Rosewood School for Boys

Chapter 21 - Chase

Thank you so much for all of your support! Sorry this one took so long but the next one will be along soon. Special thanks to  AssassinousWriter for being here since the beginning and  quinnw18901 for your encouragement. It's what convinces me to keep writing! Hope you all enjoy this one, it's finally heating up a bit

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Jess and I manage to sneak half an hour of uninterrupted time before Ace tracks me down. His eyes rove my appearance, and he tries to disguise his shock.

"Wow, Liss. That dress looks...good, on you."

After saying hi to me he hugs Jess, they had known each other for years, through Carter, and she's close with all of the boys.

"Ace, stop running off." a deep voice catches my attention and Ace's. He almost jumps out of his skin, immediately standing up straighter and fixing his slightly creased shirt.

The couple standing behind him are impeccably dressed, the man in a tux and the woman in an expensive-looking peach silk gown. They're older, maybe forty or fifty, and the man has a few streaks of silver running through his perfectly styled black hair. On the left of the man is a girl our age, she's platinum blonde, clutching a designer bag as though someone might steal it at any moment. She struts over to Ace and grabs firmly onto his arm.

"There you are Ace, I was starting to think you were hiding from me." She simpers, lips full of filler stretched tight in a saccharine smile. I'm taken aback, is she his girlfriend? A dark thread of jealousy winds its way through me and I attempt to crush it down.

"Mom, Dad, Amber." Ace says, "This is Amaryllis."

Ace's dad looks at me with a vague sense of disdain, as though I've done something wrong but he's too polite to say anything.

"Lovely to meet you both." I say, holding my hand out for him to shake. He doesn't take it, choosing instead to wrap an arm around the shoulders of his wife. She's thin and tall, light brown hair tied up in an elegant twist, she watches her husband with an absent smile, not appearing to engage in the conversation.

He clears his throat, looking at Ace pointedly. Ace's tense smile becomes even more forced, and it feels like when you walk into a conversation and they stop talking because you were the topic. I ignore the feeling; I'm probably imagining it.

At last Mr Holloway breaks the awkward silence. "I've heard lots about you Amaryllis, everyone here is very interested in your story."

A cold tendril of dread crawls up my spine, "What story?" I force out.

He raises a pitch-black eyebrow with a slightly condescending sneer.

"How you came to be enrolled in a famous boy's school, of course."

I breathe a sigh of relief, "Of course, that story."

He smiled coldly, baring straight white teeth. "Ace, why don't you go with Jessica and Amber and go fetch us all a drink."

Ace started to speak but his father waved him away with a dismissive hand. He snapped his mouth closed, tension twitching in his jaw, but obeyed. Amber forcefully linked her arm through his possessively and pulled him away. Jess followed him, but not without shooting a glare in Mr Holloway's direction.

I'm left standing alone with Ace's parents. Mr Holloway takes a step closer, letting go of his wife. He looms over me like an icy mountain, blocking out the light.

"Look, Amaryllis, let me make one thing very clear." He muttered. "I don't care how you got into Rosewood, I don't care if Ace likes you. You will stay away from my son or so help me god- my wrath will come down on you so hard you'll be glad to go back to whatever hole you crawled out of."

My heart was pounding in my chest, my breath coming in short gasps that made me lightheaded. Fear coursed my veins like a poison, rendering me frozen.

"Do you understand me?" He growled.

I nodded, praying he would leave me alone.

He leaned back, "Good."

His wife took his arm again, and they disappeared into the crowd. My gaze darted around the room, searching for Noah, or Jess, or anyone, but the wall of people prevented me from seeing anything, even in heels. I hurried in a random direction, hoping to find someone, or at least a bathroom where I could gather my thoughts.

Then I hear something that makes me stop in my tracks. No, not something, someone. I might have forgotten his face, and his name, but that voice haunts my dreams every night.

"Amaryllis" he says.

I run. I don't even stop to turn around. My heart is beating so loudly that the sound fills my ears like the pounding of battle drums. I weave and shove through the crowds of people, ignoring the stares. My only focus is on escaping. I won't let him touch me again, I can't. I reach the edge of the room and dive into a dark hallway. Unobstructed I'm moving faster now, feet striking the floor loudly in my heels. My breath comes in short pants, fear constricting my airways like a snake wrapped around my throat.

The footsteps behind me are getting closer. The hallway is now almost pitch black and my hands are stretched out before me to scout for foreign objects.

This is what he loves, the hunt. He gets off on the thrill of the chase, the thrill of hurting those weaker than him. In his mind he was the lion, the king of the jungle. Everything he wanted, he got. His over-inflated ego, combined with his powerful narcissism formed a divider between his desires and any form of rational thought or moral. I was his desire, a little mouse for him to chase, to hunt, with no care for how much pain I was in other than how much pleasure it caused him.

Suddenly I slip, the shining marble tiles providing no grip for my shoes. I crash down on the floor, pain radiating through my knees and elbows. I scrabble up again, but an arm encircles my neck, holding me in an iron-wrought chokehold.

I strain for air, my lungs still depleted from my sprint, but the grip doesn't loosen.

"Long time no see little mouse, I've missed you."

It feels like my heart is going to beat out of my chest, every fibre of my being screaming for air.

Then I pass out.