Wicked Lies by Mae Doyle
Chapter 18
“Tell us everything.” Harper handed me a mug of hot chocolate that she had somehow convinced Woods to find her and wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. “You haven’t stopped shivering. Are you sure you’re okay?”
I nodded. As soon as the three of us had gotten back to the dorm we’d all changed and the black dress that I loved so much was now in a puddle of sequins on the floor by my bathroom. I’d dropped my heels somewhere in the quad as we walked to our rooms, but I didn’t care. I was fine with forgetting everything about this night.
“He kissed me, you guys. And – ” I paused, unsure of how to tell them how I felt without coming across like I was crazy. “I liked it. I kissed him back, so I don’t know what came over me.” Shame felt heavy, and I dipped my head, taking a small sip of the hot chocolate. It was smooth and creamy, and my stomach rumbled, reminding me that I hadn’t managed to get anything to eat at the dance.
Maggie reached out and rubbed my shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be kissed by a cute guy, Rose. Seriously. I don’t know what the deal is with the rogues, but he’s definitely the nicest one. I mean, if I had to be kissed by one of them, I’d probably choose him.”
Harper laughed and swatted her. “Rose, you did nothing wrong, okay. We love you, and if you want to spend your evening kissing guys, then we support that.” She hugged me, wrapping her arms around me. “We’re here for you, and nothing will change that, okay?”
I nodded and drank more hot chocolate. When I left the dance all I had wanted to do was get away, maybe run as far away as possible, but now I was exhausted. “I think I need sleep.” Harper took my hot chocolate from me and drained it, then pulled back the covers.
“Get in.” She pointed and then pushed me into the middle of the bed.
“Hey! What are you doing?” I sat up and laughed. Maggie crawled over my bed and shimmied down under the covers while Harper did the same on her side. “What’s going on, guys?”
“You didn’t think that we were going to leave you tonight, did you?” Maggie sounded exhausted, but I caught the smile in her voice. “You need us, Rose. Let us take care of you.”
At first, I didn’t think that I’d be able to get to sleep with my two best friends in my bed. Harper snored a little from time to time, and Maggie was a heater, but I must have fallen asleep eventually, tucked in between the two people at Taylor Prep that I could trust.
* * *
When the three of us woke we realized that we’d have to run if we wanted to make it for breakfast. “We overslept!” Maggie pushed me in the ribs to move me out of the way. “Holy cow, you weren’t joking about your ribs being extra strong!”
I laughed and sat up. Harper’s hair was a mess, and I had a feeling that none of us looked the best. “I don’t joke around with stuff like that. You guys want to run to the cafeteria and get something to go?”
“Yes!” They chorused, and we hopped out of my bed, throwing on sneakers to go with our pajamas. During the week the dress code was strictly enforced, but I had a feeling that we could get away with pjs in the cafeteria today after the big dance. Besides, I was pretty confident that most of the students would still be in bed, sleeping off their long night.
But I was wrong. The three of us tumbled through the double doors into the cafeteria and were met with a stony silence from everyone already in there. As soon as we made it through the door, all of the students turned to look at us. I looked from table to table, but the only friendly faces I saw were Woods and Everett, who waved to us from a table by themselves.
The three of us cut through the tables, ignoring food for the moment, to talk to them and see what was going on. “Everything okay?” Harper greeted Woods with a kiss and sat down next to him. Maggie sat next to Everett, leaving me on my own. I normally was okay with that, but having my girls by me, making me feel safe, was a good feeling. Right then I felt terribly exposed.
“Apparently there’s been some changes in the cafeteria.” I glanced around as Woods spoke and only then realized that they were the only two without food in front of them.
“Why aren’t you guys eating?” The look on Harper and Maggie’s faces told me that they hadn’t noticed that the table was empty of food. “What’s going on?”
Everett shook his head. “We were told that we eat last now.”
“What?” I felt rage course through my body. “Who told you that?” In answer, he looked up at the main table where the rogues and the harpies were sitting, full plates of food in front of them, staring at us. “They can’t do that.”
The boys shrugged. “We tried to get something to eat, but we were…stopped.” Woods looks embarrassed, and I didn’t want to push it, but this was not okay.
“Well, I’m hungry, and I’m getting something to eat.” I stood up, well aware that everyone in the cafeteria was staring at me, and I marched across the room to the food. Before I’d even grabbed a plate, however, the three rogues were there at my side, blocking me. “Move. I’m hungry.”
They didn’t flinch.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair and pulling out some of the tangles. “Move, you guys. I didn’t get anything to eat last night and I’m famished.” There was a loud growl from my stomach to back me up, but they still stood where they were.
Jackie had his arms crossed and was staring at me with a stony face. Brett almost looked like he was enjoying this – I could see a bit of a smile at the corners of his lips, but it was Kaleb who really broke my heart. I glanced up into his face, hoping to see a flash of the guy that I’d been kissing yesterday, but he just frowned at me.
“Seriously? When do we get to eat?”
“When everyone else is done.” Brett sounded bored as he gestured to the rest of the cafeteria. Everyone there was still staring at us, waiting to see what I’d do. What they’d do.
“But they’re taking forever.” I pushed past Kaleb and grabbed a tray, but before I could move toward the food, Jackie’s hand jerked out and he smacked it out of my grasp. I gasped at it flew from my hand and clattered on the ground.
