Page 31 of Bleeding Outside the Lines

“Ruby! Watch out!” Rawlings shouts as two Amelias tumble toward me, a mess of hair and black spandex.

“Enough,” I yell, and the two girls separate and climb to their feet. Their hair is a mess, sticking out of their braids, and Alice’s nose is bleeding. The other girl rubs her scalp, eyes narrowed at Alice. Alice gives me an upside-down smile and then holds herhand out to the girl who stands there unmoving. Alice opens her fist and hair floats to the floor.

“You,” I point to Alice. “Follow me. Now.”

I turn on my heel and a chorus of “Oohs” hit my back.

“Ten laps for the rest of them,” I yell over my shoulder to Rawlings.

“You heard the queen. Get running, brats.”

Halfway down the hall, I have to turn around to make sure Alice is behind me. She is—smug smile and all. Her footsteps are so light, it almost makes me uneasy. Part of me wants to force her to walk in front of me.

I lead her inside an empty training room. The stretching room that the Reds lovingly refer to as the torture chamber. She stands in the middle of the room, her eyes watching me as I move closer. It’s on the tip of my tongue, everything Ruby said to me that first day. I even open my mouth, but then close it again. She doesn’t move as I pace the room. She doesn’t speak to fill the silence. She waits. Is she afraid? Or is she anticipating praise? I can’t tell.

“You,” I start. I need to do this, it’s my legacy, but the girl in front of me is just that, a little girl. One who needs people that love her and take care of her. People who build her up, not break her down. Just because she was handed a shit life, doesn’t mean she has to live mine.

I don’t know if I can do this.

“I… I don’t think you are Ruby material,” I say, and her face pinches. “I don’t think you have it in you, despite what the other girls are saying.”

“But,” she blubbers. “But…”

“But, nothing.” I deliver my final blow and leave her in the torture chamber, slamming the door behind me. There’s something I have to do.

Now.

twenty-three

“It wasn’t me; Iswear.”

The man struggles against his restraints, while I struggle against myself. I’ve never been one for restraints. I’ve always preferred the back and forth of fists, the bounce in my feet. The adrenaline. I don’t know why I thought this was a good idea. As if I wasn’t pent-up before, Ruby ghosting me has me coiled up so tight I can feel my blood pumping against my skin.

Expand.

Contract.

Expand.

Contract.

“You can’t kill me,” the man says sternly. “I know people. They’ll find you.”

Expand.

Contract.

Expand

Contract.

“Just let me go, I won’t tell anyone.”

Expand.

Contract.

My knuckles connect with his jaw, knocking his head off its axis. Blood and saliva fly from his lips, spraying the floor. A tooth bounces along the tile until it finally comes to a stop near Nate’s foot. The man’s head hangs, his bald spot on full display. The overhead light shines, casting a glare.

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