“Then go sit somewhere else,” he grinds out.
I shrug. “Not worth a detention. But I hear your family has a lot of sway in this town. Why don’t you show me how it’s done?”
Devlin’s eyes narrow. Then he pushes back from the high table. “Mr. Wagnall? I need a new partner.”
Mr. Wagnall sighs and runs a hand over his bald head, closing his eyes for a second like he’s praying for patience.
“Fine,” he says. “Dolly’s partner is out today. You can work with her.”
Devlin stills, his hand clenched around the edge of the table. He stares at Mr. Wagnall for a long moment, then shakes his head almost imperceptibly. “Never mind.”
Mr. Wagnall sighs and starts droning on about our chemistry assignment.
“Wow,” I say. “What’d Redneck Barbie do to piss you off?”
“Don’t call her that,” Devlin snaps.
I’m too surprised by his defending her to answer. Dolly is slumped in her chair, her head down, her big blonde waves falling forward to hide her face. Suddenly, I feel like shit for saying anything about her. Colt already told me she liked Devlin, though the feeling is definitely not mutual. There’s obviously a history there that I know nothing about, so I drop the subject.
“Hey, at least he was going to move you,” I offer.
Devlin’s smirk returns, and for some reason, a surge of elation rises in me. I did that. I turned his anger off. “You act surprised,” he says, his eyes hooded as he watches me.
“Not surprised,” I say. “Just confirmed what I already suspected.”
“And what’s that?”
“That the South works a lot like the mob.”
This time, Devlin’s lips twitch like he’s holding back a laugh. “I gotta hear this.”
I shrug and pull out the supplies we’re supposed to be working with. “The Families have all the sway,” I say. “They can do whatever they want. It’s more about old family loyalties than bottomless pockets.”
He’s watching me now, his eyes guarded but curiosity showing through.
I toss my dark hair back and give him a serene smile. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“Your family’s in the mafia?” he asks.
For some reason, that question reassures me. I get that question a lot. It’s nice to know that under it all, Devlin is human just like all of us. Just like me.
I shrug. “We have sway.”
He smiles a little, shakes his head, and pulls the experiment instructions in front of him. For the rest of class, I’m dying to ask him questions about his family, to find out what he thinks of what I said, what he thinks about us living next door, why he was out throwing a football at midnight. But I remind myself that I’m not supposed to care about the answers to any of those questions. The only reason I should be talking to Devlin Darling at all is to find out information that could take him down.
That’s still being better than I used to be, right? I mean, taking someone down… That sounds like something Veronica would do. Something I did before.But this is different.
This isn’t hurting someone small who can’t or won’t fight back. This is taking down the kind of person who picks on people like that. Taking down a bully is nothing to feel guilty about, especially when I know my brothers will take their place. And my brothers aren’t angels, but they’re not bullies. The twins might be manwhores, and Royal itches for a fight the way addicts itch for a fix. But they don’t collar a girl and call her the school dog. They don’t get their power by making someone else feel small and helpless.
What we’re doing is taking over and making the school better. That’s a noble goal. Next year, there will be no dog packs in the halls of Willow Heights. It will be safe for people like Dixie. Safe from people like the Darlings and the person I used to be.
nine
Coming into a new school and starting at the top means pushing everyone below you down a step. It means climbing over every single person to get there. The person at the top has highest to fall. Maybe nothing changes at all for the person at the bottom. They’re still there. Only maybe it does. Maybe you take a hand reaching up from the very bottom of the pile and you pull them up with you.
Tell me it doesn’t change things for them. Tell me. I dare you.
The rest of the morning passes uneventfully. Preston is in my math class, which is a mix of sophomores and juniors, but he doesn’t seem to notice me today. A couple people give me dirty looks, but no one barks at me. Halfway through class, Preston gets up and walks out without a word to the teacher. A few minutes later, Dolly raises her hand and asks to use the restroom. Neither of them returns to class.