Prepsworth Academy

Chapter 22 - "That was a tad dramatic, don't you think?"

Amy

Rose had depression. The thought swirled around in my head along with words of condemnation; This was wrong, so wrong. This is your doing. You didn't have to keep reading. You could've ran away with the diary, destroyed it, you could've done something! You stood there like a fool while Rose's secrets were exposed and didn't bat an eyelid. How could you?

I didn't want to cry, didn't want to scream out my anger and my pain. I wanted to dance, wanted to spin and leap and flip until I was too exhausted to stand. I didn't even know that I'd been walking when I found myself in one of the dance rooms. But when I started to dance I knew. I felt my entire body light up and become softer, smoother, more elegant and flexible.And so I began to dance, moving along the studio with the grace and surety of a storm, hatred seething underneath my skin, exploding in flashes of anger and panic, all translated into dance. I changed parts, altered it until it was perfect and I was light and airy and utterly spellbinding, an ethereal being. I was light and dark and everything in between, and, for that moment, I felt like I was the storm powerful and invincible. And I held onto that when I heard the first slow clap.

Jake

She was stunning. Standing there with her cheeks flushed , blue eyes sparkling and her soft, blonde hair spilling over her shoulders in waves she looked beautiful. Too bad I was done with all that stuff. I clapped once more before stalking towards her

"That was amazing, was it caused by anything, or do you just randomly break into dance in your spare time?" I said, smirking.

"What do you want Jake?' she murmured accusingly, her wide blue eyes staring into mine. I laughed , the sound ringing across the room.

"Only to congratulate you. You know, it's not every day you reveal Rose's deepest secrets." Amy spun around, hair flying around her and walked towards her school bag, lifting it from the ground and onto her shoulder, before walking by me, brushing past my shoulder.

"That was a tad dramatic, don't you think?" I remarked. She turned to me and stared into my eyes, demanding answers.

"You expose a girl as having an eating disorder and depression and you don't care. You probably laughed at it after I left. Why Jake?" She whispered, her voice low and soft, her expression somewhere between hurt and incredulous.. I tried to rein the cold laughter bubbling up inside of me. I'd gotten her wrong. I'd though she was meek and timid and she wasn't. It seemed I didn't have good judgement when it came to people.

"Why do you care? You wouldn't have joined us, wouldn't have read the diary in the first place if you didn't like Rose. What was in that diary could've been so much worse, but you wee still willing to take the chance. In fact, you even choose to read it." Amy shook her head scornfully.

"I didn't think it would be that bad. It would cause a little bit of public humiliation, at most. How could any of us have seen that coming. Rose is Rose, and she seems so ... invincible." Amy mused, her expression difficult to read. I steeled my face, made it emotionless.

"No one's invincible - and honestly, you should've seen it coming. We all should've. It's Prepsworth, don't we all have dark secrets?" I said dismissively. Amy didn't even blink, just stared defiantly at me.

"Don't you even feel bad? You were the only one there who didn't scream, or cry or run and you have less reason to hate Rose than Lily does.. Do you even care?" Amy asked desperately, like she was trying to find some kind of shred of humanity in me. Of course I feel bad. I feel sick, completely and utterly sick.

"No. I don't care. Caring about people only gets you hurt." I answered harshly.

"You've turned into someone worse than Lukas!" Amy said disdainfully, a scowl crawling across her otherwise soft features.

"You've been so blinded by your love for Rose you haven't realised it!" Amy snapped, her voice tinging on bitter. I laughed, although it was more like a huff of air between gritted teeth.

"Love? For Rose? I don't love Rose." I said emotionlessly. Amy simply shrugged,

"Of course you love her. that's why you're doing all of this." She replied, gesturing around her. I couldn't believe it. She thought that I loved Rose. After all Rose had done to me, that I still loved her. That I still cared about Rose.

"You're more stupid than I thought you were if you think that I still love Rose!" I snarled. Amy didn't even react as she hitched her still unzipped bag further up her shoulder and began to walk out of the dance room. I grimaced. I couldn't let the diary go. I sucked in a breath, deciding to try a different tactic.

"Amy, I'm sorry. You're dancing was beautiful, and, I understand how you're feeling. Just stay with me, please." I said, making my voice pleading. Amy spun around, her eyes wide, and I bit back my grin of triumph. Amy's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to talk.

"Nice try Jake – does always trying to be Lukas ever tire you? It's just a shame that you can never be him. " Amy spat, turning on her heel and marching out of the room. I let out a breath and turned around, my heart caught in my throat. As I turned, I caught sight of a very familiar navy blue diary lying on the gleaming hardwood floor. Rose's diary. I cast a glance towards the corridor, making sure that Amy was gone, and then I walked towards the diary. It must've fallen out of Amy's unzipped bag. As I grabbed it, I let a slow smile crawl across my face. Amy was wrong about something: Lukas never said please, or was kind, or forgiving. And neither would I be.

Tom

I strolled over to Rose's dorm, with my hands in my pockets, my head tilted high. The whole expose-Lily-as-lesbian plan had massively failed, and ended with Rose basically going crazy and making the whole thing a big deal, which was the opposite of what I wanted. As stupid as it sounded, I didn't really want Lily to get hurt, not massively. I felt bad, spilling her secrets to Prepsworth, but, if everything went as planned, I could gain a powerful ally in Rose. The word ally gave me pause, and it made Prepsworth side like a war, full of conniving sides and ruthless attacks, but after everything that had occurred in the week, I wasn't sure that it would be too far from the truth. If everyone was out to get each other, I needed to make sure that I was protected, and that I could make it out on top, I could win Year Twelve, be everything I'd never been, make everyone see that I was so much more than what they thought I was. Rose, the key was winning Rose's trust, and I needed to in order to achieve everything, to win.

I reached Rose's dorm, the tall, white building shining in the sunlight. Rose hadn't been in class,, and I guessed that her dorm was where she was most likely to be, so, when the bell rang for lunch, I headed straight to her dorm. I took a step closer, but a girl who'd I seen before in some of my classes stepped in front of me, shooting me a dirty look

"Rose is in your dormitory." She said pointedly, scowling at me. Mine? I turned around, smiling. Manipulating Rose was going to be a whole lot easier than I thought.