Page 10 of Hateful
I peel my banana with a sigh. “How is it we interactso muchwith the girls’ school, yet they’re not mentioned anywhere in the brochures?”
Would have saved me a lot of trouble if I’d found out about them instead of Bleakwood in the first place. Though then again … I probably wouldn’t have gotten in there if what Dean Robin said is true.
There’d have been no point in her getting me into her school. As long as I’m here at Bleakwood, she can use me.
“Well, it’s not reallyofficial. It’s just kind of for fun,” Rafael says. “Or what passes for fun around here.”
“So it’s not that important, then?” I say. My gaze has wandered over to the door. It’d be nice to get away from everyone for one afternoon. I might have just gotten here, but I could use a moment to clear my head. I need to get back into school mode. Into boy Alex mode. I need a moment to put myself together and decide what my next step is now that The Brotherhood seems to be done with me.
But Rafael doesn’t seem as quick to brush this assembly away as I am. “Oh, no, we all take itveryseriously.”
I pause mid-bite to look at him in exasperation.
Rafael gives me a rakish grin and sets his sandwich aside. “You have siblings, right?”
“Four brothers.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “Really? Wow.” He shakes his head. “Anyway. It’s a sibling rivalry kind of thing. Sure, it’s not official, but it’sverycompetitive.”
The last time I saw him this excited he was planning what turned out to be averysurprising school dance. The least I can do now is humor him, at least until I’ve heard a little more about this so-called competition between the schools.
“So,” I ask, “what do we normally do? What’s this whole thing about?”
“Sports stuff mostly. Tournaments. Sometimes other clubs get involved—I heard one year they had a cooking contest.”
I pat my stomach sadly, my eyes continuing to wander across the dining hall to people’s desserts. “I hope it’s not that this year.”
Nowthatwould be torture.
Rafael just shrugs. “Usually The Brotherhood represents Bleakwood, so I agree. Don’t want to see the mess Jasper would whip up in the kitchen.”
I wrinkle my nose and bite into my banana. At least that means they won’t bother me as much. That could explain the way they’re all ignoring me now. Maybe Jasper has convinced them to focus on these games … or maybe they didn’t need convincing at all.
Maybe bullying me was just another diversion, and now … well … that diversion has been replaced by a new one.
I let my gaze settle on the three of them, all on the other side of the hall, sitting at the same table. Jasper looks better than he did this morning. He’s livelier, smiling, joking even. Heath is doing most of the talking, as per usual. He picks up his fork and gestures wildly with it, then mimes some sort of swordfight until Beck cracks up beside him, his cheeks lifting to make his eyes squint.
“Earth to Alex?”
I tear my eyes away and take another bite of my banana. “As long as I don’t have to compete or see the headmistress, I’m fine.”
Rafael nods sagely. “Then you better stay out of The Brotherhood’s way. They’re avoiding you now, but they marked you at the beginning of the year. You know the other shoe’s gonna drop soon.”
I bristle as I look back over them. All three of them are laughing now. If I didn’t know better, I’d think they were normal, everyday boys. Innocent. Fun-loving. Good-natured.
My face twists into a scowl.
Rafael might say that, but he doesn’t know what Jasper did. He doesn’t know what Jasper knows.
With my salad and banana scarfed down and my trash tossed into a garbage bin, I exit the dining hall in Rafael’s wake just as the PA system announces that we need to report to the assembly hall. Rafael raises his eyebrows at me in a very “I told you so” sort of gesture.
“Are you gonna be on the committee for this too?” I ask him.
“No,” he replies flatly. “I had enough drama with the dance committee. I’m not doing something withthismuch pressure on it.”
I nod. Last semester at the catastrophic winter dance, Rafael was on the committee organizing the whole thing. For him, it was at least mildly successful.
I, on the other hand, got chased into an abandoned classroom and almost beaten to death … and more. I still wonder what would have happened if Jasper hadn’t discovered I was a girl.
