After Judas showed me my locker, he ditched me at the library and went about his merry way without an explanation.
Not that he owed one. At least he was ‘kind’ enough to give me my things.
This space was just as big as everywhere else on this damn campus with two floors of books half these kids wouldn’t read. It was nothing like Hermias High, my old school.
Thinking about it made me feel a bit lonely for some reason. There I had a few friends in all my classes, and the teachers knew me. Sure, Audrey was here, but she was in all AP’s so I knew we wouldn’t have any together.
Besides, I loved her, but I couldn’t cling onto her like a fungus to get me through the day. Even if I had zero other friends. After the spectacle Judas and I made, I wasn’t sure how successful I would be in that department. I knew how girls were. Especially this type. I had too many strikes against me before I could even get to know anyone.
I was some new chick infringing on their delusional territory of a guy who more than likely didn’t want them. Because he’d paid me, the new girl, extra attention I’d be enemy number one.
Didn’t help that my body was poppin, and my face was cute. This wasn’t vanity speaking, it was the hard-earned self-confidence I was still becoming acquainted with. It’d taken me a long time to learn to love who I was in my own skin, I refused to let some bitter bitch that from me.
Thing is, I didn’t want Judas. His seductively cruel disposition drew me in like a moth to a raging inferno. The enigmatic allure behind him excited the wrong parts of me. That’s all it was. That didn’t matter much either, though. Let’s be real, most people in elite circles had a severe hierarchy complex.
Was I poor? No.
From the wrong side of the tracks? No.
Did that matter to these people? Hell no.
My parents drove a Hyundai and an Impala, both new but still unable to join the ranks of the badge whores or Mercedes.
The credit card in my wallet had a maximum limit, and I’d never in my life get away with some of the things they did.
I wasn’t bothered about any of this despite how it may have seemed. All I wanted was everyone to just be happy and shit, no matter what they drove or where they lived. All things that would likely happen in an alternate universe.
I sighed and took a seat at a table in the corner, pulling out my phone.
Monday, August 12th, 2019
Auds: WTF? 8:45 AM
Auds: WTF? 8:47 AM
Auds: Bitch!! WTF? 8:49 AM
Auds: What was THAT? 9:01 AM
I read Audrey’s multiple messages, all along the same lines, laughing to myself.
I sent her a quick reply and checked the time before opening my social apps.
One of the first things I saw was that Dax had posted a picture of a lake. A tire-swing was off to the right and a canoe on the left.
His dad’s lake.
He didn’t live in Crudele, but Dax had described the lake behind the house to me so many times I felt as if I’d actually been there before. The pic had gone up twenty minutes ago with the caption, ‘Freedom.’
I read it twice.
So, Dax was gone?
What the hell?
That made no sense. He loved it here. Why would he suddenly want to go? There were way too many variables that all screamed Judas fucking Barron had something to do with this.
I grabbed my things and stood up, exiting the library before the librarian could look up and see that I was gone.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Rhiannon
What was I thinking?
I would march across Pesadilla’s campus until I found Judas, and then what? It’s not like he would tell me anything.
As soon as clarity overcame my loss of common sense, I gave up my determined charge and wandered around for a few. No one stopped to acknowledge me or demand to know why I wasn’t in class. I thought that was rather odd. Surely, they didn’t let the students here muck about?
Finding a girls’ bathroom, I entered, immediately grateful and impressed with how clean it was. Seriously, they had mouthwash and dental strips. I swung into the first stall, hanging my satchel on the back of the door.
I didn’t care how damn clean a public bathroom was. My bag would never touch the floor.
I planted my round ass on the toilet, well and prepared to go until someone else came in. They took the stall next to mine and released a soft sigh. Silence descended upon the bathroom and just as I began to wonder if we were each waiting on the other to go first, there was a zip, followed by a small tearing sound. A crinkle, the gentle ping of the sanitary bin. Each an arduously long interval apart.