Hey guys! In honor of the people who told me to continue well.. I'm continuing! Lol, thanks so much for all your support it really means a lot to me! And sorry this took me like a month, school has just been consuming my life lately. Hope this isn't a disappointment :-p
"Dude, get up!" I heard a voice order, waking me out of the coma of sleep I was just in. To illustrate their point even further, the person threw a pillow that hit me in the face.
"Wh- what?" I muttered, rubbing my eyes a few times to clear out the fogginess.
Trey Prescott, my roommate, was already dressed and getting ready for the day. I looked to the left of me and saw that my alarm clock read 6:55. Chapel doesn't start for at least another 35 minutes.
"Why the hell are you waking me up so early?" I grumbled, in no mood to be messed with today.
"Crom just sent an email out to everyone saying to meet in the Great Room. Man, you should've seen him last night when we all came home. He looked like he was ready to start ripping heads off," Trey said, his usual joking tone replaced with something more grim.
"So he's waking us up early as a punishment?" I asked, although it sounded completely stupid, even to my own ears.
"Nope, for some reason we're getting off easy. It's the Billings Girls who are being evaluated right now, apparently they even got the board of directors down to see what they're gonna do to them. My guess is Crom's always had it out for them, and now he's taking the opportunity to bring them down," he informed me.
The Billings Girls. As in Reed. My heart completely stopped, and it jolted me enough to get me sitting up straight in bed.
I was going to have to see Reed. I was going to have to see the board decide her fate, along with the whole house of Billings, which undoubtedly was not in her favor. How the hell was I going to do this? Just thinking about it sent my stomach into several painful knots, and made me wanna throw up. Was this it now? Was this now going to be my life, dreading seeing her, remembering so freshly her heartbreaking disloyalty? The thought alone made me flop back down on my back, and bring my hands up to my face. What I wanted more than anything is to sleep, to shut out all the pain and just sleep. But unfortunately, I already knew this wasn't an option.
"Come on man, you're not the only one with a hang over you know," Trey groused, hitting me with that retched pillow once more.
I opened my eyes and took a good look at him. He had bags under his blood shot eyes, and then I remembered vividly him being amongst the group of crack snorters last night at the Legacy. Now, on a normal occasion, this would've made me crack up (no pun intended), seeing as Trey was one of the biggest do-gooders I've ever met. But today I just got up, grabbed some clothes from my dresser, and changed in the bathroom.
Trey patiently waited for me to get myself looking decent, then we wordlessly made our way out of Ketlar and joined the group of people from our building heading towards Mitchell Hall. Everywhere I looked people were heading in our general direction, whispering, gossiping, smiling, giggling, and I found it strange that the mood was this light. But I realized why everyone seemed so happy, it's because it was the day Billings was going down. Billings has symbolized the girls everyone here hates, the snobs, the ones who think they're better than everyone else, so of course it shouldn't surprise me that everyone was thrilled to see them get what was coming to them. I didn't know how to feel about that, if I agreed with them, or if I was pissed at them for being so damn cheerful about the whole thing. I guess apart of me was still clinging to my loyalty to Reed, even though I knew that would only hurt me more.
We finally made our way into the giant room in Mitchell Hall, and took our seats in the back row of the folding chairs that was set out. That's when I saw them. There they were, the sixteen Billings girls, all sitting in identical folding chairs with their backs to us, while the Board of Directors were facing us, sitting at a large rectangular table. Towards the middle of the chairs, I saw Reed, well at least I saw the back of her head. But that was bad enough.
Just seeing that brought out a whole sea of emotions and flashbacks that I tried desperately to keep at bay. But it was no use, my mind reeled back to the devastating moments that I fear have scarred my mind permanently.
Going up on the roof, my hopefulness of finding Reed and pleading my case to her, hearing her sigh the way she did, opening up the tent, seeing her dress half pulled down with Dash's hands cupping her breasts. Seeing her hands unbuckling his belt, obviously trying to get his pants off, obviously trying to get him naked and have sex with him...
I heard a chocking noise, and I didn't even realize it came out of me, until I saw a couple of my friends look at me funny. I could feel my face radiating heat, but it wasn't enough to distract me from my current predicament.
