Page 32 of Liars

I stood on the side of the road with my fists clenched, fuming as the SUV disappeared around the corner. My cheeks burned with embarrassment and fury. “Assholes,” I muttered, brushing the dust off my clothes.

Two minutes went by with me frozen in the same spot, half expecting their SUV to come back, Maddox still laughing at their cruel joke.

They didn’t come back.

It wasn’t a prank. The Corvos were just that heartless. I was on my own. The one looking out for me was me.

I glanced up and down the street. The obvious way to go would be straight ahead in the direction the SUV had sped off, but I couldn’t trust those jerks. I wouldn’t put it past them to have dropped me off somewhere in the opposite direction of Public.

What fuckers.

I dug my phone out of my bag and pulled up my maps, telling the GPS to take me to Elmwood Public High School.

Better safe than sorry.

I could, of course, blow off the entire fucking day and find my friends. They were at the academy. But I had no money for an Uber, and walking… By the time I reached the academy, Carson and Kenny would be in class. I wouldn’t be permitted inside the school. Not anymore.

Adjusting my bag back onto my shoulder, I stared at my phone, cursing the Corvos under my breath as I started walking. They had another thing coming if the three of them thought I would go along with their wishes after this and pretend we didn’t know each other. By the end of the day, the entire school would know who I was living with, I silently vowed.

The school wasn’t far, but every step felt like an eternity. I couldn’t remember the last time I walked anywhere. Did that make me a spoiled brat? Maybe, but my parents had wanted the best for me. They sometimes went overboard. Dad had always been overprotective, insisting on driving me to my friends and to all my after-school activities. When he couldn’t, Seb, our driver, had.

I’d never gotten my driver’s license. I’d always meant to but kept putting it off, a decision I was regretting now.

Not that I had a car to drive, but surely, my parents’ cars were mine now.

I made a mental note to reach out to Decker, Dad’s lawyer. Most of what he’d told me in the hospital was a blur except for, of course, the part where he announced Donovan as my guardian. That memory burned crystal clear in my mind.

I wanted to review the details of my parents’ will again with a clearer mind and a more critical eye.

By the time I reached the school gates, my resolve was frayed, but I lifted my chin and walked in. I wouldn’t let them see me falter—not Kreed, not Maddox, not Mason, not anyone. The Corvos and their games wouldn’t break me.

I stared at Elmwood Public and could feel the unforgiving hostility oozing from its bricks even though I hadn’t set foot inside the building yet.

Public had years on the academy, it being the first and only high school in the area for some time, and it showed in the aging wash of the exterior. But I would admit it had a certain charm to it if you were into Gothic architecture. The entrance had two square towers flanking either side that came to a window steeple at the top.

My shoulder ached as I surveyed the school, working up the courage to head inside when a cigarette landed on the road near my feet before a boot stomped on it. My gaze traveled up the leg attached to the boot until it landed on a face. A pretty one at that, with beautiful dark-red hair twisted into two messy buns on top of her head, the ends twined into two long braids. Links of silver were woven into the hair strands. A puff of smoke exhaled from her lips. “Are you lost? You look a little confused. Or scared. I can’t decide.”

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. “That obvious, huh?”

She wore opaque black stockings, a plaid skirt, a tank with a low V-neckline, and a leather jacket. A dusting of freckles covered both her rosy cheeks. Stacks of necklaces dangled from her slim neck. “Only if you pay attention, which, let’s be honest, most people here don’t. At least not to me.”

I couldn’t say why, but I liked this girl. I didn’t know her name, knew nothing about her other than she smoked and dressed like she stepped out of an anime. She just looked cool, like someone I wanted to be friends with, and God, could I use a friend today. “I just transferred.”

“Poppy,” she introduced herself. “And you are?”

“Kaylor Steele,” I replied as a group of girls passed by, whispering and giggling. And so the gossip began. I hadn’t stepped foot inside the school, and I could already feel the eyes on me.

“Well, Kaylor Steele, what’s the verdict?” Poppy asked, digging in her bag for something.

My brows lifted. “What do you mean?”

She pulled out a pack of gum and offered me a piece. “Are we going in or not?”

The corner of my lips lifted as I took a stick of gum. “Undecided.”

“I have the same dilemma every day,” she said, popping a piece into her mouth.

I unwrapped the silver foil from mine and followed, bending the peppermint stick between my teeth. “What’s the trick?”

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