Chapter 4 #2
But instead, I’m at Hannaford, and I’ve already pissed off one of Avery’s boys so far. I can’t push it until I know the lay of the land. I need to hold my cards close to my chest until I can plan the best way to play them.
He shows me his math homework and then starts to work through the problems quietly. I watch him while he works, and I quickly realize that something is off. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the way he looks at the paper is like he's not really trying to work out the answers. It's infuriating.
“Can you at least do a better job of pretending to try? If you're not going to take this seriously, I'll use the time to study instead.”
He gives me a look. His eyes are penetrating, like he’s trying to see what's happening under my skin. I’m used to being stared at like this, but it’s disconcerting coming from a rich kid at Hannaford.
Why would he need to know anything about me?
In two years, I’ll cease to exist in his life, and he’ll continue living off of his family’s billion-dollar empire without the inconvenience of responsibility or real-life problems.
Yeah, I looked up the Beaumonts.
Billionaires.
With a b.
It made me queasy to think about that sort of money; both having it and what it takes to acquire that level of wealth.
As predicted, there was whole Wiki page about their sound investments and a lineage that hints at royalty generations ago, but it only took a little poking and prodding in a few places to see the gaps between where their money started and where it is today.
I’ve learned a thing or two about the elite over the years, thanks to the Jackal’s penchant for extortion. The only difference between old money and new is that those of old money have gotten their hands dirty at some point to keep it.
After a moment of intense scrutiny, he shrugs arrogantly. “You only get the credit if you do it properly. I’ll let the office staff know how little you care about helping other students.”
“Why should I help you if you won't try?”
He leans back in his chair and folds his arms. He’s leaner than Harley, but he’s still much bigger than me. I shiver. God, I’m broken.
“Because you’re Mounty trash, and you need the credits. I could never work a day in my life and I’d still out-earn you exponentially.”
I clench my teeth. I hate him. Even if he is gorgeous.
We continue to bicker and fight our way through all his homework. He tells me he needs help with every subject, and as the hour dwindles down, I can taste my freedom. But then the library door swings open and Avery walks in, making a beeline for our table.
Great.
I brace myself, assuming she’s here for me, but she doesn’t even glance my way. Her eyes are glued on Ash.
“What’s this about you starting fights with Joey?”
She’s softer with Ash than she is with anyone else, like he’s some precious thing that needs to be handled with care. He doesn’t look that way to me, especially as he levels her with a glare. It’s clearly not aimed at Avery. He treats her with the same unflinching care.
“Fuck Joey. He knows Harley is off limits, and yet he still keeps coming for him. I’ll fucking end him, Floss.”
Her eyes flick over to me when he calls her that, but she doesn’t call him out on it.
She has her hands on her hips and is looking at him like he’s a naughty child that needs to be disciplined.
I shift my gaze back to the books on the table, but it’s impossible to block out their bickering entirely.
“Can you please contain yourself? It's a lot harder to minimize damage here than it was in the lower grades.”
He scoffs at her. “He's the one being a dick. I couldn't exactly sit around with my thumb up my ass while they started in on Harley, could I? I don’t know why they seem to think that they’ll be able to beat us. We’ve been handing them their asses since middle school.”
He goes back to his homework, and I glance back up, thinking it’s all over with. Unfortunately, it’s not.
Her icy blue eyes narrow at me dangerously, but her reply is clearly for him. “I wasn't saying you should! Next time, call me.”
She tucks a perfect black curl behind her ear with long, slender fingers. She makes me feel so damn unrefined. I stop looking at her altogether and glance back to Ash.
Some of his cool demeanor slips, and I see the rage burning in his eyes. “So, I should just make you fight all our battles then? I should hide behind your skirt when our big, bad brother zeros in on us? That’s not how this works.”
“No, let me deal with it now so that I have less to fix. Once you let him get to you, it turns into a bigger problem, and then I spend weeks cleaning it up. Do you really want to put more on my plate, Ash?” she pleads.
“Fuck him. Don’t clean it up. I’ll bury him and everyone who decides they’re on his side.”
With that, Ash starts packing up, and I follow his lead. Family politics are not my thing, and I want to get out of here before Avery decides to amp up her isolation tactics on me just because I’m sitting here listening to them.
“I can’t wait for Morrison to get back. I need a sane ally in this place,” Avery moans, and Ash scoffs at her, stepping around the table to sling an arm over her shoulders.
