Sure, I may not normally do this, but I guess I’m channeling my inner Poppy, or at least, the version she showed me in the hospital.
“You little bitch.” She steps up, crowding me and getting in my face. “Emmet, Aeron, and Tucker are my endgame. I don’t care which one I get, but I will have one of them, and I won’t let you get in my way.” She’s seething and her spittle coats my face, but I resist the urge to wipe it off.
“The only person who will get in your way is you. It’s not my fault they don’t want what you’re selling.” Her face grows red as her hand slaps across my face, sending my head snapping to the side.
I right myself, not making a damn noise as our eyes meet and her face grows pale as her eyes dart over my shoulder.
“Violence is not permitted unless you have permission or were ordered to do it. You are done One,” comes from Jake, but I don’t dare look back at him.
“She had permission. Well done, One,” Scott comes to stand behind her with a devilish smirk on his face. She smiles at me, full of bravado now that she has a Harkwright behind her.
“If that’s the case, then Five has permission to retaliate,” Jake replies, and my eyes slide shut. I want to refuse the offer, but how will it be taken if I do? That people can walk all over me and I’ll continue to let them. Like I always have.
I open them and smile sweetly at her, her eyebrows draw down right before my fist slams into her nose, and I feel the crunch as her nose breaks under the force. My heart thumps rapidly in my chest as she cries out. She turns around to bury her face in Scott’s chest, but he steps back.
“Pitiful. The selection this year has been nothing but disappointing.” He shakes his head and returns to his table. And she just cries.
D comes to my side and leads me out of the mess hall, and I don’t take a single glance back toward anyone in there. It isn’t until we are sitting in her room that I finally let myself relax and try to tell myself that I only did what I had to. If only I could make myself believe it.
It’s strange sitting in front of the stage on one of the top seats, but at least I’m not up on stage. This is definitely more preferable, I think.
No one says a word as we wait for it to begin, I wonder if they’re as nervous as I am at the thought that yet another female may have been hurt, and we still don’t know who by.
Crystal takes to the stage, her heels clacking against the wood floor, and her eyes are as cold as ice as she takes us in, not even sparing a glance for the men.
“Because of the nature of this impromptu assembly, Sir Harkwright will not be in attendance. Due to unforeseen circumstances, he has granted me the capacity to release and announce a claim for today.” Her eyes scan the group before resting on me. I can’t be imagining the hostility, right?
“Five, you have been released. You are no longer owned by Aeron.” Shane rubs his hands together in glee as he stares at me, licking his lips. “However, as of tomorrow, you will be claimed once more. It is protocol to have at least one day rest between a claiming, if it involves the same female. Therefore, tomorrow you will be given to a new Harkwright.”
My eyes shoot to Aeron and he stares right back, although I also have Shane and Emmet staring as well. He made his choice. He told my secret and threw me away while doing it. If I don’t get given to Emmet, then it will be Shane. Is it getting hot in here?
Daria squeezes my hand, and I stare at her wide eyed as my heart beats erratically, I need to get the fuck out of here. Now!
“...has been claimed by Emmet.”
Come again? Emmet has claimed someone. Fuck, I guess he wasn’t kidding when he said I wasn’t worth it. Why isn’t anyone going up to the stage?
“Twenty-Eight, make your way to the stage this instant.” Her pitch takes on a whiney quality that hurts my ears, but no one gets up.
Twenty-Eight, isn’t that Emily? The girl who was crying in the changing room, the one that Emmet tied to his bed and left there because she didn’t want to be strangled. That girl?
“She isn’t here,” is shouted out, and Crystal purses her lips as her foot starts tapping erratically.
“Who said that?”
“I did,” everyone turns as one to look at Twenty, who is standing and glaring at… Emmet. Death wish or what.
“I’d watch who you stare at like that, Twenty. Bitterness is very unbecoming,” he says while he rolls his shirtsleeves up his arm.
“Do you know where she is?” Crystal asks, I guess she’s trying to re-establish some order, but she’s failing miserably.
“She was supposed to study with me last night, but cancelled because the Prince called on her. I haven’t seen her since. She didn’t open her door this morning.” Her voice cracks on the end, and her hands tremble. She can’t be faking that fear, but she can’t seriously think Emmet had anything to do with this, can she?
“Someone should check the maze,” another girl calls out and Crystal is becoming more and more ruffled. She can’t seem to stand still, and she’s rubbing furiously at her hand.
“That is enough! No one will go out to the maze. This girl is unreliable and will be dealt with accordingly.” She does not have control of this situation. She may want to be the next Vanderbilt, but she’ll never garner the same reaction.
“Fuck that, she’s probably been murdered like Ms. Vanderbilt,” comes from further in the back, and I think she’s about to lose it.
“No one has been murdered,” she screams, and even the Harkwrights are staring at her as though she’s grown another head.
“Girls, back to your rooms and remain there until told otherwise. I hereby cancel classes for the day,” Emmet’s authoritative voice rises above the growing panic, and we get to our feet.
The rest of the girls are far from quiet as they mumble and argue with one another, but no one will go against Emmet’s orders. Whether the maze gets checked, we’re under house arrest.
I have baked so many cookies, and I even have a lemon drizzle cake. What am I even going to do with all of this? I brush the flour off my hands and lay my apron on the counter before jumping in the shower. I have no idea how long it will be until any of us hear anything, but I doubt we’ll get any proper answers. Not in this place.
I put the shower on as high a temperature as I can handle, and stand under the spray, hoping the heat will help wash away my tight muscles and the anxiety curling in my stomach. I know I should be worried about the girl, and what may have happened to her, but I’m not. That must make me a horrible person, but all I can think about is how Aeron dismissed me. Sure, I haven’t had anyone throw my lack of purity in my face, but that doesn’t mean he kept it to himself. Besides, why let me go when he no longer had to worry about putting my notch on Emmet’s bedpost?
Did I make a mistake choosing Tom? Maybe I shouldn’t have told Aeron, and then there’s the way I punched One in her smug little face. That isn’t me. Or at least, it wasn’t. I can feel myself spiraling, and I don’t know if I like the person I’m becoming. I bet Darius would say I have changed for the worse if he could see me now.
I rest my head against the cool tiles, my hair falls around my face shielding me from the outside world. A low whistle pierces the air, but I guess that could have come from the shower. A louder one follows close behind, and I lift my head and jump back as my eyes lock on Emmet’s.