Crooked Crows by Elena Lawson

Ms. Wood noddedas I left detention for the second time this week, her stubby fingers knuckle deep in the bag of Takis I brought her.

Becca was right. Ms. Wood was easily plied with a simple bribe of soda and snacks from the stash she kept in our shared apartment.

The only vending machine in the school was stocked with zero sugar protein bars, rice chips and some fruit things that looked like they belonged in the compost.

I didn’t blame Ms. Wood for wanting a bit of junk food.

With her off-label clothes and unwaxed upper lip, she looked like she’d gotten the job at Briar Hall based more on her willingness to deal with the worst of the students than anything else. In fact, I think she might have worked at Lennox High for a while during my freshman year. As a janitor if I was remembering it right. I rarely forgot a face.

Becca was right about Bri, too. The bitch never showed yesterday. Looked like money and status really could buy you anything. Even a one-way ticket out of high school detention. I snorted to myself, hefting my books down the hall to the main atrium and the stairs leading up to the dorms.

Talk about a waste of power…

I fully expected another attack from her today in homeroom, but she didn’t show up there either. Or anywhere else on campus for the rest of the day. Then again, neither did blondies 1, 2, or 3, so I had to assume they were all ditching together. Fixing their spray tans, I bet.

If I thought ahead, I might’ve been able to sabotage that…

Oh, well. There would always be next time. I’d have to learn where Bri liked to frequent just in case she was intent on continuing to try and make my life hell.

Two could play at that game.

I paused in the atrium, peering down the hall leading in the direction of the cafeteria. It was vacant save for the chatter of students eating dinner, just like it had been yesterday. And I had it on good authority—thank you, Becca—that the Crows didn’t board here, which meant they’d already be gone for the day.

No one would know.

I backpedaled across the marble floor and used my elbow to jab the button on the elevator, bouncing on my heels as I waited for it to open. The thing was ancient, but at least it was better than lugging all these textbooks up three flights of stairs.

What kind of asshats claimed an elevator, anyway? Total bullshit if you asked me.

The doors pinged open, and I winced at the volume of the sound before stepping inside. Despite the masochistic part of me that almost wanted to get caught, I sighed in relief when the doors shut, boxing me in without being seen.

I made sure to jab the button for the main floor when I stepped back out on my floor, not wanting there to be any question as to whether it’d been used. And by whom.

No reason to poke the bears, especially when they hadn’t taken a swipe at me today.

I’d almost been disappointed—the three of them seemed distracted as hell in homeroom. Barely paid me any attention except to stare. I could feel it, even if I didn’t allow myself to turn around in my seat to check if my suspicions were on the money.

It would be better if they ignored me, but I got the feeling they were only biding their time for a better opportunity.

The sound of the shower and sweet smell of Becca’s shampoo greeted me when I shoved through the door, making sure to lock it behind me. I sagged against the frame for a second, happy for a moment spent utterly alone.

Detention wasn’t a group activity here. Not like it was at Lennox High, with a good mix of jocks and junkies. Loud jeering, tossed notes, and music playing so loudly through headphones that the cacophony of nine different songs echoed off the walls.

There were only two students with me in the borrowed science classroom used for detention at Briar Hall. So quiet, too. Like they were afraid to provoke Wood’s wrath.

Worked in my favor, though. I couldn’t imagine a more peaceful place to do all the work I was expected to catch up on. At this rate, I’d be ahead of the class by the end of the week.

Eager to set my books down, I kicked off my sneakers, stooping to draw the fifty I lifted from a buff dude that kept looking at my tits in math today. It was practically falling out of his back pocket anyway. At a place like this it was likely to be swept up and tossed out with the rest of the trash.

I’d make better use of it.

Hope the fucker enjoyed the show.

My phone chirped when I entered my room, and I tossed the pile of books onto the bed before flopping down next to them, snatching it from the nightstand.

Shit.

Twelve texts waited for me to read them, and if the cracked screen wasn’t lying to me, three missed calls, too.

