HIL: a bay falls high novel Read online

  “What was that about?” Belle asked.

  “Take a guess, angel,” Ash said.

  “Oh,” Belle said. “Sophie, huh?”

  “Except I called her Sadie,” I said.

  “You’re an asshole, Hil,” Belle said, her face twisting mean.

  I laughed.

  Uly laughed too. He grabbed my shoulder. “You really are an asshole.”

  I shrugged Uly away.

  Just as I opened my mouth to say we needed to get the fuck out of BFH (even though we kind of just got there), I spotted Max jogging toward us, pointing.

  “Ah, fuck,” I said. “These baseball players are like pimples on my ass.”

  “That’s gross,” Belle said.

  “I know,” I said. “I pop them to get rid of them and they keep coming back.”

  “Hey, guys,” Max said.

  “Guys?” I asked.

  “I don’t know what else to say,” Max said.

  “How about you don’t say anything at all,” Uly said. “Just turn around and walk away.”

  “Good answer,” Ash said.

  “This isn’t about me,” Max said. “Or Aaron. Or Jasmine. Or any of that shit.”

  I curled my lip.

  Last thing I wanted was to get dragged into some shit with Max and the others again. But some stuff was unavoidable. It was what happened when you ruled over BFH.

  “Make it good,” Ash said.

  “If I’m late to Miss Whitaker’s class, I will run over you with my car,” Belle said.

  I loved the way she snuck her comments in there, knowing nobody would ever say a word to her about it. If they did, they’d face a beating from Ash. And if Ash wasn’t around and it happened, Ash knew Uly and I would cover Belle’s ass.

  Just not touch it…

  “Werthwood showed up in a car,” Max said.

  “No fucking way,” I said. “That’s wild. Holy shit.” I laid the sarcasm on thick.

  “No, listen,” Max yelled. I stepped toward Max and he showed his hands. “Shit. Sorry. I meant… he got dropped off. He didn’t drive his own car.”

  “Maybe he was out drinking,” Uly said.

  “Yeah, right,” Belle said.

  I walked carefully around Principal Werthwood because he and Belle had a little bit of history and a current situation.

  “Is he okay?” Ash asked.

  “Not really,” Max said. “You might want to take off before he finds you.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  Max shook his head. “Werthwood’s car was stolen… and he’s blaming you.”

  Chapter 2

  We stood outside after Ash kissed Belle for about three fucking days just to say goodbye so she could write her goddamn poetry with Miss Whitaker.

  The rumors flooded BFH faster than I made Sadie-slash-Sophie flood herself last night.

  Werthwood woke up and found his car gone.

  Completely fucking missing.

  And where the car was parked someone painted a middle finger.

  I mean, when you thought about it, it was pretty bad ass.

  But the middle finger went from pissing Werthwood off to being pointed at us.

  At Them.

  We were getting the blame for it.

  Shit had hit the fan plenty of times between Werthwood and Them. Most recently, the situation with Belle and Werthwood led to Ash taking the fall for Werthwood’s office window getting all smashed up. Even though that had gotten worked out because Belle told the truth, we were always a target. Everything wrong with BFH came back to us. To Them.

  Uly and I each smoked a cigarette while Ash stood stoic as always, staring off into space like he was a model at a shoot. Like he was standing in fancy undies with a spray tan on his skin, wearing super expensive cologne.

  All of which were true about him, but he wasn’t getting paid to have his picture taken.

  We had shit to talk about.

  “What the fuck does it matter?” I asked.

  “Depends on what he wants to do,” Uly said. “Talk to us or walk us into getting cuffs thrown on our wrists.”

  “Fuck,” I said. My eyes lit up. “Call your lawyer. Calypso. Fuck, man, I’d steal two thousand cars just to see her again.”

  “She will hurt you, Hil,” Uly said.

  “That makes it even better,” I said.

  “We didn’t do anything to Werthwood,” Ash said. “Right?”

  He looked at us, just to make sure.

