Page 11 of Spiteful Lies

“Hey, quit daydreaming, jellybean.” Gary holds out a brown paper bag with a big grease stain on the bottom.

“What did you put on them?” I ask, holding it away from my pristine camel coat.

“Butter. Now get out of here. I’m busy slaving over this food.”

“Who are you cooking for?” I ask him. “Lunch doesn’t start for another hour.”

“Rawlins hired more security. She’s doubled up on the big guys. No pot-bellied, middle-aged ex-cops walking around to protect you kids. No one is leaving this campus after curfew unless she okays it.”

“She had us on lockdown before,” moans Charlotte.

“Well, some kids blabbed to their parents about all the shit that goes on here,” replies Gary. “Man, when I was in school, I was lucky to steal a feel and get a cigarette, but you kids? The parents are demanding changes, or Stonehaven’s going to start losing business. Rawlins is cooperating to appease the parents.”

“Have you heard anything about Getz?” asks Bryce.

Gary barely knows anything about Bryce other than he’s a hotshot student. But that doesn’t matter. Gary loves to gossip. Show a little interest, and he’ll tell everything he knows. “Ah, Getz is fucked. He won’t be back. The cops searched his office and found a few weird photos, but that’s it. Even the computer was clean. At least he didn’t bring his degeneracy to campus.”

“Sex isn’t an illness, Gary,” I tell him.

Gary scoffs. “Listen to you. When you work around kids, you can’t have those urges. Doesn’t matter how grown up you think you are. Your parents think you’re as innocent as the day you came home from the hospital. The things I hear in that dining hall? I’ve got to look up the words on the internet. At home.” He wipes his hands on his apron. “Now, get out of my kitchen. I got food to cook. I don’t need Rawlins making an example out of me.”

The levity is gone as we walk out the kitchen door. Charlotte refuses her greasy bagel but sips her coffee. Bryce takes a bite out of his bagel and then wolfs down Charlotte’s. I drink my coffee and his. Lost in thought, we walk toward the dorms. I see Charlotte’s mood dropping fast. Being with us is her best distraction.

“What’s on your mind?” I ask Bryce, knowing damn well that Charlotte doesn’t want to share what’s on hers.

“We’re not getting that money back.” he mutters, “He owes us almost 10K, and we’re not getting a penny of it.”

My gaze switches over to Charlotte, who’s listening intently, but Bryce doesn’t seem to care as he takes another bite of his bagel. I slow down and match his pace, hoping to catch his attention and warn him. He looks at me and then at Charlotte.

He shrugs. “Charlotte knows how to keep a secret. She knows a shitload of mine.”

I nod. She’s known mine, too, and now I know hers. The biggest one she has to keep. It would hurt her if I told it, but it might hurt her worse if I keep it to myself.

Chapter 10

Astrid

“Astrid Howland.” Shapley glares at me as I sit down in my seat. “You are to report to Foxworth House immediately.”

“What for?” I had been looking forward to our next class up until now.

The corners of Shapley’s mouth crease into a smile as he leans back in his chair. “Dr. Rawlins will tell you when you get there. Take your things. You won’t be coming back.”

I exchange bewildered looks with Bryce and Charlotte as I collect my bag and head toward the door. My mind skims through everything that’s gone wrong in my life over the last month as I walk outside. But Getz wouldn’t have talked, and he doesn’t know what happened at the Pit. Not all the details. There’s a lot to consider, but only one thing makes me tremble and places a sick feeling in my mouth.

My steps slow as I walk toward the front door of Foxworth. The door suddenly swings open as a guard pushes the door open wide from the inside. They’re watching us? He grins as I take a quick step back.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to give you a scare,” he says.

“So, are you like a bouncer?” I ask.

He scowls, and I hurry quickly into the admin office. I pause, looking around for more men dressed in fitted black suits, but they’re not in here. I look over at Alice, busily typing on her computer, and I wait to see her sour face, but instead, she looks troubled as she gets up gradually from her chair.

“Just a minute, Astrid.” Her eyes dart toward the door I just walked through. “I’ll let Dr. Rawlins know you’re here.”

I glance behind my shoulder, expecting to see a guard standing behind me, but no one is there. Big Brother’s not watching every move. Or so I think. Alice holds the door open to Rawlins’ office, and as soon as I step in, my shoulders drop.

Gillian sits in a chair in front of Rawlins’ desk, as pale as the white sheets of paper in her lap. I slump into the other high-back chair before I’m told to sit. Rawlins ignores me as she taps on her keyboard, and I ignore Gillian, who is squirming in her seat.

---