Page 83 of The Ruthless Note

“He’s a nightmare.”

“So you’re not having a torrid little affair with two members of The Kings at once?”

“No!”

She sighs. “How boring.”

I try to steer the subject away from Dutch before my face gets any redder. “When did you see Christa today? I never saw her in class or at the rally.”

“Oh,” Serena munches casually on her fruit cup, “she bailed before first period.”

“Like ran out of school?”

“Crying and screaming. That’s not on you though. I heard Paris wasn’t too kind when she made Christa’s new position at Redwood Prep clear.”

My teeth sink into my bottom lip. I’m not a fan of Christa, but I’m also not completely soulless. “Paris is worse than Christa, isn’t she?”

“It’s not that impressive to kick a girl when she’s down, so no. I don’t think she is. Christa’s the reject who got tossed out of her ex-vice president’s party and publicly shamed by Dutch himself. Redwood Prep is a cruel, cruel place. Once you fall from grace, the hyenas are right at the bottom, ready to tear you apart. For Christa, it’s over. Paris is taking advantage of that. Trying to look tougher than she is. It’s working.”

I sigh heavily. All the Redwood Prep politics is giving me a headache. Besides, I have bigger things to worry about.

Like why the door was open that night after Paris’s party.

Vi insisted that she’d locked up, but I know what I saw.

The key didn’t turn.

The door was open.

None of our things had been taken and I tried to tell myself that maybe Vithoughtshe’d locked the door when she hadn’t. Mistakes happen. We’re only human after all.

I asked the maintenance guy to change our locks, but the likelihood of that happening is about the same as snow falling in the summer. I’ve already bought new locks. Now I just need the time to figure out how to install them.

“Enough about Christa. There’s a Halloween concert soon.” Serena smiles prettily. “And then a dance afterwards. All of Redwood tends to attend these stupid things. Even the rejects.” Crumpling the lid of the fruit cup, she sets it in her purse.

Serena never litters and gets super passionate when she sees people throwing trash on the floor. Whenever she has trash and there’s no garbage around, she’ll gather it all up and discard it later.

“Are you asking me if I’m going to the concert or to the dance?”

“Both.” Her light eyes sparkle at me. “The two of us are in the music program, but I don’t think I’ve actually heard you play.”

I rub the back of my neck and tilt my face up to the sun to avoid answering.

“Youdoknow how to play, right? You wouldn’t have gotten into Redwood without some kind of skill.”

“I’ve got severe stage fright. I don’t play much in public.” I push my food around in my plate.

“That’s fine. If you want, we can skip the concert and attend the party. And this time,” she lifts four fingers, “I swear I’m not going to leave without you. If Dutch carries you away again, I’m going to jump on his back and tell him if he wants you, he’s got to take us both.”

“He’ll probably call your bluff,” a voice says.

I yelp and whirl around.

Sol is standing behind me. His eyes are a warm, chocolate brown. As usual, he’s wearing a long white turtleneck beneath his Redwood Prep sweater vest. It’s scorching hot today. He must be sweating under there.

Come to think of it. I’ve never seen him in anything other than long-sleeves, no matter the temperature.

Serena’s jaw drops along with her spoon that was filled with the last of her fruit jelly. She hisses in anger. “Damn, that was the last one.”