Page 52 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

I had some extra cash stashed away in my top drawer, so I figured I could afford a day off.

I was wrong.

When I got home Saturday night, I arrived at the same time an unknown car pulled up in front of the house. My mom got out of it.

“My g.d. car,” she grumbled, shaking her head as she marched towards the house. “It won’t start. My manager at the bar is giving me until opening tomorrow to clear it out of the lot, and of course, the asshole won’t pay for a tow.”

“We can afford a tow,” I said, trying to calm her down.

“But we can’t afford a tow, getting my car fixed,anda new laptop.” She flopped down on the couch and dropped her head in her hands.

“A new laptop? What happened to my laptop?”

My mom lifted her face guiltily and tipped her head towards the kitchen table. My laptop is turned upside down with a towel underneath it. An empty glass of water sits suspiciously on its side right next to it.

“I spilled water on it right before work. I thought maybe the water would drain out. And maybe it has,” she said hopefully. “Maybe it will work fine.”

It didn’t. The damn thing wouldn’t turn on, even after I filled a plastic tub with rice and submerged it in there overnight.

So now the laptop is fried, the tow for my mom’s car cost over two hundred bucks, and the tow driver thinks her problem is the transmission, which means fixing it would cost more than it’s worth.

He also suggested she buy new tires, though I don’t see what the point in that would be since the car is basically a useless hunk of metal now.

I offered to let my mom drive my truck, but she refused.

“Your dad pays for that truck foryou. If he found out I was driving it, he might stop payments. We can’t both be without cars.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” I said, even though I had absolutely no idea if it was true.

My mom raised a dubious brow. “He takes care of you because you’re his kid. I’m nothing to him anymore. If it wasn’t for you, he would have taken everything and left me to fend for myself.”

I wanted to tell her we already were fending for ourselves, but it wouldn’t change anything and would only make her more upset, so I kept my mouth shut.

In the end, I gave Mom the few hundred dollars I had saved away and resolved to continue my winning streak at the fights next weekend.

But I forgot that I wouldn’t be fighting next weekend, either.

“The camping trip this weekend is going to be weird without Finn and Viktor,” J.C. says, holding his hand out for Noah to share the joint.

“Maybe we should postpone and do it on a weekend they can come back for it,” I suggest, hoping I sound more casual than I feel.

Noah shakes his head. “They won’t be back until Christmas.”

“Plus, we’re going to celebrate our senior year. As much as I love those guys, they’re old now. I don’t need them bumming me out with talk about rent and taxes and health insurance, okay? I just want to think about all of the pipe I’m going to lay this year.”

“No one says that,” Noah groans.

“And Viktor is in the dorms and Finn owns a house. Neither of them have rent,” I add.

“Whatever.” J.C. waves the joint to dismiss us both, and Noah lunges out and takes it back from him. J.C. has been known to drop joints in the dirt on more than one occasion. “We’re camping this weekend and it will be a good time. Speaking of, time to pony up.”

Noah leans back on his elbows in the dirt. “What?”

“Whoever’s turn it is to buy the goods, cough up the cash,” J.C. says. “I’m meeting with a dealer tomorrow after school to get the weekend’s supplies.”

My chest constricts at the mention of money. “What are you talking about? We have camping gear and there is more than enough alcohol at Finn’s place.”

J.C. presses his thumb and pointer finger together and takes a long draw from the pretend joint in his fingers. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, but our police officer on the inside is now six feet under, so we don’t get the evidence locker weed anymore. I’m going to have to cart my ass over to Public and scrape the very bottom of the barrel to find a dealer who isn’t associated with the Hell Princes.You’re welcome.”

---