Coven's P.O.V

"Fucking shit." I stumbled through rose bushes, their thorns scraping my legs through my jeans. As I made my way to the blackberry bushes, a head of blonde hair bumped into me.

"Watch where you're going you hooker," Verity hissed.

I glared at her. "I just went through probably one of the most painful experiences of a lifetime, don't fucking 'watch where you're going' me."

"Well that's on you," she retorted. She got up, brushing away leaves from her grey, plaid shirt. "You're the idiot who waltzed through the rose bushes. Mind you, if you just walked past that oak tree, you wouldn't have had a scratch left on your 13-year old body." She pointed to a big oak tree that was partially blocked by an array of smaller trees.

"I don't have the body of a 13-year old." I lunged at her, but she backed into a birch tree and I stumbled. "You're chest is flatter than Kansas, so don't even talk about my body."

"What the hell are you guys doing?" I looked up, to meet an angered Wednesday Cho. 

"It's not my fault he's incompetent," Verity sneered. "He's not the most subtle person."

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm not in Level A, but I do know one thing, and that is you're a Grade A bitch." I lunged for her again, but Wednesday threw a stick at me, causing me to topple backwards.

"Will you guys stop fighting," she said, obviously exasperated. "We're supposed to be a team."

"Be a team," Verity scoffed. "Coven Navarro is so reckless that he'll drag all of us down like quicksand. He's loud and arrogant and we're all going to be thrown in jail if he even puts one foot out of place."

"Verity-" Wednesday interrupted.

"You know what I'm risking, Wednesday Cho?" She took three deep, heavy breaths. "My scholarship, my family name, my reputation-"

"Does it matter?" Wednesday said, her voice getting louder by the second. "Does any of that matter in the end? Because there are people out here, in this very town, that are facing injustice every single second, and we're helping to expose all of it because nobody else will. And your main problem is you risking the Engel family name."

It was quiet, and I stood there awkwardly, trying to slip away. I almost made it to the rose bushes I originally emerged from, but then Verity spoke.

"Yes," she said, barely even above a whisper. I could still hear it though. "It does matter."

I stopped walking, and Wednesday looked like she stopped breathing. 

Verity turned around, walking back to the big oak tree. I glanced at Wednesday, who was just standing there, looking at Verity's long, blonde hair in the distance. She stood there, but she didn't call out for her or run after her, she just waited. As if she thought Verity was going to come running back.

I looked at Verity, who was now getting smaller in the distance, wondering if she would come back as well. She didn't.

~

I sat on my bed, staring up at my ceiling once again replaying everything that just happened. Wednesday called everything off once she came to the realization that Verity wasn't going to come running back, crying.

How could Wednesday not see it? I knew Verity wasn't loyal from the start, always acting as if she was better than everyone else. 

The Engels basically owned the south side of Kansas. Verity Engel was a privileged bitch who cared for nothing more than herself from the start. How did the obvious signs get past everyone in the group? 

She always wore Louis Vuitton and a bunch of other designer brands, that I honestly had no care for. She was in Level A, even though everyone else in the group was in Level D. She would've ditched us if we were in any sort of trouble. And as much as I despise the people in this group, they all had their redeeming qualities and I wouldn't mind calling them acquaintances.

~

The next day, I hesitated when I was about to open the doors to the library. I debated ideas in my head for a while, but I turned around and started for the court area.

Sitting down next to Smiley who wasn't looking very smiley today, I opened my bag and fished out an apple. 

The table was mostly silent. Juniper was twirling her hair and looking up at the sky blankly. Kenric had his head in his hand and Smiley was just tapping his fingers on his water bottle. Wednesday's eyes were slightly puffy, and she kept sniffling as she stared into her container of honey walnut shrimp.

"Here," a small voice whispered to me. I looked at Smiley who was pushing his lunch to me. "I don't feel very hungry today." 

I opened his thermos to find chicken and dumplings in some type of soup with some peas and carrots. The container he pushed to me had banana pudding in it and his water bottle was filled to the brim with peach iced tea.

I slowly ate the meal, not denying free food. Wednesday's hand was shaking as she lifted a shrimp to her mouth, but her chopsticks accidentally let the shrimp slip. She sighed in defeat, and stored her lunch away in her backpack. 

I watched as she left running to the girls' bathroom. Kenric looked at her longingly and bit his lip.

