Page 11 of Unspoken Truths

“Mmhmm,” she says, her finger moving in a circle to get me to continue.

“Jared Denton grabbed me by the hair at lunch while I was talking to Marci and her friends,” I tell her, my tone devoid of emotions. I’ve already cried, it feels as if it happened to someone else at this point. “He shoved me into the mud, holding my face down while I fought him?—”

“He what?” she asks, jaw dropping. “Our school is pretty cut throat, but doing that to Emil Reyes’ stepdaughter is pretty ballsy, Rachelle.”

Sighing, I begin to unbutton my shirt.

“As pretty as you are, I don’t know why you’re going to show me your tits,” Liliana says teasingly as she slows down at a stoplight. I still notice how her eyes drift over my body though, making me bite my lip.

While I have exactly zero sexual experience that wasn’t forced, it’s nice to have someone notice me. I won’t be doing anything about it, but as self-conscious as I feel about my appearance, I’ll take the small win today.

My shoulder is still pretty sore, pulling whenever I move it. Wearing a backpack full of books is going to suck, so I’m going to try to carry the least amount of weight possible.

Pushing away my shirt and jacket, I twist to show her my shoulder.

“I don’t think the bruise is something I can make up,” I murmur. “I swallowed mud, vomited it up when he let me lift my head. The bruise also has some boot tread on it.”

“Fuck, Jared has it bad for you,” she breathes, gazing at the bruise for so long that she gets honked at. “Alright, I’m going. What happened after that, Rachelle?”

“He made me do some pretty obscene and demeaning things, and then my stepbrother told him they should leave,” I tell her. “He and two other of their friends joined to watch toward the tail end of things.”

“If the Carlysle Kings are involved, this is pretty bad,” Liliana says. “They can’t do anything to me without free reign for my knife to play and my father to get involved, so I’m not particularly worried about helping you.”

“I’m sorry, the what?” I ask. “This isn’t England, we don’t have kings and queens, Liliana.”

“Yeah, well this part of Portland can be pretty archaic,” she says, shrugging. “Ignacio Reyes, Jared Denton, Elijah Fletcher, and Theo Holmes. They were given their positions as freshmen when the seniors graduated. It’s some fucked up kind of brotherhood. Those four are certified assholes. Everyone flocks to them, they do what they want, even if it means people get hurt.”

“Lovely,” I say. “I just need to know what not to do to get noticed. All of yesterday, I felt as if I was missing some fundamental rule book.”

“It’s more what’s recognized as the rules here, but I know what you mean,” Liliana says. “Now that you’re on their radar, I don’t know if it’ll matter, but I will do my best to teach you the ins and outs of the school.”

“I already decided I wasn’t going to trust anyone, no offense,” I say.

“Eh, none taken, but you’re going to need to believe that anything I tell you is said with the best of intentions,” she says fiercely. “Your stepfather is scary. If he’s decided that what his son wants doesn’t matter and your safety is more important, then I’m going to listen.”

“I feel like I have a target painted on my back,” I admit. “It’s like Marci made a point to tell Jared where I was so he could mess with me.”

“The four of them are sick in the head,” Liliana says. “Too much power, not enough checks and balances, Rachelle. Sometimes, I think they could murder point blank at school, and it would get covered up without anyone blinking.”

“Is it too late to go home?” I ask as she turns into the school.

“Yes,” she says. “Give me your schedule, I’ll show you the quickest way to get to your classes, using some of the side corridors people forget about.”

“Is there a reason for that?” I ask distrustfully.

“The place is huge, and most people don’t know about the hidden areas,” she explains.

Hidden areas, as in passages? I can’t fucking believe this. Sure, I’ll deal with a possible bug or cobweb to avoid people.

Parking, Liliana twists in her seat as I hand her my phone with my schedule. This was something Mom and Emil refused to compromise about. I haven’t wanted to get a phone, saying that it didn’t make sense.

They both insisted that it was important to be within reach if something happened. After yesterday, I tossed and turned in bed dreaming about all the possible things that could happen. Now, I feel as if my face is puffy from the lack of sleep, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

It doesn’t help that someone tried to open my door at about three in the morning, only to be stopped by the locked door. I spent the rest of the night snuggling my stun gun in the off position, only finally falling asleep again an hour before my alarm went off.

Coffee was my only saving grace, even though I rarely drink it. That may be a contributing factor to my anxiety right now.

Liliana looks through my schedule, nodding with a grunt.

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