Laying awake that night in her lonely dorm room, Pinky was staring out the window, still thinking over the events she had been through. She was lonely, more lonely than she had ever been in her life. Only Christy had even noticed she had been gone. She had seen Derby, and although she knew that he had been the one to give up the Prep's Weapons stash to win her release, he refused to even so much as talk to her. The other Preps were likewise shying away from her, except Justin and Parker, who at least had waved to her and asked if she was all right after her five nights in captivity.
She had been to see Tad at the Clinic, too. While he appeared glad to see her, he went on about how they could now resume their secret relationship once he got out. Even though the 'cat was out of the bag' concerning their illicit trysts, Pinky knew Tad was afraid to stand up to Derby to claim her. Quite suddenly, she had felt no better than a cheap prostitute, and had told Tad that there was no future for them if he couldn't man-up and publicly declare his intentions for her. Tad had pleaded for things to continue as they had been these past few months, there were the families involved, he said, meaning the Spencers, Gauthiers, and Harringtons. Pinky responded by saying that she was no longer going to be Tad's booty call and walked out. Then she went to the Auqaberry Store to buy a new outfit to replace her soiled and torn one. But instead of buying another Preppie outfit, she chose an upscale professional dress, blouse and jacket.
As materialistic as Pinky was, her family initially did not come from 'Old Money'. Rather, they were part of the 'Nouveau Rich', or New Money, and had only fully realized wealth when they married into the Harrington family two generations ago. This was, in part, the reason that Pinky had been sent to Bullworth Academy rather than one of the more elite Prep Schools on the East Coast. An only child, Pinky had always felt like more of an inconvenience to her father and step-mother than a daughter. Being 'Betrothed' to Derby at an early age had only been part of the game. She had been shuffled around to various elementary and other Schools since she was little before landing at this one. Even though she was a 'Daddy's Girl', the one hallmark of all these Schools was 'the cheaper the better', as her cost-effective father would put it.
Her time as being a captive had been a revelation. At least she had been worth something, even if it was for for a stash of Weapons. More that that, it had been....Exciting. All of her life had been dull, she reflected. It probably explained why she felt attracted to 'bad boys'....They were unruly, uncultured, and uninhibited. They cared nothing for the false comrade of the upper crust. They loathed the puffed-up, self-important Prep Clique, not for who they were, but for how they acted. Her time with Kurt and his friends had showed them to be more real than any of the Prep boys she had ever known.
Pinky arose and went to her desk. She looked at her image in the mirror in the dim light. Who was she, anyway ? A Princess ? A little spoiled rich girl with no real friends ? All of it had been fake, a lie. What did she have ? A few fancy clothes....And, a stuffed Bear in the corner, won for her at the Carnival by another bad boy, Jimmy Hopkins. She had a brief fling with him, too, last year, but ultimately he had fallen for Zoe, a dirt-poor girl from the bad side of Town.
She sighed. Then there was Tony. She had lusted after him from the first moment she had met him. Then, she finally had him, that one night, that one beautiful night......But she couldn't keep him, he didn't belong to her....His heart was with another. He had felt guilt, she knew now, guilt for his actions that could maybe hurt the one he truly loved. Had she ever felt guilt ? Pinky knew the answer to that one. In all the time she had been with Derby, the answer was no....No, when she had cheated with Jimmy. No, when she had cheated with Tad. No, when she had cheated with Tony. And No, when she had just cheated with Kurt. Why ? Because Derby was a self-centered, mean, conceited ass who treated her like shit and called her names. Derby, who would ply her with gifts and the prestige of being the Leader's Girl in exchange for sex. When, for all that time, she was no better than a paid whore.
And now, there was Kurt. At first, hostile, treating her like the Prep Girl she was, raging against all things elite, including her....Then slowly, over the days and nights he watched her, slowly opening up, spilling his pain and rage....Back and forth from orphanages to foster homes and back again, finally living on the streets, meeting up and bonding with other street runners such as himself, forging a group together for their protection, as she learned from the other Rockers who watched her. Then, mysterious men in black suits show up at the Tenantments where they were squatting with a strange offer....To lift Kurt out of the gutter and send him to a Prep School, no questions asked. Kurt refuses to go without his gang, those street urchins he has united. Kurt figures the strangers will go away, leave them be, but to the great surprise of all, that condition is agreed to. And so Kurt and the soon-to-be Rocker gang come to Bullworth.
And then, on his first day, he is stuffed into a Trash Bin. A colossal joke, they have been brought not to an elite School, as he was told, but to a real Canis Canem Edit of a place, just a cesspool....One step up from the gutter life he and his friends were living, to be sure, but still a place where they would have to fight for their survival. Then, from Kurt, vague talk of a confrontation, and a huge revelation....Suddenly, Kurt learns that it has all been a lie, his whole life has been a lie. He has been denied his birthright, his heritage....He doesn't know who he really is.
Pinky listens to all of it, the rage, the pain, the anguish. And even though she is his bound captive, her heart softens and cries for his injustice. He pours out to her what he can not yet tell his comrades, for he has to lead and not be weak in their eyes. She asks what became of Lola, and he says he doesn't know. He hadn't seen her since the night of the Concert. And she was gone from the house when the Rockers had returned from hiding out from that. He had heard later she was involved in the attacks on some of the cliques. He figured she had just left him.
Pinky believed him. Despite his bravado, she could sense he had been hurt when Lola abandoned him without so much as even a goodbye. In fact, she could see all the hurts there, all piled up, one on top of the other. As she had gotten to really know Kurt over the days in the dusty Warehouse, she began to feel a new emotion strange to her....Compassion. And, at the moment of her release, when she knew their time was to be at an end, when she knew that, after all, he was to be a man of his word and would let her go....At that moment, her feelings had overwhelmed her, and she had shown him what those feelings were in the only way she best knew how.
She hadn't stopped thinking about him since that morning. Returning to bed, Pinky made a decision. She would return to the Vale, and soon....But instead of the Harrington residence, she would go to the Hattrick House.
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