Page 35 of As the Rain Falls (Sainte Madeleine #1)

A PERFECT HIDING SPOT

Cassandra

Antony insists on paying for our snacks, waving Mateo off when he reaches for his wallet. “I have enough. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks, man,” Mateo says, and I catch the flicker of gratitude in his expression before we walk out of the store.

“You actually work… for your money.” Antony tears open a pack of sour candy with his teeth, words coming out muffled. He hands me a few, then offers the rest to the other boy. “Don’t waste it.”

“Where do you, uh, work?” I ask, wanting to fill the quiet and make casual conversation.

The heat is making me sweat, and I can’t wait to be seated again. Somewhere cool, preferably. I don’t want to have to deal with my face burning today.

“At my mom’s hair salon.” Mateo pops a candy into his mouth and winces. “I help her manage the bookings because she doesn’t know how to use the computer yet.”

Antony’s eyebrows shoot up as he speaks, “Yet?”

“I’m teaching her how to handle the program soon. I have to intern at the clinic this summer, remember?”

“Oh, okay.”

“Do you know how to cut hair?”I wonder.

“Not as well as she does,” Mateo admits, passing the candy back to Antony. “But I know how to do simple stuff if I have to.”

“Mateo helped me twist mine the other day,” Antony tells me, nudging me with his elbow. “Isn’t that so cool? I always have to ask my mother to do it because no one else knows how to handle long hair like she does.”

“It is,” I nod, popping a candy into my mouth and chewing slowly.

The taste of bubblegum and lemon explodes on my tongue, sweet and thick. It tastes like childhood, and reminds me vaguely of the kind of candy Nathaniel used to give me sometimes, if I behaved myself. He’d keep a pack in his bedroom, hidden in places I could never reach.

“I thought we weren’t supposed to come here,” I say, trailing after them. The building is half covered by vegetation, wild green vines reclaiming space. Mateo holds one of the Coca-Cola cans open for me. “Thanks.”

“Says who?” Antony snickers as I take a long sip.

I roll my eyes but choose to ignore him.

The place looks even worse than I imagined from the inside. Rusted, empty, with water dripping from the ceiling steadily.Mateo tries kicking a loose door open, but it doesn’t move.

“Abre aqui, Toninho.”

“Calma,” Antony groans, dragging his feet to join him. “I know it looks a bit rough, but Mateo and I like to hang out here. Skip class. Listen to music. You know how it goes.”

“Right, I get it,” I say, absolutely not getting it. I wouldn’t come here alone, and this is not what Kayla and I like to do when we hang out together in town. She’s not a big fan of the outdoors, and to be honest, neither am I.

We push further inside after Antony opens the door. Mateo leads us to what would’ve once been an office. It’s more preserved than the rest of the factory, mostly because the material seems more resistant to Le Port’s humidity.

“You think they ever made good candy here?” I ask, finding a plastic chair at a corner.

“I think it was sugar for rum, actually,” Mateo corrects me. “I read that the factory shut down after some kind of accident, but I couldn’t find any records of it at the public library.”

My eyebrows shoot up, finding it surprising that he’d use the public library instead of the library at Sainte Madeleine.It makes sense though; the public library is where our archives are kept. You can find old newspapers, magazines, and even records from local artists stored on the second floor.

“My dad once said someone died here.”

Antony rolls his eyes. “Your dad says a lot of things, Rivera.”

“You don’t like him at all, do you?” I mention with a grin, surprisingly enough not taking it to heart. My father is the school’s principal, after all. Of course, someone like Antony Silva wouldn’t be his biggest fan. “How’s that second chance at Sainte Madeleine going for you?”

He hesitates for a second before realizing I’m just joking around. A flicker of a grin pulls at the corner of his mouth as he answers, “Not great. But considering we just spent the past hour together in detention, it’s going just as bad for you.”

Touché.

“Don’t even get me started.” I take another sip, flicking my hair back. “Kayla thinks it’ll be okay, but that report is going to stink.”

Antony relaxes, giving me a low chuckle, “Kayla’s way too fucking nice. She actually believes teachers have the best of intentions towards people like us. I should’ve invited her to my student council meetings last year. Maybe then she’d have seen what they’re really all about.”

“People like us?” I echo, curiously raising a brow.

“You know.” He shrugs, sarcasm dripping in his tone. “Major screw-ups.”

“Ah,” I hum, understanding what he means. “The ones who had to have a meeting to consider whether they were going to high school or not.”

“And who can’t seem to figure out how to shut up in class.”

