Chapter 4
Piper
Tuesday is both the best and the worst day of my week.
The best, because there’s a buffer between me and Quill all morning long.
The worst, because that buffer is none other than Cass Henley, and the morning involves me being stuck with her for three long hours in my least favorite class ever: science.
It’s a lab day, and she’s my partner. We were given the option to choose our partners at the beginning of the year, which is horrible enough in itself. By the time everyone had paired off, the only partnerless people who remained were me, Cass—and Quill.
Quill, because everyone is way too terrified of him to go near him.
Cass, because she’s an outsider like me.
But, unlike me, it’s by choice. She’s got everything going for her: wealth, nice clothes, looks—with her long blond, perfectly straight hair, tan skin and cutting blue eyes—and brains.
Not that brains get you very far in Astley.
People here hate a nerd, but no one would look down at Cass for being one.
Even though she’s a new student, she has a popular girl aura about her, and the only reason she has no friends is because she’s too busy feeling superior to everyone else.
“You’re an odd-numbered group,” had droned the old, boring teacher as I hesitated between a bad prospect and a worse one. “That means one of you will have to work alone.”
Working alone had sounded ideal, even though it would have meant flunking the class, because I can’t figure out even basic science to save my life. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Quill’s homicidal gaze glued to me, and something like foreboding twisted in my stomach.
A feeling he confirmed a moment later when he said, “I choose Piper.”
I froze, feeling everyone’s surprised eyes on me. Had he really just volunteered to be my partner? Why? So he could make my life even more hellish? Better yet, kill me and claim it was a science experiment gone wrong?
“I’ll work with Cass,” I blurted out, and she raised a surprised, perfectly tweezed eyebrow.
“Fine,” she shrugged as I hurriedly slid into the seat next to her.
Quill leaned back against his chair nonchalantly, the darkness swirling in his eyes the only thing betraying how pissed off he was.
I definitely paid for that moment later that day.
But it was worth it to not have to deal with him as my lab partner for the rest of the year.
Cass isn’t much better, though, I’m reminded as I slide into my seat next to her. I repress a yawn as she opens up her notebook to reveal perfectly taken notes which she’s highlighted with different-colored highlighters.
“Ew,” I say, looking at a drop of red liquid on a slide she’s currently examining under a microscope. “Is that blood?”
She shrugs, clearly believing it to be beneath her to talk to me.
“What are we doing looking at blood?” I question, wrinkling my nose.
“You’d know it if you got here a little earlier,” she says at last, leaning back. “Seriously, Piper, you’re the deadest weight I’ve ever carried.”
I shrug back at her. It doesn’t make a difference whether I’m here or not, that’s how useless I am in science.
I definitely do take full advantage of the fact that the teacher doesn’t care about tardiness to take my time in getting here.
Between sitting next to condescending, perfect Cass, and right in front of Quill, whose eyes seem to be permanently drilling a hole into the center of my back, all while having to deal with the most boring subject known to man, these three hours are pure torture.
She slides the microscope over to me. “Your turn.”
I glance into the ocular lens. “What am I supposed to be looking for?”
“You should really pay more attention in class,” she chides me. “Don’t you want to get into a good college? Oh right,” she adds after a beat. “You can’t afford to, anyway.”
I flip her off, then regret it, since Quill definitely saw that. Goosebumps ripple over my back as I wonder why that should matter. It’s not like he cares, right? About either Cass or me? So why do I get the sinking feeling I just made him furious?
Why wouldn’t he be furious, though, since it feels like just breathing in his general vicinity is enough to anger him?
I grit my teeth, the lump stabbing at my throat having nothing to do with either fear of him or anger at Cass’s cruel words.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the strangled sort of sensation that rises from my chest to the back of my throat is... heartbreak.
Heartbreak, when I allow my mind to wander back to my childhood delusion. The boy I once imagined was my silent protector. Yeah, right.
Somehow, today, the lump doesn’t end at my throat. It keeps rising, turning my face splotchy red on the way to the bridge of my nose, where it draws a tear from my eye.
I try to hide my embarrassing reaction by shoving my face against the ocular lens of the microscope, but Cass has already been pulling it to her side. She glances at my face, and something like remorse twists her mouth into a frown.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she says quickly. “I just meant… well…”
“I’m poor,” I finish off for her, trying to keep the tears from my voice. “I don’t actually care, Cass. I have allergies.”
