Page 91 of Unspoken Truths

“Genius,” I say, smirking as we walk. “I’ll have to hope that most of her teachers don’t pay attention. This will be fun.”

“Is there a reason we’re fucking with her like this?” he asks, curious.

“She did something I’m not pleased with,” I grunt, not wanting to talk about it. “While we’re at it, can you fuck with any files on her laptop? I don’t want her to be able to prove she completed the work.”

For once, Theo doesn’t push, simply walking into the school. Later, when I see Rachelle, I get this odd cramping feeling in my chest that makes me rub it as I walk past her.

I will not feel bad about this. It has to be done, because it puts us one step closer to keeping her down as well as if my boot was on her throat.

She doesn’t deserve this life or this school. The little mouse is the interloper, and the Kings are the exterminators.

* * *

Two weeks later

First week of June

LILIANA

The Kings have been quiet,and it’s been weird. Nacio appears stressed, is working more for his father, which means I haven’t seen much of him either. Rachelle said sometimes she catches him sleeping in the hallway by her door, though.

It seems he’s slowly finding himself caring. This makes me hopeful I can make at least one King pull away from working on this bet as hard. I know they feel that they have to follow through, but it’s an archaic practice.

There’s whispers of how the other Kings of years past have chosen a victim for their bet. Sometimes it’s a kid that they’ll torture and bully until he kills himself senior year. Others, it’s a girl the Kings make believe they’re in love with, breaking her the night of senior prom.

As long as this happens every four years, the semantics don’t seem to matter. Yet, they haven’t gone for the jugular while Rachelle was raw and hurting, so there has to be some rules in place for how long this needs to last.

I want to run away with her, and actually brought it up to Mr. Emil. I asked him if we could transfer together somewhere, if it would matter. He told me they’d still make her life hell.

I fucking hate this.

Waiting outside of Rachelle’s last class, I bounce on the balls of my feet, excited because we’re finally having our movie night under the stars. There’s not a single school event that’s going to mess this up. We’ve both been run ragged between the newspaper and school projects, papers, and homework.

It’s clear that teachers are ramping up for us to finish the end of the year strong. Everyone appears harried as they study in the library, or walk from class to class. The only upside is when Rachelle and I do have school events to attend for the paper, we also have someone who walks us there and back to our cars.

While the Kings mess with me less than Rachelle, the danger still exists from the men who attempted to mow us down. She’s started going on runs twice a week with me, while I attempt to convince her stepfather to teach her some self-defense techniques. Mr. Emil is getting very frustrated with this loose end endangering Rachelle and I, something that doesn’t bode well for whoever these fuckheads are.

Pursing my lips, I glance into the classroom to see her arguing with her Civics teacher. Students kept leaving the room, but there was no sign of Rachelle. Now I know why.

What is going on?As far as I know, she’s passing all of her classes with flying colors. Rachelle is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to working hard, studying, and getting shit done. I meant it when I told her I wasn’t worried about her writing her first article for the newspaper.

I was correct: everyone is still talking about that piece, and the swim meets have a fan base that is growing. It’s a shame Jared is such a dick, he’s a shining star when he’s in the water.

It’s when he gets out that the cloud seems to descend. Yes, I may have slipped in to watch him one day, and I have to admit he’s impressive when he’s competing. Every toned muscle explodes out of the water as he swims.

There’s a beauty in that power, but he’s no longer the boy I was once friends with.

Rachelle shakes her head, turning away, tears streaking down her cheeks.

“What did Dr. Ferris say?” I ask in a hushed tone as she brushes past me.

I refuse to take it personally, because she’s only walking as quickly as I am. She’s clearly pissed, though.

“There appears to be a glitch in the system,” she whispers, trying to keep it together as she pulls in a shuddering breath. “That’s what has to be happening, because I swear I’m not failing my civics class. All my work is turned in, I swear it is, but Dr. Ferris just informed me that I am.”

“No way,” I breathe. “Rachelle, we need to go see all of your teachers. Right now.”

She’s short of breath as she walks, her arms crossed over her chest as if that’ll protect her from what has to be the latest stunt by the Kings. How the fuck is this happening?

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