I felt kind of bad for feasting on the banana pudding during this sad time, but  I couldn't help but eat the delicious dessert. 

Juniper's fists were clenched, and her eyes were narrowed. I followed her glare and my eyes landed on a familiar head of blonde hair.

Verity Engel was sitting in all her glory in the shade of a willow tree, surrounded by a bunch of other Level A students. They clamored around her like she was royalty, laughing at the jokes she was telling them.

"She left us yesterday, and she already has a back-up plan," Juniper grumbled, pounding her fist into the table. "What a bitch."

"She'll come back though, right?" Smiley asked quietly. His eyes were still glued on her. She was laughing loudly at a girl with bright red hair's joke.

"Who cares if she comes back?" Juniper said, her eyes still narrowing. "She's nothing to us, she can't come running back like she did last time. I'm not welcoming her back with open arms. Wednesday was too naive to see that she was a filthy traitor from the start." 

Kenric glanced up, looking us all in the eye. "I don't care about her either. What I do care about is the fact that she knows about us. About what we've been doing, about what we're going to do."

"Wait, what?" I asked, surprised. I had no clue what we were going to do next. "Why did she know and not me?"

"Wednesday thought you were only going to join us on our first little escapade." Juniper had her jaw clenched, still side-eyeing the table. "She wanted to see if you'd show up for our little meeting that would finalize the plan. She included you in it, but you could easily be substituted."

"God," I said, feeling slightly hurt. "I miss the absolute thrill of doing something illegal, why would I give up this beautiful opportunity? Besides, I believe at least this time, I'm doing good."

"You do give us a great advantage," Kenric said, his voice was deeper, quieter. "But Verity had one thing right, and that's knowing that you were reckless and destructive. In her exact words 'he may be helpful, but he possesses no amount of cunningness, which can be this group's downfall'."

I snorted, "Bit dramatic she is."

"Have you seen the way she dresses? Of course she's going to sound like that. A stuck up antagonist." Juniper was cracking her knuckles wildly, giving us each a stare down. "I wish I could choke her with that stupid diamond necklace she has on."

"She's untouchable," I reminded. "I'm also pretty sure that she can break your neck with those high heels she's wearing."

"You have to admit, she was useful," Kenric told us. He looked a bit disconnected from not only our conversation, but the world as well.

"What? You like her or something." Juniper spat.

"I think Kenric's too gay to like Verity." 

We all turned our heads to face Smiley who had his eyes wide open. He slapped one of his hands over his mouth and turned to Kenric.

"You're gay?" Juniper asked, slightly surprised.

"Sure." He looked bored with the conversation.

"I'm so sorry Kenric!" Smiley said frantically. "I didn't mean to. I was thinking it. But, but, but then it came out of my mouth!"

"Whatever," he shrugged. "People were going to find out anyway."

"You told him, out of all people." I ate the rest of the banana pudding, and pushed the container to Smiley. "Why?"

"He asked me, so I told him the truth." Kenric was now playing with the hem of his black sweatshirt.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Juniper asked, obviously a bit mad. "I've known you for years."

He shrugged again. "Never came up in a conversation."

"Okay, I honestly don't really care," I interrupted. "Do you think Verity will tell the police. Even though I believe you guys have been doing good things, what we did last time is still counted as vandalism."

"We were telling the truth! Bringing justice! How could the police even lay a finger on us?"

"Because, we still vandalized a billboard, something that the company and the state has paid for," Kenric answered.

Juniper huffed and Smiley looked back and forth between Verity and her friends.

"I don't think she'll tell," he said. 

"Of course she'll tell," Juniper told him, rolling her eyes. "She told on Marc Pierce when she found out he had the answers to the history quiz they were going to take. She's a snitch."

"Well cheating's wrong," Smiley argued.

"I don't care! She'll waltz up to the police station and tell them everything she knows. We'll be sent off to juvie because who wouldn't believe the intelligent,charming, and kind  Verity Engel."

"We'll just see how it play out okay?" I said, a bit too loudly because some nearby freshmen got up suddenly and left, looking a bit traumatized.

"Fine." Juniper said bluntly. "Wednesday's probably a bit too sad to perform any other devious plans yet anyways."

Kenric and Smiley nodded in agreement and I sighed in relief.

I felt someone looking at me and I glanced behind my back. Verity Engel's piercing blue eyes were looking at us, but not me. Specifically Smiley. 

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