Wicked Lies by Mae Doyle
Chapter 5
“Ihonestly didn’t know that it was possible for teachers to give this much homework. Ever.” All of my books were stacked in front of me in the library and I had to sit up straight to be able to peek over them and see Harper. Her stack was just as high and she sighed, dropping her head down onto her arms. “I’m serious, Harper, how in the world will it all get done?”
“It just will. Didn’t you have homework the past few years to help you prepare for this?”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Homework when you’re homeschooled isn’t really a thing,” I reminded her. “Even if it were, I don’t think that I ever could have been prepared for all of this.” I lifted half of my books down so that I could see my friends.
“Yeah, and just wait until you have your other classes tomorrow.” Maggie pulled her schedule out from her pocket and smoothed it out on the table to look at it. “Taylor Prep firmly believes in splitting up classes so that you don’t get overwhelmed on any given day, but I’m not really buying that it works. What do you two have tomorrow?”
The three of us compared schedules and I was relieved to find out that even though we only all had PE together, at least I wouldn’t be alone during Earth Science, which was definitely a class I was worried about, since Harper was going to be in it with me. Not only had I heard that the teacher was a bit of a hardass, but science wasn’t really my strongest suit. At least it wasn’t chemistry, which was going to be the next semester. Right now, though, I couldn’t let that become a concern. I had a mountain of homework to do first, and we all wanted to get dinner at a decent hour before the cafeteria closed.
“Why don’t we start with our history report and then we can plan out how we’re going to tackle working on our English presentations?” Maggie tapped her pencil against the table. “I can’t believe that she made us all pick authors we have to do such a huge report on in the first class we had together.”
It had been surprising to me, as well, but I was just glad that I was able to get one of my favorite authors – Sir Authur Conon Doyle. Not only was he a great writer, but he was also Scottish, and Scotland was high on my list of places to visit.
“It’s gonna be intense,” Harper agreed, “but we can get through this. Just keep your eyes on the prize, ladies.” The prize was graduating and walking into any university in the world without a problem, but it felt kinda sad to have something so far away be what we were looking forward to.
“I think we need a prize that’s a bit closer to work towards. What about if we make fun plans for the weekend? That way, if we make it through the first week without all dying, we have something to do?”
The girls agreed and argued among themselves what we would be doing. Finally, Harper announced, “I’m going to have my dad send a car for us. We can spend Friday and Saturday night at my house if you two want. There’s swimming, horseback riding, and the chef will make us anything we want.”
I raised an eyebrow. I knew that my friends were rich, but I had no idea that they had enough money to have a pool, and horses…and a chef. “Sounds great,” Amelia chirped, and then they both looked at me.
“I love it,” I agreed. In all honesty, I had thought about maybe the three of us curling up with popcorn and a movie as a reward, but I was in a new world now. The kids at Taylor Prep were born with silver spoons in their mouths, and I wasn’t. It was hard for me to believe that my friends were so sweet even though they had so much money.
“Great.” Harper pulled out her phone and fired off a quick text. “I know my parents won’t care. They’re always busy with work anyway, so it won’t really matter to them if I bring people home or not.” There was a twinge of sadness in her voice, but Maggie didn’t seem to notice it, so I didn’t say anything. She slid the phone back in her pocket. “What do you guys say about us tearing through this? I heard that they were having burgers for dinner.”
“Burgers?” Maggie perked up. “Like…beef and melty cheese with tons of ketchup, because I am so in!”
“Sorry,” Harper said, reaching out to pat her shoulder. “Burgers like…black bean, corn, and quinoa burgers with a miso ginger sauce and gluten free buns.”
I laughed when Maggie’s face fell. “Hey, it’s all good,” I said, when they looked at me. “Let’s just get through this and then I’ll show you some of the candy I snuck into the school in my backpack.”
“They didn’t check it?” Maggie sounded surprised, and I grin and shook my head.
“Nope. Jackie was carrying it in. They checked my suitcase, I think, but not my backpack, so they didn’t find the Snickers. Or M&Ms. Or the Twix bars.” By now, my friends were practically drooling. “I’m happy to share the loot with you guys!”
They both agreed and we set to our work. I knew that if we just powered through it then we could get to the cafeteria and then hang out. Not only did I want to spend some time with my friends, but I wanted to get out of the library as soon as possible.
Harper and Maggie were sitting with their backs to the table at the far side of the room. It was directly underneath a huge stained glass window and the colored light coming through it fell in beautiful waves and shades on the table, the books, and the boys sitting there.
On the rogues. Who, by the way, hadn’t stopped looking at me from the moment we can into the library. I had a feeling that I knew why Brett would stare at me like that, but unless he told Jackie and Kaleb what happened when we were younger, there was no reason for them to stare.
Shivering, I ignore them and flipped open my book. The promise of chocolate could always light a fire under my ass, and right now was no different.
* * *
“So, who’s going to tell me more about the rogues?” I popped an M&M into my mouth and closed my eyes while the chocolate melted slowly across my tongue. My whole mouth was still on fire from the miso ginger sauce on the burgers, and the chocolate tasted amazing.
When neither of my friends answered, I opened my eyes and stared at them. “I’m serious, you guys. Why do the three of them act like they’re God’s gift to Taylor Prep?”
Harper sighed and took a bite of Twix before answering. “Because they come from families with big ties to the school, Rose, so they get special privileges around here.”