“If you think he’s sane, then you’re not as smart as you think you are, Floss.”
They walk out together. He doesn’t even bother to thank me for helping him.
Fucking rich dicks.
I head straight to the dining hall after the contentious tutoring session with Ash, and my meal is uneventful.
The room is practically empty aside from a bunch of sophomores gossiping and being idiots further down the long table, and I read one of my science textbooks while I eat.
It’s probably my most peaceful evening since arriving at the school.
That’s my first warning that something isn’t right.
I could just write it off as paranoia, but with every step I take back to my room, my stomach tightens with dread so much that I feel like I’m going to throw up.
When I finally reach the third floor and turn into the hallway that leads to my room, it’s eerily quiet, my footsteps on the hardwood floor the only sound to be heard.
It’s not like the dormitory is empty, either. Nope, dozens of girls are standing around everywhere, silent as they watch me pass. I try to ignore it, to walk in carefully measured steps as if none of this is bothering me, but I just want to hurl something snarky at the lot of them.
Then I spot Avery standing in her doorway with that trademark infuriating smirk on her face, a smug air pouring from her body until I’m choking on it.
She doesn’t speak either, not that I would wait around to hear her out, but she just stands there gloating at me for whatever victory she thinks she’s won.
The second I crack the door open, I can smell it. The eye-watering stench of piss.
There is urine on everything in my room.
Every. Single. Thing.
I gag as the door swings fully open, and that's when I hear the laughter start. It isn't just Avery. All the girls on our floor are laughing. They’ve all been in on this disgusting prank. I take a deep breath through my mouth so I don't pass out from the stench and close myself inside my room.
I find gloves stashed in my first-aid kit before I get to work stripping my bedding off and rounding up the clothing I can salvage.
My sneakers can be saved, but the three books I brought with me are ruined.
Luckily, I had all my textbooks with me for tutoring, just in case I needed them, because they’re easily more expensive than everything else in the room combined and my scholarship doesn’t cover replacements.
Completely ignoring the gaping looks, I drag all the piss-soaked linens to the small laundry room tucked next to our shared bathroom.
It's clear they thought this would rattle me, maybe even break me, but there’s no chance of that.
After all five washing machines are running, I sit on the floor in the laundry room to start on my homework. There's no way I'm going to leave my things out in the open, and my top priority now I know I need to invest in some serious hardware for my door.
Fuck these little rich kids, throwing tantrums and acting like animals. Never in all my time in foster care did anyone play with their own piss. I try hard not to think about which diseases are transmitted through urine and, instead, remember these kids have access to care, so they should be clean.
Should be.
I've finished two classes’ worth of homework when Avery walks in carrying a single sheet of paper. She stands over me with contempt in her eyes and a sneer on her painted lips.
“Finished yet?”
I know she's not talking about my sheets swirling in the washing machine. I turn back to my homework.
“Nope.” I pop the ‘p’ obnoxiously and don't even look at her. She drops the paper and it lands at my feet. I read the title and scoff at her.
“I'm not leaving. You think your little prank can run me out of here? All it shows is that you're disgusting and desperate.”
She laughs like tinkling bells, but all I hear are the shards of glass she’ll wield to stab me with.
“I've never been desperate in my life, Mounty. I don't have to be. You are, though. And if you don't leave, I'll see just how desperate I can make you.”
What the hell is this girl’s problem? What have I done to her that would make her act like this? Do rich people really hate the poor that much?
I pick up the paper, maintaining icy eye contact with her as I tear it in half.
“Feel free to fuck off, Beaumont.”
The smirk doesn't leave her face as she prances out of the room, her kitten heels clicking on the hardwood floors.
I can feel the creeping fingers of a migraine in the corners of my brain.
How is it that after making it through life with a drug addict mom, absent dad, foster care, and public school in a bad district, my efforts are rewarded with Avery fucking Beaumont?
A deep, dark voice I usually try to ignore whispers to me, It's punishment for the Wolf.
Despite the disgustingly humid air in here with the dryers going, I shiver, but I give myself a little shake and get back to work.
It takes two hours to get my room back to normal.
The piss had soaked through the floorboards, so I had to scrub my little safe clean as well.
I have to ask the cleaning staff for bleach and air purifiers to mask the lingering smell because the stench lingers, but eventually I can't smell it anymore and I manage to fall in to a restless sleep around midnight.