"Don't you dare fucking talk to me like that." I snapped at the seething boy in front of me.
"Like what, princess? Like you're full of shit? Someone had to say it!" He yelled back.
"No, don't talk to me like you're better than me! You and I are the...
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★★★
None of us had been able to focus at school for a while. There was no chance we could with Sheriff Peterkin's funeral happening over the weekend.
John B and Sarah were... gone, and the rest of us were picking up the pieces on Kildare Island. It was a fucking mess. People stared at us in the hallways like we were the killers.
I hated that Rafe did this and got away with it. I had hope, even if just for a fleeting moment, I thought he would redeem himself. He was always a dick, but killing someone made him a monster.
As we sat in class twiddling our thumbs, our world was collapsing in on itself around us. Everyone on the island still shared the collective belief that John B was a cold-blooded cop killer and it made my blood boil over with rage.
How could people be so ignorant? How could they let their stupid classist views cloud actual justice? Nothing about this was fair.
I ran my hands through my hair as I got lost in my thoughts at my desk. My leg bounced anxiously. I was going to that funeral.
Kie, JJ, and Pope refused, and I acted like I was in the same boat as them, but I was going. I needed to see that this was real. It didn't feel real.
This was a messed up nightmare that made me sick to my stomach the more I thought about it.
I tapped on my desk with my pointer finger rapidly as I tried deducing how I would do it. I'd have to sneak away tomorrow morning. I could definitely lie, it wasn't anything that would get me in any trouble, but I still didn't want anybody to stop me from going.
I looked around the classroom, seeing JJ, Pope, and now Kie. She had convinced her parents that now, especially now, she had to be around her friends. She came to our school rather than that Kook academy she was gonna be put in.
It was just the thing I needed.
I felt a hand rest on my bouncing knee, grounding it, and I looked up to meet JJ's eyes.
He was sitting next to me and was staring at me with concern all over his face. Concern and confusion. I'd have been lying if I said I knew what we were learning. Honestly, I forgot was class we were even in right now.
"Hey, you good?" He whispered, and I nodded, maybe a bit too quickly.
"I'm fine," I whispered back, assuring him I was okay. He never believed me when I said shit like that. He always had a sense and when I got too antsy, there was nothing convincing enough I could say that would ever be enough for him.
"What's got your gears turnin' so fast?" He asked, and I shrugged. He knew I had something on my mind.
"New school. I'm- nervous..." I said, and he cocked his head with a raised eyebrow that asked: What the hell are you even saying?
