Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
ELIJAH
I skulk in the shadows best, gathering intel, finding ways to not be seen. My rugby season won’t begin again until next year, so I have more time than I usually do. Growing up, my parents would yell at me when I was in the way, and I found I like it better when they forget I exist.
It’s more peaceful, even if it is lonely. That's what the Kings are for. These guys have been my friends since we met in preschool, and they’ve never wavered. We may argue, but there are ways to settle that. I personally enjoy fucking it out.
It’s more satisfying that way.
Rachelle steps through the doors of the school with a smile at Liliana, making me wonder what she can possibly be happy about. The whispers are high with gossip in the hallways this morning, some of them about the little mouse, and others about how Miss Hailey was fired over the weekend.
Hmm. I wonder if she’s packing up her shit in her classroom now. While they’re figuring out a replacement for her, one of the admin team is taking over her classes for now.
It helps that most of them have higher education degrees and can teach the English Literature classes that were under her purview. How difficult could it be anyway?
“She’s very chipper,” Theo grunts next to me, glancing at Rachelle as she walks to her locker. “I thought she’d at least be checked into some sort of mental institution still.”
Ignacio hasn’t been home yet, and he’s been spending the night in Jared’s pool house. I went over to see him a couple of times over the weekend, and found my best friend brooding. He got some of it out of his system by face fucking me before telling me about what the cameras have been picking up at his house.
People have been in and out, though I think some of that has been business related. Not one appeared to be wearing the white coat I expect to see when someone is going to be committed. It was a bit disappointing, but it seems that the little mouse has an ally in her stepfather.
While Emil Reyes appears to be a legitimate business man on the outside, not all of his work dealings are. His family has always been involved in the mafia, though no one blinks an eye at it. It takes a lot to remain as wealthy as the families who send their kids to Carlysle Prep. They’ll do whatever it takes to stay in this cushy life.
“Yeah, I don’t know what that’s about,” I mutter. “Did your parents mention getting a call from Emil Reyes?”
“Oh yeah,” he says with a snort. “Emil has everyone whipped into a frenzy about this, particularly those with younger kids at this school. I don’t think my mom has ever been so happy that my sisters are in boarding school. Explaining sexually explicit material isn’t something she wants to do right now or ever.”
Emil has apparently been very vocal this weekend and called everyone possible to put together an emergency board meeting with parents involved. He doesn’t believe that Mr. Lee is a good fit for the school. I’m led to believe the same, he just wants to protect himself and the school, ensuring the environment appears as healthy as possible for our young minds.
The actual safety of those who attend the school doesn’t matter. I’ve been carrying a weapon to school since we entered the sixth grade, which is when he began his term as headmaster. According to the charter the board has written up for the school, he’ll remain as the headmaster for another five years unless he’s found unfit for some reason.
If I was a parent and gave a shit, I probably would be up in arms as well. Especially with how dangerous and influential Emil is. The little mouse won some kind of lottery when her mother married him. I still want to drive a wedge between them just to see if we can.
“I expect there will be at least one more person fired,” I murmur. “Let’s head to class.”
“I need to grab my shit,” Theo grunts. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Nodding, I stroll slowly down the hall, looking for all the world as if I’m not in a hurry. People move out of my way subconsciously, while not really registering why. This is where I thrive, being ignored, but still commanding respect.
It works for me.
Miss Hailey is throwing things into a box as I stroll past her door making my footsteps slow to a crawl. Her hands are shaking badly, and she keeps dropping things.
“Have to leave this damn city, maybe I just need to move to Canada? Would they follow me there?” she asks herself, making my brows draw down.
Ah what now?
Glancing over my shoulder, I catch Theo’s gaze as he shuts his locker door, jerking my head toward Miss Hailey. Sliding the strap of his backpack over a shoulder, he has no qualms making waves as he shoves people out of his way.
“What gives?” he asks softly.
“I don’t know, man. I think someone may have paid her a visit. She looks really twitchy, and she’s talking to herself,” I murmur. “You don’t think…”
“Well, she fucked with Daddy dearest’s daughter,” Theo says, shrugging. “Liliana’s father is feral when it comes to protecting his daughter, and Emil would be willing to look the other way on this one.”
