Page 29 of Make Her Break

He bobs his head, backing away. “Got it. Totally. Yeah. Okay.”

He mumbles something that might be sorry, and then he jogs toward the far doors without a glance back. Funny. But he’s clearly not a threat, and he’ll be too scared to interact with Veronica too much.

Good. But I don’t like any of this. Girls always come to me, and I’m chasing after one and even scaring off potential competition. It’s all for Elsie, though. Right?

Fuck. I rake my hand through my hair. Veronica is messing with my mind when I should be messing with hers, but I’ll get myself... and her... under control.

Chapter 20

VERONICA

I HURRY TO THE LIBRARY because I want to find something about the society. Anything at all. Yearbooks aren’t the only old records around here, and a secret society isn’t going to leave any obvious signs of its existence. Still, it’s been part of Blackerville basically forever, so there has to be a trace of it somewhere, even a tiny one buried somewhere.

It’s been over a week since the last box showed up on my bed, and I still don’t know how they get into my room just like that, but I doubt Blackerville would let me change the lock. So every time I come to my room, I wonder what I’ll find or if someone’s been going through my stuff.

What still bugs me the most is the why. Why me? The society claims there’s some connection, but I still have no confirmation of that. I pull a stack of the college’s old bulletins toward me and start flipping through them. Founders’ notes, donor lists, endless announcements about stuff that doesn’t even exist anymore...

The problem is that I don’t even know what I’m looking for. It’s obviously not going to say secret society, so I’m hoping for something weird instead, like a name that shows up way too often, or maybe some group that existed and then just vanished from the records with no explanation at all.

I start with the oldest bulletins, since if the society’s been here for a very long time, then whatever I’m after is probably buried in the earliest ones. Most of the pages are so faded I have to hold them up to the light to read anything, and the print is tiny while the language is all stiff and old-fashioned. I should be studying rather than wasting my time on this, but I can’t help it.

But as the time passes, I realize I’ve got nothing. There’s a lot about old fundraisers and events, but nothing about any groups. Maybe I’m an idiot, and there’s really nothing to find. The society could’ve always been secret from the start, or they could’ve erased all mentions.

As I reach for another bulletin, someone stops at the edge of my table. I glance up, and Jayden grins at me.

“Hey,” he says, taking the chair across from me. “I figured I’d find you here.”

For a moment, I just look at him, wondering how much to say. I could tell him it’s only homework, but then again, what do I actually have to lose? He’s already in this society mess as deep as I am, and he’s the only person I can talk to about any of it.

And I like him, which is a different problem I’d rather not think about right now, because whatever happened between us was a one-time thing and I’ve decided it stays that way. It was just physical attraction, and that’s all. He’s hot, and I got carried away. But he does seem to like me back, or at least he acts like it, so I doubt he’ll laugh in my face if I tell him.

“I’m looking for any clues about the society,” I say, keeping my voice down. “Anything about them. Where they came from, who’s involved, why they picked me... There has to be something in the old records.”

Jayden shakes his head. “There’s nothing. Trust me, I’ve thought about doing this too, and it’s pointless. You won’t find anything.”

“How can you be so sure?” I frown at him. “Have you even checked?”

“It’s a secret society,” he simply says. “The whole point is that there’s nothing to find. If people could just find it in a library, it wouldn’t stay secret for long, would it?”

“Yeah, I get that,” I say, “but, come on, there are always clues. No one’s perfect at hiding things, and sure, they’re not going to stamp secret society across the top of a page, but people leave traces anyway. A weird donation, a strange name, or whatever... If they’ve been here for so long, there has to be something, even if it’s not obvious.”

He studies me for a long moment, and then a grin tugs at the corner of his mouth. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

“What?” I blink at him.

He pulls a couple of bulletins off my stack and spreads them out in front of him. “We can get through it faster together, and I want to know more about them too. It’s not like I’ve got a better plan for figuring out what they actually want from us.”

I watch him flip a page, and an idea springs into my mind. “Wait. Would you actually join them? If it came to that?”

“Maybe,” he says. “If the benefits were good enough, then yeah, I’d think about it.”

I scrunch my nose at that. “But secret societies are so stupid. It’s a bunch of people who think they’re better than everyone else, sneaking around in masks and playing pretend, and there’s always something shady going on underneath it all. Like, always. You saw how they messed with our roommates just to get to us. Why would you want to be part of that?”

His gaze is trained on mine. “But think about it. Not joining could seriously affect your future, even your career. People who say no to these people don’t exactly go on to have an easy time in life.”

“What?” I raise an eyebrow at him. “How would a college group, secret or not, have that much power over anyone’s actual career? We’re talking about students in robes, not, like, the government. Aren’t they just lying about that to get members? And fine, maybe some do get benefits, but maybe if they know the right members and their identities. I mean, everyone wears a mask, but clearly, they let you know some members, but not all. You and I obviously won’t have the same career path, so...”

Jayden just shrugs and focuses back on his bulletin, so I guess he doesn’t have a real answer for that, or he does, but he won’t say.