Page 8 of Ramsay

She’s turning out to be more interesting than I expected all this time later. I just wish I could see behind the veil in her wide hazel eyes.

Whatever the case, she is decidedly team Sabrina, the little devil, which complicates things but also makes them easier.

I suppose it’s ironic to liken Sabrina to the king of darkness, but it doesn’t make it less true. I think some people were born without a soul and Sabrina surely must be one such unlucky (or lucky depending on how you look at it) person.

No matter, I let her rule her roost, as long as she doesn’t get in my way. Everyone is useful until they aren’t. If Sabrina is smart, she’ll do everything in her power to maintain that usefulness.

And the girl with the wide hazel eyes? I’ll have to wait and see. I knew she would bring trouble. We courted it easily enough.

The question is—will she fade quietly into the night? I don’t think so and it’s this that gives me the tiniest thrill, one I refuse to acknowledge or analyze.

Regardless, if she strays too far from the line, I’ll have to reel her in. The question is…why do I look forward to the prospect?

Chapter Two

Willow

We’re halfway through the football season, and I couldn't be more grateful. This is my last year of pretending, to them, to me, to everyone.

Once we hit the doors after graduation, I plan to disappear, maybe reinvent myself one more time. What’s the harm? People do it every day. They just don't know it.

Burn yourself on the hot stove, and you’ll think twice before you get near the heat again.

Cut your finger, and you’ll forever be wary of sharp edges. Let a dick in your hole without a condom, and you’ll never do it again when said dick never comes back, and you’re left a burning, itchy parting gift.

It’s all a mindfuck, to which we either learn or we don't, but we still emerge as a new version of ourselves. This time around, I don't plan to be the train wreck I was before, and I sure as shit don’t intend to be the lemming I am now.

Whatever that person may be, she will be free because I can no longer stand the chokehold around my neck, slowly squeezing the life out of me.

It’s homecoming week, our guys lost yet another game, making them in the lead for the worst team in the league, and still, they’re assholes who think they own the world. You can’t score a touchdown to save your life, but you think you can score with me? Hah.

With an annoying sense of obligation, I don a dress for the homecoming dance. I hate the ritualistic mores of this small microcosm of the world, but I’ve signed up to be a part of them, and if nothing else, I’m no quitter.

But I refused to accept a date in my only nod to defiance, this to Sabrina’s annoyance, and for once, she kept her trap shut.

I haven’t seen more than a glimpse of the Sinners in the hall, a mirage of hard muscle, intellectual prowess, and the scent of evil on the air. They go to class, but they’re always on the fringes, seeking out the dirt, making people hurt, exacting payment, and lording it over the rest of us mere mortals.

I’ve no notion why they bother. This is high school for fucks sake, and we’re surrounded by middle class fuckers whose biggest worry is whether daddy paid the credit card bill. These people don’t know what it’s like to live on the streets where survival is the name of the game.

Which is why the Sinners, and their actions are that much more bewildering. Are they after power, or maybe control? Perhaps they use their knowledge for good, although more likely evil. All I know is that if you get on their bad side, you’re toast, and this isn’t Sabrina’s version of being a little bitch and sharing your bisexuality with the entirety of your class. No, this is next level shit.

If you’re hiding a criminal enterprise, they know. If you’re a creeper, preying on the weak, they know. If you’re trying to gain the upper hand over their kingdom, they know.

Last year, a junior sold drugs to a group of asshats who shared the lot at a party. It was a fuckup of epic proportions, because the shit was laced with bad juju, and many were hospitalized—one poor freshman died.

I don't know why they found this abhorrent, only that they did, and the junior never saw the light of day again. Maybe he disappeared for good or just from us, but he never came back, and rumor has it, he’s dead.

Did they kill him? Who knows? I wouldn’t put it past them. I know there’s evil in the world. I’ve seen it. Ramsay for all his smooth words and urbane appearance can’t hide what I sense lurking below the surface.

There’s a darkness behind his eyes, and it hints at the depravity I recognize all too clearly in my past. The question is…how far has he gone?

These are the answers I shouldn’t crave but do. What motivates him? Is there passion behind the icy exterior he shows to the world?

He’s so self-contained, I can’t help but wonder if he too, is a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode.

What puzzles me the most is the connection I feel, a tether pulling me inexorably closer even as his cool demeanor warns me to stay away.

We’ve never had a proper conversation or any at all, so why does my traitorous body heat to lava when in his presence?