Page 23 of The Demons We Hide

The door opens and the teacher stops talking as none other than Madison Torres walks into the classroom. Her hair hangs in limp, wet clumps around her flushed cheeks. Despite the color riding high on her cheekbones, the rest of her skin is pale and clammy. She mumbles an apology to the teacher for her tardiness and hurries down the aisle to take her seat.

A series of choked giggles and laughter has me spinning in my chair. Megan White and her entourage sit at the back of the classroom, eyes sparkling with mirth. “What happened, Madison?” Megan asks, feigning concern as Mads’ scuffed sneakers squeak and squish over the tiled floor.

My hands clench into fists and Roquel’s earlier disinterest has sharpened on the scene. “You look like someone tried to drown you,” Megan states. “Is it raining outside?”

Mads doesn’t answer, but instead ducks her head and takes her seat, spinning away from Megan’s cronies. Her head lifts and her chin juts out, but I can see the humiliation in her expression. Cruel hatred twists in my gut, and when Mads’ gaze meets mine, she mouths the word “later” and shakes her head. Later, she’ll tell me what the fuck happened and later … I’ll get my revenge for her too.

This entire school needs to realize that the Scorpion Kings aren’t the only venomous creatures here.

School ends and Roquel and I meet up with Mads in the parking lot. By the time we get there, she’s somewhat dried off, but it’s clear from her shivering that her damp clothes are anything but comfortable. Without waiting for her to say a word, I drag off my sweatshirt and shove it at her.

“Put this on,” I order, glaring over her shoulder as I watch none other than Megan White exit the school building. Mads doesn’t bother to offer even a token protest as she drops her bag and drags on the sweatshirt over her upper half.

Roquel clucks over her. “What the hell did that bitch do to you?” she asks.

I keep the bitch in question in my sights as Mads sighs and removes her choppy hair from the collar of the sweatshirt. “Dumped a bucket of the janitor’s mop water on me while I was in the bathroom,” she admits. “I didn’t even hear them come in.”

My hands curl into fists. “I’m going to fucking kill her.”

Mads’ eyes widen as I take a step around her, more than ready to get it over with now no matter who’s watching. She dives in front of me, halting me with the barrier of her body. “You can’t!” she says quickly. “Giving bullies like Megan the time of day only encourages them.”

I switch my attention back to her. “Letting her get away with disrespecting you will tell her she can keep doing whatever she wants,” I inform her. I should know. Back at Silverwood Prep, IwasMegan White. The bitch. The Queen. The bully. Oh, how the tables have turned on me now.

Backed into a corner, there are only two options—lie down and die or fight back, and I’m not the dying type.

Mads sighs. “Please, just… not today?” Her big blue eyes stare up at me beseechingly. “I’m tired, my head hurts, and I really just want to get home and shower before I have to go in for my shift.”

Her words are a reminder and I curse silently, taking a step back. “You’re working today?” She nods. “Can I catch a ride with you, I’m supposed to be working too.”

In fact, that’s what I’ve been doing all week even though I sent an email to Principal Long claiming illness—I’m sure she knew my claim for what it was. An outright lie. Though whether she expected that I was dealing with the aftermath of the apartment fire or something else, I hadn’t been called to her office all day, and I’m not in a situation to look gift horses in their mouths.

Mads’ shoulders relax. “Yeah, of course.” Her eyes go to Roquel. “You can come with me now and we can head over. I have to leave early, though. Bible study is tonight.”

I wince, but look to Roquel who grimaces. “Sorry, I can’t make it out there tonight,” she tells me before I even ask.

I wave a hand in her direction. “It’s fine.” My temple throbs. “I’ll take the bus back and walk to your place.”

Roquel moves towards the driver’s side of her Camry. “The extra key is under a rock by the back door when you get back,” she tells me. “I might be home a bit later.”

“Thanks.” I call after her as Mads and I turn and head towards her own car, an equally old clunker of a sedan with rusted undersides and chipped blue-gray paint.

“Do you need to borrow clothes for work?” Mads asks as she unlocks the vehicle and we both get in.

“I’ve got stuff in my locker on site.” The engine sputters to life, but as she begins to pull out of the parking spot, an SUV drives past, the windows down and three pairs of eyes watching us all the while.

I hear her breath catch. “It’s fine,” I assure her. “They’re not going to do anything.” Not yet anyway…

The SUV drives on, but I still feel the burn of their eyes on me as Mads finishes pulling out of her spot and heads towards the exit. When she drives past a smirking Megan White as she stops at the tail of a white Jeep, I add another name to my list of people to fuck over before I leave Silverwood.

When she was just after me, I didn’t care as much, but real friends are hard to find. Real friends don’t fuck your boyfriend behind your back. All the people I’d thought were my friends at Silverwood Prep are nowhere to be seen now that I’m dirt poor. Mads, though … she and Roquel are my people now, and no one fucks with my people.

11

JULIET

Ma-Ri eyes me warily as I change from leggings and the t-shirt I’d had on underneath my sweatshirt before I lent it to Mads and into a slinky, skin-tight dress with cutouts along the sides. This outfit hadn’t come from some bargain bin at the back of a thrift shop like most of my new clothes. Instead, it’s a loan from Margo, and considering that Margo is taller than me—almost by half a foot—it’s too long. I ruche up the hem until it collects just under my ass.

Putting the end of her cigarette holder between cherry red lips, Ma-Ri sucks back a lungful of cancer and then breathes it out into the filtered air. “You sure ‘bout this, girl?” she asks, not for the first time since I approached her at the beginning of the week and asked for it.

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