We pass the can in the hall where I caught Emmett dumping trash on Lily just for talking to me. That was when I first realized he was the same boy who I’d met at the track meet earlier that summer. Only in the halls of WJ Prep, he didn’t seem like the same boy at all. Nothing like the mysterious, funny, charming guy who lured me into a kiss even though I didn’t know who he was. Here he was an animal with Vivian hanging by his side and their little pack.
I hate that nothing with him can ever just be what I want it to be. It’s still hard to look at him without some bad memory popping up in my head. His sister’s disappearance is looming, and now Vivian’s back to make things even worse. But when he squeezes my hand and kisses my cheek before I walk into class, the thrill of it is almost enough to chase the rest away. At least temporarily.
My mind is like butter throughout the next period. Constantly sliding right over everything I’m supposed to be paying attention to and dripping back to thoughts of Emmett and the night before. It’s a sort of daze I should be used to by now. For better or for worse, I’ve been in some form of it since the moment we first met.
After class, I can’t help but frantically search the sea of scrambling students for Emmett’s face. Caught in this distraction, I round the corner and accidently walk straight into another girl. I don’t even have to look all the way up to realize it’s Vivian, and of course she looks pissed. Just my luck.
“Well, if it isn’t the little boyfriend-stealing skank herself,” she jeers with cold eyes before I can even begin to attempt a half-hearted apology for running into her. It’s no use saying sorry to her, anyway. She’s going to hate me now more than ever.
Vivian is freakishly thin, yet still somehow curvy with perfectly manicured nails and a relentlessly pissed look always plastered on her face. She keeps her blonde, curly hair up in perfectly tight buns that frame her pouty, red lips. She is intimidating and beautiful. And Emmett’s ex-girlfriend. A fact that seemed irrelevant until she was standing in front of me.
“Fuck off, Vivian. I’m not in the mood,” I bark, turning to move past her.
“What’s wrong? Troubles with Emmett?” Lily taunts, popping out from beside Vivian to block my path.
Lily is several inches shorter than me with long, brown hair that goes smooth and straight down her entire back. She has hazel-green eyes that used to be the only kind and friendly sight I would encounter in these halls, but now they’ve turned fiery and malicious. She wears a snarling grin that matches Vivian’s.
Her dad works in real estate, buying properties and renting them out, and probably manages the very property my mom and Brendan rent. He also dabbles in stocks, like all the dads around here do. But her dad is especially skilled with it. Her family was blacklisted by the Elites when her dad refused to day trade a ridiculous amount of money from the Jameson Automobile Company. That’s how Lily and I became friends, but apparently the standards have changed now that all the Elites are under investigation.
“What’s gotten into you?” I scoff. “Why the hell are you with her!?”
“Well, since you turned out to be a backstabbing, lying cunt…I had to find an ally somewhere,” she replies callously.
“This isn’t a game of survivor, Lily,” I insist, knowing this is a pointless argument to make. But this isn’t the Lily I know. “It’s just life. You don’t have to be so calculating. I thought you were better than those kinds of games.”
“I could say the same about you,” she snaps back through pursed lips.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t done anything to you,” I defend myself, shaking my head in exasperation. I still don’t have a clue as to why Lily hates me so much. Much less why she has joined forces with Vivian.
“My dad is going to prison, you dumb bitch,” Vivian burns into me. “We’re losing almost everything. And it’s all your fault!”
“I didn’t have anything to do with that!” I gawk back at her. “If your dad didn’t want to go to prison, then maybe he shouldn’t have been selling underage girls on the black market.”
“Shut your fucking mouth!” She wags her finger in my face. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t have to, but the police sure do,” I reply bitterly, cowering slightly at her stance. I’ve slapped Vivian once before, and I’d gladly do it again. But I did not walk into school today prepared for a fight. I’ve grown too used to the peace and quiet of the past couple of weeks.
