Page 42 of Sour Lollipops and Sweet Nightmares
“That’s so cute. Georgie, I love it.”
“Georgia,” I tried to correct her, although I don’t think she was listening to me anymore, if she ever was.
“We are going to have so much fun. Oh my God, I have the cutest heels for you…”
What the hell did I get myself into? I wasn’t sure what was worse. Issac, or the glint in Rachel’s eye as she looked me over like she was mentally calculating my dress size. One thing was for sure. I was never talking to anyone again.
Issac
There were various rules and doctrines that The Society expected us to follow. Some of them were confusing, some were straightforward, and others were open to interpretation. The rules my father expected us to live by… those were set in stone. There were three of them. The first one, Ravi, Levi, and Slater failed as soon as my father saw them.
Public appearance was important. Always look your best.
It didn’t matter that Georgia had pepper-sprayed them. Burning skin wasn’t a reason to lose your composure. It wastheir fault if they didn’t see the attack coming. If one of us died, he’d probably tell us to walk it off.
His second was to follow Society Doctrine. We failed that one, too, when my father overheard our plan to make Georgia ineligible to become a bride. He didn’t say anything about it, but he knew. There was no mistaking that look in his eye. I grew up with that oppressive stare of disappointment and shame.
The final rule was the reason for my leisurely stroll around the park. Always be on time. My father was a busy man and valued his time. I, however, did not value his time. In fact, I made it my personal mission to waste his time every chance I got.
Slater was always telling me to stop testing my father, but what was he going to do? Kill me? He put too much time and effort into me to do that. Besides, I was the only heir my father had. Everyone else could ask how high when he said jump. I would keep my feet on solid ground until I decided to jump.
It wasn’t as if I didn’t respect him. It was quite the opposite. I respected my father very much. I just wasn’t afraid of him. I didn’t fear anything, and that wasn’t some egotistical, I’m so tough bullshit.
Not once in my life could I recall fearing anything. I couldn’t even describe what it felt like. I knew the reactions others had. Wide eyes, trembling, and a quickened pulse, but I had never experienced it.
Guilt, remorse, and sympathy were also foreign concepts to me. Ravi said I was born broken, but I would argue that everyone else was. I’d never fuck up because I was panicking. There was a reason I passed my trials by the time I was fourteen.
I didn’t have a conscience to get in the way. I was more disagreeable than my friends, however. Especially when it came to my father. Hate was an emotion I knew well. I might respect my father, but I also fucking hated him.
I paused on the path, long enough to bend over and inhale the floral scent of a rose bush. Stopping to smell the flowers was not something I ever did, but my father gave us twenty minutes to clean up and meet him at the dean’s office, and I was only ten minutes late.
Ravi, Levi, and Slater, of course, took off almost immediately to get changed. I stopped by my room to drop Georgia’s bag off, got a soda from the vending machine, had a five-minute conversation about birds with some random guy, after which I took the long way to the administration building.
One thing I hated more than my father’s rules were his random unannounced visits. He did it to catch us doing something wrong, more specifically me, although I wasn’t sure why. The Society had eyes and ears everywhere. Keeping an eye on me was a waste of his precious time and resources.
Every second of our lives were accounted for, either by camera or one of their various spies. There was no need for his sporadic check-ins, and he sure as hell wasn’t doing it out of parental obligation or love. I spent more time with the maids growing up than I did with him. Half the time, I wasn’t sure that we lived in the same house.
Most of us grew up in similar circumstances. Unless it was preparing us for trials or future positions, none of our parents were that active in our upbringing, except for Levi.
His family life was vastly different from the rest of ours. His parents showed up for family days at school and checked in on him at least once a week. If Levi wanted something, they would send it to him, no questions asked.
Personally, I thought they spoiled him, but whatever. I couldn’t wait for the day when Levi couldn’t have what he wanted. Watching his perfect world burn down around him would be the highlight of my life.
Thirty-nine minutes and sixteen seconds after my father left us in the cafeteria, I sauntered through the doors of the administration building and headed up the stairs for the dean’s office. The extra nineteen minutes were perfect timing. I wanted to be late, but not too late.
When I walked down the hall and turned into the reception area, I saw Levi and Slater sitting in two of the chairs outside the closed door to the dean’s office. That was strange. They should be in the office, getting lectured, not sitting out here looking bored.
“What are you two doing out here?”
Slater rolled his eyes over to me and grumbled, “Look who finally showed up.”
“I’m not that late.”
“Well, maybe if you were on time, we wouldn’t be sitting out here,” Slater argued.
Levi didn’t seem to care either way. He was too busy scrolling through his phone to give a shit.
Did I feel bad for making them wait? No. Besides, I highly doubted they were on time. When they left the cafeteria, they were a mess. Now, no one would know they both got hit with pepper spray.
