Chapter 83

***Dayle***

~
Yes.
Damn.
Fuck.
I'm as good as fucked up right now, Egan is on his way here to meet with me, Steve as well.

Flashback starts:
06:55 am,
I scurry into the building, and Egan falls into step beside me. He has been waiting for my arrival since before now.
“What's up, bro?” he hollers at me as we hastenly shake hands. “Met Cisco yet?”
“Still early so we can buy some time at the library area. It's safer!” I explain to him calmly. I mean, I lack the energy to talk much since I'm not sure what would become of us later today. Steve wouldn't return our calls—my calls and text messages.
“Right! But do you think that Steve would leak the lists?” asks Egan with fright in his tone. I can sense how worried he is just as I am but then he he thinks I'm less bothered.
“You should know by now—he’s going to leak the lists and there's nothing we can do!” I add. Silence floods in between us until we stop at the library area. I start looking around to at least catch a glimpse of Cisco. He better not ditch this meeting after getting credited with $7,000. That's a lot of money for him to request from us but it's all right—we have no choice.
We wait for an additional five minutes but we don't see him. Egan stares at me before his cell phone, alerting me of the time. We have a prefects’ meeting.
When we turn to leave our eyes fall on Cisco. He's approaching our direction dressed in black straight pants, and shoes but white sleeves, he's topping it with a black jacket. He looks like a spy. I won't be surprised that he is.
“Thought that I'd never come through?” he asks with 10% cockiness in his tone. “Well, I'm not a snitch like some of you!” he adds. Now this is beginning to sound somehow. I know that he's referring to Egan. Egan looks away pursing his in shame.
“Cisco, c’mon!” I snap. “What do we have? You did get your 7,000 grands in full. Happy?”
“Fair!” he snaps. “My daughter and I might just... just do a shopping spree much later!”
“Good for you!” I snap, why is he being unnecessarily sarcastic?
“Check your phones, find the video!” he instructs. We do as he tells us, there's no video. It's been TAKEN DOWN. Thank fuck. We stare at him with our faces loosening with smiles. “I keep to my word. But hey, this is the last time I'm going to do any of these things for you bratty kids—I intend to resign after your graduation and I hope to do that in fucking peace. That's how you'll both pay me. Deal?” he asks with firmness in his tone.
“Deal.” Egan and I say in unison.
“Thanks, man!” Egan adds
“Bless up! Maybe some drinks after everything?” I inquire.
“I'll think about that, kiddo! Y'all better get going. It's not that safe!” he adds cajoling us to take our leave. We head out of the area immediately.
“I don't know what I would have done without you, Dayle, I should have been a better friend to you—”
“Fuck, Egan, we talked about this already. Let's head off before he does!” I remind him. If Steve gets there before us then we can't be assured of anything but if we get there before he does then we could speak with him about the video that has been taken down.
We reach the hall we use for meetings but then something feels off about the way they are staring at Egan and me.
“What's up, Senior prefect?!” Cindy says with a suspicious tone. I force a smile. They all smile weirdly at me. I stand in front to start the discussion but I'm not comfortable with the awkward silence.
“Prom’l and graduation are coming soon! It's the time of the year where we—”
“Where we fucking know the real piece of shit that you're made of!” Amber adds angrily. Now I know that it has done down, we are fucking exposed. I rub my eyes out of frustration. “Keep talking!”
“No Amber, he can't fucking talk can't you see?” Shauna says rolling her eyes. “How innocent he looks right now but he's nothing but a fraud!” she adds.
“Girls, we are—”
“No, you're gonna get fucking expelled by the end of today!” Shauna scowls at me angrily. Amber walks over to me and throws soap to my face, it's almost like she's venting to me without needing to speak.
“We’ve only been a part of your game—I can’t believe that you're such a fraud! You played us all, didn't you?” she adds under her breath before leaving the hall entirely.
The other girls head out of the hall passing death stares at me Egan—especially me since this set of girls is part of the list.
Guilt encumbers my whole body—I hate times when I have to be speechless. Fuck! If I had imagined that this list would be an entire wreck then I wouldn't have tried it but then it was pure fun and it got leaked simply because Steve went fucking wild. He's gonna pay for this. I didn't wish to be ruined in the first place. Someone runs in my direction only to punch me in the face twice and once on my belly. I crouch a bit before gaining composure. That is when I realized that Ken fucking Salazar came at me. Yeah, for Chrissy’s sake. I can't revenge because I'm wrong anyway.
“You fucking had the guts to fucking include her in her damned list? What did she ever do you? What's her crime, Dayle? You're nothing but a cheap dirty asshole who thinks of nothing but how to fuck and eat p**sies!” she cusses at me. That's unforgivable to say to me but I’ll pass. “I'm not done yet!” he's raging, he's ready to go physical but no one is holding him back or partaking in the fight. He sprints off angrily like someone who has lost a lotto. Egan signals with his eyes to know if I'm okay and I lightly nod—it’s an almost invisible nod.
When the hall almost empties, Terry and Jamil start walking past us.
“Terry? Jamil? It’s not what you think?!” I tell them but they fall on deaf ears. They exit as well. The silence is unbearable. Literary everyone thinks that you are a traitor but in the reality of things, I'm a traitor—the Playerz are. We got what we deserved.
Flashback ends:

