Chapter 10

Trent sleeps straight through his alarm.

The day before after the incident with Thane, he took off the costume and stuffed it in his bag pack. He didn’t touch it the rest of the day, though Arlyne called for him over and over. Her voice was a constant nagging that never seemed to cease. When he got home he shoved it under his bed and tried to block out her voice. The problem was, she was in his head.

Eventually he fell asleep. Whether he was able to because she finally quit or he somehow managed to block her out, Trent doesn’t know. He doesn’t even care. What he does care about is the insistent banging on his bedroom door. He groans, trying to open his eyes long enough to adjust to the bright light of the morning coming in through his windows.

“Go away!” he shouts.

“Trent, young man!” his mother shouts from the other side of the door. “You are late for school! Get your ass out of bed right this minute.”

Trent groans again. He squints and looks at the clock. “I’m not late!” he shouts.

“You’ve got fifteen minutes to get to school!” she shouts again through the door.

Alright! Alright!” he cries. “I’m up!”

He can hear her shuffling on the other side, maybe even a huff. “Fine,” she grumbles. “You’ve got ten minutes to make an appearance downstairs or I’m coming right back up.”

‘I’ll be there!” he shouts.

He waits until he is certain his mother is on her way down the stairs before dragging himself off the bed. He groans as he stands and slowly stumbles toward the bathroom. As he is using the toilet he feels someone watching him. Trent knows exactly who that someone is and he continues to take his time. It isn’t until he flushes does he finally pay her any attention.

“What was that yesterday?” he asks, glaring straight into the mirror. “I specifically didn’t want to do that.”

‘We had no choice,’ Arlyne argues. ‘If we didn’t do anything then he would have played his hand.’

“We don’t know that,” Trent disagrees.

‘What other choice did we have?’ she asks. Then with a shrug, ‘I guess we could have killed him.’

Trent’s face drops at the words. “I don’t even want to hear something crazy like that again. We ain’t killing anyone, understand?”

‘Fine,’ she huffs. ‘Then you can’t have an objection to what I did.’

“Fair enough,” he says after a long moment of starring her down. “I just hope he keeps to his word.”

‘I don’t think he is going to worry about that,’ she smirks.

“I didn’t need your help with that,” he growls.

‘I just sped it up for you,’ she grins. ‘Now you can get off thinking about your sister so much.’

Trent’s face shadows over. “Those thoughts are private.”

‘Nothing in your head is private,’ she says, her grin turning more devious. ‘Every thought you formulate I am privy to.’

“I don’t care. Those are mine,” he implores.

‘Then you need to make a choice,’ she says, still grinning. ‘You need to pick Christy or Thea. You can’t have both.’

“I can’t have my sister,” he answers, sounding as if admitting defeat.

‘Christy is just a consolation prize,’ Arlyne grumbles. ‘And don’t forget, with me you can have anyone you want.’

“I don’t want Thea unless she wants me,” he says after a brief reflection. “It wouldn’t be the same.”

‘So be it,’ she says. Arlyne doesn’t say anything as she watches Trent dress for school. But when he grabs his bag pack and begins heading for the door without the costume she does become a little angry. ‘You don’t plan of taking me with you?’

Trent grinds to a halt. He takes a deep breath before slowly backing up to look at the mirror. “I thought a day without you would be alright.” He looks away briefly. In truth, he wants to take the costume. He wants to wear it. “How can I talk to Christy dressed as you?”

The anger washes away from Arlyne in an instant. A lengthy, devilish smile curls out along her face. ‘How can you not?’ she asks. ‘Christy is vulnerable, and she certainly is not going to want to talk to you.’

“And why not?” he asks harshly, his feelings slightly hurt. “You just said it, she’s vulnerable.”

‘And she is not going to want to talk to you,’ Arlyne repeats. ‘She is going to turn to her clique. She is going to turn to me.’

“You seem so certain,” Trent says with a pang of jealously in his voice.

‘I’ve been at this for a very long time,’ Arlyne state, bringing her hand up as if to examine her nails. ‘And when you do change, do so in the girl’s restroom. That way we can avoid those unwanted confrontations.’

At school and for the first time, Trent is bombarded by Christy and her friends.