  “I didn’t do it,” I said. “I have no desire to fuck around with Werthwood’s life.”

  “Same here,” Uly said. “I was with Mara. She can vouch for me if need be.”

  “Yeah,” Ash said. “I was with Belle. And we met up with Danica for a few.”

  “Really?” I asked. “Damn, Ash… the girl and her friend?”

  Ash stepped toward me like he wanted to fight me.

  Uly moved between us. “That leaves one person in this group who needs to tell his side of the night.”

  Both sets of eyes were on me.

  “Come on,” I said.

  “Just say it,” Ash said.

  “I saw the look of regret in Sophie’s eyes,” Uly said.

  “The same look Mara has,” I said. “She once begged me for it, Uly. You’re lucky I didn’t sweep in and steal her from you.”

  Uly turned to face off with me.

  Now Ash had to get between us.

  It seemed like everyone had a problem with me.

  That I was used to.

  We all got quiet and then put a little distance between one another.

  “Hil, you’re going to have to figure out what you want to say,” Ash said. “I say we go in there and march right into Werthwood’s office. I want to know who said it was us.”

  “Shit, if Werthwood said it himself, I’ll definitely call Calypso,” Uly said.

  “Fuck that,” I said. “I mean, shit, your lawyer is fucking smoking hot, Uly, but is that what you are now? Some rich dude that leans on his lawyer? Fuck that. Werthwood didn’t throw us under the bus for what happened. Whoever took the car did so to point the finger at us. Think about it.”

  “Who would do that?” Ash asked.

  “Do you really want to go down the list?” I asked. “Maybe someone from HCH finally grew a set of balls to do something. Or just good old fashioned East vs. West again.”

  “The Rulz?” Uly asked. “We just got done with that shit.”

  “Is it ever actually done?” I asked.

  “He’s got a point there,” Ash said. “There’s only one way to find out.”

  I took one last drag of my cigarette and flicked it away.

  I opened the door and grinned. “After you, assholes.”

  Ash and Uly went back into BFH.

  The three of us walked the empty hallways in silence.

  I could feel a tension growing.

  It wasn’t so much worry as it was everyone getting pissed off. Which I felt too. It was always one thing after another around BFH. And even outside of it. The shit that Uly had just gone through with Mara.

  And now this.

  Stealing Werthwood’s car.

  Again, it was kind of a beautiful thing when you thought about it.

  But if we did it… we would have put the car somewhere. We would have done something crazy to the car. We would have made a much bigger statement.

  My mind thought of all the things we could have done to his car as we walked into the main office.

  “We’re going to talk to him,” Ash said to everyone in the office.

  Nobody said a word.

  Uly grabbed the door handle and opened it.

  Werthwood jumped up from his desk, his eyes bulging wide with anger.

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “Whatever you were doing behind your desk with your phone… we won’t tell anyone.”

  “Get out of my office,” he growled.

  “I thought you wanted to talk to us,” Uly said. “I mean, that’s the w
ord out there.”

  “Wait a second,” I said. “Anyone else feel that right now? I feel like something is… missing…”

  Werthwood made fists and put them to his desk. “So this is a joke to you?”

  “The only joke is whoever said we did it,” Ash said. “We don’t have time for something like that.”

  “The hell you three don’t,” Werthwood said.

  “To be fair here,” I said, “and I’m speaking for myself… if I was going to do something to your car… I would park it on the beach. Or on a rock for the tide to get. Or paint the seats. Or…”

  “Steal the tires,” Uly said.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Or fuck with the brakes…”

  “I don’t know how to do that,” Uly said.

  “Neither do I,” I said.

  “So the car thing wouldn’t have worked anyway,” Uly said.

  “Shut up!” Werthwood bellowed as he punched his desk.

  Ash sat down in a leather chair and put his feet up on the desk. “So tell us what happened.”

  “Tell it to the police,” Werthwood said. “They’ll be here soon enough.”

