Hilary didn’t have that problem. She knew how beautiful she was. She knew how much she deserved attention and that she was meant for greater things. People had always hated her for not having doubt in herself. They thought she was conceited but she wasn’t. She was a realist. They all had eyes. They knew she was something rare, something precious, and that like it or not, they weren’t. Let them hate her. It wasn’t her fault who their parents were. They should just accept it. That would be the healthy thing. They were only mad because they were all unwilling to really take an honest look at themselves in the mirror, and she was always forcing them to, by simply being in the same room.
Hilary lay in the center of the empty quad. She sunbathed alone, while crowds of people stood with their towels in the hallways, waiting for the Varsity members posted at each hallway to tell them they were allowed to walk onto the quad. When one Skater girl, Marsha Buchanon, had gotten really tan, it was all the pale girls in McKinley could talk about. And there were a lot of pale girls. It had become so popular, even the darker-skinned girls started coming out too, just to socialize. They were hating it now though. They despised her for making them wait, for insisting that the sunshine was hers to enjoy alone. The halls were overstuffed with grumbling kids who kicked at the dirt, and cursed her name. She could feel the anger radiating from them, and it soothed her like a hot stone massage. It felt good to be on top again. Things were as they should be.
She tongued the borrowed tooth in her mouth. The superglue ruined her tongue for food, but it was a small price to pay for having a complete set. She had the Freak girl to thank for that. Hilary had told the girl she’d blow her brains out if she ever talked, but promised to cut her lips off first. Lucy was the only other person who knew about Hilary’s missing tooth. Hilary would love to know if Lucy was still alive. She hadn’t seen her since that night the goblin boy in the dress had dragged her away. Hopefully to murder her.
A drop of sweat slid down her left cheek from her upper lip. She wiped it away. Another drop dripped. She touched her hand to the wetness. When she pulled her hand away from her face, she saw red. A smear of blood across the back of her hand. Blood. She wiped it on her towel before anyone could see.
Hilary sat up in a panic and covered her nose. Was this really happening? Was she transitioning out of infection? It should have made her happy. Getting a nosebleed was what every McKinley student wanted. But Hilary had barely had a chance to capitalize on her new power. She held a hunk of machined metal in her hand that could blow holes in people with the pull of a finger. It could make people do anything she wanted. That presented a precious opportunity. She looked up to the crane arm in the sky overhead. Suddenly, there was so much to do.
Hilary looked down on everyone from her throne. It was a volleyball ref chair that she’d made the Geeks transform into a throne by covering every inch of it in broken pieces of old school trophies. It sparkled with golden light. Her towering throne had been placed in the center of the basketball court specifically for this meeting.
Below her, the leader of every gang sat around a table. She was amazed by how quickly the leaders had fallen in line. It had only been an hour and a half since her nose had bled and she’d put the word out. The only one she had the slightest respect for was Zachary the Geek. He was wearing an emerald-encrusted turban and a canary yellow robe, and he made it work. She knew she’d need him the most of any of them, and he’d probably make it through this without a bullet in the head. P-Nut, on the other hand, that mutt, she hoped he gave her a reason to shoot him. And by the look on his face, he knew it. He was regretting that he had ever asked her to be a whore. The boy was shaking in his skinny jeans. Bobby Corning was useless, but he had always adored her. Hilary knew less about the other three: Henry the Nerd, Lark the Saint, and Lips the Slut. They were replacement leaders, but they’d have to obey just the same.
Hilary tickled the hammer of the gun with her thumb. She craved to feel it blast again. She could tell that was going to be a problem for her.
Terry hopped onto the basketball court on one foot. He held a full glass of water. His injured foot was bundled in reddened gauze and athletic tape, and he kept all weight off it. He clenched his teeth and stared at the glass, careful to not let any water slosh out. She’d told him she’d shoot him in his other foot if he spilled a drop.
“It’s about time, I asked for that water forever ago,” Hilary said. “Why don’t you pour it on your head.”
Terry hesitated and she raised the gun. He promptly drenched himself. All the other gang leaders watched the leader of Varsity humiliate himself at her command, and it had to be having an effect on them.
Hilary stood up in her chair. “Whether you know it or not, all of you are guilty of disrespect.” She began to gesticulate with the gun. “Payback starts now—Linda!”
Linda scurried in like a scared mouse and dropped a white envelope in front of each leader.
“In those envelopes, you’ll find your instructions. From now until tomorrow afternoon, your gang is at my fucking disposal. You will do exactly as those instructions say and more, if I ask you to. Everything has to be carried out to perfection. If your gang falls short, if they screw up a single detail, I start poking holes through people. Starting with you. Any questions?”
Bobby slowly raised his hand.
“What’s happening tomorrow?” he said.
Hilary smiled and cocked her gun.
“Prom.”
14
WILL CLUNG TO THE COLD METAL RUNGS OF the maintenance ladder in the elevator shaft. His old elevator home hung by cable just below him. Lucy had to be there.
The longer he’d been in the school, the clearer it had become that this plan had been busted from the start. The school was too big and too dangerous for it to go right. He’d been shocked by how many gangs were roving the halls at night. It was as if they were bored of their usual hangouts and they were looking for trouble, not avoiding it. By the time Will had gotten to the plant room, his best guess to find Lucy, it was morning, and she hadn’t been there. He’d spent most of the day hiding and contemplating the fact that Lucy could be anywhere. She could be hiding, asleep in a locker, and he could walk right by her and never see her again.
He had to depend on faith. It had been that thought, over and over, that had recharged his weary body, and ejected him back into the halls. He had to believe he would find Lucy soon. He had to believe that they were destined to be together, and that coming into McKinley, hunting for her on deadly terrain, was proof that he was worthy of that destiny.