Page 38 of Evil Queen

Nikita

“Angel, wait.”

When the words left Jaxon’s mouth, it tripped me up a little. For as long as I’d known Jaxon, I’d never known him to use any terms of affection, let alone such a cliche one. I wanted to stop and ask about it, but stopping Colette was priority number one.

“I have to talk to Cherri,” Colette said. “She needs to hear how hard Avery is taking losing her. If I can just tell her, I’m sure Cherri will come back. I’ll tell her she doesn’t even have to be the queen if she’ll just be friends with Avery again. She’ll listen to me. I’ll talk to her until she listens. Cherri’s a good person.”

“Colette, she’s changed, or maybe she’s back to her old self. I don’t know, but I know that Cherri isn’t the same person she was when she was in The Royal Court,” I explained. “I saw her fight. She’s different now.”

“No,” Colette yelped. “Cherri is Cherri! That she’s a little rougher around the edges than we all thought doesn’t matter.”

Neither Jaxon nor I responded to that. It was a sweet enough sentiment, but it was directed toward someone who had decided to cut off all of her friends from the past four years without a second thought. Sure, The Royal Court was mostly vapid, but what Cherri had with Avery and even what she had with Alistair was deeper than that. Clearly, Colette had found something real with her.

If we could all stick together after everything we’d been through, why couldn’t she? None of us were asking her to forgive Nathan, but we didn’t kill Deon or create the issues that lived in the Loche family. Why was she blaming us for wanting to see her safe? If I’d been snatched away from Nathan in that situation, it would have made me mad, but I hope I’d have enough discernment to see that my friends were just trying to help.

Colette burst through the door that led out to the courtyard, a place where Cherri and Sicily were known to hang out during lunch. There were a few other students hanging around, but the second Colette walked out with Jaxon and me behind her, a bunch of them filtered out. Apparently, Cherri and Colette’s experience from the first day back after the winter break was still fresh in people’s minds, and they were expectant of round two.

“Cherri,” Colette said with a whimper as she approached her.

Cherri was sitting on the edge of the fountain in the center of the courtyard and flicking through her phone when Colette called out to her. She looked up, rolled her eyes, and looked right back down at her phone. Sicily was next to her, clicking away at the computer Nathan had gotten him, but he stopped and looked up when Colette approached. Sicily gave her the same exhausted look that Nathan had given me. Whether or not he was willing to admit it, he must be growing tired of seeing the different members of The Royal Court get into it with Cherri.

Colette was not sick of it, apparently. She plopped herself down next to Cherri like they were still best buds. “Whatcha looking at?”

Cherri locked her phone and looked over at Colette. “What do you want?”

“Did you know that Avery finally got her full ride to Yale?” she replied. “Aren’t you excited for her? She worked so hard for it! I’m sure we’ll all take a big trip to visit her. You’ll come, right? You’re her favorite, and she misses you so much.”

“Leave me alone, Colette,” Cherri said simply and stood up to walk away.

She didn’t get far, though. Colette jumped up and ran into Cherri’s path. “Do you remember when we all took that trip to Cabo during our spring break and hung out with all those college students?” Despite the fact that she was forcing a smile, tears were streaming down her face. “You and Avery ditched us for, like, half of the time. Your friendship is so sweet. You miss her, right? You should tell her.”

“Colette, if you don’t get out of my fucking face, I’m gonna punch you in yours.”

Jaxon stepped forward, but Colette threw her hand out. “No! Don’t!” she said to him, and then she looked at Cherri. “Do you want to punch me? You should do that! Punch me! Punch me as much as you want until you feel better.”

“If I punch you, it’s gonna be until your body hits the concrete,” Cherri said.

“That’s fine!” Colette said. “Hit me until you knock me out. If I let you, will you talk to Avery again?”

“Colette,” I said. “It’s not worth it.”

“She’s going through grief!” Colette yelped. “It’s okay, Cherri. I understand. When Deon died—”

That was all she got out of her mouth. I honestly didn’t think Cherri would do it, but the second Deon’s name left Colette’s mouth, Cherri lifted her fist and punched Colette square in the nose. Jaxon got behind her just in time to catch her body as it started toward the ground.

Colette ripped out of his grip. “Jaxon, stop!”

“I’m not gonna stand here while you get your ass kicked!” Jaxon shouted back.

“Then leave!” she screamed.

“Fine!” Jaxon threw his hands up in the air and stormed away without looking back.

Colette walked back up to Cherri and stood in front of her again. “Hit me again.”

For a quick moment, I saw the sadness in Cherri’s eyes. It flashed there briefly and then disappeared. “Move.”

“No! Keep hitting me!” Colette replied. “Deon’s dead!”

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