Devils' Day Party: A High School Bully Romance - C.M. Stunich Page 0,83

in a resin cage.” He moves to the opening in the rock, and then expertly hauls himself out, glancing over his shoulder. For a moment, I expect him to extend a hand out to help me. But I should've known: this is Barron Farrar we're talking about. “I'll see you later, Karma.”

He hops down and then takes off, flashlight beam streaking across the trees as I shout his name.

“Barron Farrar, get your ass back here!” I scream, voice echoing off the walls of the cave. With a curse and a sudden shiver of terror, I do my best to fumble my way out of the opening, remembering just in time not to touch the jagged bit where Barron must've cut his hand before. He didn't say as much, but I'm getting good at putting puzzle pieces together.

I hop down onto the soft earth, noticing a lantern in the distance.

Once I come up on that one, burning soft and low, there's another, then another. Eventually, I find myself back at the bonfire with everyone else, but I don't see Barron again that night.

Instead, I return back to the cabin, and let myself drift off into a strangely peaceful sleep.

The next several days, I experiment with different ways to start the morning. One thing that I can pinpoint for sure: if I piss off two of the three boys, we go to the woods to see Luke. Otherwise, it never occurs.

And that, that is the part that intrigues me.

That means on day one, when I hit Calix's car, and he and Raz were acting like monumental dicks … they weren't really that mad at all.

I’ve spent half of the last week locked in the cabin with Luke, so today, when I open my eyes and see that there's blood all over my steering wheel, I decide to try a different approach. As soon as I sit up, I lock the door, and take off before Calix can confront me—just like I did on the day that Raz and I …

Raz.

Is it weird that I miss him? My heart keeps telling me that we settled things, that there's an attraction between us that's too electric to ignore. Yet, he remembers none of that. As far as he's concerned, he hates me as much today as he has any other day.

With a sigh, I head back to the school, clean up, and then proceed to stay the fuck out of the Knight Crew's way, watching them when they arrive on campus, during breaks and lunch, but without them ever seeing me.

“Is the Knight Crew just extra scary today or are you up to something?” Luke asks me after school, when I slip into her car for a ride. April takes the front seat, and we pull out of the parking lot. Mentally, I'm calculating their movements, Barron's mostly.

If I start the morning upsetting Calix and Raz, but leaving Barron alone, he lets us out of the cabin, and we head to see the butterflies again. Every night, despite knowing it’s coming, I let him kiss me. My lips tingle, and I touch my fingertips to them, wondering about all the things I've learned.

Instead of asking about the candy he eats, or about his struggles with alcohol, I've led us down different paths.

What's your favorite color?

Orange.

Are you planning on going to college?

I'd rather not.

What do you like to draw in that notebook of yours?

Scenery, mostly. Sometimes girls.

That notebook … I want to see what's inside of it.

So today, I let Luke take me home, missing my moms and sisters so much that the emotions surprise me. It's been over a week since I've seen them, and I hadn't realized it until just now.

“Are you okay, honey?” Mama Jane asks, appearing from the kitchen and asking if we all want tea, just like she asked me on day one.

“I'm fine, and no thank you,” I tell her, taking April and Luke into my room to get my clothes. I'd sewn a dress just for today, but one of my little sisters—neither will cop to it—spilled spaghetti sauce on it, so I had to handwash it and hang it to dry.

When I woke up on the first day, it was missing from the clothesline.

So I do what I did before, and make a new outfit as quick as I can, leaving with my friends and heading to Luke's dorm.

“April, you're in Barron's art class, right?” I ask, and she nods as she waits for Luke to unlock