  Uly took out his cellphone. “If you’re serious, I’ll have my lawyer here faster than the police show. And I’ll go after you for false accusations. Slander. Libel…”

  “You don’t even know what you’re saying,” Werthwood said.

  “Yes I do,” Uly said. “You know how smart I am.”

  “And just wait until you see his lawyer,” I said. “She’d make you so hard you won’t be able to stand up.”

  “Won’t he be standing though?” Ash asked.

  “Can’t imagine it being much Uly said. “Half a pencil?”

  “With the jagged, broken part?” I asked.

  “Damn,” Ash said. “That’s sad.”

  “Shut up!” Werthwood yelled again, this time louder.

  Ash jumped to his feet and put his hands to the desk. “Tell us who said it was us. Because whoever has a mouth that big… needs it to be shut for a little while.”

  “You can take up any concerns with the police,” Werthwood said.

  “Why not just kick us out for the day?” I asked. “Or week?”

  “I want answers and I want my car,” Werthwood said.

  “We agree on something,” Uly said. “We want the same for you. I mean, what are you going to do now? Ask for a ride?”

  “You know what happens if you ask for a ride and don’t have gas money, right?” Ash asked.

  “Gotta give it up then,” I said, stroking the air.

  Werthwood stepped around his desk toward us.

  He had authority but we had power.

  And believe me, there was a big difference between the two.

  “So what do you want us to do?” Uly asked.

  “Tell the truth,” Werthwood said. “Something new for you.”

  “We always tell the truth,” Ash said. “I, for one, was with Belle. Pretty, perfect, beautiful Belle.”

  Werthwood’s face twisted in anger.

  “I was with my girlfriend,” Uly said. “And if you want her statement, you’ll get it through my lawyer. And if I go through my lawyer, your car is never coming back because you’ll have to sell it to pay for the legal fees.”

  “Plus, you know who my mother is, right?” I asked.

  “And my father?” Ash asked.

  “I don’t give a damn who anyone is to anyone,” Werthwood said. “I’m not taking this sitting down. Whether this is a joke or just violence…”

  “Violence?” I asked. “Who said it was violence?”

  “Where’s my fucking car?” Werthwood yelled at the top of his lungs.

  Ash clapped his hands together. “Damn. We broke him. Finally.”

  “Throwing some lofty curse words at us, huh?” I asked.

  “Get out of my office,” Werthwood said.

  “Are you sure about that?” Uly asked. “I mean, we came here on our own. To talk to you. To clear the air here. We’re really sorry about your car. I mean that genuine.”

  I reached for the desk and grabbed a tissue and handed it to Uly. “Here you go, man. That was touching.”

  “I swear on my life I will have the police here in a minute,” Werthwood said.

  “So the police aren’t coming,” Ash said. “You lied to us.”

  “Maybe you stole your own car,” I said.

  “How in the world would I be able to do that?” Werthwood asked.

  “Simple,” Uly said. “Tell him, Hil.”

  “You, uh, drove it somewhere and left it there,” I said.

  “How did I get home then?” Werthwood asked.

  “That’s the question you should be asking,” Ash said. “Maybe you met some pretty woman at a hotel bar and she drugged you.”

  “Unlikely,” Uly said. “This guy would have to pay for a woman to want to be with him.”

  “Especially a guy without a car,” I said. “Chicks hate losers like that.”

  Werthwood hurried to the door and opened it.

  We took the hint and shuffled our way out of his office and through the main office doors.

  As we turned down the hallway, we heard Werthwood scream in anger.

  “Oh, yeah,” Ash said. He lifted his right hand and had Werthwood’s cellphone. “I guess he’s looking for this.”

  We all started to laugh.

  “You know, that just makes us look more guilty,” Uly said.

  “Are you scared?” I asked Uly.

  “Fuck no,” he said.

  Ash tossed the phone over his shoulder to the floor.

  And as Them we walked to the closest door and got the fuck out of BFH for the rest of the day.

