A Rose to Keep (The Society 1)

My threats were useless.

“Fuck.”

I heard someone moving. I made a quick dash for it as someone grabbed my hair, pulling me back. A bright light was shone in my eyes, and in my haste to get away and the sudden attack, I’d lost my towel. My screams filled the air, followed by my humiliation. I’d been the victim of a damn prank.

The lights came back on.

****

William

We didn’t go to the party.

Instead, the guys decided to head out to pizza. I loved Chinese food, but I was in the mood for some pizza. Lots of melted cheese, spicy sauce, everything on top, including pineapple. I didn’t care how gross I sound. You had to have pineapple. It tasted so good. My kind of pizza was the one you struggled to lift to eat because it was weighed down with everything on it.

Just thinking about it now, I was starving.

Gideon drove, as he always did. After climbing out of the backseat, we headed into the pizza place. It was a small place called Gino’s. Really nice. I’d always liked this place and with All Saints not being too far, I knew he got a lot of orders from us.

As I entered the stall, my phone vibrated in my pocket. We headed to our own private booth. We all reached for our cell phones at the same time.

I didn’t bother trying to question what it could be and immediately open the video attached to the text.

Does this bitch really have what it takes to be selected!

The title pissed me off, and then when I saw a clearly frightened Sian, I was pissed off. A quick glance at my buddies, and I knew they were watching the same thing.

A couple of other kids from our school were in the pizza place, and most of them were laughing.

“You know this is Chloe’s handiwork,” I said.

I didn’t like that the entire school got to see Sian naked. The view was somewhat blurry, as if the person holding the camera was shaking or scared.

Laughter filled the room as the doorbell rang, and I turned to see Sian had entered the pizza place.

Her face was bright red, and my anger fled. Gideon got to his feet and we all joined him. My hands clenched into fists, and I was ready to pound every single fucker’s face in.

Gideon grabbed the first person he was close to, took the guy’s phone, and slammed it to the floor before doing the same to his face on the table.

The laughter died down.

“I suggest you all delete that fucking video right now, and the next time you look at her, you do so hoping she forgives you.”

Each person held their cell phone and started to erase the video.

Heather wrapped her arm around Sian, and the two walked toward a small booth.

I wasn’t having that.

“Come and eat with us. No shit. Just food,” I said.

“What do you think?” Heather asked.

“I … I just want to get a pizza to take out. I don’t want to eat here anymore. I’m not really hungry.” She clearly was hungry. One moment she wanted to eat the next she didn’t.

“Don’t let them affect you. You have every right to sit here and eat.” I stepped out of the way of the booth. “Come on. We won’t bite.”

“It’ll be fine,” Heather said.

I watched as Sian slowly squared her shoulders and took a step toward us. She brushed past me, and I got a heavy scent of vanilla. She always smelled so good, and now, I wanted to eat something sweet.

Sian slid into the booth, followed by Heather. Gideon sat opposite, and I had no choice but to sit next to Heather.

Silence fell across the table.

Sian looked pale. Her hair fell around her in waves, and I saw the redness around her eyes and the tip of her nose.

“Have you guys ordered?” Heather asked.

“Not yet,” Dante said.

“Awesome. I’m starving. I’m thinking everything on it, and I’ll get you your usual,” Heather said.

“Do you want my guys to go and order for you?” I asked.

“Sure.”

Heather put a hand on Sian’s. “I’ll be back.”

Together, we walked up to the line. Sian moved away from Mateo and I sighed.

“How is she?”

“You saw the video, right?”

“Yeah.”

“She called me after it happened. It was a fucking prank.” She rubbed at her temple. “I thought her belonging to you guys meant this crap wouldn’t happen.”

“It won’t.”

“You could have fooled me. No one knows this, but Sian … she’s afraid of the dark, okay? Someone turning out the lights and putting her in total darkness scared the crap out of her.”

“We had nothing to do with it,” I said.

“I’ve got an idea who had something to do with it, and if you think long and hard, so do you. It wasn’t funny. She’s got a big fucking bruise on her hip from where she fell. This is … Sian … she’s not, she’s different, okay? She doesn’t like to show off everything. She’s a private person.”