“Are you okay?” D asks, as I take my seat, Aeron may be in between us but that won’t make me ignore her.
“Not exactly enjoying being up here, but other than that, I’m surviving,” I reply, hugging the envelope to my chest, before slipping it onto my seat, and sitting down on it.
“I know. Apparently, there’s a big announcement, and it’s better for us if we’re up here. We’ll be okay, homegirl,” she says with a smile before leaning into Bradley, and he drops a kiss onto her forehead.
A pair of heels start clicking on the floor before the woman who first showed me to my room when I was made a Zero takes the stage. Miss Martin? Where the hell is Ms. Vanderbilt?
“What’s going on?” I whisper to Aeron but he just shakes his head, his eyes are narrow and he scrunches his face up. He looks as confused by this as I am.
“Something’s wrong,” Tom says from next to Aeron, and Emmet chooses this moment to make an appearance and takes his seat at the end of the row.
Miss Martins bats her eyes at him, and she has a full on starry-eyed expression going on. I also don’t miss the way she licks her lips. It isn’t bothering me. Nope, not at all…
“Ms. Vanderbilt is unavailable this afternoon, so I will make the announcements. As you are aware, an incident took place during the ball where a girl was unfortunately injured. Since then, we have put extra measures in place to prevent it from happening again.” She looks around at us, and I can’t help the snort that escapes me. My hand is over my mouth quicker than I can blink.
“How dare you interrupt me? Are you stupid enough to have forgotten the rules that are implemented during an assembly?” Her eyes are burning into me and my palms are growing clammy as my knee bobs frantically. I am such an idiot.
I keep my mouth squeezed shut as I shake my head vigorously.
“You need to show me some respect, you insolent child. I hope you’ve enjoyed your time here because you’ll be gone by tomorrow.” She’s smirking, and I can feel myself deflating.
“She won’t be going anywhere, you two-bit whore. Make your announcement before I cut your tongue out and shove it down your throat. Don’t forget your place, Crystal, and you needn’t worry if she knows hers.” Shit. Emmet sounds like he means it. Her chest is moving rapidly, and I think she believes him too.
“Y-yes, sir,” she stutters, and he turns his stare onto me instead.
“Thirty-Four will now from this point on be known as Five, and it will move the previous Five to Twenty-One. However, the previous Five will now live in Thirty-Four’s room and vice versa.”
“Bullshit, if I’m Twenty-One, I should be in with the Twenties,” she shouts from the crowd, and I don’t fancy her chances. It isn’t as though she has the backing I seem to have gained.
“You will go to the room that has been assigned to you or we will remove you from the premises. I know I may not be Ms. Vanderbilt, but I am not to be taken lightly. I…”
The doors are flung forward, slamming into the wall as one of the workers rushes into the hall and runs toward the stage.
“What is the meaning of this?” she demands, looking down her nose at the gardener.
“It’s happened again, we found another… person in the maze,” they reply, and it doesn’t take long for everyone to rush out of the hall. We don’t even wait to be dismissed.
Daria has a death grip on my hand as she pulls me out into the hallway, the guys are shouting at me to wait but something is screaming at me to get outside and see this person for myself. Before they have time to spin a tale and feed us fables from their hands.
We keep pushing until we make it out of the doors, but there isn’t a chance in Hell of us making it to the maze with the crowd that has already gathered. We get as close as we can when a scream pierces the air, and the sound of someone puking soon follows.
“Oh fuck, I can’t listen to that,” D says, and she looks a little green right now.
“Everyone, move out on the way,” comes the booming voice of Tom and everyone moves as one. As space is cleared, it reveals the body. Ms. Vanderbilt, and there’s no way they can claim that she’ll survive this. Not if her lifeless eyes are anything to go by.
We’re all ordered to retreat to our rooms and the men disappear to God knows where. Daria takes me to my new room, and it’s no surprise to find that they have already moved my stuff in. As though I’ve always been here, I already feel used to this lack of privacy, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
“Can I stay with you for a little while?” she asks, and I can’t miss the way her bottom lip quivers or the wetness in her eyes. As if I’d even think of saying no.
“Of course you can, you don’t even need to ask,” I reply with a gentle smile. As I lead her to my sofa, I notice just how different this room is to my previous one.
For one, I have a damn kitchenette, more than suitable for my nighttime baking sessions, as long as I can get a hold of some ingredients. My sitting area has the same furniture, but with a bigger TV screen and some sort of console.
I can look at my bedroom later. As long as it has a bed, I’ll be happy, and the en suite can wait. D needs me, and I think the best way to help is to find a way to distract her.
“D, how do you feel about mysteries?”
“Umm, well, I’m no Sherlock Holmes but I do like figuring things out. Although, if it’s about Ms. Vanderbilt, then I’m keeping out of it. I don’t even want to think about that,” she replies as she trembles, and I can’t help but wonder why I’m not reacting in the same way?
I just saw a dead body for fuck’s sake. Girl, you are so messed up.
“No, that would defeat the whole point in distracting you,” I say with a weak smile that definitely falls flat.
“Then go for it, what mystery do you have for me, homegirl?”
“The reason I’ve been called a legacy. At least two Harkwrights have said it to me now, and I need to know why.” Her mouth drops at my words, and her eyes are impossibly wide.
“You’re a legacy? Then why the fuck were you made a Zero? Even better, why are you only a Five now? It makes little sense.”
“Emmet said it was because they thought I was being deceptive. I guess they felt I was keeping it from them, but I wasn’t. How was I supposed to know if I was a legacy or not? As for being Five, girl, it’s just a number.” I can’t help the blasé tone or roll of my eyes. I just don’t see what the big deal is.
“You may feel that way, but barely any of the other girls will. They want into the top spots, and they’ll destroy you if they have to. How can you be so unaffected by this? You realize the extra benefit that comes with it, right? And the increased cash prize that you’ll be given come graduation?”
“I’m not.” I blow out a deep breath and decide it’s better to just tell her the truth. I know she’s the one person I can trust, and it’s about time I acted like it. “I don’t want to admit I’m a better number because I’m still waiting for someone to pull the rug out from under my feet. I can’t see myself staying this high up, and I don’t want to get my hopes set on what I could have.” My voice shakes slightly at the end, and she looks at me with soft eyes.