Page 17 of Chaos & Corruption

I narrow my eyes. There are so many parts of that statement that I want to dissect. So many questions I want to ask but I’m afraid I’ll spook her, so I go with what I think is the most important one.

“Are you saying a professor raped you?”

She doesn’t answer right away, and I feel the bile rise in my throat.

“No, but if you ask anyone around here, they’ll tell you I slept with Professor Alcott.”

I’m not understanding and the expression on my face must show that much because she tears her eyes away from mine and draws in a deep breath.

“There are things about this place that I purposely haven’t told you, because I needed you here. I needed my sister because sometimes . . . ” Her voice trails and more tears slide down her cheeks.

“Hey, look at me,” I whisper, reaching for her hand. “I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”

She turns to me.

“If I was a good sister, I’d tell you to run because no one survives this place. Do you know this school has the highest suicide rate in the country? People hear that and automatically assume it’s the pressure of such a prestigious school. They call it student burnout or whatever ridiculous term society is going with these days. But what they don’t know is that half if not most of those suicides are actually murders that have been covered up.”

My jaw goes slack, but I quickly compose myself because Mila has opened the floodgates and she won’t quit until she’s finished sharing all the horrible truths she’s been keeping to herself, starting with the Scorpio Society—a group of twisted fucks disguised as elite socialites. They control everything around here according to Mila and one of the members thought he could control Mila.

He violated her and after he took part of her soul he sent Webber to deliver a message, making it clear that if she ever opened her mouth about what happened, she’d wind up dead. Mila thinks Webber and his friends spread those rumors about her and the professor to set the stage. Another student turns up dead and it’s deemed a suicide. Only this time it wasn’t the pressure of grades that forced her to take her own life, it was the vicious slurs and the slut shaming that did it this time.

“Either that or Webber is making a point to prove to me he’s serious about me keeping my mouth shut,” she continues, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t know anymore. That’s why when I came back from the bathroom and I saw you with him and his friends, I freaked out and I left. I couldn’t watch you with them and I knew I had to tell you, but in telling you I’m also putting you at risk.”

“So, is Webber part of the society then?” I ask.

“I honestly don’t know,” she replies. “He could be or maybe he’s in debt to them for some reason or another, either way he has some sort of involvement with them and I don’t know if it’s just him or the football team. I mean this thing is so corrupt and so outrageous. There are teachers who are members. Deans and advisors. The society is a cancer spreading through this entire campus, if it touches one part, nothing around it is safe.”

I stare at her blankly, trying my hardest to process everything she’s revealed, but I’m a realist and this sounds like something out of fuckingCruel Intentions. This shit doesn’t happen in real life, does it? Is the world that fucking ugly?

I swallow hard and shake my head.

“Do you realize how insane this sounds? You were raped, Mila, and I am sorry for saying it like that, but I…that doesn’t get swept under the rug. You can’t walk around here with that kind of pain. You’re worried about someone killing you? This is going to kill you. You’re hiding in plain sight, allowing these pricks to control you.”

“Allowing? You think I allowed this?” she snaps.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”

She rises to her feet and stares down at me, her eyes full of anger.

“I didn’t ask to get raped, Victoria. I didn’t ask to get bullied and I sure as hell did not ask to be threatened. They took a part of me that night. My abuser and Webber, even Professor Alcott because I am ninety-nine percent sure, he knows what happened and is somehow part of all this too. They all took a piece of me and they don’t get to take my life too.”

“I know you didn’t ask for any of this, please don’t think that’s what I’m saying. I don’t know how to express myself right now. I just want to help you and I don’t know how to. I don’t even know where to start.”

“You start by keeping your mouth shut. I mean it, Victoria. No one can know because it won’t be just my funeral, it’ll be yours too. Since we met in the seventh grade, we’ve done everything together. Been through it all. But I don’t want us to die together.”

She reaches for my hand and wraps her pinky around mine.

“Sisters not by blood, but by choice,” she whispers.

Six

Alex Reggiano

When I thinkof a woman as a distraction, I picture a clingy female who demands all my time and attention. Someone who doesn’t understand the grind that comes when a man chooses to make a career out of playing professional football. It’s the basic mold of every girl I’ve hooked up with here at Stonewall. So you can imagine how surprised I was when Victoria broke that mold. Don’t get me wrong, the girl was one hundred percent a distraction but instead of demanding all my time, she ghosted me.

The day after I walked her to her door, I had practice first thing in the morning. I was already feeling the effects from drinking too much the night before and coach must have sensed that because he ran me, Robinson, and Webber ragged, keeping us an extra hour. By the time he let us go I barely had time to grab a shower before my first class. Still, on my way to the lecture hall, I shot Victoria a text. You see as soon as I decided to throw caution to the wind, that I couldn’t ignore my attraction to the little spitfire, I was all in.

I wouldn’t relent until I knew what those lips tasted like.

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