“Speak for yourself, Silva. I’m not nearly as bad as you are.”

“Right, but that’s because you’re not sitting at the far back,” Antony concedes, sitting on the floor and crossing his legs. “But neither of us are as great as Mister Genius right over there.”

Mateo is quiet, drifting around the old office like he’s not really paying attention to our chatter.

I watch him from where I’m seated, noticing how his feet are dragging against the floor that’s covered in dust and old torn papers.

One of them flutters when a breeze comes through the broken window too fast, and it rises and falls over his shoe.

“You okay?” I ask, a hint of worry in my voice.

He gets startled, and his head snaps towards me. “Yeah. Fine. I was just thinking about something.”

“I’ve told you to stop doing that, dude.” Antony pulls the zipper of his backpack open and starts digging for something. “Thinking is the reason why you always end up getting in trouble.”

“I’m not thinking about stupid shit this time around.” Mateo rolls his eyes, walking back towards us. “And I’m not a genius.”

I disagree. Mateo might not be a genius, but he is definitely smarter than most people are. I haven’t seen him fail a single assignment since September. And surprisingly enough, Mateo always knows what the teacher is talking about. He just makes it look like he’s not paying any attention.

“Yeah, right. You’re just a prodigy or whatever,” Antony snaps back dismissively, takes a pack of cigarettes, and lights up just one. “You hear that, Cassie? It’s the correct terminology for the young and gifted.”

Mateo snorts, shaking his head before he drops to Antony’s side, “If I’m gifted, then what does that make you? You’re the smartest guy I know.”

“I’m street smart.”

“Which is far more important than whatever skills I have.” Mateo grimaces. “I actually get in dumb shit more often than not because I’m too… what’s that word again?”

“Gullible?” I shoot.

“That!” He snaps a finger towards me. “Antony always sees through someone’s bullshit before I do. He was the first person to tell me about Caleb doing drugs.”

Antony exhales a stream of smoke, grinning in a way that’s quite charming. I know exactly why Lucia fell for him from an early age. Beckett might be the prettiest, but Antony is definitely the coolest guy in town.

“Oh, you know me. I’m Sainte Madeleine’s very best.”

“Ok, I’m not giving you compliments anymore.” Mateo nudges him, asking for a cigarette. “Seriously though, I was thinking. Now that Cassie’s one of us, she needs to be initiated.”

“What is this? A gang?” I laugh, but it sounds uncertain. I’m not quite sure about where this is going. It feels a little scary to be hanging out as a group. “Am I supposed to make a blood pact, or something?

Tony places the cigarette between his lips and inhales deeply, tilting his head to the side before finally shrugging.

The flame at the tip starts to burn a little brighter, but the smoke that comes out from his nostrils makes soft little waves towards his face.

l can’t help but stare as he exhales sharply and pulls it out a moment later.

“Relax, Rivera.” Antony's eyes soften. “We’re not that hardcore yet.”

“Yeah,” Mateo agrees. “Leave the blood pacts to Santiago’s minions.”

Santiago is a name people often talk about.

I don’t know much about him besides the fact that he’s got a lot to do with the drug being distributed in town.

His face remains a complete mystery to me.

I don’t think I’ve ever met him, but I don’t want that to change either.

I’d rather not be getting into trouble anytime soon.

“Right, no blood because it’s creepy as hell. Just tell us something about you.” Antony leans forward, tapping ash off his cigarette. It falls onto the floor, right next to him. “Something nobody else knows.”

“So, a secret?” I ask, crossing one leg over the other. “What kind of secret accounts for this?”

“Honestly, any kind.” Antony shrugs his shoulders, his eyes flicking to Mateo before locking on me. “We’re not picky.”

“Just something real. That’s the deal,” Mateo adds. He leans back as the smoke curls around his face too, flying up towards the ceiling. “Something personal, or embarrassing… You choose. We don’t care. The point isn’t to embarrass you, Cassie. It’s just... It’s about trust.”

“Trust?” I echo, still unsure. I shift, suddenly aware of how dry my throat feels. “You guys are really weird.”

“C’mon.” Antony’s grin falters for a second, but he quickly recovers. “We’re not asking for your deepest, darkest thing, just... a little something, you know? A small confession.”

“Oh, yeah?” I raise a brow in defiance. “And what was your confession when you got initiated?”

“Well, there wasn’t any because it was just Antony and me.” Mateo’s expression softens just a bit, understanding why I’m reticent to give in this fast. “Maybe we should give you a secret too, so it’s fair trade.”