Page 26 of The Devils They Are
"Don't worry about me," I tell him, packing up my stuff. "I can handle it. Come walk with me to next period."
The two of us exit the library, a body nearly slamming into me at full speed.
"Whoa," I breathe out, spotting familiar blonde and pink hair. "You don't need another tampon that badly, do you?"
Sophia blinks, before breaking out in a huge smile. "Bex! I was wondering when I'd see you again."
"Is that why you stalked me to the library? Did you know I had a thing for academic literature?"
"I was hoping," she says playfully, lifting a book. "Just have to quickly make a return before next period. I'm one more late slip away from Mr. Hardwood blowing his toupee off."
I laugh, glancing down at the textbook in her hands before frowning. "Is that… a biology book?"
Sophia holds it up. "Yeah. I don't need it anymore. Or the others in my bag. Just don't want to get slapped with a late return fine."
Biting my tongue, I nod. "Well, I'll let you head inside. I'll see you tomorrow for gym?"
"It's a date." She rushes past, squeaking as the warning bell rings throughout the speakers.
Arch watches her through the doors, finally glancing over at me. "New friend?"
"I don't know," I answer honestly. "Maybe. But also… that's the textbook I needed the other day. The one that was mysteriously checked out before I could get to the library."
"How can you be sure?"
"The librarian said they only had one copy."
Once again, I'm faced with the reality that I need to be on-guard. It could be one hell of a coincidence, but I've also learned that sometimes,it's not. Especially when it comes to situations like this.
It's also strange that being this far into the school year, someone would need to borrow a mandatory textbook when they would have already had it. But still, I'm not making assumptions yet. That little tidbit of information is being filed away for later use. Maybe I'll bring it up tomorrow, see what she says.
I just have to get through detention first.
Chapter ten
Bexley
InCedarworld,detentionmeans sitting at the desk doing extra study work.
But apparently, at the Willowbrook Academy, it means free labor.
No wonder the fuckers are rich.
As soon as I stepped into the assigned classroom, the teacher had shoved a bucket of supplies at me. My job for the next hour is to repair some desks and tables. Which, if you ask me, makes no sense.
I'm all for repairing things to extend its life, but these folks don't care about that. They will happily buy new equipment, just not until I've attempted to fix someone else's mess and destroy it even further.
I notice that I haven't been given any actual power tools to fix them—literally just superglue, sandpaper, and coating. But judging by the state of this current desk, no amount of glue in the world is going to fix it.
About halfway through the detention, the teacher, Mrs. Smythson, announces she's going to use the restroom and threatens a punishment worse than death if I even consider taking off in her absence.
Rolling my eyes, I don't address the threat, continuing on with my ridiculous task. When footsteps walk into the room a few minutes later, I jump when the voice doesn't match.
"On the dirty ground where you belong, Duchess."
I peek over my shoulder, finding an amused Hunter in the doorway. "Duchess?" I snort.
He smirks. "Just to remind you of your place here. They are below Kings in the hierarchy, just in case you weren't aware."