Oh well. Casualties sometimes happen in times of war.
“Do you want to see what you can dig up?” I ask him, checking the time. “You have a few minutes before we need to be at homeroom.”
“Yeah, I’d better. I don’t like to assume shit. I’ll be quick,” Theo says, slipping into the classroom and shutting the door behind him.
Smirking, I leave him to investigate and maybe get a morning treat as I walk to class. The little rabbit thinks she’s well protected because her stepfather had a teacher threatened. No one can keep her safe from us, and we’re just getting started.
* * *
RACHELLE
It’s difficult to smile and pretend nothing is bothering me. I’m basically on a watch by my Mom, therapist, and Emil. Liliana is walking me to class and even the bathroom to make sure I’m not cutting.
She took back her knife, which I can understand, but it feels as if I’m losing my freedom too.
Slinking into my seat, I let my mind drift in class. I miss the days where I could go to the beach and just sit and clear the craziness happening in my head. I’d rather have a permanent shadow than go back to the prison of a hospital.
“Miss Thomas?” the teacher asks, while I curse myself for not paying attention. I know better than to do this.
“Yes, ma’am,” I say sweetly. I’m desperately hoping that she’s not about to ask a question I don’t know the answer to. It’s my afternoon Precalc class, one I have a handle on, but it’s still very obvious I’m not paying attention.
“Would you like to answer the question written on the board?” she asks, eyes widening.
“Of course,” I say, standing and taking the whiteboard marker from her.
Quickly finding the answer and showing my work, I hand her the marker with a small nod. I fucked up by not listening earlier, so I’m not going to be cocky. I simply know the material, since math hasn’t been something I typically struggle with.
Numbers and equations just make sense, while people are less straightforward.
“Thank you,” she says, looking surprised as I nod and return to my seat.
This is the second to last class of the day, and I haven’t had to deal with the Kings or their bullshit. I doubt that it’s because Liliana scares them, I can feel their cold stares as they try to figure me out. To that, I wish them good luck, because even I don’t understand myself.
There are days I’m not sure I even like who I am, which is something the therapist and I spoke about this weekend. We had an hour-long appointment Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Dr. Fredrick Burrows is a mild mannered man who isn’t afraid to push for an answer, but is also willing to sit in silence when I’m unsure how to give him one.
“ Being sixteen is confusing enough, Rachelle,” he told me. “ Add to it the fact that you’ve been attempting to raise yourself while being surrounded by trauma you haven’t processed, and I can’t call you anything other than a warrior. Keep fighting.”
So here I am, doing something as mundane as going to school when I would much rather crawl under the blankets of my bed and pretend the world didn’t exist.
This is how I fight, because what is easy for others isn’t for me.
I manage to stay on task for the rest of my class, and then pack up my bag.
“Miss Thomas, a moment please?” my teacher asks.
Nodding, I ignore the looks people give me and the snickers as they walk out, while I stand with my backpack over my shoulders. My thigh is healing better than I have any business for it to, and it’ll only leave a very thin scar. The other six cuts I’m applying vitamin E to. Typically, I want to be reminded of my cuts like battle scars, but not these.
I lost control completely, the newspaper article making me remember the way Colton felt, smelled, and leered at me, and I don’t want that feeling staying on my skin.
“Yes?” I ask politely, standing at her desk.
“I just… wanted to see how you’re doing,” Mrs. Nielsen says hesitantly. “No matter what feud you may have with the people responsible for the newspaper stunt, no one deserves what happened to you Thursday.”
“Oh,” I say, eyes widening. I wasn’t expecting that. “Thank you. I’m trying to move past it, but I’ve been having a hard time concentrating today, as you saw.”
“You clearly know the material,” she says, shrugging. “I’m not particularly worried about you falling behind in my class. Remember we have an exam on Thursday. Otherwise, you’re fine.”
