His Last Hope | Ream Exclusive

04: I wouldn't want to be a rat.

Burning frustration. That's what I felt storming into Harper's business class, tugging down the sweater I had swinging from my waist. I muttered a gruff greeting at Mr. Henry who sat perched at his front desk. With only half an hour or so left of class the overweight teacher couldn't have cared less about my intrusion.

"Guess who didn't show up. Go on, guess." I urged Harper, locating an empty seat and pulling it beside her.

"You're telling me Pierce didn't show up today after your scuffle? Shocking." Ella chirped.

Harper glanced at our friend in mock amazement, not even giving me a chance to muster a dry look.

"I'm personally flabbergasted you even know what scuffle means." And just like that she went back to her assignment, ignoring the gesture she received.

"Ella," I said, peering around Harper, "aren't you meant to be in class?"

"Aren't you meant to be completing your community service?"

Touché.

"Seriously guys, this is the third day he hasn't shown his face. Not only that," I wiggled my index finger, suspicion dripping from my tone, "but by some sheer coincidence someone left a puddle of ketchup on a chair in the study room. And guess who sat in it?" I darted the once swaying finger in my own direction, "Me!"

"It's okay to have an accident every once in a while Cali, no need to be ashamed." There was no hiding the sly smile Ella wore as she clicked at her phone.

"How was poking at dead rats today in biology, Elle?" I questioned in a sugary tone.

An unwanted shiver wracked her thin frame from the induced memory. Someone wasn't happy about dissecting dead rodents.

"So what are you saying? You think the hooligan who's been targeting you for the last few days has something to do with Lincoln?" Harper interrupted, ignoring Ella and I.

"Oh, it has everything to do with Lincoln. He's the ringmaster behind this whole operation! Who else would be freezing cotton balls to my car, pouring Kool-aid on me from the school roof, and slipping stink-bombs in my bag?"

"Do you have any proof?" Harper scanned through some math related problem on her screen that granted me a headache by just looking at it.

"No... I haven't even seen his annoying face around school."

"Mmm, the things I would do to that annoying face." Harper and I turned to Ella with looks of exasperation and disgust.

"Really?" We chorused. Ella simply wiggled her eyebrows before returning her undivided attention to her phone.

Harper snatched it from her manicured fingers.

"Okay, fine," the blonde huffed after a couple failed attempts to retrieve her device, "maybe you're just being paranoid. Maybe he's sick."

"Negative. I witnessed him and his band of goons in their usual spot on my way inside the building."

"Great... so he's been avoiding me."

"Didn't you kinda expect that?" Ella pipped in reaching shamelessly for her cell again. "From what you've told us he obviously doesn't want to be tutored."

"Consider this a blessing in disguise Cali. Take Lincoln's ultimatum." Harper chimed.

"He's my only chance

"The boy doesn't want to be tutored Cali. You could attempt to receive assistance from Mrs Lake but it's not as if though she can physically restrain him to a chair while you go about shoving class material down his throat." Harper took a short break from tapping her unkempt nails across the black keys, "Personally I'd be delighted in your situation. He's wasting your time. I understand you're not one to give up on people — even a lost cause like Lincoln — but I wouldn't give this any longer then a few more days. I would have pushed him off my tutoring life boat already and watched him sink, irrevocably if he was the one squeezing paint on my windshield wipers."