Chapter 11: The Final Exam

“Good morrow, lovely dear. Feel free to dress any way you choose. There will be no need to listen to any songs in particular. I simply wanted to wish you the best of luck on your test today. I cannot wait to see how well you perform.”

Piper rubbed her bleary eyes and read the message again. She couldn’t have read it right the first time. She felt weird looking through her drawer of delicates. She hadn’t worn any in a while, so it was stock full of clean bras. She chose a nicely padded one and dressed in a very conservative ensemble. A button down white collared blouse, a navy v neck sweater, and a long skirt below. It was probably too warm for the day, but she felt safe and covered for a change. She looked in the mirror and felt like she looked prim enough for church.

To finish off the outfit she went with a pair of Mary Jane wedges. Piper may have looked like she was going to go on a job interview, but she felt at ease in her own skin. Or at least she would have if she could stop yawning.

Mom made her sit and eat a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, buttered toast, and a cup of sliced orange and banana. She served glasses of both milk and OJ, but thankfully she let her leave the table without finishing the milk after she finished second helping of eggs.

She was so stuffed she fell asleep in Jake’s car on the way to school. His bright shining eyes woke her when they pulled into the parking lot at school.

“Hey babe, we’re here.”

She blinked at him and smiled, “I love you.” She sighed.

“Almost as much as I love you,” he grinned back and gave her a smooch. “Did you talk to your parents more about the summer?”

She groaned, “Can we talk about it later?”

He growled back a comment and swallowed it, then patted her leg, “Okay, but we are going out tonight. No more homebodying, ‘kay?”

Piper sighed, when the day was over, she just wanted to go home and curl up and watch TV or otherwise veg out. Normally, she’d love to hang out with people and laugh and gab, but it’d been a long couple of weeks.

She made it to class early still exhausted, even with the nap, but she psyched herself up. English was her jam.

Sadly, during the first essay question, she found her mind wandering. She wondered what the Nerterologist’s plan was. What was the final challenge? Was he going to try to make her fuck her dad? There was no way he would go for that. Daddy loved her. Would he give her a drug to give to Daddy that would make him do her? Would she be able to do it? God, no wait, she wouldn’t do that? Piper squeezed her eyes shut and blinked. What was she even thinking about. She looked back down to the paper, she’d completely forgotten the question.

Piper tried to keep going, but she was so out of it. She zoned out a few more times and tried to scribble out some ill-formed answers for partial credit. The bell rang and she hadn’t even gotten to the last question. She cursed herself but handed in the test anyway. She wouldn’t get an A but she had enough points to still see out a B if the teacher wasn’t too mean.

“I blew that,” she sighed.

“Yeah right, you always say that, then you always do awesome.” Devin bumped her shoulder.

She felt a wave of anger rise up threatening to lash out at her friend for not believing her, but Piper buried it and meekly shrugged looking down, “Yeah I guess...”

Sarah cut in, meeting up with them after class, “How’d you guys do? I totally killed the biology exam. I really feel like I did it. Oh my God this is so weird, I never rock science and I did, you don’t even know. I was all like studying...”

Sarah went on at length and Piper let her blather on. She was glad to finally be done. She took out her phone and checked to make sure, but there were no messages. For some reason, she felt so worn out by the test that even paying attention to Sarah was getting to be a chore.

“Uh, hello? Earth to Piper? God, am I so boring? Did someone post a pic of Beyonce’s baby bump on reddit? Let me see?” Sarah grabbed at her phone.

Piper locked the screen and clutched it close to her chest. She felt strange hiding things from her friends, but it wasn’t going to be for much longer. The day was almost over. A few more friends from the JV squad came by to chat and her circle grew large enough that she was able to hide in the crowd. Jake came behind her and wrapped her up in his loving arms. She sighed with a smile and leaned back against him. He chatted a little with the girls as the crowd of high school kids grew with more leaving their tests and heading to the parking lot and the bus loading zones.

Piper felt the buzzing of her phone in her hands and knew it was from Him. She turned around and Jake released her and she smiled and leaned up to smooch his cheek. He had his wonderful smile on full display. “Be right back,” she whispered and disappeared into the crush of bodies. He tried to reach back to her, but lost her in the sea of faces. He shook his head wondering how he’d lost her so quickly.

Piper hid in the restroom in a stall and checked the messages.

“Now, my pet, it is time for the last test. After this is done, if you pass, you will be rewarded with knowledge. The hidden face will be revealed and you will be free. Your young suitor is awaiting a response. Today you will let him know that you will not be with him campaigning. In addition, you will also break off all ties with him. Do it quickly, be ruthless to be merciful.”

Her heart pounded heavy and swollen in her chest. No. No this wasn’t right. Not Jake.

“It would be wise if you make certain that he has no more interest in you after today. Being gentle will not be sufficient to pass the test. If you fail, there will be the gravest of consequences.

Good luck, young novice. When you have succeeded, I will contact you for your reward.”

The dull roar of student voices continued in the background as she sat with fingers shaking. She couldn’t do it.