Thanking her again, I walk toward the door to exit. I have a planner to remind me of my exams, papers, and everything else that I need to remember. It’s hard to believe that the school year is ending in a few short months. At least I’ll have the summer break away from this place.
Ignacio hasn’t been home since Thursday morning, and his father is fuming. He’s called him half a dozen times, leaving voice messages and texts. Emil said that his location is active, allowing him to see where he is, which means he’s not up to any ‘fuckery’, as he called it. His son is simply refusing to come home.
Liliana slips in beside me quietly as I walk into the hallway, and I catch Ignacio’s eye. He’s listening to Theo, leaning toward him as his friend speaks. I would feel badly for Ignacio if he wasn’t such an asshole. I hardly know any of them, they’ve simply decided I’m public enemy number one because I grew up in a trailer park for a portion of my life.
I’m sure there’s more than that, but I’m not about to ask.
“You look tired,” Liliana murmurs as we walk.
“I am,” I grunt, feeling as if I’m being trailed by my jailer. Today is wearing on me, and I’m grouchy. She doesn’t deserve my annoyance since she’s been nothing but wonderful.
Thursday scared her, and I know that. It’s nice that she’s not running away screaming; however, my stepfather gave her a job to do that she’s very diligent about. It’s making me feel a little stifled. I can’t wait to get to my bedroom, lock the door, and take a nap.
There aren’t any razors or blades in my bathroom, and to be honest, I’m not currently interested in them either. Cutting happened in a moment of panic and despair, and I’m not currently in that space anymore. The moment has passed. Even though I wouldn’t say I’m stable by any means and my thoughts don’t still feel spacy, I’m not in danger of suicide or self-destructive behavior.
“Fuck this,” Liliana sighs, grabbing my hand and pulling me along.
“Where are we going?” I ask. Passing dark wood, high ceilings, and a pompous chandelier, I follow her down a narrow hallway to a bank of stairs.
“Somewhere most people don’t know about,” she mutters. “Up you go.”
Liliana pushes me ahead of her, spanking my ass. Hissing in surprise, I bite my lip as things tighten inside of me that I wasn’t expecting.
“Interesting,” she says. “That’ll be fun later when you’re a brat. Bad girls get spanked, good girls get orgasms. Just, not today.”
“Well I’d hope not at school,” I breathe, cheeks warm as I walk up the stairs. There’s windows intermittently spaced out along the stretch of stairway, keeping me from feeling claustrophobic.
They allow me to look out at Portland as I climb, reminding me there’s a whole world outside of my tiny, small life. I just have to finish the long years of school before I can live it.
A tower greets me as I climb the last stair, a smile crossing over my face as I look around.
“Wow,” I whisper.
“Administration says these towers are unsafe, but that’s a lie,” Liliana says, walking over to lean out one of the open spaces for windows.
There’s no glass, nothing keeping anyone in. I bet that’s why the adults want to keep people from straying up here. Instead, I take a deep breath of fresh air, admitting to myself that it’s what I need. The school is really old, the walls and stone have that musty smell buildings sometimes get over the years.
“It’s beautiful,” I tell her, walking over to stand beside her.
The openings where there would normally be windows in the tower are large, and Liliana climbs out to sit inside of it, crossing her legs. Holding out her hand, she helps me out to take the spot beside her.
“I’ve been suffocating you,” Liliana says softly, looking out at the world instead of me.
A gust of wind picks up her dark hair, playing with it as it whirls around us. The clouds are getting darker, and I can smell rain in the air. Inhaling deeply, I shake my head.
“You’re not,” I begin to say.
“I followed you into the bathroom today!” she yells, making me giggle. “God, I’m a stage four clinger, Rachelle.”
“I know I probably scared you last week,” I say instead. “Emil also asked you to make sure I was okay.”
“I’m pretty sure even he would draw the line somewhere,” she sighs. “We’re all worried, but I feel like you’re putting up a front to the world. You should have a place where you don’t need to do that. Don’t pretend around me, I’m not reporting anything back to Mr. Emil.”
Well that’s a plus. I feel as if I’m under a microscope. Everyone stares at me when I walk the halls, and the teachers keep looking at me as if I’m going to break. I’m not, I’m just figuring out how I’m going to thrive in this place or if that’s even possible.