I didn't partake in the preparations, no one wants to look in my direction or rather say a word to me. I'm not the only one in this mess but it feels like I'm the only one regardless. I see Egan walling towards where I’m standing but Steve isn't there. I'll fucking make it a mission to beat his ass up before leaving school for the rest of the day.
“He's not coming?” I ask Egan and he nods. “That fucking piece of shit? No man, I'll have to see him.” I start walking off but Egan grabs my arm to halt
“Dude, you're not going to make sense if you met him anyway. Let's just accept it, We messed up and everyone knows the shot we are made of,” he says to me reasonably. I get his point but not until I tell Steve the piece of my mind. I chuckle forcefully taking off my arm from his grip.
“No dude, he can't have this one lightly. We fucking spent 7,000 brands for his sake just to cool that asshole down and this is all we get in return? We deserve something better. I could've bought some pairs of Nikes if I was sure about the 5% chance we had.” I blurt out angrily while remaining silent.
“I said it before—we could have just... stopped!”
“It's no longer a secret, is it? I'm gonna see his ass right now!” I walked off hastenly.

**
I catch a glimpse of Steve at the parking space, he's about to leave school. Great. Perfect timing. I scurried towards him fisting, The first thing I did was punch his face, he crouched to the side because I came at him unexpectedly. I add another when he tries to stand still.
“Fhhhuccckkkggg!”
“You’re a fucking dichead. I thought that Egan was a snitch but you, Steve, you're the bigger one!” I tell him angrily.
“You’re the biggest, don't forget!” he snaps to my face digging his index into my chest. I push his hand away.
“Did you know the extreme we went to save your ass? Morgan could've known your shit—we had Cisco sorted out...” I tell him and he stares at me with slight shock. “What were you thinking would happen? Huh? That Hemsville would just take it off for your bloody ass? Dickhead!” I turn away
“Well... Well, I never asked you to do it. What I did just gas to happen, okay? What's the point of lying—”
“You sound like a moron right now,” I jerk by the neck but he grapples pushing me away.
“Fuck you, Dayle, fuck you!” he yells at me. “Stop acting like you've been the one hurt, We. All. Are. Someone had to say something, someone had to gather the balls—”
“What fucking balls?” I yell. “You were only selfish to have leaked the video ‘cause you thought we did nothing to support, right? You are the coward and you know that. If we could risk that much to save your dirty ass then what would you have done if you had the fucking chance?” I ask but silence erodes. “Right. Fucking nothing. You'd do nothing to help the situation. If you think that you're the only one who has lost everything then you must start sucking on my dick because you're not the one!” I say to him before heading to my car. He's standing with an expressionless face. He has nothing to say and so do I.