  * * *

  I stood outside in the mostly dark by myself.

  A small light stuck out from the top of the cafe and the bulb buzzed half the time and flickered the rest of the time.

  Aya opened the back door and came outside.

  She lit a cigarette and ran a hand through her hair.

  “You guys are killing me,” she said.

  “How? Making too much money?”

  “I’m at capacity and people are getting pissed,” she said. “Those that can’t get in are starting to leave bad reviews online.”

  “Your place is so popular you can’t get in,” I said. “How’s that bad?”

  “It just is,” she said.

  “So you don’t want Uly and I to play here anymore?” I asked.

  “I don’t know what to do,” she said. “Poor Mara is running around like crazy in there. And Uly looks ready to fight any guy that talks to her.”

  I laughed. “But you have to admit the money is nice, right?”

  “The money is very nice,” she said.

  “Maybe you should buy the place next door and expand,” I said. “Knock down the wall. Have a cafe on one half and a music place on the other half.”

  “Oh, that’s a great idea,” Aya said. “Why didn’t I think of that? Let me just go shakedown my parents seven figure bank account…”

  “Right,” I said. “Go to a bank. Get a loan. Make it happen. Follow your dreams.”

  Aya laughed. “I’m going to take life and financial advice from you?”

  “I know. That’s pretty sad. You must be desperate.”

  “You’re an asshole, Philip,” Aya said.

  I touched my chest. “You used my real name. Feel good now?”

  “Actually I do,” she said. “Maybe it’s the cigarette.”

  “It’s always fun talking to you,” I said. “I’m going to go back inside and make you a lot more money, okay?”

  I grabbed the door handle and Aya called out my name.

  “Thanks for this,” she said. “I know you and Uly used to play other places. But showing up here… it means a lot.”

  “I just like to play guitar and find pretty girls to fool around with,” I said. “I’m not a savior and I really don’t care about your cafe. If you closed it d
own I’d probably buy it and open it just to keep playing guitar and to keep finding pretty girls to fool around with.”

  Aya pointed her fingers at me with her cigarette nestled between them. “Asshole.”

  I nodded in agreement and went inside the cafe.

  Ash and Belle always hung away from the stage.

  Cuddled up together.

  They probably fucking kissed during the songs.

  Which sort of pissed me off.

  To think that I’m up on stage ripping my memories and heart apart so fucking Ash could tongue hump Belle.

  After all I did for you, beauty…

  “You ready?” Uly asked me as he walked up to me already wearing his guitar.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  I crouched down and slid my guitar case toward me.

  I flipped up the metal latches and grabbed the neck.

  I felt a shadow creeping over me.

  As I turned my head, I looked up.

  She stood over me, black hair down to her shoulders, pouty lips with red lipstick, and eyes so dark that I paused to figure out if she was real or not.

  She wore an oversized sweater that was all stretched out and fucked up on purpose. Her right shoulder was exposed, showing off a white, thin strap to whatever shirt she wore under the sweater. Her hands were balled up in the sleeves as my eyes took a stroll down her body to her shorts. Or whatever they were.

  They weren’t real shorts in the sense of shorts. They were shorter than shorts but more than panties. Which left my mind thinking of new names… shanties… ports…

  And to top it all off she had on bulky, skater looking shoes. Like they were shoes for dudes.

  I looked back up to her eyes and lifted my eyebrow.

  “Need something, beauty?” I asked.

  “Good luck, Hil,” she said.

  She turned around and walked way.

  Leaving me crouched down, desperate to get a look at her ass in the shanties… ports… whatever the fuck you wanted to call the shorts.

  Right on cue, she looked over shoulder as though she wanted me to look at her. I was caught and didn’t give a damn.

  But she did.

  She reached back for the bottom of the sweater and lifted it up. Showing off more than a sliver of skin, letting me check out her ass in the shorts that were too tight for her own good and mine.

  She was swallowed up by the crowd of people waiting to hear me sing and play guitar.