Page 124 of Havoc at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys 1)
“Using guns because you’re scared to take an ass kicking like a real man?!” Mitch shouts, and Vic pauses, snapping his fingers. A good dozen boys appear out of the crowd, ready to fight.
“Havoc is bigger than just the five letters in its name,” Vic says, but Mitch goes for him anyway, drawing the rest of his buddies and the Fuller High guys with him. But before our group can clash with theirs, a sharp sound rings out, like a car backfiring.
Only … I know a gunshot when I hear it. Pretty much everyone at Prescott does.
Blood explodes from Mitch’s shoulder in a crimson spray, splattering Kali, Billie, and Ivy in red mist. His body collapses into a boneless heap on the pavement and for a minute there, I think he might be dead. Everything is silent but for the echoing ring of the gunshot, and I notice a boy in a black hoodie tuck a gun into his sweatshirt and disappear.
One of Havoc’s lackeys, I suppose. Smart. It’d be damn near impossible to identify him, even with everyone using their phones to film the encounter.
That’s when Mitch starts to scream and students scatter.
“Call the cops!” QB Dude is shouting, but the look Vic turns on him is pure, gleeful hell.
“Go for it. But remember: Prescott High doesn’t like a snitch. Dial the police up, and you’re digging your own grave. Peace.” Victor waves his hand, turns, and heads for the back steps of the building.
Like the naughty little Havoc Girl I am, I follow after.Mitch might’ve thought he was being clever, but he just dug his crew’s grave by inviting Fuller High to fight for him. Nobody at Prescott likes the Fuller High football team. In fact, Havoc has always acted like the school’s anti-heroes, taking up turf wars on their own time and giving the underdogs some wins that none of us get elsewhere in life.
Their football team might clobber ours on the field, but the Havoc Boys make those spoiled brats bleed.
Still, I can’t shake Kali’s pregnancy … or Brittany’s.
Or the fact that I keep screwing Victor without condoms, like a total idiot. I’ve had sex ed; I know better than that. But really, it all comes back to not caring whether I live or die, if I have a future … The only thing that matters is Heather, but the deeper I get involved with Havoc, the more I start to wonder if maybe I might have a life one day, too.
I’m standing in the bathroom where Billie stabbed me, staring into a cracked mirror and reapplying my lipstick. Today’s color is Venom, this glorious blood-red with a purple tint that makes me look just a little bit scary.
The entire school is buzzing with Friday’s party news. Clearly, the entire event was a power play move by the Havoc Boys; shooting Mitch was not an accident. And now that Mitch’s crew is tainted by their association with Fuller High? Well, the reverence is back in the gazes of the Prescott High students. Guess we did okay because we spent the rest of the weekend at Vic’s and Aaron’s, smoking weed, and working on schoolwork. It seems like the boys know how to take a break every now and again, at least.
The bathroom door swings open and there’s Ms. Keating, staring at me with dark brown eyes, her mouth pressed into a flat line, just like I knew it would be.
“Am I expelled?” I ask, twisting the lipstick and watching the colored tip disappear into the tube. I glance her way as she sighs.
“No, Bernadette. I don’t believe kicking students who need help out of school is a very productive way for a society to better its youth. Come with me, please.” She steps out of the bathroom as I tuck the rest of my makeup away and head after her, turning the corner and moving into her office. She closes and locks the door behind me before taking a seat behind her desk. I notice the windows are also closed and locked today.
I sit down in the chair in front of her desk, and we spend several moments staring at each other.
“I know why you did what you did. Gang life can seem … enticing, when you have nobody and nothing else. It gives you a sense of belonging, of purpose, of family. But none of it is real, Bernadette. No matter what you do for Havoc, you will never be anything but a tool for those boys to use.”
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” I say, leaning back in the chair and staring her down. I think about Aaron, taking the blame for stabbing Kali. In all honesty, Ms. Keating is probably right … about most people, about most gangs. But the Havoc Boys …
