“Oh boohoo. That just means I had a lot farther to fall from grace than you did,” Deepthroat said with a huff and I just had to freaking ask what she’d done to earn that name.
“Why Deepthroat?” I arched a brow and she pursed her lips as the others exchanged glances.
“I just offered Kyan a blowjob, that’s all,” she said firmly.
“Well, that wasn’t all, was it?” Punch muttered.
Bait waved a hand to hush them and curiosity burned through me. “Enough. You know we’re not supposed to talk about our previous lives,” he said firmly.
I turned to Bait with my lips parting. “Come on, that’s insane. Besides, they can’t even hear us over here,” I said in disbelief.
“Y-you n-never kn-know wh-when they’re l-l-listening.”
I glanced at the pale-faced guy who’d spoken. He was the smallest person at the table; his blazer was two sizes too big for him and even his lanky black hair looked oversized for his head.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“S-squits,” he stuttered.
My heart tugged at how royally screwed up this guy clearly was. He looked like he was about to spontaneously combust at any moment.
“Squits?” I wrinkled my nose. “What did you do?”
Squits glanced at Bait who shook his head then he stared down at his lap and didn’t look up again.
I pursed my lips, glaring at Bait. “He already has enough people telling him what to do, don’t you think?”
Bait’s brows lifted and he retreated into his seat a bit. “Sorry I just…it’s the rules.”
“Screw the rules,” I growled. “What happened to you, Squits? And do I really have to call you that? What’s your real name?”
“We can’t tell you our real names,” Freeloader said in a hushed tone.
Holy shit these kids are messed up.
Squits lifted his head, wetting his lips and glancing at Bait again who said nothing this time.
“I had an accident at o-one of their p-parties,” Squits said, his face turning a nasty shade of red. “I-I’d eaten a bad b-burrito…they h-had to pay a cleaning crew to c-come and c-clean the c-common house.”
“That’s it?” I scoffed. “I mean, yeah that sucks. But you didn’t exactly mean to do it. If anything, the burrito is to blame.”
“I-I-” Squits tried but Bait spoke for him.
“He shat on Saint’s favourite coat,” Bait breathed.
“A hand-stitched Dior, single-breasted cashmere coat,” the whole table murmured in unison.
I burst out laughing and everyone stared at me like I’d lost my mind. But I legit couldn’t breathe. “That’s too fucking funny, Squits.”
“It’s not funny,” Bait said firmly, waving his hand at me to try and quiet my laughter.
“They’re looking!” Freeloader exclaimed.
“Be quiet, Plague,” Punch begged of me as I wiped tears from under my eyes.
“Oh man, I wished I’d been there to see his face,” I said as Squits gazed at me like I’d just thrown Saint onto the table and started feasting on his flesh. Which wasn’t a bad idea come to think of it. He would definitely give me indigestion though.
I decided I needed to hear everything they’d done to the Night Keepers ASAP, but it was clear Bait was gonna be a stickler for the rules. They all were, but they were also designed to respond to the authority in my tone. So if I cracked Bait, I’d crack them all.
I turned my attention to my menu app and frowned as half of the usual foods were missing. “What the hell? Where’s the fresh pasta? And the burgers? And the pizza.” Oh god, not the pizza.
“We get limited options,” Bait told me, his brow creasing. “You can have soup or salad. They have all kinds of staff under their heel in the school. Admin, kitchen staff, the janitors…”
I gaped at him like he’d just told me the world was ending. Sure, I liked the odd salad or soup from time to time. But every day? No…
“What about fries?” I hunted the menu but came up short, lifting my head to find everyone shaking their heads mournfully. I slammed my palm down on the table in anger. “Screw this.”
My day was bad enough without being denied junk food if I wanted it. And after the morning I’d had, I needed something cheesey and greasy in my stomach to sate me. I rose to my feet, rounding toward the kitchen but Bait suddenly dove in front of me like he was taking a bullet.
“Sit down,” he pressed, placing a hand on my arm. I glared at his hand and he quickly removed it like my gaze had burned him. “Please, Plague. They’ll come over here. They’ll punish us all. That’s how they get the newbies to fall in line.”
I glanced over his shoulder to the Night Keepers who were rising from their seats. I glowered at them before shifting my attention back to Bait.
“You’re not the one they’ll hurt for this,” he rasped and my heart twisted at his words. It was sick, twisted and most definitely effective.
“Alright,” I breathed, stepping around him and turning toward the girls’ bathroom. I glanced over my shoulder, spotting the three assholes dropping back into their seats and my shoulders relaxed. I wasn’t going to be a whipped bitch by any means. But it looked like my dining hall experience was decided for now.
I had a better plan than fighting my menu choices though – which admittedly was the bitterest of pills to swallow. They took away pizza dammit. Freaking pizza. But one good thing had come out of it. I’d just found myself a small army of Night Keeper haters. I just had to reinstate their backbones and make them rise up together. Which was clearly gonna be way easier said than done. But I always did love a challenge.
***
The never-ending school week finally ended and I was mentally exhausted as I headed back towards Beech House after dinner on Friday. Saint, Blake and Kyan had ensured I was firmly outcasted, making me sit at the front of every class I shared with them until the students in my other classes refused to sit within two seats of me too. Everyone but Mila was treating me like the name they’d given me. Plague. I’d even heard Pearl and Georgie talking loudly about how they’d always had the feeling there was something wrong with me. And now a rumour was circulating that I’d spilled tequila on Kyan Roscoe’s chest at the initiation party and licked it off before he could stop me. It was taking everything I had to keep it together, but every morning I woke up, I fixed my mask on tight and refused to let it crack until I could be alone again.
A group of students skirted around me on the path and tossed the name Plague at me like it was fucking hilarious. If they hadn’t moved in packs, I would have thrown a few fists to shut them the hell up.
As I walked, I tried calling Dad for the millionth time this week, but his phone was dead. Wherever he was, I knew he was protecting me by doing this. But it cut my heart to ribbons to know he was out there all alone with the whole world turned against him. By Wednesday, I’d cracked and read the entire news article about him.
I was at war with myself over the evidence they’d presented. CCTV footage had shown him leaving the Apollo Company in California three months ago. Several Hades Virus samples had gone missing that night and his was the only access pass to have been scanned in that evening.