If just seeing Reed had this affect on me, how was I going to do this? Seeing her everyday, possibly running into her, maybe even having to talk to her, how the hell was I going to deal with all that? But more importantly, how could she do this to me? She broke my heart so beyond the point of repairing, I don't see how I could even find a way to get past this. My heart was so obliterated, it was like sweet death was my only way to escape the pain...
No. I did not just think that. I'm not that guy, the guy who gets suicidal just because his girlfriend cheated on him. There was just no way.
I was starting to seriously freak myself out, so I decided to focus on the situation in front of me.
"These infractions are grievous," the Crom began, looking, as Trey said, like he was ready to start ripping heads off. He was standing behind a microphone stand and facing us, but every once in a while I saw him glare at the girls assembled by him, namely Reed. He lifted a white piece of paper and began reading from it.
"Hazing, initiation ceremonies, fighting, ignoring curfew on several occasion," he began, his voice grave. "Ignoring my strict mandate to remain on campus the night of Sunday, October thirty-first. And the most egregious, destruction of school property." He put the paper down on the stand and laced his fingers on top of it. "Destruction of one of the oldest buildings on this campus."
It was then he looked Reed right in the eye. So I guess I had been correct when I guessed the blame of Gwendolyn Hall would be placed directly on her shoulders. And even though I'm still pretty sure it was London and Vienna's "toking tour" that actually did the deed, I guess in a way it was her fault. If it wasn't for her, we never would've found a way into the Legacy, and never had been in Gwendolyn Hall, I never would've gotten cheated on...
"Headmaster Cromwell?" London suddenly blurting, standing straight up. "I just want to point out that we weren't the only ones there last night. I mean, the guys were there too, and-"
"I don't believe I opened the floor to comments, Miss Simmons," Headmaster stated, his already intimidating voice being amplified through out the room. Well it definitely had the right affect, because with a little squeak of surprise, London sat back down.
The guys around me scoffed incredulously, and I heard Trey murmur "Did she seriously try to blame shift this on us?". I completely agree, first off I honestly doubt Crom really cared about the Ketlar guys sneaking out. It was just that this last act of defiance on the Billings girls part was enough to get them caught for all the other stuff they did like the initiation ceremony, and the fighting, which I heard Amberly pulled off quite impressively. And plus tattling on us is a little too kindergarten for my taste.
"Now where was I?" he said, shifting the papers. While he was doing this, I took the time to examine Reed, or at least the back of her. I still wasn't sure what I thought about this, I mean getting rid of Billings would be a vast improvement for the school, but I knew this loss would devastate Reed. I knew I shouldn't be, be I was still concerned about her. And I was pretty sure I still loved her. But I also knew now Reed would always be associated with the fact that she cheated on me, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to change that. I still couldn't help wondering if it had all been a big mistake on her part, or if that was just the kind of girl she was. That she would've cheated on me at some point in our relationship, but she was just showing her true colors now. I hoped it was the former, because even though I'd still never forgive her, it would be easier that she just screwed up than being so very wrong about who Reed really is.
Crom cleared his voice loudly and continued. "Well, with a list of infractions this long, a vote seems superfluous, but the school bylaws dictate that we must vote. So, the directive on the table is this: Shall the board of directors hereby dissolve Billings House and redistribute its members through out the remaining girls' dormitories? Yay or nay? All those in favor-"
This was it. We could all feel it, and by the looks on the stern faces of the board, I knew my suspicions were being confirmed. This was going to be the end of Billings.
"Wait!" I heard Reed shout, standing up and facing all of us. You could practically hear the anticipation, all the shallow breaths, in the hush that followed.
"Yes, Miss Brennan?" Crom asked, his lips curling up in what I thought resembled a pit bull. Yeah, I guess Reed didn't exactly qualify for his list of favorite people here.
"This.. this isn't fair," she said, sounding like a whiny five- year- old. Snickers enveloped me as Reed's miserably tired face colored. What was she doing? Was she really trying to complain her way out of this? She took a deep breath and tried again.
"With all due respect, Headmaster Cromwell, you haven't given us a chance," she stated using a much more clear, confident tone.
This wiped the amused looks off most the people's faces and I even saw a couple of them lean forward in their chairs, as if to get a better view.