Dom.

I flicked through the messages, finding a slew from her. Asking me where I went. If I was coming back. If I was alive. And then, the last two, sent within the last fifteen minutes, assumedly after she decided to go looking for answers herself.

Dom: Holy shit, babe. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me what happened?

Dom: I’m here if you need anything. Text me when you can.

My chest panged at the reminder, and I grimaced, closing her conversation without replying. Not ready to have that phone call just yet.

Here, people didn’t know. They wouldn’t treat me with pity or with any added scorn. I liked it better that way. I wasn’t ready to think about it too hard. Not yet.

Dom would understand. We were friends, but not the kind who really knew each other’s business. I didn’t know how to be that kind of friend, so Dom had to settle for a halfway friendship. The kind where we shared self-defense training and sometimes some fast food afterward. Where she poured her heart out to me, and I listened. Giving next to nothing in return.

I flicked through the other notifications, bristling as I came across one from my Aunt.

Female Hitler: Detention on the first day, Ava Jade. Not off to a good start.

Female Hitler: Answer your phone.

Not wanting to ruin my chances of a big payout from dear ol’ Auntie Humphrey, I thumbed a quick reply.

Ava Jade: Won’t happen again.

Big allowance. Big apartment in the city. Freedom. Big allowance. Big apartment in the city. Freedom.

I repeated the mantra in my head, trying to picture myself in that life. Just a girl in college, with aspirations of being a…whatever the fuck college girls wanted to be. With a cushy savings account, a nice boyfriend, and a local eatery on speed-dial for late night study sessions.

Yeah. Nope. Couldn’t picture it. I’d spent too long in the dirt, up to my elbows in bills and my mom’s vomit. At least Mom was someone else’s problem now if she weren’t dead.

I wouldn’t be like her, not if I escaped this place. I could be the college girl I pictured. Carefree. On the road to a good paying nine-to-five, taking vacations twice a year. It’s what I should want.

I mean, it’s what I do want.

I groaned at the next message. Sent from Kit.

My Ticket to Ride: You missed the last session. Dom’s worried about you. Want to come over for a bit?

My thighs squeezed at the offer. I’d been fucking Kit for almost as long as he’d been giving Dom and me self-defense lessons. She thought it was gross, since he was nearing thirty, but he was the only guy who’d ever been able to give me that big, glorious O. I wasn’t about to give that up over something as trivial as an age gap.

Fuck. I could use the release right now, but he was an hour away and I had no way to get there. Maybe he could come…

No.

Sighing, I shut off my phone and rolled onto my back, setting it on my chest. It went off not two seconds after I shut my eyes, and I groaned inwardly, lifting it to my tired eyes.

I assumed it was another scolding message from my Aunt, or a worried one from Dom, but it wasn’t either of them.

Unknown: Hello, Ava Jade.

I clicked through to see the number, but didn’t recognize it. A grand total of six people had my cell number. Six. And none of them would be giving it out in a hurry.

I considered how to reply. Obviously, the person had the right number…

Two sharp raps on my door had me bolting upright, a sizzle of heat racing up my spine.

“Whoa,” Becca said, holding up her hands as she appeared in the doorway. “I come in peace.” She grinned, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the door frame as I relaxed.

Her hair was still dripping wet from the shower, but she had it pulled back in a long ponytail. Dressed like she was going out.

“How was Wood? She miss me?”

“Yeah, she made a point of mentioning that detention just isn’t the same without you,” I drawled.

She put her hand to her heart, sighing dramatically before bursting into a laugh. “Thought you’d be down at dinner. You eat yet?”

I shrugged. “Not hungry, I guess.”

“You sick or something? Or just finally full? I never met anyone who eats like you, except maybe Grey.”

I swallowed, a prickle of unease making goosebumps rise on my skin as my screen flashed to life again.

Unknown: No run today?

“Did you give my number to anyone?” I asked, ignoring her other question. Other than my aunt, she was the only one in Thorn Valley that had it.

