Page 24 of Hateful
After what feels like an agonizingly long time, someone clears their throat. I look around, eager to lay eyes on something,anythingelse. The dean is back, and he’s shaking his head at Beck, who simply nods and grabs Heath by the elbow, jerking his head toward the puzzle table.
Meanwhile, Rafael reaches out to touch my arm. The touch is so light I barely feel it, but somehow, it stings as if it was a slap instead. I know he doesn’t mean for it to, but I still find myself recoiling.
“Alex?”
“I’m leaving,” I whisper furiously. I step over the bench and head to the buffet to stuff some food into my pockets before storming out of the room. The dean starts speaking, introducing the event that’s about to take place. I should make my exit quietly, but I don’t.
I kick open the dining hall door and slam it behind me.
Fuck them.
Fuck them. All of them.This whole damned place.
The event hasn’t started yet. Maybe Headmistress Robin is still around.
I don’t care if she’s practically as bad as the rest of them. Right now I just want them to hurt. Jasper, Heath, and Beck … and everyone else who just stands by to watch while The Brotherhood has their way with Bleakwood.
Fuming, seething, I stomp around the nearby corridors, trying to find where the head of the girls’ school might be waiting for her time to enter the dining hall. I end up in the hallway full of clubrooms.
I wander until I think I’m out of luck … only to hear a doorway open further down the hall and, sure enough, Headmistress Robin steps out. She spots me immediately and shuts the door softly behind her.
I don’t know why she even needs me. She seems to have an easy enough time getting in and out on her own … and finding herself in places where she definitely shouldn’t be.
But that doesn’t change the fact, or the reason, that I find myself standing here in front of her.
“Alex?” she asks quietly, her face a confused frown. “I thought I saw you heading in this direction.”
I look around. “I don’t know how useful you’ll find this, but Bleakwood has a huge bullying problem.”
Her eyes light up for just a second before her face goes as blank as a mask. She opens what turns out to be the same abandoned classroom we went into the other day and waves me in. I walk quickly inside, and she doesn’t even bother with the chairs this time. She pushes the door shut and stands eagerly in front of me.
“What do you mean?”
“The faculty try to cover it up,” I blurt out. “But there’s a group of boys who can do whatever they want, and the dean just looks the other way.”
“Really?” she whispers, her hands clasped eagerly in front of her. “That’s definitely something I can use.” She puts her fingertips to her lips and begins to pace. “How often does this happen?”
“They usually try to start things when the faculty’s not around—but professors rarely stop them if they’re caught.”
“Faculty and staff that turn a blind eye to their students’ suffering,” she says, more to herself than to me. “That’s good.”
“I don’t know how useful this is—” I stammer, suddenly starting to doubt myself as the adrenaline from earlier begins to wear away.
“Oh, it’s useful,” she replies, her eyes glinting in the dim light filtering through the dusty windows; and then she stops and takes a deep breath, steadying herself. She turns to me with a sympathetic expression. “Do they bully you?”
I don’t say anything.
She sighs and walks toward me, setting her hand gently on my shoulder. “It’s very unfair that you have to suffer like this.”
I blink. Is she … beingniceto me?
“You look so thin and gaunt. Women shouldn’t feel like they have to make themselves weak in order to appease men.”
Gaunt?I think, letting a hand drift up to my cheek. I’ve been eating healthily. I may be thin, but I’m notgaunt. And weak? I’ve been running so much that, really, I’m probably stronger than ever.
I know she’s using words to manipulate me, to turn me into a better puppet for her. I know that, but I also know she’s right about one thing; I shouldn’t have to suffer like this.
“I have something else to ask of you, and I hate to do it, especially when it’s plain to see you’re suffering. But it’sbecauseof that suffering that I must ask.”
