- 6.
Lately, Dominic’s lessons were extremely demanding. I only got two hours of sleep each night. Compared to my accustomed numbness, Chloe gritted her teeth and tried to persevere, but she was clearly on the verge of collapse. She slept through classes at school and smoked behind the building with a group of troublemakers during breaks.
One day during class, she cornered me at the lab door.
“Blair Sterling, I always thought you were some delicate little thing, but you’re actually a conniving piece of work!”
“What are you talking about?”
I know all about it now–your little secret about saving Stella.”
From the moment Chloe started hanging out behind the building, I knew it was only a matter of time before she found out. Chloe had a crush on a bad boy at her previous school, and coincidentally, that guy had been harassing Stella around that time. I really wanted to be friends with Stella, so I had some of the school’s delinquents spread rumors, making Chloe jealous enough to confront Stella. Then I swooped in, rescuing Stella and earning her favor.
Chloe had finally caught me. Fearing a teacher might overhear, she laughed mockingly in a
y voice. But that laugh froze me in place.
8:37 PM
<
In my previous life, just before the fire consumed the door to my room, that was the exact laugh I’d heard. The places where the fire had burned me still throbbed with a tearing pain.
I should have known. In that house, who else wanted me gone more than her?
Not showing my true feelings was a basic survival skill under my four obsessive brothers. I feigned indifference. “My affairs are none of your concern. I hear you’ve been getting quite close with the school’s resident bad boy lately. You should be worried about how you’re going to explain that to our brothers.”
She glared at me, defiant. “We’re genuinely in love! It’s true love, and our brothers will definitely support me!”
Freedom? When I was in my freshman year of high school, there was a bright, smiling boy in my class. He’d bring me a bottle of milk and a piece of candy every day. One day, Ryder, my youngest brother, asked me if anything fun was happening at school. I hesitated, unsure how to
answer.
Later, I never saw that boy at school again. I heard he’d been in a car accident and would never walk again. That night, Ryder smiled and told me, “Now, you can focus on your studies at school.”
From then on, I always wore a cold expression at school, keeping everyone at a distance.
Chloe didn’t know any of this. She just smugly tossed a homework notebook at my face. “Finish this for me, or tomorrow, you can expect Stella to dump you as a friend!”
Unfortunately, she didn’t get to wait until the next day to tattle. That very night, Ryder caught her dating and locked her in the confinement room for three days as punishment.