“Sure.” She rolls her eyes. “I just think it’s a shame that you don’t try. You could get a scholarship—”
“I’ll have you know that I’m very good in English,” I huff, watching her scribble a few words in her notebook. “I’m definitely trying for a scholarship.”
“Right.” Her voice is dripping with sarcasm. “Have you ever thought of going for a non-useless degree?”
“Screw you,” I snap, and regret that too, since I’m sure Quill heard it.
It’s like I can feel his intense stare on the back of my shirt, and if I close my eyes, I can almost imagine his hot breath on my nape.
I can tell his anger is rising. Looking back at him isn’t even necessary.
I guess I’m just that in tune to his craziness that I can sense whenever he’s feeling a little more murderous than usual.
But right now, I’m at a loss to explain why.
Why should he care if I’m rude to Cass? What’s it to him?
Unless he’s just looking for another reason to hate my guts?
He clearly doesn’t need one. I don’t even know how it’s possible for him to despise me more than he does already.
I shake off the thoughts as they web their way around my brain. I am not going to cry again. It’s been three years of cruel Quill. I should be used to it by now.
But somehow, I just never am.
Cass’s cold, clear voice calls me back to reality.
“You know, Piper, I do hate you—”
“Great,” I snarl. “Right back at you.”
This time, I’m careful to keep my voice low, though I have the unsettling and confusing feeling that Quill is still picking up on every word I say.
“What I mean,” she says slowly, as if she’s explaining the ABCs to a very annoying toddler, “is that, while I do hate you, I also feel bad for you.”
I gnash my teeth together to keep from lunging at her. “Okay. Is there a point to this? Or are you just trying to piss me off?”
“There’s a point, but if you keep interrupting me, how the hell am I supposed to get the words out?” she snaps. “I’m offering you my help.”
“Oh.” I blink at her. “Well, you certainly have an unexpected way of offering.” I stare at her notebook, and then at mine, which is still empty. “You mean…” I lean toward her and whisper, “... I can copy on you?”
She slams her notebook shut at once. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Oh. So…?”
“I’ll help you learn about mitosis.”
“Huh? Learn what?”
Cass turns her head slowly toward me, blinking her icy blue eyes at me as if I’m the most exasperating creature on Earth.
“Cell mitosis. You know, what we’ve been studying since the beginning of senior year.”
“Oh.” I lean back against my chair, crossing my arms. “Well, the school year has only just started.”
“It’s October 28th,” she sighs. “Halloween is in three days. We’ve had six full classes on cell mitosis. Is your brain just… turned off for a full three hours every Tuesday?”
Yes.
Well, maybe not entirely turned off, but at least, hyper-focused on the menacing person behind me and the knowledge that at any moment, he could reach toward me and… strangle me.
“Anyway,” says Cass, clicking her tongue. “You can come with me after school tomorrow.”
“Huh?” I feel terribly slow as she blows out a breath in exasperation.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve told you, Piper, that I have that internship at Devil Tower on Wednesdays. That’s the reason I moved to Astley for senior year.”
Devil Tower? My interest perks up and for once, I forget all about the threat behind me. “Oh yeah? What kind of an internship?”
“I’m interning in the science department, of course,” she sighs as if it should be obvious. “We’re working on something involving cell mitosis. You could tag along, and maybe if you see some of the stuff we do in action, it might help you understand…”
“A science internship,” I echo, disregarding the rest of her sentence. I suddenly remember the few words Dad did tell me about Ray Campbell’s father. “Are you working on an experiment?”
“Uh huh,” she says absentmindedly, as she jots something down in her notebook while staring in the lens of the microscope again.
“You wouldn’t by any chance be working with… Ray Campbell’s dad?” I finish the question in a whisper, aware once more of the presence behind me. I don’t know why I should worry about him hearing me speaking the name of another boy. I only know that I should.
“Al Campbell?” she questions. “Yeah, he’s my boss.”
For the first time in my life, I have the sudden desire to hug Cass Henley. “Okay,” I say quickly. “Let’s do it. I want to go to Devil Tower with you. And, uhm, learn all about cell mitosis.”
She shrugs. “Fine. Wait for me Wednesday after school. We’ll go together.”
_
SLAM.
If it were anyone else getting pushed against the lockers by Quill Nelson, they would be shitting their pants. And that includes me, his usual victim.