Devils' Day Party: A High School Bully Romance - C.M. Stunich Page 0,14

start to ride hot and heavy through me.

Before I can think better of it, I stand up and tear it from the easel, using an X-Acto knife from my desk to score the canvas over and over again, imagining it as Raz’s face. Barron’s. Sonja’s. Calix’s. And then I throw it against the wall and sink to the floor.

One more year, Karma, that’s it.

One more year and I’ll be free of the Knight Crew and this stupid, shitty town.

But for now, I’m here, and I have to make the best of it.

I’m going to the party tonight, I tell Luke, tapping out a quick group text to her and April. If you guys want to come, meet me at the bus stop at seven.

It’s a bit of a copout, ignoring the message that Luke sent me about April—she’s probably right about April staying home—but I’m just not in the mood to deal with it. Instead, I stand up and throw my closet open, looking for something to wear tonight. You know, since my goddamn dress was stolen from the clothesline this morning.

Whatever I wear, it has to be good.

Because whatever Devils’ Day tricks the Knight Crew thinks they can pull on me, I’ve got to do better.

Or worse, rather.

Much, much worse.

The Devils’ Day Party is always held at Devils’ Den, a remote spring in the bottom of a shallow cave. Just behind it, there’s an old steam train and several passenger cars, sitting on a bit of broken track that leads to nowhere. About a five-minute walk from the spring are several glamping treehouses, locked up and waiting for the spring and summer rush. During the Devils’ Day Party, they’re inevitably broken into and defiled. The owner’s tried everything: security cameras, plywood over the windows, and even once, he sat outside with a shotgun.

Didn’t matter.

Somebody—nobody knows who—hit the man in the back of the head with a baseball bat and left him inside one of the treehouses until morning. After that, he pretty much gave up. We have exactly two police officers in Devil Springs, and they have far more important things to worry about on Devils’ Day than a bunch of teens getting drunk and fucking in some stupid luxury cabins made for tourists.

I’m standing at the edge of the clearing, the bonfire leaping and dancing in front of me, reaching orange claws up to the heavens where a crescent moon sits—much like the one on the Crescent Prep logo. Much like the painting I just destroyed. My heart aches a little at the thought, but I push the emotion aside, eyes scanning the gathered crowd for any signs of the Knight Crew.

They’re not hard to find, clustered around a very familiar yellow car with mangled eyelashes. Calix lounges on the roof like a dark god, smiling at his worshippers, his dark mask fixed in place—both the physical one he’s wearing, and the emotional one he uses as a shield.

“Karma, listen, I … don’t expect you to believe me.” Calix turns away, his face tight, raw with emotion in a way I’ve never seen. Either he’s a really good actor or else … “But I never hated you.” He looks up at me with a burning intensity, one that steals my breath away, makes my heart pound like thunder. “I’m in love with you.”

I choke on shame and guilt, my hands curling into fists at my sides.

“Hey, let’s not start tonight off with bad thoughts,” Luke says, outfitted in a sequin dress shirt, black slacks, and boots. If it weren’t for the hideous goblin mask on her face, I’d say she was as handsome as I’d ever seen her.

“This is fascinating,” April murmurs, her green eyes sparkling behind her glasses as she takes in the scene like a grad student might observe subjects for their master’s thesis. “It’s so … wild.”

“Hedonistic, isn’t it?” Luke asks, flashing a sharp grin. “Full of debauchery? A bed of licentiousness? Heathenish? Corrupt? Primal? Pagan?”

“Okay, Luke, we get it,” I say with a small laugh, feeling a bead of sweat drip down my spine. I can’t believe they dragged my car over here, I think, seething on the inside, wondering how the fuck the Knight Crew managed that one when I couldn’t get a tow truck myself. My initial response is to freak out, and I’m pretty sure Luke knows it.

“Look, you crashed into his car, this is their retaliation. Don’t react to it. That’s what they want you to do.” Luke looks askance