The Skylar Experiment : Dead Ending (second draft)

Chapter Thirty - Devin The Devil

RILEY

SURPRISINGLY, LAUREN WAS STILL around next week, but also just as closed-off. The halls in the school turned into this staring contest between her and anybody mired in the ordeal. I'd watched Devin stomp on her pride and try to address her yesterday. Lauren whizzed past her indifferently like they've never known each other, as if their history was burned to ashes. Needless to say, Devin's mood was sour throughout the remaining hours, and we all suffered from the consequences, especially me.

"Don't give me that look," she shot in the cafeteria, and I thought she'd spear her fork at my face.

I wasn't sure if I'd been giving her any specific look to begin with, but I stared away during the whole period after that. The general mood was a reflection of the instance, a mood of defeat and ineptitude. I continued to walk past the boys' lockers with a thorny ball of guilt in my gut, and it was difficult to confront Sam and Jen in the classes I shared with them. 

The teensy bit of joy I'd gain was from seeing Miles' face bleach in Lauren's path. Maybe I imagined it, but I thought I briefly noticed her give him a mirth as she passed near.

The vehicle omens have disappeared from the townscape. I hadn't come across a single dark van prowling in the streets, not even on my way to the groceries. For a few days, we breathed a sigh of relief. It was a small victory, one we intended to relish while we could. But one Friday morning, before it was time to head inside the school for the start of class, we spotted a lurker again.

Luc released a string of curses, looking ready to break something.

"These people are worse than flies around a giant turd," he said and cracked his knuckles.

Ben winced at the analogy. "Look, at this point, there's probably nothing we can do about it, at least not here."

Devin hopped down from her bench, a deadly spark in her eyes. She stepped forward over the glazed layer of snow and pocketed out a set of bronze keys that flashed in the sunlight.

"We'll see about that."

"Hey—" Luc intoned, a warning vibration in his voice. "Don't..."

"Don't what!?" She pivoted around to face all three of us and threw her arms up. "What are you going to do? Force me to stay here and accept that they're openly spying on us—probably laughing from the inside of their van? I've had it with their overbearing presence!"

Luc shook his head vehemently, his stare flicking back to the vehicle as an onslaught of students cut across the field. They skittered over the stratum of ice, and several of them almost slipped flat on their rears. But he didn't pay attention to that, didn't even grin as it usually made him grin.

"You'll get in trouble. That's all it'll do, Devin. It's not like I haven't tried."

"You haven't tried what I'm going to do," she snapped, and beelined towards the parking lot before any one of us could object.

Ben made a distraught sound from the back of his throat, nearly hurling over to stop her, but Luc was able to retain him by a hair.

"Wait. Let's see what she has in mind. We're still in public and there's nothing they can do."

I fidgeted on my bench and held my breath as the scene unfolded before us. Devin casually ambled towards the parking lot, opposing the flow of the students with stiff shoulders. Her pace was steady, eyes calculating. I imagined that the men within the car were seeing her coming by now, and yet they haven't manifested themselves.