“Trent!” Christy shouts the moment she sees him.

Trent snaps his bike lock in place and then turns. He has a smile on his face when he sees her. “Hi Christy,” he says cheerily.

“Where is Thane?” Christy quickly asks.

Trent looks from her quickly to the other three girls with her. Each one of them has a sneer on their faces. It sends a shiver down his spine. “I haven’t seen him this morning,” he answers, looking back at her. “I was running late.”

“Well, if you see him let him know I’m looking for him,” Christy says with a huff.

“See, I told you he wouldn’t know,” Kelly remarks.

“I bet he does, he just doesn’t want to tell us,” Denise argues.

“I don’t know, maybe he doesn’t know,” Wendy disagrees.

“He’s your boyfriend; shouldn’t you know where he’s at?” Trent asks, ignoring the other three girls.

“I just wanted to talk to him,” Christy says rudely.

Trent frowns. He likes Christy, but sometimes her attitude is just off-putting. He turns the frown around, trying to put her attitude aside considering the circumstances. “I wasn’t aware you two weren’t talking.” He shrugs. “Why would you think he’d talk to me anyway?”

“He always talks to you,” she says. “Every time I see you two together, you two look like your good friends.”

“Far from it,” he mutters under his breath. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“I doubt it, being his friend and all,” Christy answers tersely.

“I didn’t say I was his friend,” he refutes. “I don’t like the guy at all.”

“So you don’t know what happened?” she asks.

“Come on, Christy,” Denise says. “Of course he does. The whole school knows.”

“Yeah, she’s right,” Kelly agrees. “He was probably there with that asshole.”

“He fucked the new girl and then sent pictures of it to every phone in the school,” Christy continues, totally ignoring the other’s arguments. “We broke up. I’m through with that asshole.”

“Arlyne?” Trent asks, pretending this to be news.

“Yeah, you know her?” she asks, her face lighting up. “Of course you do,” she quickly adds. “Everyone at school does.”

“Well, if they didn’t they do now,” Wendy says bitterly.

Christy turns to her friend. “Are you part of the peanut gallery now?” Wendy shakes her head. “Good. If you’ve got nothing worth contributing don’t say anything at all.”

When Christy turns back, Trent quickly pipes in. “I doubt at this point you want to talk to Thane, especially about Arlyne.” He offers her a smile. “I know Arlyne.”

“How exactly do you know her?” Christy asks, narrowing her gaze at him.

His smile grows bigger. “She actually lives right down the street from me,” he explains. “We hang out together.”

“How come I don’t see you and her hanging out then?” Christy scrutinizes.

“We hang out after school,” he clarifies. “She asked me to keep our friendship quiet at school.”

“Then why are you betraying that trust now?” Denise butts in.

“Well, she’s your friend and Christy obviously needs to talk to her,” Trent answers, the words just rolling off his tongue.

“Do you know where she is?” Christy asks urgently.

“Like I said, I was running late,” Trent says, trying to keep the irritation at them not listening in the first place from his voice. “I’m sure I’ll bump into her. I’ll let her know if she hasn’t seen you yet.”

“Yeah, you do that then,” Kelly says snootily.

“Chill with that shit,” Christy snarls at the girl. “This is Arlyne’s friend. If she likes the guy then you need to respect that.”

“Who died and made the new girl the boss?” Wendy asks.

“Yeah, who did that?” Denise agrees.

Christy spins around in a flash toward the other three girls. “Anyone of you can be dropped just as fast as Arlyne was added. I’ve got no problem saying goodbye to any of you.”

“Damn, Christy, chill,” Kelly says rebukes. “We were just wondering.”

“Like I told Wendy, keep your mouths shut unless you got something worthy to say,” Christy fires back.

“I’ll find her and tell her you need to see her,” Trent says. “I promise.”

Trent leaves Christy and her friends to argue amongst themselves. His mind races with thoughts of how fast he was able throw out answers—and lies—to them. It has to be Arlyne! If there is one thing that is certain it’s that Arlyne was correct. Christy has no interest in him, at least not at the moment. But that will change. Coming through with a promise to Christy will be the first step in getting her. He heads the creature’s words and heads for the girl’s restroom, his bag pack sliding off his shoulder as he reaches the door.