Page 117 of Devils' Day Party
As far as I'm concerned … Calix is mine.
Erina cannot have him. Nor can she post a video that will follow us both around for the rest of our lives.
I lean down and put my palms on the table, looking her dead in the eyes.
“If you post that video tonight, I will see to it that you suffer for it.”
“How so?” Erina asks, her mouth curving up into a deviant smile. It's beyond absurd, the way that rictus grin stretches across her pretty face. “With your parents' money? Oh, wait, they don't have any. How about their considerable political influence? Nothing there either.” Erina stands up, the legs of her chair scraping across the floor with a screech. “You can't stop me from doing shit, Karma Sartain.”
I close my eyes for a moment to gather my thoughts, opening them back up on Erina's creepily joyous face.
“Why would you want to hurt Calix? Don't you like him?”
“Like him?” Erina chokes, and the other students in the room glance our way. Luckily, they're all too busy trying to buy Devils' Day gifts before the first bell, so they don't pay us much attention. “He and I have been friends forever. When his dad sent him here, I followed.”
“You came to Crescent Prep on purpose?” I ask, surprised that anyone besides, you know, me would be stupid enough to do that.
“Calix and I have a future together,” Erina says, coming around the side of the table to get in my face. She fingers my tie, and I slap her hand away, narrowing my eyes as frustration and righteous anger bubble up inside of me. “And you are getting in our way. So, do I have a video? I don't know. I guess you'll have to wait until later to find out.” She wrinkles up her nose as she spits these last words, pushing the iPad up against my chest. “Your total is three hundred dollars. Cash or credit? We can take either.”
“Three hundred dollars?” I snort and shake my head. “For three items?”
“Check the price tags, sweetie,” Erina says, wrenching the iPad out of my hands. “But I'm guessing you don't have that kind of money?”
“She might not, but I do,” a voice says from behind me. Erina and I both startle, turning to find Barron Farrar in the midst of the early morning buying frenzy. His charcoal-stained hands are tucked into his pockets, his dual-colored eyes resting on me. “Here.” He pulls his wallet out and then flicks a credit card at Erina. It hits her right in the tit, which I enjoy more than I probably should. Then again, anyone that posts revenge porn—particularly when they barely know one of the people in it—is a total fucking asshat with no conscience and zero empathy. “Charge that, but don't give yourself a tip; you haven't earned it.”
He turns to me, reaching down to grab my arm, and puts his lips up against my ear while Erina seethes and bends down to pick the card up from the floor.
“You saw what was in my sketchbook,” he whispers, and I nod, turning toward him, so close that our lips nearly brush together.
“I did. And I know that today, you're going to draw me many more times. In Thorncrown Chapel. In the treehouse cabin with Sonja and Luke. In that beautiful little butterfly cave you found out in the woods.” I turn back to Erina as Barron's eyes widen in surprise, watching as she runs the card and then throws it back at Barron's chest.
He, however, has no problem catching it between two fingers.
“What are you standing there staring for? Get back to work,” Barron says, his voice as cold and icy as the autumn wind outside. The way he looks at Erina, well, I'm not sure I'd want to be in her shoes right now.
“I'd ask why you paid for my things, but then … I don't really need to,” I say as I turn and head for the door; Barron follows but then, I knew he'd do that, too.
“Oh? How so?” he asks as I notice Calix standing at the end of the hallway, arms crossed over his chest, eyes narrowed. When he glances our way and sees me, he scowls and turns away.
“I know you paid for those things because you're in love with me,” I tell him, pausing in front of the row of gray lockers and looking up into his eyes. He pushes the red devil mask away from his face and studies me with an intensity I'm well-familiar with. “I'm in love with you, too. But today, I'm going to skip class and spend time with Raz.” I shrug my shoulders, my heart thundering like crazy in my chest. This isn't an easy conversation to have, most especially not with him staring at me like that.