But what if she refused? He’d probably just send him the video he took of them in the theater. Or he could tell him about the party she’d had with Demora. Jake wouldn’t believe him. But what if Demora said something? But what if he had video of it? Could he? Or what if he just sent him all the selfies she’d taken with cheating slut, nymphomaniac, cocksucker, etc. He said gravest consequences, what if that meant he’d kill someone? Would he kill Jake? Would he kill her?

Her head was throbbing as she left the bathroom in a daze. Too many thoughts, too many pressures, too much emotion. The crowds had thinned out and Jake found her as she walked out to him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder claiming her as his and she hugged herself as sadness swirled.

On the way out to the car, she found her voice, “Jake?”

“Yeah babe, what’s up?”

She stopped at the passenger door, not opening it or going in, “Can we talk?”

He opened the door for her an her heart broke a little more, “Sure, is this about my Dad’s campaign?” She looked up at him and he was smiling from ear to ear. He continued, “I figured that was what your outfit was about. See, I notice stuff. You’re totally picture perfect for the campaign trail. Let me guess, is this your way of telling me you’re in? Cause I know it, I totally called it-”

She had to cut him off, his happiness was torment, “No, Jake. I can’t go with you.”

“What? Why not? Come on, give me one good reason why you can’t come with me. Come on, I’ll be miserable without you, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

She shook her head looking down. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t do it, but she also couldn’t handle the consequences if she didn’t. She needed this game to be over. She had to trust in Him. It would be over soon. Her phone buzzed.

“What are you doing? You’re seriously going to play some game on your phone while we’re talking?” Jake was getting irritated.

The message simply said, “Do it now.”

“I don’t want to,” she whispered.

“Don’t what to what?” Jake was staring at her as her hands fell to her sides. Her shoulder slumped again as she caved in.

Piper looked up at the love of her life. She forced a sneer onto her face, “I don’t want to go with you.”

He blinked, “What now?”

She steeled herself. She needed to do this. Not for her sake. After all, she was the cheater. He deserved better. She was tainted and he needed to be rid of her. “You, I don’t want to go on a campaign because I don’t want to go with you.”

“What? You’re kidding right?” he smiled in disbelief.

She had to make him see, “I mean, okay it’s not just you. Your dad is a grade A misogynistic homophobic bastard, so that sounds like a fun party to go to. I don’t even want to be seen with him, but if he was paying me maybe, I’d think about it. But then I have to hang around you.” She could see his anger boiling up. She pressed on, “You don’t ever listen to me, it’s always,” she dropped her voice as best she could to mock his voice, “Hey, babe. What’s up, babe? Go down on me in front of your friends, babe?”

“Hey that’s not f-” Jake tried to interrupt.

“Fair? Tell me about it. Or better yet, don’t. I’m sick of the braindead bro crap, I can’t believe I dated you for so long.”

“What the fuck is your damage, P?”

“Damage? You’re the one that got your mother’s brains and your dad’s looks. You should ask God for a refund, cause you got screwed from the word go.”

“Oh yeah?” She peeked at him long enough to see he was incensed, shocked, and hurt all at once.

“Fuckin’, when did you become such a mega beyotch?” He shook his head at her.

Her heart was shattering, word by word. She stared at him with all the hate she felt for herself, “Probably came from dating you.”

He slammed the door shut so hard it echoed against the frame of the car. “Fuckin, you can walk bitch.”

“Probably safer,” she snarked at him.

“Fuck you. Okay, just ... fuck you. Fucking crazy assed...” He kept muttering as he got in the car and slammed the door.

A crowd had gathered to watch the epic break-up. At least one person was recording it and she just knew that crap was going on YouTube. She strode back to the school struggling to keep her bitch face on. She had to get to a bathroom before she could start crying. Her head was pounding in pain and her nerves throbbed all over her body in electric pain. She burst into the bathroom and collapsed against the wall of one of the stalls and just started sobbing. Gone. Jake was gone. She was so fucking tired. She sobbed uselessly until she could breath.

Piper wished she’d brought the razorblade. She’d used it again this morning before the shower for no reason. Now she wanted to do it again, for no reason, just for relief. But the gosh darn thing was at home. She pressed her fingers along the wounds under her skirt hidden by a bandage. The pain bloomed faithfully. Moment by moment, she focused on the pain until her tears had stopped.

Piper forced herself up and out of the stall. A couple of the JV cheerleaders were there to console her. She couldn’t listen to their words. She looked at them with dead eyes, then back to the mirror. “I’m going home,” she said in generic answer to all their questions.

The sidewalk stretched out before her tunneling out as her head continued to ache. Her heart was crushed, but somehow still beat in her chest. Only one girl had stayed and kept walking with her. Tiffany. She was kind. A freshman. Just a kid. But wasn’t she?

Her phone buzzed.

There was another voice behind her, male, familiar. She pulled out her phone to check the message. It would be important.

“Piper!” A hand grasped her shoulder and spun her around.

She looked up, it was Duncan.

“Piper? Hey, wake up.”

She stared at him, lips parted eyes barely focused.

“Piper, what is wrong? You’re scaring ... well everybody.” Duncan hadn’t let go of her shoulder.

Tiffany nodded.

“I...” she trailed off. What could she say after all. “I have to go. Bye, Duncan.”