“What the hell is going on here?!” Emmett’s voice booms out from a few feet away.
“There you are,” Vivian coos, her voice immediately turning sickeningly soft and sweet as she races over to drape her arms around his neck. My stomach churns at the sight of it. “I knew it wouldn’t take you long to come back around.”
“Back off, Vivian,” he growls, but he doesn’t move an inch.
“I don’t think either of us really want that,” she says suggestively, trailing a finger across his jawline. I am just about to walk over and snap her finger until it breaks when Lily intervenes.
“Come on, Vivian.” She tugs at her arm, keeping an angry stare glued on me. “Let’s let the two lovebirds give each other all of their STDs.”
“Clever,” I snap sarcastically as they shoulder bump me on their way past. I am left fuming and glaring straight at Emmett. “Thanks a lot,” I hiss at him with clenched fists.
“What are you talking about? I came as soon as I saw,” he whines defensively.
“You didn’t lift a finger to get her off of me,” I grumble. “Much less to get her off of you.”
“Because that’s what she wants,” he says with a subtle roll of his eyes, completely unmoved by all of it.
“What are you talking about?” I am still stiff against him as he puts his arm around me.
“She just wants my hands on her again. She doesn’t care if it’s good or bad,” he explains casually.
“That’s so fucked up,” I reply, shaking my head. But I regret the words the minute they fall from my mouth, and of course he doesn’t miss a beat.
“You used to be the same way,” he reminds me as a hard lump forms in my throat.
Is this really all so normal to him? To have girls falling all over him to the point that they’d endure his anger and violent temper just to get his attention? I’ve known it was a fucked up state for me for a while now, but I never expected that Vivian could stumble so low just as easily.
“Don’t remind me,” I mumble. “So, wait…you’re saying you get off on that? Is that how you like your girls to be?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he scoffs. “What you and I have is nothing like what was going on between Vivian and me.”
“In what way?” I push him further, needing to understand exactly what I am signing up for. Or apparently, what I have already signed up for.
“You know what way,” he insists as we continue walking. We’ve gone too slow and the halls are quiet now, with full classrooms behind the passing doors. These are the kinds of things Emmett can get away with, and I can only hope I am now granted the same privileges.
“Come on, stop torturing yourself like this,” he continues in the face of my silence. “The only reason you don’t have some crazed ex-boyfriend for me to be jealous of is because this is your first year here.”
“So, we’ll save that for next year?” I joke, desperately needing everything to stop feeling so heavy. But he’s not amused.
“Don’t joke like that,” he snaps sternly. “I’m not letting you go any time soon. As long as we’re under this roof together, you’re mine.”
“You didn’t feel that way when I first came,” I remind him, recoiling from the memories and my need to not only remember, but not to let him forget it either.
“Yes, I did,” he blurts, turning and pushing me against a wall. “I just couldn’t express it the way I wanted to. And now that I have you…you’re not going anywhere.”
He towers over me possessively as he slides a strand of hair from my face and leans into kiss me. I want to be turned off by his hypocrisy and the way he insists I belong to him. I want to tell him what I have said before, which is that I don’t belong to anyone but myself. But my arms fall limp as I melt against his tongue. And suddenly it seems ridiculous to even try and convince myself that I don’t belong to Emmett. It seems that I do, whether I like it or not.
Emmett sits with me at lunch that day and acts like everything is totally normal. But Vivian and Lily are sitting a few tables across from us, cackling like hyenas. They’re staring so much I feel uncomfortable, and it’s obvious they’re making fun of us. Or rather, making fun of me. No matter how angry they are with Emmett, it seems he will always be the golden child who can’t be subjected to the full force of anyone’s wrath.
The WJ Prep cafeteria has buffets and grills that can serve up just about anything you want, ranging from steak to sushi. They even have an in-house pastry chef for desserts, and of course, keep vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free, and sugar-free options for certain girls’ diets. Ahem, Vivian. And now Lily.