Page 17 of Requiem

“Take off your jacket, for crying out loud,” Mel urges.

“It’s cold,” I say flatly. “I don’t even want to be out here. I want to be standing out here in nothing but a tiny dress even less.”

“It wasn’t a suggestion.” Mel sighs in frustration. “Look. We need to be noticed. We need one of us to be picked, okay? If we don’t make an impression, we’reallfucked.”

Goddamnit. My patience for this horse shit is wearing paper thin. I swear, all I’ve done since that knock on my bedroom door is ask questions, and none of them have been answered to my satisfaction. “Picked forwhat? Head Girl?”

“You’ll see. Fuck, just take the coat off! Please! I am literally begging you. They’re not gonna pickyou, I promise. Of all the people here—” She huffs out another sigh. “We just need to—”

“All right. As you’re all aware, my name is Sebastian West!” the guy with the tequila bottle and the penchant for pyrotechnics calls out. “Eight years ago, my brother, Jared, created the inaugural First Night rituals, and those rituals have been carried forward ever since. Tonight, it is my greatest honor and privilege to continue what he started nearly a decade ago. We’ve all been waiting a long time for this, guys, so without further ado, let’s get this show on the road.”

I survey the senior students of Toussaint Academy, numb down to my core, amazed by the looks of excitement on all of their faces. I’ve heard about shit like this. College kids drinking each other’s piss and swearing blood oaths while chugging beer naked and smashing their own hands in doors to prove their commitment to fraternities. I never thought for one second that this kind of neanderthal exhibition would take place in a fucking high school. Not even one so pretentious and over the top as Toussaint.

“First item on the agenda is guy’s choice. Ladies! Form up! You all know about the selection. You’ve come here dressed in your finest, ready and willing to be judged.”

“The fuck Idid,” I snap.

“Shh! Oh my god.” Mel elbows me sharply in my side. “You know what? You’re here,” she hisses. “That’s enough. You’re not gonna get picked. Keep the ugly ass jacket for all I care. Just don’t ruin this for the rest of us, okay? Stand there and keep your mouth shut.” Through all of her corralling and jostling, she’s been fairly sweet with me up until now. In fairness, I don’t think she’s truly angry at me. She looks more…worried. Which, I, in turn, find very worrying, too. What thehellis about to happen?

“Guys, form a line on the other side of the fire. Girls get to pick first as a group!”

The female contingent of the gathering dutifully line up, chattering nervously, all of them wearing conspiratorial smiles on their faces. Even Beth and Ash look eager as they bully their way to the front of the line that rims the fire, shoving their classmates out of their way.

“Two minutes. That’s all you get!” Sebastian calls. “If you haven’t come to a consensus by then, we’ll draw lots and pick for you. You know the drill!”

How do all of these people know what the fuck is going on right now, and I am so utterly in the dark?

‘Ithink it’s kind of exciting,’Rachel’s memory murmurs in my ear. Of course she would think that. Rachel was always so jealous of other kids’ high school experiences. She always regretted the fact that she’d never played dumb high school games. Never got to chase down the Home Coming Queen title. Never got asked to Prom. She always felt like she’d missed out on so much. I’d been ecstatic to avoid the torture of such archaic teenaged popularity contests. She’d laughed at me for it and called me a stick in the mud.

“Lachlan Taylor,” the girl next to me whisper-shouts.

“NO!”A chorus of shouts echo the same objection into the night.

“What the hell? No way are we picking, Lachlan. He’s got a monobrow. And his father owns a chain ofgrocery stores,” Noelani mutters.

Lachlan’s family owning a chain of grocery stores must be repulsive to the girls; a number of them nod in agreement, crinkling their noses.

“I vote Justin Rathers. He’s jacked,” Mel suggests. “I’ve heard that his dick is huge.”

Ash rolls her eyes. “Why are we wasting our time with this? We all know who’s gonna get picked.”

“Right.” Beth folds her arms across her chest, emphasizing her very considerable cleavage. “We need to hurry. If we don’t choose fast, they’re gonna choose for us, and I amnotfucking Zack Richmond. His skin is disgusting. I’ve never seen that much acne on a dude before.”

“Who says they’re gonna pickyou?”another girl demands.

“Yeah. What makes you think you’re gonna get chosen?” someone to my left adds.

Beth rolls her eyes. “Get real. You really think a single one of them would select one of you over me?Please.”

I blink, looking from Mel to Ash to Noelani. “I’m sorry? Someone has tofucksomeone?”

Three girls down to my right, quiet Julia with the thick braid dips forward, shooting me a warning look, holding a finger to her lips. She wantsmeto be quiet, but I don’t know why. None of this is making a lick of fucking sense, and I am just about reaching the end of my tether.

“Shut your mouth, Newborn,” Ash hisses. “You’re not even welcome here. No one asked you to come.”

“Iasked her to come,” Mel fires back. “She has as much right to be here as anyone.”

Ash looks like she’s about to throw herself at Mel and start clawing at her face.

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