“Miss Hailey is officially gone,” Liliana says softly. “My father paid her a visit over the weekend, and I think that even if she hadn’t been fired, she’d have quit.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. Turning to look at her, I let her see that I’m completely confused.
“You don’t know,” she says. “I was wondering. What do you think Mr. Emil does for work?”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “We don’t really talk about it. He took meetings all weekend at the house, which my mom says he doesn’t usually do, but that was it.”
“Mr. Emil is independently wealthy because his father left him everything when he died, but he has also built a large web of businesses through organized crime on his own,” Liliana explains. “His entire family is mafia, but have each proved their ability to lead on their own merits. Basically he’s a very scary man that just happens to have a soft spot for his close family. That includes you and your mom by the way.”
“Mafia,” I mutter. It makes sense in a way, but I’m still floored. “Huh.”
“It’s not talked about, and I don’t know if your mom knows what Mr. Emil does, but Nacio is being groomed to follow in his father’s footsteps,” she says. “He’s hard on him because of the weight of what his work involves. I hate to say this, but Nacio is cruel and petty.”
“Gee, tell me how you really feel, Lili,” Ignacio croons from the stairwell.
Gasping, we turn to face him, and he rolls his eyes.
“You’re spilling a lot of secrets,” he tells her.
“She needs to understand the world she’s living in,” Liliana says fiercely. “Go away, you’re not supposed to be up here.”
Crossing his arms, he leans against the wall and Liliana sighs.
“Whatever, Nacio isn’t going to run his mouth about this,” she mutters. “Anyway, Miss Hailey and the stunt the Kings did?—”
“Yo, why are you throwing us under the bus, Lili? Rude!” Nacio says, smirking.
Pulling out my phone, I say, “She was voice messaging me on Thursday when you decided you needed to keep her from her day.”
“So formal,” he rumbles. “You really don’t like me, do you, little sister?”
“I don’t know you,” I remind him. “It’s obvious you had something to do with the newspaper stunt.”
“So why aren’t you squealing to the admin team?” he asks, brow raised.
“One, I’m not a pig,” I say. “That’s what I think of when I hear someone talk about squealing. It also isn’t my place to speak without having clear evidence.”
“Your dad was a lawyer, right?” he asks drolly, and that’s when I turn away from him. “Oh, come on. Is Daddy dearest not on the talking points?”
It’s probably a good thing I no longer have sharp implements because I’d use them to stab him. Thankfully, Liliana has no such issue, pulling her knife and throwing it at his dick. Ignacio plucks it from the air easily, chuckling.
God, I guess she’s definitely telling the truth about the mafia thing. Not that I didn’t believe her to begin with, but this definitely hammers the nail in the coffin of any disbelief I may have had.
“Anyway,” Liliana says,“Mr. Emil was very upset about the stunt, and I could have been expelled if the administrative team chose not to believe me. So, your stepfather asked my dad to scare Miss Hailey over the weekend. Remind her of what’s important.”
“Spoken like a true mafia man’s daughter,” Ignacio says smugly. “That’s who you’re getting in bed with, little sister. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how close you two are.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Liliana says.
At first it sounds as if she’s denying what my stepbrother is saying, and it hurts. Glancing out at the world, I try to figure out if what my mind is telling me is real or not. It doesn’t make sense for her to tell Ignacio that she doesn’t care about me, because that’s what I’m hearing.
“Rachelle,” Liliana says, crawling over the stone slab to straddle my lap.
“Lili, you’re both going to fall,” Ignacio sighs. “I have to go home today, please don’t force me to explain how you both plummeted to your deaths.”
“So dramatic,” she sighs. “ Vayase, Nacio.”
“No, I’m staying right now to make sure this isn’t some fucked up Juliet and Juliet shit,” he says, making me giggle.
God, he really is dramatic.
“Hush,” Liliana says. “Your father and mine wouldn’t care if Rachelle and I date. I didn’t expect to have to say this with an audience, but meh. I don’t really care who hears. I wanted to take this slower, but there’s too much noise around us, including your annoying stepbrother.”
