The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret

I was running slightly late getting into Bio the next day. I woke up this morning to find that our dryer had somehow shit out on me, which contained all of my clothing which is now a sopping mildew-ey mess on the laundry room floor at home. My flat-iron shot sparks at me while I was trying to do my hair and I made it to my first class by the skin of my ass.

Then, after that class, I realized I had forgotten my text for bio and had to run home to get it. When I came back, I stopped for a coffee which I immediately dropped all over my new-ish pair of Toms, so I was now walking around in sticky soupy shoes. In short, I was having an amazing day. Just, stunning, really.

The only seat still vacant when I made it into the lecture hall was the one right next to my number one fan, Kaden. He looked up when I sashayed into the room, catching my eye and patting the chair next to himself with a taunting grin growing on his face the closer I got to him.

"You left that party fast on Saturday night," he says with a conspiratorial tone to his voice. I didn't skip a beat.

"You have that effect on women. I'm sure it's not the first time." I shoot him a sweet smile. Too sweet. He loves it, of course.

"And here I thought we were getting along so well."

"We were. I know that I like to corner all my friends in dark hallways and accuse them of ridiculous things. Right, Pal?"

He shoots me a wink with a panty-melting smile. "Right buddy."

The professor is late today, as well. It's only my second time in this class, but if I was able to make it here after the morning I had, I would think that maybe the dude could make the effort. I think that's what they pay him for, right? Showing up?

"How'd you like the album?" The question surprises me. Firstly, because I thought we had already gotten our morning ribbing out of the way. Secondly, though, I didn't know that he knew I had heard it. I know what he's talking about but I choose to give myself a little wiggle room in the conversation.

"What album?" I don't look at him as I say it, choosing instead to dig through my laptop bag for a couple of pens, some paper, really anything to excuse me from looking back at him again.

He chuffs. "Come on, Vale, I know you're the new DJ this year. You've worked at the campus radio station since last year. I heard you play it last week."

I pause. How did he even know who I was last year? I hadn't met him. I scarcely knew he existed, even. I let my eyes find him but I school my features to mask the fact that I care that he knew who I was before this year. "I didn't listen to it. I just hit shuffle. The song it played was fine, I guess."

His smile turns smug. "Right. Just hit shuffle."

"Yep. Shuffle."

He clears his throat, purses his lips, and despite the begging I'm doing on the inside, he chooses to keep poking. "So, you managed to pick the only super derivative song on the album?"

I smile back. "Oh don't sell yourself short. The whole album was derivative."

Just as it was getting fun, my phone buzzed against the top of my desk, lighting up with a new message. I glance at it quickly to see it's from a number I don't recognize, so I simply reach up and hit the button to shut the light off from the screen.

Finally, the professor comes in wearing a far cleaner shirt than last time. "Alright, class. We're assigning lab partners today. Rows one, three, and five take the person to your right."

I take a deep breath letting my nostrils flare. I can hear the quiet chuckling coming from the seat next to me that is currently occupied by the bane of my existence. Lab partners? What the hell do I need a lab partner for in Bio?

I brush it off quickly. My phone buzzes again against my desk and I can't help but notice the attention it's drawing from Kaden's view. I feel my shoulders tense as I reach up and grab my phone from the right side, intent on moving it over to the other corner of my desk, or even putting it in my pocket where he wouldn't hear it continually alerting throughout the next…fifty minutes? God. This day is going to be long.

Once I have the phone tucked into my hand, he reaches over, plucking the phone from my grasp and bringing it over to his desk, hitting the side button and lighting up the screen.

I have no idea what he's seeing because I didn't even take the opportunity to look at what the message was. Before I thought better of it I moved to grab the phone from him, not considering how guilty that was going to make me seem.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hiss, righteous fury embedded in my tone. Luckily everyone was already scooting over to 'get to know' their lab partners, so I could play this off like that if anyone asked. Which sounds better than, "Oh, well my competing drug dealer just stole my phone and I don't want him to know that I'm still selling drugs on his turf."

He scoots his desk over so that it's right next to mine, putting my phone directly up to where we can both see it. Once the light flicks on I can see another text from a number I don't recognize, only the first few words were visible.

Hey, this is Ben's friend, can I get….

He leans into my ear before menacingly whispering, "What's your unlock code, Vale."

My stomach roils and I struggle to keep my composure. "No."

He raises his eyebrows with a frown. "No?"

I swallow over the lump forming in my throat and lick my lips before shaking my head back and forth and making another fruitless attempt at plucking the phone from his hands, which quickly pull it out of my reach.

"What's the text say, then? Who is this?"

I raise my eyebrows as though I'm considering it, before shrugging. "Wrong number?"

"Then let's see it. Let's see what this wrong number guy has to say."

I open my mouth to find another creative way of telling him to fuck off but the look in his eyes tells me that this is on the verge of going very, very wrong. I take a deep breath and start praying to every deity I don't believe in just to cover my bases. "2-2-4-6."

"Thanks, Val." He punches in the numbers while I start taking a mental inventory of all the information on my phone and in my text messages that he could come across. Had I deleted Benson's text yesterday? Travis'? God, I'm such a terrible drug dealer, I don't think of any of this shit.

I watch as he clicks through several things on my phone before flipping my phone around and taking a selfie with it. "What are you doing?"

He hands me back my phone. "Well, Vale. The last two texts were from different people hoping to meet up with you after classes today for something that you assured me, you weren't doing. I went ahead and texted that smiling selfie to the two unknown numbers that came in during this class."

"That's weird, I don't remember having any sort of conversation about what I was or was not doing. Or at least, I didn't make any guarantees." I shoot him a smug look of challenge, trying and failing to look unphased. I'm totally phased.

He scoots closer to me before tossing an arm over my shoulder and leaning into my ear. "You're putting me in a hell of a position here, Val. While I generally enjoy playing games with you, I'm definitely not playing this game with you. No one, and I mean no one fucks with my business. I'm not making that exception for you."

At that moment, my fear turned into something else. It turned into vexation. Who the hell does he think he is? King of Brentwood? I mean, I guess if it were anyone it would be him - maybe the quarterback, but I didn't leave the only home I've ever known to get out from under the thumb of one bully and find myself under the thumb of another. I made a decision at that moment.

"How are you going to stop me, Kade? Seems to me that the only thing you can do is push people around to get them to do what you say. Are you really going to do that to me? Poor, sweet Vale Clarke? You think the rest of the student body would take kindly to that?"

I saw his eye twitch and found myself momentarily pleased with myself for finally getting to him. Finally finding a way to affect him the way he affects me. The feeling of having power over him, even if it was only for this moment while he was allowing it sent a burst of pleasure through my body.

"Careful, Val. Don't cross me," he said before pulling his desk back to his own row and facing forward, while I let out a shaky breath, wondering what the hell I was doing.