42. Chapter 42
Chapter forty-two
Bexley
I manage to finally slip away from Tai after a few songs, needing to get off my feet. Whoever invented heels knew what kind of torture they were inflicting and if my calves didn't look so good, I'd curse them with lukewarm coffee every day.
There's still no one at the table when I sit down, and that alone makes me happy. Things must be going well for the new couples, even if Arch and Parker are probably fighting for their lives on the dance floor. Poor souls.
Steele walks past at one point, and I have to do not one, not two, but three takes at the person on his arm. He gives me a shy grin as he passes, seemingly impressed with his companion.
Peyton has her arm threaded through his, blushing nervously as they head into the sea of people. For a moment, I question just how strong the vodka is in the punch and whether I should have had a third cup. But no, it's not a hallucination. One of Liv's besties is dancing with Steele to Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift, and I can't think of a more fitting song. The head cheerleader would have a meltdown if she saw.
I'm surprised I haven't seen her yet. She seems like the type to be the center of attention at a function like this. But I'm not complaining. Any time spent away from her is a victory I welcome.
Hopping up from the table, I head outside the auditorium in search of the restrooms. My eyes light up when I spot Millie outside the restroom door, leaning against a locker while chewing her nails.
"Mills."
She glances over, relief flooding her face as she kicks off from the locker, running over to me. "Bex, thank God you're here."
"What's up?" I ask firmly, immediately on guard.
Millie's eyes dart to the door with a frown. "Jenna from freshman year just told me that she overheard a conversation in the restroom. I'm trying to see if they come back."
"Who?"
"She didn't know. She was in the stall when she heard them come in and start talking about our school."
My face scrunches up in confusion. "What were they saying? I'm sure it's not uncommon that someone from Willowbrook would be ranting about us tonight. We're crashing their dance."
Millie shakes her head, and it's the most worried I've ever seen her. That alone puts me on edge. "They were talking about the fire."
"What did they say?" I ask with a hint of urgency. Shit—the people who lit the fire could be here right now.
"They said that the first fire didn't do enough damage—that the repairs will be done in a few weeks. So, they started discussing ways to destroy Cedar Heights. They got real quiet after that but Jenna thinks they were talking about another fire… tonight."
My eyes widen. "Is she sure?"
Millie's face hardens, and my little shadow is back, anger on her face. "No. But we can't let them do that."
I nod. "We won't," I tell her, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Leave it with me."
Heading into the restroom, I check to find it empty. They won't come back—not if someone is already on their way to Cedar Heights.
Knowing that everyone is here, it would be the perfect time to attack the school. We need to move now.
I storm back into the auditorium, foot pain forgotten, as I carefully scan the swarm of bodies. The whole place is crowded, but I just need to find one—then we can take care of this.
Walking along the edge of the room, I weave through laughing, painfully obvious drunk people, searching. Finally, I spot one, and I groan, irritated at my options.
"Hey, asshole," I say loudly, watching as Hunter slowly spins around, boredom across his face.
"What now, Duchess?" he snaps back. "Sick of Rylan and Tai already?"
I don't have time for these games, so I grab his wrist, pulling him roughly toward the door. To my surprise, he follows, but definitely rips his arm out of my grip at the first possible second.
I find an empty classroom, motioning for him to enter. He sneers at me, annoyed, but does anyway, closing the door behind him.
"What?" he growls lowly.
"We think someone is on their way to Cedar Heights to finish off the arson job," I quickly tell him, not bullshitting around. "I need to head over there. Where are your other two minions?"
Hunter stares at me in astonishment. "I don't fucking know. Probably on the dance floor or walking around the grounds."
"Look," I sigh. "I don't have time to find them. I'm going to head over now but if you could locate them, the three of you could meet me there."
His face hardens. "You're shitting me, right? I'm not letting you get behind the wheel of a car after drinking."
"You've been drinking too," I point out. "Besides, I feel fine."
"I had one shot," he argues back, voice raising. "You drank at least three cups of that vodka punch. I'll drive."
Trust me to find the asshole of the group during an emergency. Every fiber in my body wants to decline the offer, but time is of the essence. Begrudgingly, I agree, mentally promising to come back from the dead and kill the motherfucker myself if he kills me in a car crash.
"Fine," I snap. "Hurry up and move."
As I stalk out of the classroom, Hunter follows, huffing to himself. "Are you always such a raging bitch?"
"Are you always such a hormonal hemorrhoid?"
He doesn't answer me, which is probably a good thing. We're on the cusp of murdering each other, forced to band together for the sake of all our sanities. The sooner we can get back to Cedar Heights, the better.
Hunter leads the way once we hit the parking lot, orange lights flashing on a black Escalade as he hits the key fob in his hand. Neither of us speak as we climb into the car and once we're on the main road, I pull my cell out of my bra.
"What the fuck?" Hunter grumbles, doing a double take.
"Keep your damn eyes on the road, Lannister!"
He seems almost offended that I had my cell stuffed inside my dress—as if his entire existence has been tainted with the secrets of girlhood. Christ, what else did he think tits were for?
I start typing out a message to both Rylan and Tai, hitting send and hoping that they can hear or feel their cells through the loud music and thudding of the stereos. "I've texted the other two."
"Hm," is all I get, making me shake my head. Asshole.
As much as it pains me to disturb Arch's cardio adventure, I also send him a text, alerting him of the situation. Hopefully, they can be our ears and eyes at Willowbrook while we are across town.
The ideal scenario would be that this is all for nothing. Perhaps Jenna heard wrong or misunderstood, but we can't leave anything to chance. If I have to spend any more time with Dean Satan and his son, I'll probably shrivel up.
