We The Pretty Stars (Court High 4)

They saw Mira coming to his office the day of her death. She’d gone there trying to throw, of all people, Royal under the bus because he hadn’t wanted to be with her. She’d decided to tell the Windsor Prep headmaster about the haze on my sister for not Paige’s well-being but her own. She wanted to hurt Royal, going to the one official she believed would care and help her. All that did was alert the true murderer of that night. It let Principal Hastings know someone else knew about something that went down at Route 80. It didn’t matter Mira probably knew nothing else, knew nothing about what he’d actually done in the end.

Always looking at me…

Mira became another set of eyes to him, a witness and another thread that needed to be closed. He’d strangled her, right in his office, and once that came to light, everything else fell into place. He’d broken into her house and staged her suicide, clear evidence of that after the video surveillance surfaced. He’d had all the means, her house keys, and the suicide letter even matched his own handwriting when analyzed. He’d even tried to set up Royal as the one who influenced her. It’d been him to plant Mira’s cellphone in Royal’s locker in the end.

Principal Hastings had been sloppy, careless and clearly unhinged, but no one had had reason to suspect him. That was the only reason he’d gotten away with things for as long as he had. He was sick, fucked up and twisted. He’d even kept Mira’s house keys in a treasure trove in his home…

That’s where they’d found my sister’s cell phone. It’d been there the whole time with the principal’s other tokens. He had locks of Daisy’s hair in there, underwear. It didn’t take the authorities long to find out what happened to her. She’d been found, dead like so many others, in her own home. She’d been strangled, another “suicide,” and how Principal Hastings had perfected the art. The sheriff’s office themselves even said they wouldn’t have known the difference. Principal Hastings had been skilled.

Swallowing hard, Lena read off my name on the stage, handing me my diploma in front of a gym full of my peers and our family and friends. As she handed it to me, a sheen coated her eyes, but I was sure it wasn’t for me. I had no idea how she’d handle things after all that had happened, but I hoped the best for her. She was so good, kind and didn’t deserve what had happened to her surrounding the people in her life. She shouldn’t have been married to a madman. She shouldn’t have had a sister betray her, and she shouldn’t have to do this today, but she’d at least chosen that.

“I want to make up for this,” she’d told me that night at the sheriff’s office. “Make up for him and her.”

And this was her trying, being strong. She handed my diploma to me, myself the last thread who Principal Hastings tried to shut up. I wouldn’t be shut up…

I had too many people in my corner.

I found them all out there in the audience, Aunt Celeste and my dad the biggest cheerers in the crowd. They both stood with cell phones, my dad actually smiling. He’d found me that day at the train tracks, saved me using what I’d later found out was an app. He’d snuck one onto my phone to keep tabs on me, something I couldn’t even be mad about for obvious reasons in the end. I guess Dad had been worried the days leading up to my assault, and it’d been for good reason. It turned out his employer, Mr. Prinze, had threatened him to leave town, but not overtly. There’d been flippant comments made here and there, ones that put my dad more than on edge, hence his heavy hand when it came to me and my safety. Dad later told me prior to the comments had been more threats, but in the beginning, only in nonconventional ways. Mr. Prinze had bribed him, given him gifts, bonuses, and even a car. These gifts came with conversations, ones that implied my dad could find better work and Mr. Prinze himself would give a personal recommendation if Dad ever did. The thing was, Dad hadn’t chosen to leave and that’s when Mr. Prinze got more aggressive. He cornered my dad more than a few times at work, enough to bother him. Dad had no idea why, but it all came out in court when Mr. Prinze had been forced to testify for his role in the murder of my sister. As it turned out, the man did have reasons to cover up a murder, but that had nothing to do with his son.

Mr. Prinze found out Royal and the other boys had been there out on Route 80 that night, and obviously, that didn’t look good. Mr. Prinze covered things up to protect only himself and prevent scandal. He was watching his back and only his alone, not Royal’s. Mr. Prinze admitted the whole thing in court, his hands completely bloody. He got a conviction that day, along with several others, life convictions for Principal Hastings and jail time for the sheriff as well. He’d helped with the whole cover-up, the police needed in all this, but I was sure the man had no idea how far our principal would go in the end to conceal the truth. Had he, he wouldn’t have bothered to help. The man killed the sheriff’s daughter in the end.

It’d been a long and painful trial, but one of the sweetest convictions by far had been Mr. Prinze. He was told right there his entire life as he knew it would be taken away.

And he had to do it in front of his son.