“Not Brett.” I paused, unsure of whether or not I could tell them that he was adopted or if that was crossing some invisible line. Deciding to play it safe, I continued. “I know him from when we were younger, and I’m pretty sure that his parents don’t have anything to do with the school.” Well, I knew that his mom and dad didn’t have any ties to the school, but I honestly didn’t know much about his stepfather.
“How can you be sure?” Harper took another bite of Twix, her eyes locked on my face. “He’s here, isn’t he? And he’s a rogue, so that should tell you something.”
I glanced at Maggie, but she was keeping her eyes on her Snickers and not looking at me. Fine, then, I’d just have to pump Harper for the information that I wanted. “I mean, I guess that he could be, but his family always seemed so normal.”
“Naw, none of the old families here are normal.” Harper grinned and tossed her wrapper into the trash. “If he was marked as a rogue then there’s something more going on there. My parents told me that it can have something to do with old money transferring hands or that sometimes it’s just because Taylor owes a family.”
“But what does it mean? Being a rogue? Because I’ll tell you what I thought.” I had them both giggling hard when I explained my D&D theory, but when I finished, Maggie shook her head.
“It’s not like that at all, Rose,” she said, still laughing a little. “Amelia told me that she was hoping to be marked as a rogue but that they passed her over, and she thinks that it’s because she’s a girl, so she’s pretty pissed.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why do you guys keep saying marked?”
Maggie shrugged. Now that she had started talking it’s like she didn’t want to stop. “I just mean that they got information that they were all going to be rogues. They’re the enforcers of the school. What they say, goes, and they have a lot of immunity in class.”
Immunity?This was sounding weirder and weirder, and I couldn’t help but wonder what my dad had gotten me into. “But wait, didn’t you say that most families here had some sort of a tie to the school? Like…even if they don’t go as far back as the rogues, they may have gone here or something?”
Harper nodded. “Yep. It’s pretty rare for Taylor to accept students that don’t have some tie to the school, even if it’s a bit of a stretch. Like Carla, in homeroom? Her tie is that her brother-in-law’s uncle came here, but she acts like she has the same connection as all of the other kids.”
“Then what about me?” I couldn’t imagine either of my parents willingly coming to Taylor Prep. “How am I here if I didn’t get in thanks to my grades and the fact that I had the money needed to cover the fees?”
Harper and Maggie were quiet for a moment, but then Harper spoke. “You sure neither of your parents came here? Or knew Taylor from when they were younger?”
I shook my head, confident. “Not a chance. My dad’s insurance policy is what paid for me to get in here. I’m pretty sure that my mom would have told me if that were the case.”
“Pretty sure or totally sure?” Maggie leaned forward and snatched an M&M from the bag I was holding. “Because there has to be some sort of a connection, even if it is a stretch. Think about it, Rose. Did your dad ever talk about this place?” She popped the candy into her mouth while I thought, but I shook my head firmly after a moment.
“Not a chance. The first that I ever really heard of Taylor Prep or considered going here was after he died. He had it in his will that his life insurance policy was to pay for my education and that he wanted me to go here. My mom had to go back to work anyway, so it made sense that I would go to public school instead of being homeschooled, but I definitely didn’t think that I’d end up here.” I spread my arm around to encompass not only my friends, but also my room.
My room looked like everyone else’s at Taylor Prep, but that didn’t make it any less incredible to me. It was easily three times the size of my room back at home and had hard floors with wide planks, crisp white curtains, and a separate bathroom with a clawfoot tub and a shower. It really seemed to me like the school spared no expense when setting up our rooms. It felt more like a fancy hotel than somewhere where I would actually live, but it was growing on me.
I definitely wasn’t as used to this level of pampering as my friends were, but I could see how easily I could get used to it. Both Harper and Maggie were from super rich families, and from what they said, their rooms at home were similar to the ones here.
“Well, somehow he got you in, and it wouldn’t have just been the money.” Harper shrugged and stretched. When she glanced at her watch, she started. “Did you guys know it was getting so late? We don’t want to get caught out after curfew.” She stood up and Maggie followed, snagging one more M&M from me.
“Hey, that’s mine!” I tried to grab it, but she popped it into her mouth and grinned at me. “Do you guys know what happens if we’re out after curfew?”
Maggie grinned and cocked her hip out, planting her hand on it. Assuming a stuffy voice that was a perfect mimic of Mr. Taylor’s, she said “if you do not follow the rules of Taylor Prep then you should be prepared to suffer. You won’t know what you did wrong, but you will suffer the consequences, which are sure to inspire you to stay in line.”
The three of us fell on the bed, dissolving in giggles. For a while we lay there, each in our own thoughts, then my friends got up and left for their room. “See you for breakfast?” Harper asked before she shut the door.
“You better believe it,” I called back. The door clicked shut and I hopped off of the bed to lock it, but before I did, I swung it open just enough to peek out into the hall. Except for Maggie and Harper there wasn’t anyone else walking around. Looked like everyone took the curfew pretty seriously. Shrugging, I shut the door and locked it before getting ready for bed.
Today was over. Tomorrow was a new day with new classes, and I hoped to find out how things at Taylor Prep really worked. Even though I wanted to stay up and think more about my dad, I could barely keep my eyes open, and as soon as my head hit the soft pillow on my queen size bed, I passed out.