Her eyes narrowed, glancing between me and the phone clenched tightly in my palm. “No. Why?”

I shook my head, tossing the phone back onto the nightstand with a clatter. “It’s nothing. Someone must’ve lifted it from the office.”

Becca pursed her lips, but didn’t disagree that it was a real possibility. Probably Bri. Trying to scare me away with ominous messages. How very boring.

“Well, uh, I have to go out for a bit. Help yourself to anything in the fridge if you’re hungry. I had this eating issue a few years back. Now my dad has the fridge stocked with fresh groceries every week. It usually ends up in the trash so just help yourself.”

I cocked my head at her, considering her thin frame in a different light.

“I don’t have that problem anymore,” she assured me, a muscle in her jaw ticking. Her body language shifted to discomfort. Shuffling on her feet. I looked away, clearing my throat.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“You want company?” I offered as she pushed off the wall to leave, but her hesitation told me everything I needed to know.

“Actually, I forgot I have a history assignment I have to finish for tomorrow,” I rushed to say, beating her to the punch. “I’ll just go for a run if there’s time after.”

“You do that a lot. Run, I mean. Friendly tip? Stick to the main trail at the back of the field.”

“Why?”

“There’s an old service road that runs parallel to it. It goes up the cliffside to the Crow’s Nest. You don’t want to be anywhere near there.”

“Crow’s Nest?”

“It’s where they live,” she said offhandedly.

“There’s a joint in the tin under the coffee table by the way,” she offered with a wink. “History is better high.”

I grinned, unable to disagree.

“Oh shit, I forgot. I got you something,” she said, rushing out of my doorway and back across the apartment.

“You got me something?” I called after her, confused.

She reappeared a minute later with a crisp white shopping bag and tossed it to me. She had terrible aim, but I managed to catch it before it hit the floor by my feet.

“I guessed your size.”

My stomach clenched.

“If you don’t like it…” she started, trailing off. “I mean, I can always return it.”

I peered inside, finding a swath of dark fabric. My fingers brushed the satiny dress and I grimaced, drawing it out of the fancy bag.

My first instinct was to bite her head off. I didn’t need new clothes. Nothing was wrong with my clothes. I didn’t need or want to look like the girls who went here.

“You don’t like it,” she said after a beat of tense silence, and I found her uneasily chewing her bottom lip.

I bit my tongue, seeing how clearly self-conscious she was about the whole thing. Maybe Becca was just as shit at having friends as I was.

Ease up, Ava Jade.

“It’s actually amazing,” I said.

And it was.

With a tight bodice and deep cut V in the front and a keyhole cutout in the back, it was a dream. The color was incredible, too. Black at first glance, but with a tint of dark navy and galaxy aqua when the light hit it just right.

The price tag almost gave me an aneurysm, though. It would eat up a quarter of the money I had stashed away if I were to have bought it myself. Plus, I didn’t have the time or resources to case out a job in this town yet.

I hoped she didn’t want me to pay her back.

“You shouldn’t have bought me anything, though. I don’t uh…”

“Have access to Old Lady Humphrey’s bank accounts?” she finished for me.

I shook my head.

“I figured. I don’t know much about her, but her tight purse strings are legendary in Thorn Valley. It’s no biggie anyway, it went on Daddy’s AMEX like everything else does.”

Must be nice.

“Uh, well. Thanks.”

“Welcome,” she said, noticeably more chipper. “I thought you could wear it to the party tomorrow.”

My mind immediately jumped to conclusions. Wondering at her ulterior motives. She probably didn’t want to be seen with me in my regular off-brand, thrift store clothes. Or maybe she was just wrapping me up as a gift to feed to the wolves to earn herself favor. Maybe…

Guilt gnawed at my stomach, and I shut down the part of my brain that always had to be suspicious of everything. Admitting there was a very good chance Becca just wanted to do something nice for her new roommate.

That thought was a harder one to swallow, and made my throat tight with emotion I didn’t know what the fuck to do with.

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Can’t wait.”