Scarlett.
They had to choose Scarlett as their next victim.
Of everyone that The Society could have set their sights on for me to torment, out of the whole goddamn Asheville population that they could have ordered me to meddle with, Scarlett would have been the last person on my wish list.
Did I do this?
I know our little scene in Professor Donavan’s class last month didn’t go unnoticed, but why the fuck would it register on The Society’s radar? Them choosing Scar just leaves me with more questions than answers.
Perhaps it’s a coincidence. Or maybe they know more about us than I gave them credit for. I’m not sure of anything at this point, and it’s driving me insane. I feel like I’m walking on quicksand, being engulfed by the second whether I move an inch or not.
Why Scarlett?
Why her?
Then again, why did they go after Stone? Do they just pick a name out of a hat, or could Stone be right after all? She’s adamant that The Society’s marks must have some sort of underlying meaning to it. Maybe they pick our targets solely based on the fact of who will fuck us up most in the end.
Linc doesn’t agree with her assessment, though. He says there is no rhyme or reason to it since Finn never met Stone before The Society put her in his path. They couldn’t have foreseen that they would fall in love, nor the entire backlash that ensued. I actually agreed with Linc, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe the Southie in our midst is more in tune with The Society’s harebrained schemes than we are.
We sure as fuck haven’t had any luck deciphering who these cunts are and what they want. I’ve contacted every low-life I know to get some intel on The Society and have come up empty-handed. I really thought someone would give me something, but to my bitter disappointment, I’m as clueless of The Society’s intentions and whereabouts as I’ve always been.
And now they want me to go after the one girl I’ve tried to stay away from.
Scar has always been a weakness I’ve tried to abolish. No matter how much distance I’ve put between us, there was always something that lured me to her—pain, sorrow, and guilt.
That’s what I see in her big, beautiful, brown eyes. It’s almost like a reflection of my own. But while I conceal mine with my apathetic attitude, Scar wears hers on her sleeve, quite literally. She’s foolishly transparent, even if only to me. I recognized her pain on the first day we met.
Why did they fucking have to choose her?!
If I didn’t hate them before, I sure as hell do now.
“East?” Lincoln’s soothing voice coaxes me out of my tempestuous reverie. I look down at my trembling hands and see that I’ve crumpled up the letter at its side. “You okay, brother?”
His blue stare pierces into me, and I turn around to hide from his observant gaze. I drop The Society’s order to the floor, in favor of another poison. I light up and lean against the wall, hoping my friends can’t see how fucked-up I am right now.
Stone picks up the letter, eager to read the cursed thing, while Finn walks over to me in silent camaraderie, leaning just a few inches away. It’s his way of saying he’s here for me. Come what may.
“I know this girl,” Stone belts out as Colt reads over her shoulder the same words I now have branded to memory. “She’s in my ethics class. Always quiet. Keeps to herself. I don’t think I’ve ever once heard her talk in class. So why her? What could Scarlett Davis have possibly done to antagonize a secret society and deserve their wrath? She’s a nobody.”
Scarlett is definitely not a nobody. Not to me, anyway.
“Who?” Finn asks, completely unaware of who we’re talking about.
“Scarlett Davis,” Colt interjects, taking the letter out of Stone’s hands to have a better read through. “She’s Pastor Davis’s niece, or ward, or some shit like that. Pretty little thing, if she didn’t insist on wearing hand-me-downs that look like they should have been sent to a senior citizen home.”
“Fuck.” I hear Finn mumble beside me, putting two and two together on who Scarlett is. “Hey, you okay with this?”
“I’m not okay with anything, Finn. Still have to do it, now don’t I?”
“Maybe it won’t be too bad. Maybe you just need to do something easy,” he tries to mollify, but we all know it won’t be that simple.
“Nothing The Society has ordered us to do has been easy. If that were the case, you would have switched Stone’s phone with theirs when they asked you to,” I bite back before taking another drag.
“That was different. I was already in love with Stone. You hate this girl. Don’t you?”
I maul my lower lip to keep my reply in check.
I don’t hate Scarlett. I never did. I hate that she hides herself because of whatever guilt she is living with. I know a thing or two about what that feels like.
“So, how are you going to play this?” Colt questions, not one bit concerned about the full implications of the predicament I’m in.
My first instinct is to curse his aloof, cold ass and run my fist into his face. But he’s just being Colt. I can’t castigate him for being himself. I’m the one who is off his game.
“Maybe you should see what you’re getting yourself into first.”
“And how do I do that?” I arch a speculative brow in Finn’s direction.
“Like we did with Stone. Get your shady buddies to get some info on this girl, so you can discreetly infiltrate her life.”
“Like that worked wonders for you.” Colt chuckles.
“Hey, I got the girl, didn’t I? I say it worked pretty goddamned well.” He smiles widely, his gaze instantly darting over to his girlfriend across the room.
“You also got kicked out of your own house. Not to mention that everyone in school hates you for quitting the football team,” I remind him, but he just shrugs without a care in the world.
“Some things are worth losing others for. I wouldn’t change a single thing.”
I want to gag at his sentimentality, but the goofy look on his face and the light blush on Stone’s cheeks prevent me from mocking his overtly romantic statement. Finn has always been the most sensitive soul in our band of brothers. Even more so than Lincoln. Lincoln keeps his walls high to protect himself, while Finn wouldn’t even know what to do with a brick. Thankfully, Stone does. I’m happy they found each other. She was able to quiet the noise in his head, give him solid ground to walk on. I’ll be eternally grateful to her, even if she is a handful.
Scarlett, on the other hand, won’t be able to offer me the same solace. Not when all I feel is total helplessness when I look at her. Like I’m being swallowed whole anytime she stares at me from under her glasses. She holds a power that I wish she didn’t. The only comfort I have is that I’ve been able to keep Scarlett in the dark about how she affects me for years now, and I would have preferred to keep it that way.
Guess The Society has different plans for me, though.
“So, what are you going to do, East?” Lincoln vocalizes the question on everyone’s mind.