We’re not Romeo and Juliet.
We could be.
No. We couldn’t.
You’re right. You’re not 13, and I’m not a suicidal perv.
I stifle a laugh.Idk, saying you know where I live is kinda pervy.
I’m not sure how I feel about Devlin telling him where I live, or the fact that Devlin has said anything about us at all. In the few days it took us to settle in, they haven’t made an effort to come by and welcome us to the neighborhood or anything, but apparently Devlin knew we were there all along.
Colt slides the paper back to me.
Not pervy, just a fact. So how about 10ish? I can throw pebbles.
I shake my head and scribble a few lines back.Unless you want to die, I suggest you leave my windows alone. I have four very big, very protective brothers. And a father who may or may not be in the mafia.
I consider leaving off the last line, but it never hurts to have that question in the back of people’s minds. We’re Italian, so ignorant people like to ask that question anyway. Might as well answer it before they ask. It offers a layer of protection, respect, and fear. We embrace those rumors, neither confirming nor denying. It’s part of the Dolce image, part of our mystery.
Colt pushes the paper back, his one line of lazy print taking up three or four lines on the notebook paper.
I’m not scared.
I don’t answer that, because too many thoughts are racing through my mind. He should be scared. My brothers don’t joke around when it comes to guys messing with me. Even if not for them, I don’t want to start up something complicated. I have a lot to atone for, and if I want to be someone new, someone better, it doesn’t start like this. It’s not an option, anyway, so I push the thought away.
Colt nudges my elbow with his, giving me a pair of puppy dog eyes that would make a weaker woman melt. Okay, fine, it makes me melt. But I’m not falling for it. I can’t. I’m not here to fall in love.
I turn to face forward and refuse to look at him again. Only when class ends do I realize that no one came to claim my seat. Either Colt usually sits alone, or his word is unspoken law, and the person who sits there simply accepted that I’ve displaced them.
After class, I slip out and down the hall before I can do anything stupid. I’m halfway down the hall when I hear a commotion. It sounds like a pack of dogs have gotten into the school, but when I turn the corner, I see a group of students crammed together like they’re watching a fight. Except they’re all barking. It might be funny if they weren’t making the sounds deep in their throats, like something bloodthirsty and primitive.
I hesitate, pretty sure I do not want to know what’s happening. But my feet carry me forward, and the next thing I know, I’m hurrying along the hall, shouldering my way through the crowd to see what the fuss is all about. Shoving my way past a Darling cousin with a hysterically giggling Lacey on his arm, I reach the center of the circle.
My first glimpse shows me Devlin Darling standing with his back against the lockers, holding a sobbing girl by the back of her neck. Everyone crowds around them, barking like a pack of rabid dogs. The girl is shaking from her sloped shoulders to her pale, thick thighs. Her hands cover her face, and a mop of red, frizzy curls obscures what her hands don’t. One slice of skin shows at the top of her forehead, bright red beneath a layer of freckles.
For a minute, I don’t move. I have this weird, out of body feeling, like I had when we first arrived in Arkansas, and I realized this was real. Now, I have that same feeling, as if I can see my life splitting. There’s the girl I was, and the girl I’m about to become. This is my chance to join them. I can hang on the arm of a Darling boy and laugh. Be best friends with the old families. I have the right cars, the right bags and shoes, the right house. I even have the right brothers. I can be one of them. A Darling Doll.
I know how it works. I can fight for a place in this new world, a place at the best table, in the best parking spot. It wouldn’t be hard. It would take a bit of adjustment, but everyone would move aside and let me take a spot at the top with the other old-money families, just like someone vacated their seat without complaint when I sat there. I can do this. It’s the easy route, the one I took for so long I didn’t even realize what kind of person I’d become until it was too late.
Now I have a chance to be someone else. To atone for my sins. To say, no more. This is who I am now. This is Crystal Dolce 2.0. This is the girl I am in Arkansas, the girl I am to these people. My brothers like to make an entrance, but I didn’t want to do that today. I wanted to keep my head down at this school, to stay out of trouble and keep quiet. To let someone else have the spotlight.
It’s only my first day, and I already know that’s not going to happen. Because the truth is, I’m not made for invisibility. I’m not the sweet girl, and no matter how hard I tried, I could never be. Disappearing doesn’t come naturally to me any more than it does to my brothers. Being invisible isn’t how I’m going to make up for the person I was. Fighting my brothers’ battles isn’t how. This is how.Thisis my moment.
I wanted a chance to make things right. A way to be better. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that, but now I know. I have a choice to make, a choice that’s going to ruin everything I’ve planned since I heard we were moving to Arkansas. If I do this, I’m not going to be the quiet new girl, the sister of royalty. And I’m not going to be the old Crystal. I thought those were my two choices, but I was wrong. There’s a third choice. My choice.
I choose to make waves.
six
I step forward from the crowd. A surge of power rises in me. I’d been so nervous to come here, to try again. Now, the nerves are gone. I’m solid as steel.
“Let her go,” I say, my voice quiet and calm but undeniable.
For one moment, Devlin doesn’t move, doesn’t speak. He stares at me, and I catch the surprise, the incredulity, in his gaze. I take it he’s not used to people standing up to him.
“Or what?” he asks, recovering quickly from his surprise and fixing a superior smile on me.
“There is noor,” I say slowly. “Let her go.”