“I’m no such thing, Lili,” he says.
Whatever that is between them sounds like more than friendly banter, but I’m drowning in Liliana’s caramel brown gaze.
“I want you to be my girlfriend, Rachelle,” she says, her lips brushing against mine. I’m facing her, my arms wrapped around her waist. “We’ll work out the semantics when we don’t have an audience, baby.”
Ignacio pretends to gag, but all I feel are Liliana’s lips, and I’m opening mine so I can taste her. Her tongue slips between my lips, making me whimper, while Liliana deepens the kiss. Her hips grind against my pelvis, surprising me, and I realize she’s looking for friction.
Oh my God, I really am so innocent, but she’s so soft and feels so good, I refuse to let anything else into my mind. Even the knowledge that Ignacio is watching fades away, until she raises her head with a smirk.
“Are you going to leave me hanging?” she asks.
“I forgot the question,” I breathe, staring at her. “You’re just so pretty.”
I can feel Ignacio’s presence in the tower, but he’s not saying anything. The first drops of rain begin to fall, but the pressure of the weather system hasn’t dissipated yet. It’s as if the world is waiting for me to answer her too as I touch her silken hair.
Grinning at me, she says, “I’ll try to stop distracting you. Will you go out with me tomorrow? I feel like you need to see more of Portland. My original question was ‘will you be my girlfriend?’”
“Yes to both,” I tell her with a grin. The idea of seeing more of Portland is exciting, I don’t have anything to ground me here yet. I need places to haunt, things to keep me excited about being here outside of all the other bullshit.
The sounds of Ignacio’s shoes going down the stairs is the only reason I know he’s gone. That’s how little I’ve been paying attention.
“He’s going to be a problem,” Liliana murmurs, stealing another kiss. “I don’t think he knows how to feel about you.”
“Obviously he feels intense hate,” I remind her as she gets up. As I stand, the sky opens up, dropping rain outside of the open windows. “Woah.”
“Portland is showing off for you,” she says with a smile. “It’s not all mud and cloudy skies. There’s a lot of beauty, even in the angry rain.”
It almost feels as if she’s trying to tell me something about my stepbrother too with that statement, but I’m tired of seeing things that may be there. For now, I’m choosing to listen to the things she’s actually saying.
Liliana picks up the knife that Ignacio left on the ground for her, putting it away.
“We’re going to be late to class,” she says, tugging me across the large room toward the stairs.
“If my teachers weren’t all paying such close attention to my attendance, I’d say fuck it and stay up here,” I tell her.
“Well, maybe we can spend lunch a few days a week up here,” she says, shrugging.
“And eat a bagged lunch?” I tease her, beginning to walk downstairs.
“I’d just eat you to be honest. If Ignacio decides to come up here, he’ll be forced to watch you squirt all over my face,” she says easily.
My foot almost slips when I place my foot wrong on the step from shock.
“Liliana,” I hiss, my cheeks flaming red as I turn to look at her.
“I’m unhinged once I get going,” she says unrepentantly. “I mostly really enjoy seeing how you’ll react, but at some point, when you’re ready, it’s going to happen. I’d bet anything you taste really sweet.”
I’m blushing furiously as I turn back to walk down the stairs, and eventually all I can think of is the logistics of Liliana eating me out. I haven’t even masturbated. Maybe I need to pick up some books about this.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks, looping her arm through mine.
“That I need to pick up some romance books,” I mutter.
“Such a good girl,” she says, and I flush harder before she gives me a kiss on the cheek and slips away to walk into her class.
I’m warm everywhere, all I can think about is sapphic romance, and I’m sure paying attention to my last class of the day isn’t going to happen. Today has been really enlightening.
I’ve never dated, didn’t want to, and had no interest. The guys at my school in Florida were dirt bags who wanted to move too fast. It was easier to pretend I wasn’t interested at all. It’s nice to be wanted, and I hold onto the fuzzy feeling.
God knows, I don’t get many of those.