Page 69 of Crew Princess
Silence. Total and complete silence.
I forced myself to walk back to that library, back to that room, and sit there as they brought in another student. Then it was lunch, and I couldn’t hold back any longer. The four of us met on the bleachers by the football field.
No one was out here during lunch. If they were, they saw us and turned away. Survival instincts.
I’d just finished telling the guys everything.
Crickets.
“She talked about us?” Jordan finally asked, his shoulders bunched tight around him.
I nodded. “She didn’t name us, but she didn’t hold anything else back. They asked for her thoughts on the crew system. She gave them. And I’m quoting, she ‘didn’t like the system in the beginning, but recently had a change of heart.’”
His voice was raw. “Did she elaborate?”
“Did she tell them she had a boyfriend in a crew? No. She talked about the Ryerson Crew and the new Frisco one, but she kept quiet about us.” But I knew it was only a matter of time. “They’ll find out. You know they will. She said everyone has to give full cooperation.”
“The Ryerson Crew isn’t here today.” Cross looked around us. “They didn’t sign those sheets.”
I hadn’t even noticed.
As if reading my mind, he said to me, “You’ve been sequestered in an office or the library this whole time. You only would’ve noticed in the morning, and who notices then?”
That was true. I’d been standing to deliver the shitty news, but I sat now, turned toward the others.
Zellman was quiet, half turned away.
“Z?” I asked.
“Those Academy Crusties were a part of this. They had to be.”
I shared a look with Cross. Jordan frowned.
Z shook his head. “I don’t know what it means, but they had to have been in on it. They attacked Jordan in front of us. We were there. Ryerson Crew was there. Only reason I can think of that they would’ve done it then and there is because they knew the cops were coming. They knew we couldn’t retaliate, and hell—maybe they thought we’d get arrested and wouldn’t have time to think about revenge.” He growled. “I hate those Academy assholes. Rich pricks who think they can get away with anything.”
I was out on a limb here, but … “Any chance the guy Sunday’s going out on a date with goes to that school?”
He shook his head. “Not anymore. Not after I tell her what they did. She’s going to drop him in a second. She got arrested too. The prick didn’t warn her.”
“I don’t get the connection,” Cross said, more musing than angry. He stood, starting to pace with his head tipped back. “I get the administration working with the police. I get that. This all makes sense on their end, but—”
“Why would Principal Moron insist on Bren helping them, though?” Jordan interrupted. “I don’t get that. Do they know Bren is in a crew?” He looked at me.
“I don’t know. I can’t imagine someone not telling them, but this Becca person isn’t acting like she knows I am.”
“You said she knows Channing?”
I glanced up at Cross. “She asked if I was related to him. I said no, and then she said she knew Max.”
“Wait. Who’s Max?” Zellman asked.
“My half-brother. We didn’t really know him growing up.”
“Oh.” Z frowned. “I’m sorry, Bren. I didn’t know.”
“I don’t talk about him.”
The guys shared a look, and Jordan coughed. “And you talk about everyone else in your life?”
