SWNOVELS Sick Boys: Chapter 7
I wrap the bandages around his arm and tie them in a knot.
“Jesus, can you hurry up?” Felix barks.
I stare up at him. “You can go to the nurse’s office. Or do it yourself if you want to.”
His nostrils flare, and he looks out the window at the lavish gardens. The Skull & Serpent Society house provides the best view of the well-kept grounds of Spine Ridge University. That’s what you get when your parents donate tons of money.
“Whatever,” Felix says after a while. “I’m just antsy.”
“Because of that girl you mentioned?” I look up at him while putting on the tape.
“You weren’t there. You should’ve seen the fucking look on her face after she stabbed me,” Felix says.
“What … did it remind you of the view in the mirror?” Dylan casually spouts while leaning against the doorpost with his arms folded.
Felix throws him a glare. “You think this is funny?”
He snorts. “No, but you getting stabbed … that’s new.”
“So she’s a feisty one,” I reply. “I know you’ve got a thing for that.”
“Oh, she’s more than that.” Dylan walks toward one of the big red seats in the middle of the Society game room and flops down. “She’s Eve’s sister.”
My eyes widen.
Fuck.
I knew I recognized her from somewhere. She was that girl at Eve’s funeral.
“Why do you think I lost my shit when I found her snooping on my conversation with my father?” Dylan leans forward to poke the flames in the fireplace with a poker. “It can’t be random that she’s here.”
“No,” Felix snarls, clutching the seat’s armrest. “She’s here with a purpose.”
I get up and put away the box, then focus on him. “Stop using your muscles, it needs to heal.”
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want,” he growls back.
I shrug. “Okay, fine, then tear through the wound I just stitched for you.”
“Not again, please.” Dylan sighs. “We’ve got enough on our plate as it is.”
Felix gets up and paces around the room. “Penelope …”
“That’s her name?” I grin. “Nice.”
Felix grinds his teeth. “No. Not nice. We need her gone before she starts poking her nose in places it doesn’t belong.”
Dylan leans back in his seat, twirling the fire poker. “Okay, what’s your plan?”
Felix punches his fist into his own hand. “Take care of it.”
I shake my head. “Another body? That’ll go over well with our pops.”
“You got any better ideas?” Felix quips, glaring at me from across the room.
I shrug. “Why not just leave her be? What’s she gonna do?”
“Stab me,” Felix retorts.
“You cornered her,” I say.
“She snooped on him.” Felix points at Dylan. “She deserves punishment.”
“Sounds like that went well,” I reply.
His eyes twitch in that way they always do when he’s about to throw hands. He storms right at me, but Dylan puts the fire poker between us. “Remember the first rule. No fucking fighting in the Society house. Take it outside if you guys wanna have a brawl.” He rubs the leather seat. “This thing’s way too expensive to get a scratch.”
“Don’t fucking tell me the rules,” Felix snarls. “I made them.”
“Weren’t you also the one who said they count for everyone?” I raise a brow.
He’s boiling with rage now, but I don’t care.
He isn’t mad at me, but he sure as hell would love to take it out on me.
“Guys. Let’s focus on the real issue here. The girl.” Dylan eyes both of us until Felix eventually heads to the fridge. He takes out two canisters of beer, chugs them down with ease, then stomps on them.
“I’ve got something you might like,” Dylan says. With a smug smile on his face, he pulls a piece of paper from his pocket. “Tore this out of that fucking diary of hers.”
Felix marches toward him and snatches it from his hand. “That’s your fucking name.” He looks up, incensed. “She’s been writing about us.”
“Interesting,” I mutter.
I wonder if she already wrote about me even though we haven’t yet spoken.
She must’ve seen me around.
Felix throws the paper back at Dylan. “I want to know what else that fucking diary says.”
“Wait … are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Dylan mutters.
Felix’s eyes fill with violence. “We’re going to have some fun.”
Dylan jumps up from his seat, the excitement on his face getting me hard and ready to go. “Oh yes, now you’re talking.”
Penelope
I definitely needed this warm teriyaki chicken sandwich. Oh my God, Kayla knows the best places. This stuff is so good it actually makes me groan. Delicious.
“Good, huh?” She laughs and takes a bite out of her own grilled sandwich. “This is Crystal’s favorite.”
“I can definitely see why,” I reply, chuckling, and I take another bite.
I used to love getting takeout with my sister, but ever since she died, I haven’t gotten any. But I will eat this with a smile. She would’ve wanted me to.
We walk around the campus borders, where the gates are overgrown with thorny roses, a flower that perfectly matches the university’s name. Outside is an amazing overlook view of the sprawling Crescent Vale City below the mountain, and to the right is Priory Forest, where I made the most awful memory in my lifetime.
I take another bite and quickly look away while we slowly make our way back to the sorority house. With the dimmed lights at night, this campus looks cozy, unlike its name.
“So what’s with that diary you hid under your pillow?” Kayla asks.
I swallow down my sandwich, surprised by the sudden question. “Ahh… it’s just a diary.” I add an awkward smile, but I don’t know if she’ll believe me.
“Oh, Crystal keeps one too,” she replies. “Sometimes I steal it and put crazy shit inside just for her to find.” She sniggers.
“Yeah, I don’t share mine with anyone,” I say as we walk back to the Alpha Psi building.
She pauses. “That’s cool. I mean, I wasn’t going to steal yours.” She places a hand on my arm. “Your secrets are safe.”
Phew.
I really don’t want any of my new friends snooping through all the shit Eve wrote about their college mates. Even though Eve would’ve been a sophomore now, I’m sure Kayla and Crystal hang with some of Eve’s past classmates.
“Hold up, lemme take a pic.” Kayla pulls out her phone and leans in. “Smile.”
I grin as hard as I can, trying my best to put up a front. When it’s snapped, she pops it on Instagram.
Suddenly, she comes to an abrupt halt in front of the sorority hall. “Hey, isn’t that our window?”
I gaze up at where she’s looking. The window is clearly open, the curtains blowing in the soft night wind.
It was closed when we left.
“Could one of the girls have opened it?” Kayla mutters.
I don’t wait another second before I rush inside, putting my sandwich on the cabinet before I bolt up the stairs and through the hallways, all the way to the end where our room is. But when I open it up, I stand frozen in the doorway, completely in shock.
The whole place is in ruins.
The bookshelf is turned over, books and other stuff are riddled across the ground. Tables and chairs flipped over, all cabinets ripped apart, contents shredded, spilled all over, all our pillows and blankets thrown onto the floor … and my diary is gone.
Oh God.
“What happened?” a girl across the hall asks as she peers over my shoulder.
“Oh my God,” another says. “Come see this!”
More girls come out of their rooms to look at the destruction in our room.
Destruction we did not cause.
Kayla rushes up the stairs behind me and pushes through the crowd until she bumps into me. Peering over my shoulder, she gasps.
“Pen, what happened?” She goes inside to collect some of the books while I pick up what’s left of my bed.
I search beneath the pillow and the bedding, but the diary is nowhere to be found.
It’s not just gone.
It’s stolen.
My jaw tightens, my nostrils flaring as I stand.
“It was them,” I say, gazing at Kayla over my shoulder while the other girls in the sorority watch us with keen interest.
Kayla frowns, confused. “You mean the—”
“Skull & Serpent Society.”
The other girls all gasp collectively.
“So I was right …” Kayla mutters, clutching the books that survived. “They are after you.”
My fist balls. “Yeah, well they chose the wrong target.”
They brought the violence to my safe space and stole something of mine that no one is allowed to see.
They think this is a fucking game?
They can have one.