Page 39 of Sour Lollipops and Sweet Nightmares
“Well, yeah… but that’s not why people are afraid of him.”
If she said anything that had to do with monsters or magic, I was going to scream. My sanity was already hanging on by a thread.
“When you don’t listen to Issac, or any of those six, bad things happen.”
My face dropped. That was her argument?
“Bad things always happen. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stand up to them.”
Yes, I felt the hypocrisy of my statement. I didn’t exactly stand up for myself, but they took me by surprise. Next time, I would be ready. Or I’d pepper spray them again and run.
“Wait…” I tipped my head. “Did you say six?”
There were only four, weren’t there? Please God, tell me there were only four.
“Yeah, there’s Matteo and Aiden too, but no one has seen them in years. Maybe they transferred schools or something.”
“There are two more?” I squealed a little louder than I meant to.
“Technically, there are three more if you count Levi’s brother Graham.”
Great. Seven assholes. I suddenly felt bad for Snow White.
“Oh,” Rachel held up her hand. “There’s also Carlos, but he’s like thirty now.”
“So, there are eight of them?”
She looked up for a second, then nodded. “Yup.”
And now I wished I was Snow White. “Are they family or something?”
There had to be a reason people associated them with each other.
“No, but you know how it works. There’s the top of the rung and the bottom of the rung.” She used her hands to mimic what I assumed to be a ladder. “People at the top tend to hang out with other people at the top. They don’t slum around with us at the bottom.”
I was well aware of how social standings worked. “Just because you’re on the bottom doesn’t mean you have to do whatever they say.”
“Tell that to the guy whose family went bankrupt after he turned Levi in for cheating. Or the girl who went missing last year after making allegations against Slater.”
Allegations? “What kind of allegations?”
Rachel’s brow rose. “What kind do you think?”
Fantastic.
I huffed out a sigh. “So, I guess going to campus security won’t do any good?”
“Not unless you want them to go after your family.”
I could always go to the cops. That was probably the better option anyway. Campus security was usually useless in situations like this. They were more concerned with protecting the school’s reputation than getting justice for the victim.
Wait…
“Did you say they would go after my family?”
Rachel nodded. “And your friends.”
I didn’t have any friends, but I did have family. Mom didn’t need any more trouble. Her life was hard enough. Not that I necessarily believed what Rachel was claiming. There were always absurd rumors floating around about guys like Issac.