There's not even any music as we sit in silence, my foot tapping impatiently as Hunter drives annoyingly slow. I mean, sure, he's going the speed limit. But fuck him anyway. Any excuse to be mad at him works for me.
Finally, I spot the familiar cream and brown building coming into view, shrouded in darkness except for the streetlights. Hunter scoffs under his breath as we pull into the Cedar Heights parking lot, but for me, it's like a breath of fresh air seeing home.
I jump out of the car before he's turned off the ignition, taking a few steps toward the main entrance. Pausing, I gaze over the building, inspecting the previous damage and searching for any signs of embers.
Hunter strolls up next to me, straightening up a jacket he's just shoved on, hands deep in his pockets as he scowls at the building like it's personally wronged him. I cock an eyebrow at the addition to his attire, baffled that even in the presence of a damaged building, he's still trying to make a statement with his ego.
"I don't want to hear one single comment from you," I mutter, eyes landing on some boarded-up windows outside the administration building.
Before he can reply, I take off, lifting the hem of my dress as I walk up the steps. I half expect him to turn and leave, but as I'm fidgeting with the giant padlock on the front door, he comes up beside me.
"Move," he grunts, thrusting a key forward.
I raise a brow, which only seems to go higher when the key turns effortlessly, and the padlock unlocks. I stare at him in question, receiving a bored look in return.
"Your principal gave us a spare key," he says simply, as if I'm stupid for being confused.
"You mean he gave your father a key."
"That's what I said."
Elbowing him out of the way, I remove the padlock and open the door. "I don't know if I should be impressed that you have our key or pissed that you stole it from the dean's office."
"You have a funny way of saying thank you," he shoots back. "What was your plan? Break a window and scale the building like fucking Spiderman?"
Ignoring him, I step into the darkness, immediately gagging at the strong stench of smoke and burned materials. Even two months later, it's still overwhelming, and part of me wonders if it will ever be truly gone.
I head down the corridor, using my cell torch as a light. I bypass the main admin office which has large sheets of plastic draped all over the walls and construction materials dumped on the floor. My eyes fall on the lockers as we pass, and my chest tightens as I see the damage for the first time.
They really did it. It's… destroyed. We were told that the lockers were largely intact—I guess not all of them. The ones near the admin office are all but gone.
Warped melted metal disguises the fact that these used to be lockers, charred books fallen on the floor, completely unrecognizable.
As we head further toward the classrooms, I stop suddenly, staring.
"What is it?" Hunter asks with a pressing tone, swinging his head around to figure out what's stolen my attention.
I reach out and touch the mangled mess, surprised when the locker door swings open with ease. The lock is broken, and everything inside has turned to ash. Lifting a blackened Polaroid, my shoulders droop. I can still see the picture in my mind, but in front of me, it's non-existent. The fragile film crumbles under my touch, a small gasp escaping my lips before I can stop it.
"Your locker," Hunter says knowingly.
I suppose that explains why they weren't able to recover more of my stuff. It dawns on me that the textbooks given to me to take to Willowbrook weren't mine to begin with. Someone provided me with copies so that I'd be able to start classes.
Nodding, I tip my hand, letting the ash fall to the floor. "That was a picture of my parents and I," I answer quietly, stepping backwards.
Without elaborating, I keep walking, blinking back the tears that have formed in my eyes. Whoever did this will pay.
I hope they are here—trying again. Because when I get my hands on them, they are going to wish they were swallowed and shit out.
Hunter follows silently and I can't help but notice, much to my annoyance, that he seems to know where we are going. I glare at him out of the corner of my eye, shooting daggers. He pretends not to see me, still wearing that bored expression that I long to wipe off.
As we enter the library, I stumble for a moment, really overpowered by the smoke smell. It's stronger in here than the admin office, to my surprise. The whole area is completely decimated, and it appears they haven't even started repairing this section.
There's a pile of supplies in the far corner, neatly packed together. My feet carry me over, curious as to why they are there when nothing has been secured and prepped in here. For a second, I suddenly wonder how structurally sound the building is and whether it's going to collapse on top of us.
My fingers skim the packaging, still perplexed. It's brand new, unopened. I have no idea how repairs are supposed to be completed in a few weeks because judging by the state of what I've seen, it's nowhere near done.
Because maybe they don't intend to finish it…
I scan the library, pausing for a brief second to look at Hunter. He's glancing down an aisle, fixated on something.
"What is it?" I ask, moving next to him.
Through the dark, I flash my light, spotting something out of place. There's a giant hole in the floor and as we approach, I realize it's a trap door.
"Where does that go?" Hunter questions, peering into the hole.
I shake my head. "I have no idea. I've never seen it before."
Old memories run through my mind. All the visits to the library, wondering how I missed a trap door. If it was hidden, it was done well.
Bending down, I start unbuckling my heels. Hunter's eyes widen in disbelief. "You can't be serious?" he huffs, looking between the hole and my hunched over body.
"What if that's how they broke in?" I offer, annoyed. "Someone could be down there right now."
"You don't even know where it goes. It might not be safe," he snaps back. "You really want to go underground in a burned-out building?"
Kicking off my shoes, I straighten up. "This probably means nothing to you, but this place is everything to me."
"Don't be stupid, Duchess—"
His words are cut off, both our heads spinning toward the library doors. The sound of metal clanging echoes outside, like a pipe was dropped heavily on the floor. We both freeze, listening intensely, and when more banging comes, I abandon my shoes, taking off toward it.
"Bexley!" Hunter snaps behind me. But even his use of my real name doesn't deter me.
Someone is here.