School Of Hell

Devil’s High was an old cathedral-like building nested between clusters of trees, unlikely to be found unless you decided to venture deeper into the middle of nowhere—and yes, it was actually possible. The middle of nowhere was apparently much bigger than I initially thought.

“Keep your distance, freakazoid,” Monica hissed as she slid out from Fenner’s clunky old Volkswagen. It was an embarrassment by itself, as the dirt-brown paint chipped away to reveal an even uglier mustard yellow it had been before it got repainted.

“Don’t pop a vessel over it, plastic b—”

“Olivia!” Fenner barked from the front seat. He turned, pointing a finger at me. “You’re cleaning the backyard when you get back home from school.”

“What did I do wrong?” I huffed, sticking my legs out of the car to climb out.

“That word you were about to call your sister,” he ranted. “Don’t give me that look. You know what I’m talking about!”

To give him credit, he was right. I sighed, throwing my backpack over my shoulder and walked up the school’s driveway to the horror show awaiting me. “She’s not my sister, jackass!” I shouted at Fenner before I rushed off in a fit of giggles. I could hear him curse as the distance grew between me and the car, and his promise for retribution once I got home.

I was still laughing, indulging in his furious expression as he flung his first out of the car window, I didn’t look where I was going and slammed into another person.

“I’m so—” My voice died inside my throat as I peered up at the ridiculously gorgeous boy standing in front of me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you,” I managed to find my voice, but my legs were planted in place and I could stop gaping at him like an idiot.

Eyes of ice regarded me for a moment, before a slight grunt escaped him. He turned his back on me and offered me a view of the back of his short, ruffled raven hair as he stalked away.

“Wow, okay,” I breathed, heading up to the steps toward the entrance. “Someone needs to eat a bag of rainbows and lighten the heck up.”

I almost made it to the door without another incident. Almost. “Miss Cole, what a surprise.”

I twisted around and sighed dismissively. “Officer Wilkinson, what are you doing here?”

“Seems your mother kept good on her word,” he stared down at me.

“Clearly, I’m here,” I deadpanned.

“Hopefully, this will keep you out of trouble.” he crossed his arms. “I heard you got another few weeks on community service?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “You should reconsider the officer keeping watch. He’s a complete shithead. He gave both me and another girl a few more weeks just because we asked questions.”

Someone snorted a laugh behind me. “Told you officer Farkins is a complete moron.”

“Enough, Kade,” officer Wilkinson scowled past me. “He’s doing a damn fine job for someone working with a bunch of delinquents.” He exaggerated the last word, pinning me with an intent look. I rolled my eyes, turning around to find a boy my age towering over me with a huge grin.

“See, the third person who agrees with me,” I pointed out.

“My son rebels against anything I say,” the officer huffed behind me. “Something you both seem to have in common.”

“Hi. I’m Kade, as you’ve probably figured out,” he breathed. “I’m the rebel who doesn’t like to be ordered around by my dad.”

I cracked a grin. “I’m the delinquent. But, you can call me Liv.”

“Wonderful,” officer Wilkinson grunted, stepping past me. “Have fun corrupting each other.”

I bit down a smile as Kade choked on a laugh.

Officer Wilkinson paused, offering us a wide smile. “Just so you know, you two could hold each other's hands while scrubbing shit from jail toilets. And Kade, you’ve seen what they looked like and you know they aint pretty.”

The smile on Kade’s face dropped. “You wouldn’t do that to me.”

“Oh boy, you should know better by now.” Officer pinned me with a warning look. “Have fun today.”

It wasn’t until officer Wilkinson was out of earshot that Kade turned to me, ruffling the untamed auburn nest on his head.

“Is he always like that?” I asked.

“All the damn time,” he answered. “You should try living with him. It’s much worse.”

“What did you do to earn jail time?” I trailed after Kade through the doorway.

“I set the library on fire,” he grinned, nodding at me. “What did you do?”

“Well, I broke into the mayor’s house.”

“That was you?” His eyes widened. “I heard him complaining about the incident to my mom the other night.”

“Yeah, well.”

“Aren’t you freaked out knowing there was a dead man in the room you broke into?” He eyed me with genuine curiosity.

“Totally,” I lied. There was no way I was going to tell him why I wasn’t freaked out. The last thing I wanted was anyone in this school finding out I could see the dead.

“I hope they find out soon who did it,” he breathed. “There’s been a lot of these killings going on around town.”

“I hope so too.”