The Rhodes Method

seven

We wouldn't be seen dead here in the day yeah
I guess you're lucky that it's dark now
And if I like it then we'll stay
--- White Teeth Teens, Lorde

OCTAVIA RHODES

On Wednesday I am forced to return to school again as my suspension is over.

Vince drives me to school. He gives me a stern lecture that I could have avoided if I had just agreed to ride with Logan. I had thought the awkwardness with my second oldest brother would be worse than a drive with Vince, but I am only proving wrong yet again.

Damien was not an option because he disappears every morning before I wake up, and comes home late after dinner. My two oldest brothers do not think anything of it. I've been giving Damien the silent treatment, but this doesn't work when he doesn't notice I'm giving it to him in the first place.

Vince instructs me, "Don't skip any classes. I don't want to deal with more shit from your principal."

"Fine," I always agree.

Vince glances at me from the corner of his eye. "Pay attention in class, so you can raise your grades. Remember that agreement we have?"

"I do," I mutter.

"Good." Vince nods slowly. He arrives in front of the school, and he turns off the engine. "Call me if you feel sick again."

"I will."

Vince lets out a deep exhale. "Myles told me something was wrong, and I'm noticing it with the curt responses. Is everything okay?" he asks, gruffly.

I want to tell him. Everything. I want to tell Vince about how I miss our father, and how I wish everything could go back to the way it was. I want to tell him about the body in the lake, and how Damien is acting strange and won't tell anyone, even though someone has died, and drowned themselves, and that's not a fact to just ignore. I also want to tell him about Damien's friends, and the sketchy envelope, and the boy called Mason that Damien has mentioned once.

I don't.

"I'm fine," I tell him.

"You'd tell one of us if something wasn't, right?" Vince questions me. "Damien. Or Myles."

I blink, and then I hold my breath. Vince wants me to tell Myles. He wants me to confess to my snitching brother everything on my mind because he knows for a fact that I will not be telling him.

Myles made me promise not to tell Vince that I knew about the arrangement. I agreed with him on one condition: he owed me a favour. I'm not sure why Myles told me about the agreement in the first place. I guess it's because we're not the type of siblings to snitch, and deep inside of him, he has a guilty conscious.

"I'll tell Myles," I say slowly, observing my oldest brother's reactions. Vince's hard face softens slightly, and his shoulders do not tense as they did before.

This only confirms my suspicions.

Who would have known – I'm smart when I use my head and think things through. Vince thinks I'm an idiot and won't realise. I'll figure out what they're hiding.

A deep suspicion of mine is that it involves my father. I do not want to make any incorrect guesses, so I do not confirm these feelings.

I grab my backpack from the boot and wave at Vince before I head into school.