The Letter

Chapter Three: The Truth

During lunch, Winter's friends were happily chatting among themselves as she simply stayed quiet and ate the disgusting lunch room food. Today was some sort of cheaply made hamburger, no cheese, dry, and the salad she picked as a side was just as disgusting. It wasn't that she thought she was better deserved for their lunch choices, but the way this school ran was just not enough for her. Winter didn't want the grade A, five star meal every day, but she wished they would put a bit more effort in making sure that the students here would be well fed and not eating trash that belonged to the dump. 

Thinking about all that, Winter suddenly didn't feel like eating anymore. She pushed her tray away from her by a few inches so she could place her book in front of her. The book that she always carried around was her favorite Author, Edgar Allen Poe. It was a book about all his top short stories and the way they were so deep and dark, it spoke to her and she understood it. 

"Winter!" Quinn shouted, bringing her thoughts back and look up at her odd friend. 

"What?" Winter mumbled, 

"So, why don't we celebrate your birthday tomorrow here at the school? We could skip a class or two and just go walk around the town, maybe get some lunch or something." Quinn replied with a smile.

"That's a dumb idea, my father would know right away if I missed school and that's the last thing I need to hear him yell about." Winter looked back down at her book, trying to give some hint to them to dismiss the whole idea, however, Quinn wasn't ready to let it go so easily. 

"Come on, it would be fun. Besides, are you going to let your 'daddy' run everything for you all your life?" She grinned as she leaned in to her book loving friend. 

"No, it's not that." Winter grumbled, "You wouldn't understand." 

"Of course we would, you never tell us anything about yourself. It's been a few years now and you barely spoke anything about your life and your parents. I don't think we even met your parents." Davison said, now interested in the talk. 

"That's because I don't want you to meet them, can't we just drop it?" Winter was now getting annoyed. 

"Honestly, what are you hiding from us about them Winter? We already know that they are part of some gang. Everyone in this high school knows that." Quinn pushed. 

Winter slammed her hands on the table as she stood up, making her three friends wince at the noise and causing near by tables to go silent. It even caught the attention of her rival, looking towards her with that side glance of his and emotionless expressions. 

"I don't want to talk about them. They don't control me. And they aren't in a secret gang, okay? They own an entire multiple gangs, they are a mafia and they want me to be the president of said mafia one day. Is that what you want to hear? That one day I might be at your front door with a gun and pull the trigger?" 

The three friends that sat in front of her slightly shrunk back in their seats. They never saw Winter this upset before and let alone actually flipping a lid towards them. Davison wasn't going to admit it, but she did scare him just a tad bit more than anyone else he had met in the past. Especially after the big secret that she just spilled in front of, not just them, but a few people around the area. Winter took notice of the attention and clicked her tongue with distaste. The one thing she had always hated growing up was being the center of attention and right now, almost everyone had their eyes glued to her, wondering what she was going to say or do next. Even though Winter wished she could tell them to mind their own business, rumors were going to spread either way and cause trouble for her. With her eyes shut tightly to try and block the upcoming tears threatening to show, she snatched up her book and walked out of the lunch room with swiftness.