Page 41 of Revenge At Raleigh High
I don’t give a shit if I get hauled over the coals in front of Darhower. It’s hardly going to damage my reputation any, but Jake’s pride won’t allow such a thing to happen. His footsteps ring out down the hall as he runs toward the science block, and a dead weight settles in my stomach.
This thing between me and Jake, it just escalated up to an eleven. No way he’s going to let it lie now. No way in hell. He’ll be aftermyblood soon enough. Revenge to a wronged member of the Weaving family is a prerequisite of the highest order.
I’m not as weak as I once was. Maybe I’m fired up from actually getting the better of him just now but fuck it. If Jacob wants to retaliate, then I say so be it. And the sooner the better.
I look up, and Mr. French is standing over me with his hands on his hips. He’s disapproval radiates off him like heat from a fire. “I think you and I had better have a talk.”
16
ALEX
Ben: I don’t wanna see Louie’s Great Adventure on Friday. I want to watch Dread Station II. Can we?
It’s my night to pick up Ben and take him out for dinner. Thankfully the roads through to Bellingham have been cleared properly, otherwise I’d missed my night, and I doubt Jackie would let me take another one to make up for it. She’s too fucking spiteful to be that understanding.
Me: I thought you liked those animated movies? Dread Station’s a horror flick. And it’s the second part in the story, dude. You won’t know what’s going on.
Ben: I’ve already seen the first movie. It was awesome. Blood and guts everywhere. All of my other friends have already seen the new one. Please!
I’m so focused on my phone that I almost walk into one of the guys from the football team. He growls, begging me to make the wrong move so he can start something. I’d love the opportunity of a punch-up—there’s some kind of fire zipping around inside me today that’s hard to ignore—but I’m on my way to meet Silver by reception and she sounded like she needed me to hurry.
Me: All right. Fine. But we’re gonna have to sneak you in. If anyone asks, you’re fifteen and you have a growth defect. And you can’t tell Jackie. If you have nightmares, I don’t want her calling me at three in the morning to scream at me. Deal?
Ben: You’re the best!
I’m already regretting giving in to him. Last summer, less than six months ago, for fuck’s sake, the kid was content to go and watch whatever Disney or Pixar movie had just come out. We’d split a bucket of popcorn and smash ice cream into our faces, and he’d gurgle like a drain he’d laugh so hard.
Now, he’s shot up three inches out of nowhere, wants to watch people flay each other’s skin off and perv on half-naked chicks. What the hell was I like at eleven? I was tougher than Ben, that’s for sure, but I wasn’t really interested in watching movies. I was only interested in surviving, and having to defend yourself at every turn, physically and mentally, will make a kid grow up faster than usual.
I put my phone back into my jacket pocket just as I turn left into the small corridor where Karen’s administration office is located. As gatekeeper to Principal Darhower’s domain, Karen is strict about who she allows to walk past her desk. The balding fuck in the office at the end of the hall doesn’t take kindly to people banging on his door without checking in with her first, so she watches everyone and everything like a hawk.
“H…A…W…K…”
“Yes, yes, I know how to spell Hawkins. Just…sign there on the bottom of the…yes, that’s right. Now, you’ll need to take these papers home for your parents or your legal guardian to sign.”
Oh, come the fuck on.
You have got to be kidding me.
I didn’t give Zander a ride last night. I thought he was just trying to cause shit and get my back up. I left him there in the Rock’s parking lot, and by the time I got home, I’d forced myself to put him out of my head. Zander always was good at riling people up. He’s never been afraid of stretching the truth a little in order to get a rise out of them, which is why it’s such a shock to see him standing at Karen’s window now, leafing through a bunch of papers with a studious frown on his face. I didn’t think he was serious about enrolling at Raleigh.
I do a double-take when I see what he’s wearing: a white polo shirt, pressed beige khakis with a fucking line down the front, and a red down body warmer. A fuckingbody warmer? I must look incredulous. Iamincredulous. What kind of bullshit stunt is he trying to pull here? Last night, he was wearing a Dreadnaughts cut, rippled up jeans and a band shirt. He looks like Prep School 101 right now. His hair is neatly brushed to one side—fuck, it looks like he actually washed it—he’s clean-shaven, and every single one of his tattoos is covered. To look at him, you’d think he was group leader of a church fucking summer camp.
I walk right up, leaning on the ledge of the counter outside Karen’s office, and I arch a sardonic eyebrow at him. “What thefuck, Hawkins?”
“Excuse me, Mr. Moretti. Language! If Principal Darhower hears you cursing like that, he’ll have you in detention for a month.”
Zander wrestles an amused smirk from his face; I know why he’s so entertained. Threatening people like Zander and me with detention is so inane and pointless that it’s pretty fucking funny.Detention? At Denney, we were locked away, kicked, starved, spit on, cursed at, had freezing water turned on us through a high-pressure fire hose…I mean, that’s not even the half of it. Having to sit in a room and complete some random thousand-word assignment on why swearing is really bad doesn’t pose much of a deterrent to our ilk.
Poor Karen. She’s quite conflicted. On the one hand, from her perspective, I’ve just rocked up and gotten into this new kid’s face, and New Kid looks like he comes from decent, respectable stock. Ishouldbe reprimanded for my behavior. On the other hand, I’m also the kid who found her, frantic and afraid, the day a gunman waltzed into Raleigh and started shooting people. I helped her, calmed her, told her to find somewhere safe to hide until I could come back for her. And then I’d nearly died trying to save the entire fucking school.
I can see the conundrum play out over her face. It’s quite the show.
She’d probably feel less sympathetic toward me if she knew the truth. I wasn’t trying to save the entire school that day. Did I want anyone else to get hurt and die? Of course not. But I only jumped Leon in that library to protectoneperson. Silver was all that mattered…
“I’m sorry? Do I know you?” Zander asks, crinkling his brow in my direction. Well, hot damn. He must have signed up for some amateur acting classes after I left Denney, because that shit was almost believable. “I can’t say I recognize you, friend.Maybe you’re confused.”
There’s a very clear message in his words.Back off, man. You’re gonna fuck this up for me, and it’s important.He wants me to disappear, butI don’t know if I feel like playing along with this ridiculous charade. If Zander’s arrival at Raleigh had anything to do with his meeting with Monty last night, Monty would have told me. He knows I’m a student here. No way in hell he would have charged Zander with some sort of task here without at least giving me a head’s up first. Which means he’s likely here on Dreadnaught business, and guess what? I don’t give a flying fuck about the Dreadnaughts.
