Chapter 4

A crowd had gathered in a circle. Their faces wore that familiar, quiet malice.

The moment they saw me walking over, they scattered.

I walked up, knelt down, and started gathering my ruined things off the floor.

Someone had slashed a massive, violent red cross right across my report card, scrawling a single insult underneath.

[Cheater.]

I tried to smooth the paper flat against my palm, clutching it tightly to my chest.

The red marker wouldn't fade.

The ugly word wouldn't disappear.

It didn't matter.

I didn't need to care what they thought.

The next morning, those same boys dumped black ink and a dead mouse inside my backpack.

Everything was soaked and stained. The entire bag was ruined.

I went to my homeroom teacher.

She took one look at me and let out a heavy, patronizing sigh.

"Leo's family is well-connected, and his father is a major donor. He's just a spirited boy.

"He didn't mean anything by it. I'll have a word with him."

I walked back to the classroom and set the ruined backpack quietly on my desk.

Someone whispered from behind me, "Hey... are you okay?"

Before I could answer, Leo Gilbert's loud, mocking voice echoed across the room. "Why wouldn't she be? She's just a stray nobody wants."

"Did you guys know? Her own parents abandoned her. They only wanted her little sister.

"A girl like this probably sits at home all day imagining she's some hot-shot lawyer who's going to sue the world.

“What do you call that? Too much trashy television!"

My fingers dug into the straps of my ruined backpack.

The whole classroom erupted in cruel, echoing laughter.

I sat frozen in my seat, letting the clauses of the law loop through my head.

I recited them forward, then backward, waiting until the final dismissal bell rang before I slowly packed up and walked home.

By the time I reached the apartment, night had already fallen.

The zipper of my backpack was gummed shut with dried ink. I tried prying it open, but it wouldn't budge.

I sat on the edge of the sofa, hugging the ruined bag to my chest, staring blankly into space.

That was when Drake showed up with dinner.

He stopped by two or three times a week, always lugging hot food and fresh fruit.

Sometimes he didn't bring anything at all. He'd just sit quietly on the couch, watching me work through my homework.

When he saw the state of the backpack in my arms, his expression shifted. The air in the room went cold.

"Who did this?"

I didn't answer right away. I wasn't sure if Drake would actually help me.

He was good to me, paying my tuition and keeping a roof over my head, but those favors had conditions.

He kept me around because I was useful.

If I started bringing him unnecessary trouble, what would he do?

I didn't dare roll the dice on the answer.

"Counselor, listen to me," Drake said, his voice hard. "You aren't alone anymore. If someone pushes you around, you tell me."

"Drake... Do you hit people?"

He blinked, caught off guard.

"Yeah."

"Do you hit kids?"

He paused again, a slow, dangerous grin spreading across his mouth.

"Kids? Little punk, I only hit spoiled kids."

"Drake, they're teenagers."

"So what? Anyone who messes with you pays the price."

I thought about it for a second, then decided to tell the truth.

"It was Leo Gilbert. His dad is on the school board. The teachers said I can't touch him."

Drake stood up, pulled out his phone, and swiped through a few contacts.

"Leo's old man," he muttered, reading a name off the screen. "Arthur Gilbert. He owes us two hundred and thirty thousand in overdue supply payments.

“We were planning to squeeze him next month anyway."

He slipped his phone back into his pocket and looked down at me.

"Counselor, how do you want to handle this?"

The next morning, I didn't go to school.

It wasn't because I was scared of Leo.

Drake's firm had a stack of commercial contracts that needed reviewing, and since Drake couldn't make heads or tails of the legal jargon, I had to go down and vet them.

Leo had no idea. He assumed I was too terrified to show my face.

During the morning break, he swaggered up to the podium and announced to the whole class, "That stray didn't show up today. Must've run home crying.

"Honestly, I can't stand kids who don't know their place. Scoring first on a fluke and acting like royalty."

The class laughed along with him.

A few girls muttered under their breath, "Hey, stop it. You're going too far. She's actually kind of pitiful."

That only made Leo puff out his chest.

"Pitiful? Her own parents dumped her for a reason. There's obviously something wrong with her. She's just a piece of…"

Before he could finish, the classroom door was violently kicked open.

A heavy wooden crash echoed through the room.

Drake stood in the doorway, wearing a tight black t-shirt that showed off the fierce dragon tattoo creeping across his muscular arm.

Right behind him, Hanks and Ash stepped in, shoulder-to-shoulder, grinning lazily at the terrified faces inside.

"I heard," Drake said, cracking his knuckles, "somebody's been picking on our chief advisor?”