Page 50 of Raise Hell

Ten

Excerpt from the diary of Olivia Pratt:

I’m not a virgin anymore.

It feels so weird to say that, even in a diary that no one else is going to see.

He tells me that we have to keep it a secret because people won’t understand what is between us. I don’t like being kept a secret, but it makes me feel a bit like Juliet.

When I called him my Romeo, he kissed me like he never had before, like he was falling in love.

We only have to wait until after the Bacchanal and the end of the school year. The boys of Havoc House don’t ever settle down with just one girl. He can’t make an exception for me, at least not in public.

But he promised that he won’t be with anyone else but me, not even when we have to pretend that we’re not together.

I know he loves me, once we’re together for real it won’t matter how much time we’ve spent apart.

We’re meant to be together.

I just know it.

* * *

Drake Van Koch is a monster.

At least, that’s what I keep telling myself whenever I remember what it felt like to kiss him.

I have to remember all the serial killers who committed brutal crimes and then went home and climbed into bed with their blissfully ignorant wives like nothing ever happened.

Havoc House is responsible for what happened to my sister.

Drake Van Koch is Havoc president.

And I let him kiss me.

Ted Bundy was charming, too. That didn’t stop him from raping and killing dozens of women with a smile on his face.

Just like the best sociopaths, Drake flips his personality on and off like a light switch.

One side of him is the guy who has no problem terrorizing a girl he thinks is a rape and assault survivor. But then he can gently tuck his own sister into bed, sing her the same lullaby that their mother must have, and kiss her on the forehead.

He used that same mouth to set me on fire.

Anya is already gone when I get up for class in the morning. Apparently, her friendly overtures are done now that the novelty has worn off.

People have moved on to other scandals, so she doesn’t have any reason to talk to me.

I’d love to say I’m disappointed.

It was a mistake for me to come here mouthing off and making waves, something the real Olivia never would have done.

She would have been sweet and soft-spoken, allayed the suspicions of the Havoc Boys instead of attracting their laser-focused attention like I have.

I’ll have to remember that the next time I find myself bent on a campaign of revenge.

I walk into my Econ class expecting the worse. Since he got me kicked out on the first day, Drake has made a point of pretending like I’m not even in the room. One day, I showed up and enough desks had been removed that there wasn’t an empty seat. Dr. Hewey made me go get one from the next room and loudly drag it down the hallway.

Since then, I almost always end up sitting in the middle of a sea of empty seats. Clearly, everyone else in the class has been warned off of sitting next to me.

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