That Night

Chapter Nine

My hopes of a good week proved both fleeting and wishful. In fact, they were obliterated just fifteen minutes later.

Harrison's voice was the first thing I heard when I walked into English after lunch detention that day.

"I don't know, Dooley. Sometimes the quiet ones are the wildest."

My fists clenched automatically, digging my nails into my palms. From that one sentence, I knew exactly what they were talking about, and I felt sick to my stomach.

Cameron leaned forward in his chair to clap Harrison on the shoulder like he'd just won the lottery rather than made a disgusting joke. Cameron Dooley was one of those assholes who couldn't very well think for himself. He was alright when it came to school, and he loved his girlfriend, Noelle Dirckens, like she was a fucking angel – in reality, she was clingy and self-conscious and psychotic – and he could really give a shit about stuff when he wanted to. But the second you threw him in with his friends, he turned into a jackass and a kiss-up who would agree with anything anyone said. He was actually a lot like his girlfriend, in that sense. He was so worried about losing his popularity that he would do anything to appease someone like Harrison. I didn't really like the guy too much.

"What's all the hype?"

Cameron's eyes had drifted up then with a look of fear when he saw me. That was his caring side, I guess, but it was immediately replaced with his asshole side. Harrison, on the contrary, never faltered. He only had one side.

"We missed you at lunch today, Dash," Harrison said as he turned to look up at me with that falsely innocent grin of his. "It's been a while since you've had lunch detention. What...three months or four?"

"Let me think," I said sarcastically. "Your bruise finally faded two weeks into November, so I'd say it's coming on four months now."

"Would that also mean it's been four months since you last got laid?"

The audience howled. I, however, fumed. Thankfully, Harrison and Cameron were the only ones who knew it wasn't just a joke, and the others thought it was harmless insulting between friends. That was the thing about Harrison. He never went around spilling secrets to everyone. No, he carefully formulated these sadistic plots to get someone to spill their secrets on their own. Then he sat back and watched the person fall apart. I wasn't Harrison's first victim, unfortunately.

I had to laugh it off. If I didn't, it would be too suspicious, and people might try to look into it further. Harrison and the others who were in on it had been watching me closely, so I had to remain alert.

"So," I started again, taking my seat beside Harrison, "what's all the hype?"

"Harrison's got a new girl," Cameron filled me in. "But he won't tell us who she is."

"Is that so?" I questioned with a sharp edge to my voice that I hoped wasn't too obvious.

"You know me, Dash," Harrison replied. "I don't like to discuss private matters."

"Oh, I know," I agreed. "But she must be pretty special since you're not even telling us her name."

I was beginning to feel nauseous thinking about Harrison and Juliet together. I didn't even want to picture them in the same room let alone in a relationship. I knew he was full of shit and just doing it to torture me, but the idea of him corrupting her and using her killed me, especially because it would be my fault. Seven months ago, she had no idea what befriending me would entail. If she had known, she would have turned and run when she got the chance.

"Actually, the opposite," Harrison said, baffling both me and Cameron, who was still listening in on the conversation. Harrison was sitting there grinning maliciously, watching my reaction with immense pleasure.