starts giving me directions to the headmaster’s office.
I could be late - I’m sure he is expecting that - but my plans are starting to pan out nicely.
I have Sawyer where I want him. Kalen will be the easy target, if he thinks he loves me - and he will when I am done - so he should choose me over his brothers.
I only need to make sure I tread lightly on the matter.
The twins will be more work. I can see a hint of mischief in Slate’s eyes so I need to find a way to appeal to that side of him, but Onyx will be hard. He is closed off to the world. Whatever happened to him in his past has his armour wrapped tightly around him.
Speak of the devil... I have managed to be able to tell the twins apart after last night. Onyx’s nose has a slight kink in it - most likely from being broken - it’s barely visible, but now that I see it, I can’t unsee it. He walks towards me full of broken promises and shattered dreams.
I stop and wait for him to reach me; an explosive encounter is inevitable. I saw it in him last night, he just needed me to be away from his precious father.
“You think you’re good enough to be here? Just because your mother is fucking my father?” He spits.
“Good enough. This is a school for delinquents…what do I need to be good at? Fucking up. Pretty sure I did that, and here I am. I didn’t get a choice, your father is the reason I’m here.
I didn’t ask for this. So before you jump to assumptions, know that I don’t want to be here any more than you want me to be.
How about you keep your cock hole closed and leave me the fuck alone? ”
I turn to walk away. “I’m not gay,” he calls after me a moment later.
I laugh that he finally clicked on. They mustn’t have needed a high IQ to attend this place.
“Uh-huh, see you at dinner tomorrow night,” I call over my shoulder.
I find the headmasters office easily, his receptionist tells me to take a seat and the one and only Baxter Branson is here again also.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” I say. He looks at me like my sheer presence is boring him.
“Does Knox have it in for you too?” he eventually asks, in a bored tone, like he doesn’t care for my answer either way. Why is he bothering to talk to me then?
“Eh, I think all of the Knox family do at the moment. So what are you in shit for this time?”
“Not in shit, as you call it. Me and Knox are besties and I’m here for our weekly catch up. What about you?”
“He is fucking my so-called mother and so we’re having our much needed bonding time where he tries too hard to be my new daddy.”
Branson smiles. He doesn’t seem like the kind to spread gossip so I have no problem with telling him this.
“Want to hit him where it hurts?” Branson suddenly asks. Before I can answer he continues, “Use Kalen and make it known. They’ll all lose their minds; the sun shines out of that kid’s ass to the entire Knox family.”
“Good to know,” I say as Monty steps out of his office.
I stand and turn to Branson, walking over to him and leaning down so that my long hair covers my face - blocking Monty’s view.
“His sons may be a sore spot, but right now he is trying to like me, and you, my friend, are his sore spot. I’ve already had my warnings about you. ” I laugh, pulling back.
“Amelie, my office now,” Monty chastises, clearly impatient, his expensive leather shoe tapping away on the plush carpet.
“See you later, babe,” Branson calls out with a wink. I can already tell we are going to be good buddies whilst I’m here if he’s already willing to play along and help me out.
“Take a seat.” I do as I’m told, and we both sit in silence for a moment whilst Monty tries to figure out how to deal with what just happened.
“I would like you to stay away from that boy.”
“Did no one give you the memo that teenage girls really like to do the opposite of what they’re told?”
“You will learn the hard way, if you do not follow school rules.”
“And you will find that telling me to stay away from one of the only two friends I have made since being here, isn’t a school rule, Mr Knox.”
“Just think about my request then… As for why you are here, you need to pick an extra-curricular.” I groan. I don’t do sports, unless drinking coffee is classed as a sport.
“I’m not good at any sport and I don’t play an instrument.”
“I figured that, so I have organised one on one classes especially for you, with my eldest son, Mr Knox, to teach you self-defence. It is a very good thing for a woman to know.”
“Yeah, because men can’t respect women; we are just objects to them.”
“Sad, but true. In some societies at least. However, you will find that here, we do not tolerate that kind of behaviour. Your lessons will start in a few days once I finalise it all, and I will send a message to your tablet so you are aware of when the lessons will be. Because he teaches during the day, they will be in his free time, but they will count towards your final grade. I hope you take the spare time during school hours to get in some extra study in the library, since we fast tracked you into second year at Knox. You do still have your final exams being sent over for you to complete, within the next month.”
“I’m ready to take those exams, sir.”
“I believe you are, but extra study cannot hurt. I will see you tomorrow night for dinner.”
With that, I am dismissed. Leaving Monty’s office, Baxter winks again as I walk out and go to class.
Great, I have SELF class with Kalen and his Mum now, this will be fun.
When I make it to SELF class, the lesson has already started but thankfully the teacher doesn’t say a word about me being late. Kalen waves me over.
“Saved you a seat, sis.” His damn smile is infectious.
“I’m not your sister,” I whisper.
“Thank God for that, it would look a bit weird if I married my sister.”
“Not going to marry you either.”
“Do you know my brothers hate you? They want me to hate you too, but I don’t know if I can.”
“Maybe try harder, this will be easier for us all if you do hate me.”
“They are going to fuck with you. I would watch your back if I were you; it isn’t safe for you here anymore.”
“So nothing has changed for me then, where I grew up the streets were not safe.”
The rest of the class drags on, Kalen keeps talking, and his mum doesn’t even look our way. Whatever Monty said to her must have worked.
After class, I make my way to lunch. Elsie said she would meet me there for a quick break. Walking into the lunch room, the laughter dies down and the whispers start; everyone seems to be looking my way. I rush over to Elsie and her face tells me something is wrong.
“What the hell is going on?” I ask, taking a seat.
“You mean you don’t know?” I shake my head. I have no idea what is happening right now.
“You are clearly on their radar. The last person that crossed them left. This isn’t good, Amelie, check your tablet.”
I open a message request and a photo pops up.
The bile in my throat burns, my eyes water at the sight, and everything drags me back to the exact moment this picture was taken.
How they found it is beyond me…. actually, it really isn’t.
.. I’m sure my step-father has a whole file of all my damn records.
Anger pulsates through my veins, tunnel vision sets in. Rage is all I feel right now. I push my seat back, so hard it slams against the floor, and my heart stammers in my chest as I take one step closer to the twins.
“Do you think this is fucking funny?” I scream, slamming my tablet on the table.
“Whore,” someone coughs.
“We can’t help it if you like having multiple sexual partners at the same time,” Onyx declares.
“Looks like you were at least having fun,” Slate adds.
“Ask me to join next time,” Kalen pipes up.
“It’s so fucking hilarious, being gang banged by a rival group after they drugged me and sent the videos to my brother, so ha ha,” I yell even louder. “I guess being raped, multiple times, is fucking hilarious to you all.”
A sob hits my throat and I turn to run. No one at the table says a word, but Kalen jumps from his chair and tries to wrap his arms around me. I fight, pushing him and yelling, not even any coherent words. Tears pour down my face as I break free and flee from the dining hall.
A moment in my life I tried to forget, to bury deep inside, the second most broken piece of my soul, has just been bared for the whole school to see.
Ripped from me without my permission. I’m heartbroken, but how stupid is it that the deepest wound is still my mother?
She left me, buried me like I was a bad memory from her worst day.