Elitism

“A middleman,” Jennifer repeated after I finished briefing her in on the meeting I had yesterday.

I nodded. “Yeah. There’s nothing illegal going on as far as I can tell. But why downgrade from a beating to a warning?” I asked out loud.

“It probably wasn’t their call,” Jennifer said thoughtfully. “If what you said is true and that there is someone higher up, it’s possibly Riley is just a front and someone else is running the show.”

“We’re a bunch of high school kids,” I said, putting that statement at there. “I doubt this ghost is our age. This secret society is organized… disciplined. And brainwashed if you ask me. We’re looking for someone with experience, which brings me to my next question, what freaky adult want to control us?”

Jennifer still wasn’t talking. “Yo, earth to Jenny.”

“Yeah,” she looked at me blankly. I raised my eyebrows to say spill. She sighed lightly. “I can’t help, but think that what this person is doing is actually clever.”

“Meaning?” I said annoyed.

“You know gangs and mobs, they are always doing things illegal out in the open and we all know that, but from what I gather, the elites are doing the same thing only with secrecy. Almost no one knows and as long as it stays like that, this person is safe from being exposed.”

“You’ve seen them dealt drugs?” I asked.

“Yeah, look,” she said and handed me a picture. Proof of illegal exchange. I looked closer and didn’t recognize either person in the picture.

“How do you know this is them? Neither of them was at the meeting.”

Jennifer shows me another picture of the elites at a charity event looking rich and flashy and there he was, the person from the first picture with them.

“They don’t attend meeting for a lot of reasons. Their only job is to deliver and collect. They don’t have any other business with the Elites and because of their job, the Elites make sure the ties between them don’t trace back to them if they get caught. The dealers don’t even know their whereabouts.”

“How do you know so much?”

“I’m a journalist,” she chuckled. “It’s my job to know.”

“Exactly how much of this is accurate?” I asked.

“I have my sources. Listen, I’ve been doing this since before high school. If I didn’t have anything after four years, I would have been long gone.”

Long gone? What did she mean by that? I stared at her, but she didn’t say more. She had sources, huh?

“How much access do they have?” I said changing direction of the conversation.

I needed to know how much they knew about me, or they could if they knew where to look. I was personally recruited from someone higher up. Automatically, I was someone they knew.

Jennifer shrugged, “Basic stuff. Whatever is in your file in system is what they know.”

Before I could ask her if she could access my file for me the bell rang and I grabbed my bag as I leave the newspaper room. I cursed lowly when I realized my first class was on the other side of the campus. I didn’t care if I was late.

During lunch, I was angrily fiddling the lock trying to get it open when Nathan appears at my side, leaning against the locker ‘all-cool.’ I wasn’t looking to be impressed.

“Hello again.”

“What do you want?” I said annoyed as I started from the beginning with my lock.

“Left your manners at home, I see.”

“Not stalking me, are you?” I ignored his comment.

“You’d think I’d be subtler.”

“How it is you’re always finding me?” I dropped the lock and looked at him. I gave up on trying to open my damn locker.

“Perhaps it’s destiny.”

“If you’re gonna be cheesy, I’d much prefer you actually have cheese that I can eat.”

“Well, why don’t you come over?” he grinned.

“Maybe,” I teased.

Then I tapped him on the cheek and walked away. Unfortunately, I had a knack for teasing guys, which even more unfortunate, I got it from my mother. Nathan was flirting with me and I liked it when I wasn’t supposed to. As much as I wanted to deny it, there was obvious attraction between, albeit it was physical. I didn’t want to get close to a guy. I had serious trust issues, despite my past relationships. They never lasted long anyway. Hell, I kept sleeping with my last boyfriend even after we broke up. That was how fucked up I was.

I was going to go home for lunch because the money was trapped in my locker. I was almost at the doors to the students’ parking lot when Riley stepped in front of me. I stopped abruptly and immediately had that annoyed look on my face. Either was blind, or stupid to push my buttons.

“Hi,” she smiled. Bitch, you ain’t so innocent, I thought.

“What?”

“That’s no way to greet a friend.”

“Interesting choice of word.”

Ignoring my comment, she said, “I saw you talking to Nate.” She lifted her chin up, as though she was marking her territory.

“Oh yeah? You know what I’m seeing right now? You being nosy when it’s none of your business.”

“Well, a as a friend,” she said and I sneered. “I should warn you. Be careful with that one. He’s a man whore like his father. In fact, rumor has it that he slept with one of his stepmoms.

One of them? How many times did his father remarried?

“Speaking of mothers, how is she these days? You know, with her depression and all,” I challenged her.

She stepped forward, once again getting close in my face. I really wanted to punch her right now, knock her down a peg… or five. “You’re crossing a dangerous line, Moreno. Be careful what you say next.”

“I suggest you do the same,” I said deadly, my body suddenly tensed.

“I didn’t peg you for a stupid girl.”

Relaxing my body, I stepped back and smirked, “Don’t be so quick to judge. Like you said, we all got secrets.”

I walked around her and pushed open the doors hard. I needed to release all this anger inside of me. Suddenly I remembered my father had a small gym room in the mansion. As I got in my car, I already felt a little better knowing I would be able to workout all the hatred building inside of me.

After school, I waited for Nathan at his car. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Riley said. I didn’t believe her. She must be really jealous to really pissed off at him.

I watched Nathan approached me with a grin plastered on his face. I rolled my eyes. I pushed myself off his car and stood in front of him.

“We need to talk.”

“Sounds serious,” he said, still grinning.

“Depends,” I shrugged.

“On?” he raised his eyebrows.

“How much of it is true.”

He didn’t say anything, but I could see the wheels turning in his head. He was putting two and two together.

“Riley told you something about me, didn’t she?” he sighed, as though this conversation suddenly became a drag. His grin was gone and for a split second, I wished it wasn’t.

‘I just need to hear it from you.”

“What did she say now?”

“You slept with your stepmom.”

He chuckled, as though he actually found this amusing. Suddenly, I thought to myself, why the hell was I standing here? Did I need to prove to Riley that she didn’t have control over me, or that she couldn’t play me with her words? Did I see something in Nathan that reminded me of back home with my friends? I didn’t know why I was still talking to Nathan, or why I felt this inexplicable urge to be near him, but one thing I knew for sure, here was just something about him.

“She certainly has a way of telling a secret without being obvious,” he said.

Secrets. Of course. The Elites were known for keeping mountains of secrets of everyone. I mentally cursed, letting myself slipped.

“My stepmother seduced me when she wasn’t getting enough attention from my father, so she turned to me. I’m not morally bankrupted,” he said seriously. I saw fury in his eyes. Damn. Riley knew how to push people’s button, even when she’s not here. That girl’s is mental, I thought.

“You got cheese at your house?“ I said, changing the subject. I might be a hard-ass, a cold bitch, but I was not heartless. He didn’t do anything to make the death wish list, so I wasn’t going to be rude for sake of being rude.

He smirked as he walked around the car and opened the passenger’s side door. I followed him and got in.

“Don’t get any ideas. I’m actually very serious. I will raid your fridge for cheese.”

“Oh, I believe you.”

He closed the door and walked back to his side. I caught myself smiling before I washed it away.