Read Lovely Vicious for Free Online

Who’s ‘she’? And is she somehow holding Jack back from going off to college?
    It’s a huge mystery I obviously don’t have time for. I ferret the information away in my brain in case I need some really heavy-duty ammunition against Jack in the days to come, but I leave it at that. I have to plot to take this guy down, not get all weirdly concerned over his future. Unless said future involves me strangling him. Then that’s fine and I should probably concern myself with that in order to make absolute sure it gets locked down on the permanent dimensional timeline.
    And how the hell did he find out Nameless’ name, anyway? It’s not like I’m in the newspapers back in Florida – that’s really private, sensitive, and particular information. And if Jack somehow found out Nameless’ name, is he capable of finding out what happened between Nameless and I?
    I quickly scribble down a battle plan on the back of my hand with ballpoint pen;
    1. Assess the threat
    2. Pinpoint weaknesses
    3. Exploit said weaknesses
    4. Win
    “Isis?” Mrs. Gregory snaps. “Are you paying attention to the problem on the board?”
    “Seventy-two,” I say, and get out of my chair to sit beneath my desk.
    “Excuse me?”
    “The answer,” I call from underneath the wood. “Seventy-two.”
    She looks startled, but quickly takes in the board and scribbles on a loose sheaf she thinks I can’t see. The whole class is staring at me with bated breath, wondering what the hell is going on. Mrs. Gregory finally looks up.
    “Correct. But why are you sitting –”
    The bell rings then, shrill and in short bursts. Mrs. Gregory tells everyone to get under their desks and remain calm. Her bug-eyed face is anything but calm. The lockdown lasts for four or so tense minutes in which I pick the black polish off my nails while everyone debates whether it’s a shooting or a drug raid. Mrs. Gregory crawls over to me and frowns.
    “Isis, how did you know there was going to be a lockdown? Are you…” she lowers her voice and leans in. “ Involved with shady characters? It’s okay to talk to me, you know. I can convince the police you didn’t mean any harm. There are programs for students like you - ”
    “I saw the kid who likes knives too much run across the quad in his underwear with a plastic one.”
    She looks understandably shocked. Principal Evans gets on the PA and announces it’s safe. On my way to the parking lot I pass the open Principal’s door, where knife kid sits in a chair, surrounded by three cops arguing what to do with him. I flash him a thumbs up, and he makes scissors with two fingers and drags them across his throat in a jovial greeting, but it doesn’t faze me. I’m still in a daze.
    I got kissed.
    The one thing I never thought would happen to me, happened.

-3-
    3 Years
    10 Weeks
    1 Day
     
    I quickly find out two things about East Summit High;
    1. Avery might be the most popular, but Kayla is widely regarded as the prettiest.
    2. Every boy in school has had at least five wet dreams about her.
    This means that Kayla didn’t have to earn her popularity by groveling to Avery like everybody else. She simply showed up, grew a pair of fabulous knockers and had a face to die for, and Avery recruited her into her friend group solely based on how pretty she is, and how spineless. And I say that with the utmost respect. Kayla is, comparatively, spineless. But she isn’t stupid. This means that Kayla might actually like being popular, or she might actually like Avery. I’m willing to bet it’s the first more than the second, because who honestly likes contract slavery other than two-hundred-year-old racists and the raunchy BDSM crowd? No one.
    Kayla invites me over to consume cookies and interpret the giant stack of World History homework she can’t quite seem to grasp, which is understandable – grasping the true glory of Genghis Khan is a little difficult to do when he’s not here himself, shooting fletched arrows into your