I stood as Royal’s name was called, our valedictorian. Would you know it, he had the best grades in our class despite being hospitalized for weeks. A gunshot to the abdomen wouldn’t slow him down. He had me, Knight, Jax, and LJ and even some of my friends bring him his work every day. We stayed with him, supported him until he walked again and ultimately, out of that hospital. Even then, I didn’t leave his side. I couldn’t. I’d been so close to losing him.

My boyfriend had actually jumped in front of a bullet for me. I mean, who could actually say tha

t? It just proved his loyalty to not just me, but Paige as well. I guess he did look out for me in the end.

I stood tall, clapping as Royal stepped to the podium to give his speech to our class. He wore the same dark robes we all did, but by far, filled it out in ways not even the average Court guy could do. His muscular shoulders framed the whole thing, fitted perfectly over his big body, and his blond hair was moussed and shaped divinely under his cap. Lena gave him a hug once he got up there, sharing a few words with him. Whatever they were, he smiled at her, so many smiles these days. It was like actual light came back into him once his dad was locked up and Principal Hastings had been shipped out to a high-security prison in bumfuck nowhere. Justice was finally served, and we all got to see it.

The crowd had calmed down, but I still clapped. I couldn’t stop. He deserved it so much.

Royal’s gaze made it out to me during my applause, his chin raised, and I didn’t care that only my applause radiated in that room. I’d still keep on, until my hands hurt. In my periphery, that applause was joined, and when I turned, Knight was there backing me up. His claps were boisterous, radiating in the room, and quickly followed by two more.

LJ, our salutatorian, applauded too from the stage. He sat with the teachers, Royal’s empty seat beside him. Well, once he clapped, there went Jax too. He was closer by, closer to me. Jax whistled loudly with his thick fingers, and the crowd laughed.

I found my second wind with my applause still going on, and my friends at my sides joined me. I spotted Kiki, Birdie, and Shakira with a few of our other friends from the basketball team. Court boys popped up from various seats after that, and once they stood, the whole audience did, a shower of applause. They knew what Royal had been through, what we’d all gone through to be here. We all deserved the applause, this whole town.

In the middle of it all, Royal spotted me, and once it concluded, he kissed two fingers, placing them out to me. He pointed right after, taking his spot behind the podium with his speech in hand. Stepping in front of the microphone, I knew this was finally it, the last part of himself he had to give to anyone else around here. After today, he was free.

After today, he’d begin his life.

*

That mindset traveled with me throughout the day, the freedom and ability to begin one’s life. I’d felt restricted and bound for so long by my own mental battles. They’d been powerful, and in the thick of it, I wasn’t sure if I’d come out the victor. It took coming here to this town to change things for me, and oddly enough, the love of a guy to only strengthen my own victory. Royal inspired me so much, how someone could go through so much pain to not only defeat his obstacles but rise above them. Mr. Prinze had been the most powerful member of the Court, the president I found out. There were some very high-ranking officials, but an emergency vote lifted the youngest president ever named in Court history up the ranks. Royal was now president of his prestigious Court, and what did that mean for the town?

Well, unity.

That could be seen at the graduation after-party, held at none other than Windsor House, and no one had been left out. Anyone and from every walk of life was allowed in, and the House was filled to the brim with Court boys, Kept girls, and the rest of the town. Those labels felt so weird now, so much had changed. Even those final weeks of school were totally blended, Court boys sitting with nerds and jocks hanging out with chess club geeks. People didn’t care about their labels. They were just being themselves, and how awesome that I could to be a part of that.

I thought about that as I mingled and chatted with some of my friends. I knew it might be a very long time before I ever saw them again. We were all going to go our separate ways after this, some college, some jobs, and other things. Today might be our last day, but all I could think was that my sister did all this. My sister brought us all together. What happened to her was truly horrific and something I may never get over. No, I wouldn’t ever get over it. The pain was deep, and though I may never truly heal, I couldn’t deny this moment and the warm thoughts that came with it. What happened to my sister brought an entire town together and provided a strength in me I never thought I knew.

“You hiding, ’Zona?”

I smiled before turning to find another friend, someone who’d greatly been affected by the darkness in this town too. Ramses’s dad had been one of those indicted amongst those with crimes against my sister. As it turned out, Principal Hastings went to his brother, the mayor, for help after the murder. He needed to know what to do and all of that came out at the trial. Mayor Mallick not only helped him, but was the one who went to Mr. Prinze for aid. Mayor Mallick knew Mr. Prinze would have interest because of Royal and the reason Paige was out there. He’d used that to rope Mr. Prinze in all this madness.