“Seriously? All you guys have tried to do is ruin my life, and now you’re going to starve the five of us?” My face was getting red with rage, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t believe that these guys could act like this. It’s not that I thought that we were all suddenly friends, but it was impossible for me to deny that there had been some connection with Kaleb last night, no matter how short-lived it had seemed.
“I’ll get you something to eat.” Amelia’s voice behind me made me stop in my tracks and slowly turn around. There was no reason why she would want to help me, and the fact that she offered made me nervous.
“What’s the catch?”
She shrugged. “No catch. Aren’t you hungry? Let me help you out?” Leaning down, she picked the tray off of the floor and walked down the buffet, slowly loading it up with breakfast. There were fresh waffles with fruit and clotted cream, homemade Greek yogurt, and she even added a bowl of granola to the side. “Does that look good?”
I nodded. “Thank you.” Even though I still wasn’t sure what game she was playing, the food looked amazing and I didn’t want to throw her help back in her face. I was starving, and I knew that my friends were, too.
She smirked. “It does, doesn’t it?” She brought it back to me, but when I reached out for the tray, she yanked it back out of my reach. “Oh, hold on. I forgot the most important thing.” My stomach dropped as she winked at me and leaned forward, spitting right on top of my waffles. I stared in disgust at the thick glob of spit as it pooled in a waffle hole. “Let me finish seasoning your food.”
I didn’t move as she carried my tray around the cafeteria. Everyone she stopped in front of leaned over and spit into the food. My friends watched in horror from the table, their jaws open and their eyes wide.
“What a bitch,” I muttered under my breath, and turned to leave. Before I could take a step, though, someone reached out and grabbed my arm. Looking back, I saw the cool eyes of Jackie locked onto me.
“My cousin isn’t a bitch. She’s being really nice right now making sure that your food tastes great. Don’t you have something you want to say to her?” When I didn’t answer right away, he dug his fingernails into my arm. “Don’t be rude, Rosita, here she comes.”
I dipped my head as Amelia walked back to us and shoved the tray in my face. “All seasoned up,” she said brightly.
The food smelled amazing, but as soon as I looked at it, I felt my stomach twist and turn. There wasn’t any way that I could eat it, and she and the rogues had to know that. Without realizing what I was doing, I reached out and knocked the tray from her hands. She tried to hang onto it, but only succeeded in flipping it.
All of us watched in horror as the tray turned towards her, the food flying off of it and sliding down her chest.
“You fucking bitch.” Her voice was cold and her eyes glittered with hate. Even though I took a step back from her, I knew that I was dead.
She lunged for me, wrapping her hands around my neck, but before she could hurt me, someone pulled her off. I watched in shock as Kaleb and Brett worked together to hold her back. “I’ll kill you!” Her voice echoed through the cafeteria as everyone watched.
“We can’t hurt her, remember?” Brett stood in front of Amelia, holding her by the shoulders. “You’re not allowed to physically hurt her.”
“I’ll kill her!” Amelia was still yelling, but she sounded less convinced now, and I could see Brett shake his head. Jackie stepped between us, blocking my view.
“You should go.” His voice was low and full of warning. “If you don’t, Rosita, she’s only going to keep trying.”
“But I’m hungry.” I lifted my chin and stared at him. “And so are my friends, and Brett just said that she can’t physically hurt me, so why should we leave? I belong here just like everyone else.”
“No, Rosita, you don’t.” He let go of my arm and ran a hand through his hair while Amelia continued to rage behind him. “Just…go, okay? I’ll take care of it.”
“You’ll take care of us being hungry?” I shot back. My arm ached where he had grabbed it, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of rubbing it right now. “I’ll believe it when there are pizzas in my room, Jackie. With extra cheese.”
Turning on my heel, I stalked away from him. My friends got up and ran to me, Harper and Maggie linking their arms through mine. My words echoed in my head, and I shook my head at how stupid I had sounded.
Yeah, right. Extra cheese pizzas in my room.
“Are you okay?” Harper whispered, her lips close to my ear. “She was so pissed.”
I giggled as we walked through the door and all loaded into the elevator. “She deserved it.”
Harper gently squeezed my arm. “Why don’t we all hang out and watch some movies? Maybe it will take our minds off of being hungry?”
I nodded. I needed something to take my mind off of this whole day, and while I wasn’t sure that a movie marathon would do it, being surrounded by my friends was a really good start. The five of us all piled into my room and snuggled up in bed to watch some of our favorites.
We were halfway through Maggie’s pick – Unicorn Cyclone – when there was a sharp rap on my door. I paused the movie and all five of us looked at each other. There was a very good chance that it was a trick and I’d open the door to see Amelia standing there, but I got out of bed anyway.
Taking a deep breath, I swung open the door. Nobody was standing there, but on the floor were three pizza boxes. Glancing around, I grabbed them and brought them inside before locking the door and turning to my friends.
“Should we eat them?” I was still nervous. The last thing that I wanted was spit pizza, but when we opened the first lid, it looked fine. It wasn’t until I lifted the top two boxes to hand them to my friends that a piece of paper fluttered to the floor. Frowning, I bent and picked it up.
I promise they’re safe.
