Mark My Words

69 | Naughty Or Nice

    Georgina remained silent, but that smile was still there. It was then that Rosalie gathered that Georgina was wearing a uniform as close to Bradshaw as she could manage without having ordered the official apparel. Her tie was loose and the buttons on her shirt undone. Underneath was a plain white tee tucked into a pair of black slacks. It was more appalling than Joanna's everyday half-assed uniform.

    Rosalie bristled as they approached her locker. She stopped in front of it and Georgina leant into the locker beside hers as Rosalie spun the lock dial and opened the door. She hung her coat inside and pulled her books from her backpack, trying to ignore the fact that Georgina was staring at her.

    "What's the nature of your relationship with Joey?" Georgina asked.

    Rosalie almost choked. "That—I don't have to tell you," Rosalie said.

    "I already have a scholarship that can't be retracted," Georgina said, and before Rosalie could process this much, or argue its irrelevance to the conversation, Georgina said, "I don't need to attend Bradshaw. Your mom's a corporate bitch, not a criminal justice lawyer. We take care of that. Nothing is stopping me from breaking your legs, Rosie."

    Rosalie's chest hollowed out, her stomach caving in as if Georgina had punched her in the gut. She held her breath as she turned to stare at Georgina, whose smile only increased when their eyes met again. Rosalie nearly lost her grip on her books, and she clutched them tightly to her chest.

    Georgina laughed and looked down at her shoes. She scuffed the heel of her sneakers against the tiles before looking back up again and saying, "But that all depends on your answer."

    "She's just my goalkeeper," Rosalie said, voice rasping.

    They stared at one another until Rosalie blinked fast and looked away. She closed her locker and shook her head, scraping together the remnants of her poise to talk again. "She's the best goalkeeper I've ever seen in a high school league."

    "Courtesy of us," Georgina said. She pushed herself off of the locker with a sigh. "Shame. I am curious, though, as to why you know a damn thing about us."

    She means the Sisterhood, Rosalie thought. Georgina had no reason to threaten her so explicitly otherwise.

    "She trusts us."

    "Or maybe there are Sisters already here," Georgina said.

    They stood with their backs to the lockers. Rosalie scanned her eyes across the crowd of students in the hall before looking up to Georgina. Georgina pursed her lips and side-eyed Rosalie. "Three thousand kids, forty-seven percent female. I can't know them all," she said. "Lead the way."

    Rosalie almost didn't want to go to class. It was the strongest desire she ever felt to leave campus and not look back. Her other circumstantial absent marks were 1) from oversleeping and 2) Khoshekh going missing, and Rosalie was not about to go through that bullshit again.

    But this wasn't about her now.

    Joanna didn't have a phone, so Rosalie had no means of contact with her. Did Joanna already know? Would Joanna be in class today?

    Rosalie slowed near their environmental science classroom. Most of the desks were already filled, and when Rosalie approached, her eyes went to Joanna's occupied desk. Joanna sat near the front of the class ever since Principle O'Gallagher escorted her there on Day One of senior year.

    Joanna lowered her hand from her chin, perking up, only to freeze all motion. Rosalie watched her as she crossed the threshold and started for the back of the classroom. Joanna's wide eyes were stuck on them through it all, and she twisted around in her seat as Rosalie escorted Georgina to the lab tables in the back of the room.