Good Girls Never Rise: A Dark Boarding School Romance

Isaiah chuckled as he showed off his white teeth. “I don’t think I give you enough credit. The good-girl act is cute and all, but you are a lot more devious than I thought.” His lips brushed over my ear. “You’re a damn good partner in crime.”

Excitement and pride flared in me for a moment before I placed my feet back onto the solid ground and unwrapped my hands from his face. I pulled away from him just enough so I could grab onto his hand and begin leading him out of the dining hall, leaving just about everyone in there with their jaws slacked. As soon as we were passing by Bain, not close enough to where they could get into another tiff but just enough so Bain could hear my icy words as they protruded through the air, I leaned in. “I wouldn’t say I’m devious, Isaiah. But I am smart enough to see through people pretty damn well.” I said the last part just as I locked onto Bain. His gaze sharpened, and I knew he was angry that his little plan hadn’t worked. He was using me against Isaiah, and to be quite frank, I was done with people acting like I had been put on this earth for their own personal gain.

The longer I was away from Richard and his subjective ways of living, the more I felt myself forming into who I was supposed to be. The shattered, submissive girl I had been molded into was slowly slipping right out of his grip. I wasn’t stupid enough to act like that in front of him, or during our Monday night phone calls, but in front of Bain? Not a chance. Bain needed to see that I wasn’t a little chess piece in his game.

Just as the dining hall doors swung closed behind us, I felt the rest of Isaiah’s tension dissipate. The fury had washed off of him, and in its place was the Isaiah that I’d spent Saturday night with. The one that made me laugh and feel all sorts of things I wasn’t used to.

Isaiah brought our clasped hands up to his lips and gave my hand a quick kiss. “Thank you.” We stopped walking when we reached the hallway that split into two: one hallway led to the library, and the other led to the classrooms. The door behind us pushed open, and dread filled me at the thought of it being Bain, but when I heard Brantley’s voice, I let out a trapped breath.

“Are you fucking out of your mind?” He appeared in front of us just as Shiner and Cade walked through the door too. “Were you really about to lose it on him? Your father would—”

Isaiah unclasped our hands and placed his on his hips angrily. The corded muscles along his forearms flexed, and I wondered where his blazer was. “I honestly don’t give a fuck about my father.”

“No,” Cade said, shooting him a look of pity. “But you do care about Jack. Or did you for—”

“Of course I didn’t fucking forget.” Isaiah’s chest rose and fell in swift movements. His anger was back within a flash. “But fuck, I am so sick of this.” His hands had fallen onto the top of his head, and he pulled on the thick strands as I stood back and wondered who Jack was.

Brantley glanced down at me, and his set jaw loosened for a second. “You’re lucky Gemma jumped in front of you before you managed to take a swing at him.”

Shiner chuckled. “Girl has balls, that’s for sure. I tried to tell her to stay back because we’ve all seen that look in your eye before.”

“You were in a different mindset, man.”

A different mindset? I knew all about being in a different mindset. Physically in the present but pulled to the past was kind of my specialty.

My voice was more of a whisper as I stood in front of the four very tall, strong, intimidating boys who rightly owned their title of ruling the student body. For goodness’ sake, people made room for them in the hallway, and I wasn’t even sure that they were aware they did it. My peers were like a school of fish. Each and every last one of them in their maroon uniforms, parting the way as one as the Rebels strode over the glossy floor. All except Bain and a few of his friends. They weren't intimidated in the slightest. “I…I just didn’t want him to get in trouble. Isaiah is on probation, and I’m pretty sure fighting on school grounds is enough for expulsion, right?”

“Right.” Cade pointed to me before glancing back at Isaiah. “And then Jack would be fucked.”

Who was Jack? My face fell as the door swung open again behind us. My spine straightened when I saw Sloane cradling her wrist tightly to her body with Mr. Fishers, the PE teacher, looking grimmer than the Grim Reaper himself as he walked beside her.

“What happened?” I asked, running over to her.

Mr. Fishers answered for Sloane, scowling over at Isaiah and the rest of the Rebels. “Sloane took it upon herself to punch Bain in the face after you all stalked out of the dining hall.” My mouth fell open in surprise as I grabbed Sloane’s hand, inspecting it. Her delicate knuckles were as bright as her pink cheeks.

She let out a feral sound. “Bain is a jerk. He deserved to be punched! He was making sexual remarks about Gemma and also trying to get Isaiah in trouble by picking a fight with him. Yet, I’m the one in trouble?! You’re dragging me to the headmaster’s office?”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Cade said, noticeably glowering at Mr. Fishers.

Brantley crossed his arms. “Agreed. Did you even ask Sloane why she had assaulted Bain? Seems kind of sexist to drag her to the headmaster’s office without even asking.”

I gently pushed Sloane’s hand back up to her chest and let her cradle it again. “It’s true,” I began. “What Sloane had said, I mean. Bain was insinuating that I was a virgin and saying very disrespectful things to me, all while prodding Isaiah to do something so he’d get expelled from St. Mary’s. It’s no secret that Isaiah is on probation with the SMC. In fact, I’m tutoring him in the evenings, which I’m sure you and the rest of the faculty are aware of, so he can raise his grades in addition to improving his behavior. Bain was being an instigator for the mere fun of it.” I and the rest of the Rebels knew that Bain wasn’t doing it for fun, but Mr. Fishers didn’t need to know that.

“Well…” Mr. Fishers began to stutter as he took in the information I’d fed him. He glanced over to the Rebels and then back to Sloane. “Maybe...you can just do detention with me this evening instead of going to the headmaster. You cannot go unpunished. I do not take physical altercations lightly.” He glanced at Isaiah. “Although, I am glad there wasn’t a bigger one that I needed to jump into. Thank you for that, Mr. Underwood. Or should I thank Gemma?”

Isaiah grunted an acknowledgement, but that was all. The bell rung just as soon as Mr. Fishers gave Sloane details on her detention and then directed her to the nurse for ice. She brushed him off with an eye roll as students began piling out of the dining hall. Each and every one of them was searching for us like we held the world

’s greatest treasure in our hands. Mercedes ran over with her mouth gaping, and just as Sloane was filling her in, Bain stepped through the heavy oak doors with blood smeared along his upper lip. Dots of red were sprinkled over his white collar, and I smiled.

I actually smiled.

“Better luck next time,” I quietly said as he walked past. His smile was cold, and it should have chilled me right to the bone, but it didn’t because Isaiah’s glare, along with the rest of the Rebels’, heated up the entire school. When I caught Isaiah staring at me once Bain was down the hall, a wry grin appeared.

I smashed my lips together so I wouldn’t smile back at him and then turned to Sloane and Mercedes as we shuffled to class. “Are you sure you don’t want ice, Sloane?”

“I’m okay,” she answered, flexing her fingers. “I think.”

“I can’t believe you punched him,” Mercedes laughed as she began to hand Sloane and me our books that we’d left behind. “I almost fell out of my chair when you walked over to him.”