"Haven't I?" he asked, his voice dubious. Unfortunately, I had to agree with him on this one. I mean he had given them fair warning to not go out, yet that was exactly what we all did. He looked down at the papers again, as if to remind himself of what they had against them. "I believe you and your housemates have had plenty of chances."
"No, sir, we have not," she said using that authoritative tone again. People began whispering in surprise. How was Reed doing this, facing down the man who was threatening her whole life here at Easton? How could she be so strong when I felt like I was on the verge of shattering? I bet it was because she didn't care, she didn't give a rat's ass that she hurt me or that we broke up. All she cared about was freaking Billings.
"I'm the first to admit that things at Billings have been pretty terrible this year. But in case you've forgotten, one of our best friends just died," she informed him. Was she seriously using Cheyenne's death as a way of saving Billings from getting dissolved? Even in the most desperate situations, that seemed pretty low. "And yeah, okay, maybe we're having a hard time dealing with that right now, but Billings has been an asset to this school in the past and it will be again. You just have to give us a chance to prove it."
A sour taste filled my mouth. She couldn't possibly believe this, believe that Billings has some how contributed in a positive way to this school. I'm pretty damn sure it cost me the love of my life.
"And how, exactly, are you going to do that?" Headmaster Cromwell questioned, leaning his weight on his forearms.
Reed looked lost for a moment and turned back to her friends. I could have sworn I saw Noelle rub her fingers together, showing the universal sign for money. Oh come on, did they seriously think bribing the headmaster would work?
"Well hold a fundraiser," Reed announced, finally turning around to face us again. "Billings will pledge to raise.. one million dollars for Easton."
Gasped filled the room. One million dollars. There was no freaking way one million dollars was going to erase all of their aberrations. Even if it was one million dollars.
"If we succeed, Billings stays as is," she concluded, looking completely confident that this would work. "If we fail, you can do what you want with us."
I stared at Crom. He had to refuse this. He was a grown man, there was no way he could take the bait on this one. But then he covered the microphone and whispered to a man on the board of directors. Then that man passed on what Crom said to the next member, and so on and so on until their final decision made it back to Cromwell. He cleared his throat, and I'm pretty sure no one in the room was actually breathing. Me included.
"Make it five million, Miss Brennan," he said with a mischievous smile, "and you have a deal."
"Yes!" some Billings girl shouted.
It was like Crom just told the Billings girls they'd won the lottery. They were cheering and ecstatic looks replaced the "life flashing before my eyes" looks that had previously been there. In a way it was like they had won the lottery. Even with all the violations they had stacked against them, even though it had almost been determined that their home would be shut down less than a minute ago, they had somehow broken down up-tight, no-nonsense Crom, and at the last minute, wrangled a deal out of him. They had some how proven that they could literally get away with anything. And I felt sick to my stomach.
The whole room was completely engrossed in excited conversation, but as I looked around at people's faces, I saw they were sharing my emotions. Shock. Disbelief. Even some disappointment. Not that I wanted this taken away from Reed, but I think it was at least what the Billings girls deserved. I mean they burned down the oldest building on campus, for crying out loud! I think I lost every bit of respect I've ever had for Cromwell, and maybe even for Reed too.
"Silence!" Crom ordered and we immediately obeyed.
"There is one stipulation," he stated with an strict stare at the Billings section. So there was his back bone. "This five million dollars must be raised, not gleaned from your trust funds or borrowed from your parents. You must actually raise it, and you must raise it in one month's time. I will also be contacting the Billings alumni and making it clear to them that they are not to help you with the preparations for whatever you conjure up. This fund-raiser will be planned by you and paid by you, and any profit will be fairly earned. Is that understood?"
Suddenly the Billings girls didn't look as assured as they did a minute ago. I guess they were planning on taking the easy way out, as always.
Reed turned back to her friends, as if making sure they were all willing to go through with this, then turned back to Crom and smiled.
"Done," she stated simply.
Crom adjourned the meeting and we all shuffled out of our seats. I had to get out of here now. Before Reed gets off the stage and I run the risk of bumping into her. So there I rushed off, all alone, feeling like I had lost Reed all over again.
Yay! So I actually liked how this chapter turned out, and I hope you did to. But please, feedback is really important to me, and I'd love to see what you thought of this one. So please review if you can, and just so you know the next chapter might not come out for a while since I got school and gymnastics and stuff.