Page 40 of The Good Girl

“Leave. Now.” I look at the two girls sitting on her right, and giving them a hard glare, I bark, “If you value your place on the squad, you better move.”

They look at Serena for a moment before standing and leaving. I don’t know what she’s been saying to the squad to have them questioning my commands, but I’d had enough. She needed to be put firmly in her place, for my sanity and for her life.

“I know all about it.” She looks at her tennis bracelet for a minute, pretending to be bored. Standing, she grabs one of my lapels. “I’m going to destroy it, I’m going to bring you to your knees, Elena. Show you what real power is.”

I stifle a laugh. “You are so naive.”

“What?” she snarls in my face.

I place my hand over hers and twist, forcing her to her knees. She squeals in pain and I’m surprised at how much that noise edges me on. “You cannot destroy The Society. It will ruin you. It will butcher you, leaving your bruised and broken body in an unmarked grave. Maybe in the marina? Or in the woods? Possibly at the bottom of the lake? It doesn’t matter, there will be no trace of you left behind.”

I’m aware of Tabitha and Atlas clearing out the common room in the background as I hear Tristan’s voice somewhere, but I close it all out. I was sick of being seen as weak. I was just trying to behave. I was just trying to make everyone else happy, but I wasn’t going to be walked over. Not here. Not anymore.

With one hand keeping her on the floor, wrist bent at an odd angle, I use the other one to grab her pretty red hair and yank her head back. Leaning in close, I whisper, “It will be like you never existed. They will wipe out all traces of you. And when someone asks your family, ‘What happened to Serena?’, they’ll reply with, ‘Serena who?’ That’s what The Society does.”

She tries to swing for me with her free hand, but using the hand I have in her hair, I shove her away before pulling her back, like a rag doll. She yelps, and I’m willing to bet that when I let go, I’ll have a clump of hair as a souvenir.

“There is no escape. No forgiveness. No redemption, Serena,” I explain, aware that there’s a coldness to my voice that makes her feel uneasy. I can see it in her eyes, the fear. Before she only looked at me with pity and earlier jealousy, but that was gone. It had finally dawned on her that I had been reigning myself in for our entire friendship. “Traitors don’t normally deserve a warning, but this is yours. And it’s the only one you’ll get.”

“Bullshit!” she cries, but there’s no force behind her words. It is sinking in as she looks around and realizes that the only people in here now are part of the organization she’s bad mouthing.

“Where is Sam, Serena?” I say, making sure it hits her how serious this is. “Go to his house and see for yourself. See what I’ve done with one phone call and then decide if you want to keep coming for me. Because I have no problem digging your grave myself.”

“You wouldn’t…”

“She would,” Atlas growls from where he’s blocking the door to stop anyone else entering.

“You should have seen Sam when Lena was done with him,” Tabitha laughs, joining in the torture. “You think I’m scary? You have no idea what she’s capable of. She just likes to act like a good girl.”

I slowly loosen my grip on her wrist. “I’m going to let go now, and you are going to run. Because if I count to ten and you’re still in my sight, I’m going to show you what I can do.”

She doesn’t need any other incentive, I’ve never seen her move so fast in my life, and I trained her on the cheer squad.

“Wow. I didn’t realize you had such a dark side, it’s badass,” Tabitha teases as she slings her arm over my shoulder, and we watch Serena scurry across the courtyard through the window. “You’re finally embracing The Society. What’s brought this out?”

“I did!” Tristan calls, sounding smug, from where he’s been watching the whole time.

“Stalking me again?” I snarl as I rub my temples. Why was he everywhere I turned?

“You left your violin in the music room,” he says with a grin, holding up my case. I snatch it from his hand.

Chapter Thirty-One

Tristan

Once again, she runs away, lugging her violin case with her. I shrug as Atlas laughs and Tabitha gives me a quizzical look, her arms crossed as she asks, “I thought you were winning her over?”

“Doesn’t look like it from where we’re standing,” Attie chips in, letting some of the students back into the common room. It’s a well-known fact that we’re from wealthy families, and that normal rules don’t apply for us, but that doesn’t mean we avoid the curious glances as they speculate about what happened.

Sitting in one of the plush armchairs, I pull a lollipop out of my blazer pocket. My voice is smug as I pop the sucker into my mouth. “She almost bit Serena’s head off and you’re saying that’s not progress? Pfft. You guys don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s into me.”

“If you say so.” Tabitha looks dubious as she sits opposite me. “I saw your father yesterday, is he back again?”

“Apparently so,” I bite out; the man was a waste of space, and he was beginning to interfere in my life.

Atlas perches himself on the edge of her chair. “Well, he needs to watch himself. Another woman from Port Ellesmere has been reported missing.”

I say nothing. I get the gist of what they’re saying. My father was going to get caught if he wasn’t careful, and who knows how many bodies they’d dig up in my backyard.

---