Chapter 2
Ella
I walk in late to AP History, smiling at Mr. Walker, hoping the smile will make him excuse my tardiness. It doesn’t work. The old man scowls at me as he watches me take my seat.
My dad used to mow Mr. Walker’s lawn until last fall, when he accused my dad of cutting the grass too short, resulting in dead patches. He fired my dad and has been giving me dirty looks ever since, knowing I’m the daughter of an alleged grass murderer. And now I’m in his class. This should be fun.
“Ms. Quinn ,” Mr. Walker says, emphasizing my last name to make it clear he knows who I am. “I expect my students to arrive before the bell rings.”
“Sorry,” I mutter, glancing at Briggs in the back row. He smirks at me before looking down at his phone.
“I feel a punishment is in order,” Walker says, “to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Is he serious? I’m barely a minute late. What about Briggs? There’s no way he made it here before the bell went off.
Everyone’s staring at me as I sit down, and I hear people whispering behind me.
“An hour in detention,” Walker says. “After school today.”
Guess that ruins my plan to meet with Briggs, not that I was actually going to show up.
“The rest of the class should learn from Ms. Quinn and be in your chairs and ready to go when the bell rings.”
Wait — what just happened? I can’t have detention! I’ve never had detention! What if it goes on my school record? What if Harvard finds out, or one of the other colleges I applied to?
My phone dings. I glance down at it and see a text from an unknown number.
I ignore it and try to think of how to get out of this.
I’ll talk to Mr. Walker after class. Maybe he’ll let me out of detention if I promise never to be late again.
But the guy really hates me because of my dad.
He’s obsessed with his grass and almost sued my dad for the dead patches, which my dad claims were caused by dog pee, not mowing the grass too short.
My phone dings again. It’s another text from the unknown number. I quickly read it.
Meet me after school and I’ll get you out of detention.
What the hell? Is this from Briggs? How did he get my number?
I glance back at him, and our eyes meet. I quickly face forward again and text him back. How?
Doesn’t matter. What’s your answer?
Yes, I text back, my heart racing at the thought of meeting with him. Alone. I don’t think he’d do anything to me, but who knows? The rugby team has practice out there after school, so at least I’ll be somewhat protected. I wish I knew what this was about.
After class, I look back at Briggs. He nods toward the door, which I guess is his way of telling me to leave so he can talk to Mr. Walker about getting me out of detention.
I gather up my things and go, hoping that jerk wasn’t lying and really is going to get me out of this.
He has the power to do it, but knowing him, he’ll make it worse.
Music Theory is next, a class I’m required to take to get my arts and humanities credits. Charlotte’s taking it with me. She loves music and has played the cello for ten years, so I’m hoping she can help me out if I need it. I know nothing about music.
“I got detention,” I whisper to her as I sit down.
She gasps. “You’ve never had detention!”
“Yeah, well, now I do.” I slam my book down on my desk, still furious at Briggs for getting me in trouble.
“What’d you do?”
“Walked in late to class.”
“Why were you late?”
“A1,” I say, rolling my eyes. “He stopped by my locker after you left.”
“He couldn’t have. He was there when I got to class.”
I shake my head. “That’s the old A1. A2 is now A1. I get the feeling he’s going to be worse than the others this semester so I’m renaming him.”
“This is getting confusing. Maybe we should just use their initials,” she whispers as one of Briggs’ rugby teammates walks by.
He sits right behind us. I give Charlotte a look to keep quiet.
“Think we’ll have a lot of homework in this class?” I ask Charlotte, knowing the guy can hear us. He’s probably spying on me for Briggs. There’s something going on with Briggs, and until I know what, I need to be careful around his friends.
* * *
At lunch, I see Briggs on the other side of the cafeteria, sitting at the table reserved just for him. It’s not really reserved, but everyone knows not to sit there. On his left is Aubrey, inspecting her nails, a bottle of sparkling water in front of her. I don’t think she eats.
Across from Briggs are Finn and Parker. Scarlett slinks over in her tight, pink dress and leans down to kiss Parker on the cheek. He ignores her, his attention on whatever Briggs is saying. Briggs is the leader of the three, although Finn and Parker would never admit that.
I take a seat at my usual table, located right by the door so I can leave after lunch and go study in the library.
I do most of my studying while I’m here, so I can help my dad after school.
He pays me to work for him a few hours a week, mostly sweeping up the grass that collects on the driveways and sidewalks after he mows.
