Page 47 of Let Us Prey

“Dollface, you still there?”

I squeeze my hands into fists, trying to psych myself up. Rufus and Cori both have amazing hair, but if this gets fucked up, I’ll never hear the end. My enemies are already dinging on me for my supposed flaws every time they see me. But who gives a shit, right?

Okay, Dolly, woman up and ask. You can do this. Your parents can’t control you anymore.

“Well… I was thinking… Felix is such a dick to me in class—always calling me out and using weird tactics to force me to be tougher. He protected me in public, but in class, it’s like he’s… hell, it doesn’t matter.”

“Dolly, did he do anything to hurt you?” Cori’s worried voice chimes over the line, and I groan inwardly.

I didn’t mean to suggest that.

Felix has never harmed me, and something deep inside of me believes he wouldn’t. But his constant picking puts me on edge, and I feel like I don’t live up to his standards as—either as a student or as his brother’s… friend? Obviously, he’s far from perfect, because he’s here at Apex, instead of being a Raj with the other Khan psychos, but I can’t say that to his face. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t end well.

“No Cori, he didn’t hurt me. He gave me a scare a time or two,but I think that wastestingme. Maybe. But I hate when he calls me Barbie—it’s so demeaning!”

“Let’s teach him a lesson, bombshell.” I can almost hear Rufus’ smirk over the phone as he chuckles. “He’s old enough to know that pulling a girl’s pigtails isn’t how you tell her you like her. Whatever shall we do to frost his cookies?”

My lips curve up as I think about his constant focus on my hair, and how someone as controlling as Felix would get infuriated with a major change. If I have Rufus and Cori dye my hair a completely wild color, I can stick it to himandLucille in one fell swoop. Plus, I can reclaim another piece of myself.

I decide what I want to look like, not them.

“I need to study first, but… maybe later you could come over and we could order a pizza and scheme? I think I have the perfect plan to vex him and all the people who think they can tell me who to be,” I say quietly, hoping they won’t decline.

Even if I place an order on Amazon, I don't know if I can do this on my own. I need steady hands and moral support to do something as big as this. After all, over the summer, my friend Clotilda had to hold my hand the entire time I was getting tattooed and pierced.

“Are you asking us to have… a slumber party?” Cori squeals into the receiver.

“Um, I guess I am.” I smile to myself, realizing this is the first sleepover I’ve had that didn’t involve the Heathers coming in drunk or high and spending the night trying to ‘fix’ me.

Rufus barks a laugh. “Oh, sweetheart. You have no idea what you’ve started. Tell us what we need to bring.”

Hopefully, this doesn’t get me evicted by the secret couple upstairs. I don’t know where else I would go.

“Guys?Are you sure you know how to do something this complex?”

“Pfft,” Cori replies, picking through strands of my hair to wrap another foil. “I’ve been coloring hair since I could reach the shelves. I can’t even remember what my natural hair color is at this point.”

Rufus hums his agreement, working on the opposite side of her. “Yeah, my aunt Brandine had me help at her salon when I wasn’t delivering product as a kid. I know my way around forty volume, Dolly bear. Don’t worry your cute little nose over it.”

My eyes drift to the mirror and I feel the butterflies start again. Every rebellion this summer started with those nervous buggers, and I can’t imagine it will stop soon. The last big decision I made before then ended with finding out I’m prey and being excommunicated, so it’s not surprising. I’m still working on the damage prom night did to my shaky self-esteem, but I hope this will help.

“The picture was so complicated looking, but I trust you guys know what you're doing.”

“Oh, Coco and I have been doing one another since we got to this hellhole. Our hair, of course,” he smirks, winking at me in the mirror as he uses a stinky brush full of dye to paint a section of hair carefully. “Sometimes, preds even pay us. It’s a convenient side hustle.”

I blink.

Should I be paying for this?Oh, fuck, Dolly! You didn’t even ask if they wanted money for the color or materials or anything. What a fucking idiot.

“If you want me to pay you, I’m happy to. I can pull money out of the ATM in Honeywell tomorrow...”

“Hush your mouth!” Cori comes back around to face me, her expression irritated. “We would never chargeyou—only the bobble headed morons. They have more money than sense, and it tickles us to get them to part with their parents’ coin, only to get in trouble for doing it.”

“I love me some drama,” Rufus coos. “It’s almost as much fun as fucking the uber-jocks with ‘I’m not gay’ complexes, although, lately, the field has been barren. Maybe you should tell us about your adventures in sausage-slapping, Dolly. Give the parched a sip.”

Oh, no.

I don’t… how am I supposed to talk with them about what Fitz and I did together? I know they won’t judge me, but I’ve never engaged in this type of ‘girl talk’ before. Will they want… details? “Um… well… I don’t know if I should…”

---