I walked right by him and to my locker, my head held high, my shoulders back. Fuck him. Fuck hisfather. And fuck this entire school.
I went about the rest of the day feeling a surge of confidence I hadn’t experienced in far too long.
There was just so much on my mind, things that I couldn’t control, and a situation that seemed hopeless.
But throughout all of this internal turmoil, only one man kept a constant presence within me.
Hades.
The face of the man I thought I’d hated for so long, yet had fallen so hard for. I didn’t know when it had happened, but I was glad it had.
I loved him.
It was right before lunch, as I was walking to the cafeteria, that everyone seemed more animated. Their attention was on their phones as they congregated in the halls.
And when they saw me, they stopped, covering their mouths with their hands as they whispered. Others were outright pointing right at me.
“Oh my God, not only did she get Trevor hurt, she also went after his father.”
I glanced at the girl who said the words, and she took a step back from me, as if she thought I’d hurt her.
I found a secluded corner away from everyone else, pulled out my phone, and started searching news reports. Of course, I knew what Hades had done.
Several news reports were very vague about what had happened to Martin Wilcox, but they all said he was beaten brutally and found in the back alley behind an abandoned slaughterhouse known as Butcher and Sons.
There also had been several anonymous tips that Judge Wilcox was involved in illegal activities. Racketeering, blackmail, and bribery were the “lesser” named allegations.
There was a slew of sexual assault reports that were revealed, ones that were wiped off record—or so he thought. I read only a couple of the reports before I was sick to my stomach and had to exit off the websites.
I turned off my phone and shoved it in my bag. I didn’t want notifications. I didn’t want messages filling my phone up because everyone was playing the blame game and it was all pointed at me.
But isn’t it my fault?That little, insidious voice in the back of my mind whispered. Hades might have followed through with it all, but it was because of me. For me.
I pushed that bitch of a voice away. The judge had it coming. He deserved so much more.
I stood there and just stared at the ground for long moments, before the bell and I was pulled out of my musings. I needed to get my fucking life together.
I spent the rest of the day in this haze until the last period finally came. I was looking at the clock, counting down the minutes until we were let out. And when it finally came, I grabbed my stuff, feeling like a zombie as I made my way out.
I’d grown numb to the whispers and glares all day. If they only knew.It wouldn’t have mattered, I thought. These people… it wouldn’t have mattered.
I had to make a detour to one of my previous classes to drop off an assignment. I’d been in such a daze all day. I was pretty sure I’d forgotten to turn in a lot of shit.
Did any of this matter, though? Missing homework, being late to class… any of the mundane things we did daily that didn’t make one difference in your life. Not when people were being assaulted, maimed, and killed.
When I left the classroom, I was getting my phone out. I wanted to talk to Hades. I’d keep calling and texting until he realized I wasn’t going anywhere.
I rounded a corner just as I felt this weird sensation move down my spine.
“The shit you’ve started, you little fucking bitch.”
I snapped my head up and froze as I saw Trevor standing at the end of the hall. He was seething as he stared at me.
After glancing around, I realized this part of the school had already been cleared out, and the chance of a student or teacher coming through was probably slim. I glanced over my shoulder from where I’d come. I could run back to the classroom I’d just been at, tell the teacher, but then Trevortsked.
“You can try to leave, but I’ll just keep coming for you, cunt.”
I now had my hand in my cardigan pocket as I faced him again.No more running.