Rich people don’t like the noise of a leaf blower so we have to quietly sweep the grass away.
I don’t mind the job, but I refuse to do it at the houses of people from my school.
Luckily, my dad only works for a few of them, and he goes there in the mornings, not after school.
A text pops up on my phone. Meet me at 3. Don’t be late.
I glance up at Briggs and see him staring at me. I look down at my phone and text him back. Can’t. I have detention. Thanks to you!
“Ella, I need to speak with you.” Mr. Walker is standing by my table, his hands on each side of his protruding waistline.
I set my sandwich down. “Go ahead.”
“In the hallway, please.” He motions me to the door.
We go out to the empty hallway. He folds his arms over his chest, which pushes his tie up. It’s an ugly tie, green with purple stripes.
“I’ve been thinking about this morning,” Mr. Walker says, “and perhaps I was a little too harsh on you, given that it’s a new semester and students are still getting used to having new classes and a new schedule.
” He clears his throat. He seems reluctant, like he really doesn’t want to let me out of detention, but doesn’t have a choice. What did Briggs say to him?
“I’m sorry I was late,” I say, to make sure he doesn’t change his mind. “My locker was stuck and I—” I stop, wishing I hadn’t said that. I don’t know what Briggs told him to get me out of this, but I might’ve just messed it up.
Mr. Walker nods. “Yes, Briggs explained you were having issues with your locker. He said he stopped to help and that neither of you realized the time.” He stands up straighter and smooths his tie.
“I’m willing to overlook today’s tardiness and excuse you from detention if you agree to be on time from here on out. ”
“Yes, definitely. I won’t be late.”
“Oh, one more thing. Tell your father I might’ve been mistaken about the grass.” He pulls on his white beard. “It seems a dog got loose in the neighborhood and was using my lawn to relieve himself.” He gives me an uncomfortable smile. “You can go now.”
I return to the cafeteria and catch Briggs’ eye as he gets up from the table, his girlfriend attached to his arm.
Getting out my phone, I text him, I’ll be there at 3 .
When I look up, I see him reading my text, a smirk on his face.
I hope I can trust him. I should bring a weapon, just in case.
When I get to AP Chem, Briggs is up front, talking to the teacher, Ms. Higgins. I had her last year for AP Bio. She’s nice, but tough. Her tests are hard, and she doesn’t give partial credit on homework. If part of the answer is wrong, it’s all wrong.
“Welcome back, Ella,” she says when she sees me. She’s one of the few teachers here who doesn’t care that I’m not rich, which is why she’s my favorite teacher. “How was your break?”
“It was okay,” I tell her, taking my seat in the front row, far away from Briggs, who always sits in the back.
“Did you do anything fun?”
Half the class is full now, and I don’t want people knowing about my personal life, so I answer generically with, “Yeah, it was good to have some time off.”
She glances at Scarlett as she walks in. “Hello, Scarlett. How was your break?”
Scarlett almost rolls her eyes, but stops herself and fakes a smile. “We went to Fiji for Christmas, then went to our ski resort in Aspen.”
Ms. Higgins just nods. She always seems annoyed by the extravagant lifestyles of my classmates.
She came here from a low-income district.
She isn’t used to kids driving BMWs to school and wearing clothes that cost more than she makes in a week.
I’ve lived here my whole life, so I’m used to it.
Even Charlotte is rich, but she doesn’t rub it in my face.
Class starts with Ms. Higgins going over the schedule. It’s going to be brutal, which I expected from her class, but I’m looking forward to it. She’s a really good teacher and I love science.
“As for the lab,” she says at the end of class, “your partners are listed online, along with the assignments we’ll be doing.” The bell rings. “See you all tomorrow!”
I leave and hurry to my locker, checking my phone to see who I’m paired with for Chem lab. I smile when I see it’s Rachel. We did a geography project together last year and got along great. I can already tell AP Chem is going to be my favorite class.
As the afternoon lingers on, I get more and more nervous about meeting with Briggs. I keep telling myself to be strong and not let him get to me, but it doesn’t seem to help.
At the end of the day, I head to the stadium. It’s down the hill, a good distance away from the school, and when I get there at three, I notice the field is empty. The rugby team was supposed to be practicing today, but they’re not. I’m the only one here.
Did Briggs plan this? Did he make me meet him here, knowing we’d be completely alone?
Now I’m really getting worried. What the hell is he planning?