Chapter 10 #2
The bell rings and I shove my books away, pulling out the required homework everyone has just taken extensive notes on so they can complete it. I enjoy the feeling of all the students’ eyes on me as I hand it over to the teacher. She takes it with a shocked look, then scans the page.
“Well done, Miss Anderson. Enjoy your long weekend.”
Harley is the only student who knows how far ahead I am, so he’s the only one not gaping at me when I arrive at every class for the day with all the assignments complete.
Even Avery is hissing at me by the end. I’m smug as fuck at knowing they’ll all be home with their families and slaving over classwork, while I’ll be running around Hannaford doing whatever the hell I want.
I refuse to go down to the dining hall for dinner.
I don’t want to see Joey or be approached by any of his raucous classmates.
I don’t know if he’s lifted his ban and I’ll be propositioned in the halls again, so I settle into my bed and try to ignore the rumbling of my stomach.
By tomorrow afternoon, I’ll have the building to myself and will be able to eat all I want.
The long weekend is the best three days of my life so far.
I sleep in and shower at random times of the day. I eat whenever I feel even the slightest bit peckish. I watch movies on my phone and dance around my room in my underwear while listening to good music. I do whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want. I feel free.
I should know by now that nothing good in my life is permanent.
I’m enjoying my last hours of quiet in the sitting area when I hear my phone ping. I very rarely get texts, and there’s only one person with my number. My heart sinks as I pick it up and see Matteo’s text.
I’ve been asked to contact you about a job.
A job. That could mean anything from tailing someone’s girlfriend to killing an errant informant.
Coming to Hannaford Prep has been an attempt to close the door on my old life in Mounts Bay and to start a new, legitimate life.
I did things at Matteo’s command that I want to leave firmly in the past. The trouble is that Matteo has no intention of letting me go.
I would always belong to him, whether I liked it or not.
I’m not leaving school until winter break. The food here is free and good. Sorry.
I chew on my lip for a minute, then I dig out my emergency bottle of whiskey while I wait for his reply. I smuggled it in on the first day but haven’t felt the need to drink it until now. I should’ve known he would be the one to cause me to reach for it.
Coming to Hannaford hasn’t changed that.
I owe a lot to Matteo. In a way, he’s the reason I’m alive, and he’s had the biggest influence on molding me into who I am today.
I could have just as easily stayed with him in Mounts Bay and dropped out.
He wanted to bring me into his organization and have me run it with him.
If I hadn’t gotten the scholarship, and if he had been successful in his efforts to sabotage me coming here, I would’ve continued down this slippery slope and remained one of his pawns.
I’m not a fool, I know he’s the head of the Bay’s most notorious gang.
I know he sells drugs. I know he kills people.
I know every act of kindness he’s ever shown me is manipulation and grooming.
It doesn’t stop the flood of emotion in my chest when I think about it too much, so instead, I try to think about those years in foster care as a story, something that happened to some other girl. It’s easier to do now that I’m here in the sheltered halls of Hannaford.
I have a real buzz going on before I finally take that trip down memory lane.
Once upon a time, a young girl finds herself orphaned and living in a group home. Another kid takes her under his wing. He protects her and cares for her for an entire year. She’s lost and hungry, but she thinks, someday, she’ll know what it means to be happy.
And then one day, he tells her he’s named her in the Game.
She doesn’t know what that means, but he tells her it’s the only way she will ever be safe and free.
So, she learns. She learns how to put her skills to use.
She learns how to disappear. She learns how to make others disappear.
And then she competes. She’s broken beyond repair.
She will never run again. She’s covered in scars.
She can’t sleep at night, can’t bear the sound of her own voice, sleeps with a knife, startles at every sound, is scared of what hides in the shadows, can’t breathe—
She wins.
She’s crowned the Wolf.
She could become a leader; have a gang of her own, make millions, live an untouchable life. She goes to school instead. Gets a scholarship. Disappears. Tries to forget all the things she did to get to where she is. She does forget, most of the time. She forgets until the Jackal calls her home.
It’s the Boar. He’ll pay in cash or a favor. Whichever you prefer. The job is small enough. It can wait until winter break.
Despite what the spoiled kids here think, I don’t actually need the money. The favor makes it tempting. I’m owed a lot of favors, and I like having them up my sleeve. I could have Joey taken out of my life as permanently as I want. It amuses me that Ash and Harley warn me about him.
If only they knew who I really am.