Page 55 of The Secrets We Bury

One of the stall doors is broken and hanging by a single bolt, lopsided and uneven. Blood is smudged against the now cracked tiles of the floor. Two girls are unconscious and a third is sobbing in the corner of the room with her hands and arms over her head. Megan stares back at me, her nose at an odd angle, red smearing across her cheeks and mouth. She’s got a black eye and a swollen, fat lip. Her friends are just as bad.

I look down and note the scratch marks along my arms. I’m almost afraid to turn around and look in the mirror. My head throbs with a deep, repetitive vibration that makes me feel like a bass has set up shop in the back of my skull.

No one moves for a long moment. The mass of us—those still conscious—watching each other with wary eyes. I take a step towards the door and as one, everyone else shrinks away from the movement. I pause.Fear and respect.The reminder of my thought comes back to me, flooding my system with a sense of power.

I take another step towards the door, this time ignoring the reaction of the others. I don’t stop until I get there and when I do, I carefully slip the lock back out of place. The door swings inward, revealing a female teacher and Principal Long as well as a tall, lanky custodian man with a hat drawn over his face and keys trembling in his hands.

Principal Long takes one look at my face and blanches. Damn it. I must look bad if she’s flinching away from me.

“Oh my god.” The female teacher claps a hand over her mouth as she looks past me into the room. “What…”

“They attacked me,” I deadpan.

The teacher stumbles into the room, slipping around me. Principal Long simply stands there and stares at me. “Juliet…”

“I’m going to go to the nurse,” I say quietly, reaching up and wincing when I get a feel for my face. Sore is an understatement.

“I can’t let you?—”

“I’m not going to try and run away from this,” I cut her off with a shake of my head. Bad idea, I realize a moment later, when the hallway tilts like I’m on a fair ride. Blinking rapidly to try and regain my momentum, I step past her and start walking. “I’m not running from anything anymore.”

It was always going to come to this. I remind myself of that as, half an hour later, I find myself sitting in the same place as I hadmy first day of senior year. Principal Long stomps into the room and slams the door to her office behind her before throwing herself into her seat.

Without looking at me, she bends and yanks out a drawer to the left. She rummages around, coming up with a white bottle of pills. Shaking two out into her palm, she pops them to her lips and swallows them dry. I almost feel bad because I know I’ve caused her the stress and of all the people in Silverwood, she’s one of the few that I actually don’t hate.

A beat of silence passes in the room, filling it to overflowing with tension so thick if I’d had a knife, I’d have tried to cut it just to see if I could—kind of like those old cartoons we’d all watched when we were younger.

Principal Long drops her head and flattens her palms against the surface of her desk. I can hear people down the hall in the front office. Some yelling, some cursing. The girls’ parents have been called and they’re starting to arrive. My chest aches knowing there isn’t anyone they can call for me.

“Juliet, I can’t make this go away.” Long finally looks up at me, her face creased and tired.

“I’m not asking you to,” I tell her honestly. “All I want is to have the opportunity to defend myself.”

“Defend yourself?” She blows out a breath and leans back. “You put two girls in the hospital.”

“They attacked me. Unprovoked, I might add.”

She levels me with a glare. “We both know it wasn’t completely unprovoked.”

I grit my teeth. “What my father has done to their families isn’t provocation enough for me,” I snap.

“That’s not what I?—”

“They came into the bathroom—seven of them—and they locked the door. They did that. Not me.”

“That’s not what they’re saying,” she says.

“Of course not.” Why would they admit the truth? “So, what then? Are they saying that I cornered seven girls in the bathroom and went after all of them?” I lean forward. “Did they give a reason for my supposed attack?”

Even looking as tired as she is, Principal Long’s glare is a force to be reckoned with as she levels me with a dark look. “I understand that this is a difficult situation for you, Juliet, but I would appreciate it if you don’t act like I’m an idiot with no sense for reality. Do I believe that you attacked those girls for no reason? No, of course not. But I also don’t believe that you tried all that hard to get away.”

“What was I supposed to do?” I demand. “Tuck my tail between my legs and run?”

“Yes.”

I snort.

“I’m serious, Juliet.” Long sits forward. “Do you have any idea how bad this looks? Their parents are calling for expulsion. Not to mention?—”