The Sheik's Convenient Bride (The War, Love, and Harmony Series Book 6) by Elizabeth Lennox (8)

 

 

 

“Get out of my face!” a tall boy with dark brown hair growled.

“Don’t start something you aren’t willing to finish, pretty boy!” replied back a boy with black hair and the start of a scruffy beard. 

A moment later, two other boys, just as tall and just as angry approached, looking to enter into the fray.  “Oh, so the bad boy wants to fight, eh?” the third one commented with relish.

The first, and scruffier, boy snarled at the two newcomers.  “This isn’t your fight,” he snapped.  “Stay out of it.”

One of the newcomers, the one with the Russian accent, growled, “You should have thought of that before last night.”

Scruffy boy took a swing and that was the end of any restraint.  Four boys entered into the brawl, later joined by a fifth.  All were angry, but desperately eager to ease their internal pain with physical exertion. 

There was no pattern, no plan, and definitely no finesse to the battle.  From an outsider’s perspective, there were just arms and legs swinging, bodies falling, heads popping back up and wicked grins when a good punch was leveled. 

This was the sight Headmaster Charles Evans stepped into, shielding his young, vulnerable niece as best as possible while still trying to stop the fight.  “Stop it!  Stop it right now!  All of you stop it!”  He clapped his hands, stomped his foot and, when the boys’ only response was more grunts and groans of pain, he sighed with frustration and defeat.  “I will put every one of you on quarters if you don’t stop this instant!”

Five year old Scarlett had no idea what that threat meant, but she noticed that there wasn’t even the slightest reduction to the intensity of the fight.  Bodies continued to bang into walls and doors, chairs fell over and benches were knocked out of the way.  To her five year old mind, these boys were disobeying her uncle and she stepped forward, not wanting anyone to get hurt, least of all her uncle’s feelings because these bad boys were ignoring him.  He was a good man.  He’d come to get her the moment she’d started to feel scared, so it was her turn to help him. 

“Stop!” she called out.

Charles gasped when the tiny blond girl yelled, her quivering chin tucked up almost to her chest and her periwinkle eyes glaring sternly at the ruckus.  But miracle of miracles, the boys, all five of them, froze at her command. 

One by one, five heads turned, peered out from arms or legs, twisted into a seemingly impossible tangle, to see where the tiny, female voice came from.  It was distinctive mostly because girls were forbidden on school property.  That had been drilled into their heads from the moment they’d stepped foot on the campus. 

“Get up!” the tiny female said, a bit more softly, but still with the Voice of Authority.

Scarlett’s Uncle Charles, known to everyone on the campus as Headmaster Evans, was astonished when five boys stood up and dusted themselves off.  He recognized each one and was furious that they’d once again been caught fighting.  He suspected that none could actually articulate what the fight had been about.  It seemed that this particular group of boys, angry and hurt at their parents’ rejections, were lashing out at each other as often as possible.  He understood their feelings.  They didn’t want to feel the pain of loneliness, so they fought, thinking that even the pain of a bloody nose or a bruised rib would be easier to endure than the seemingly endless pain of wanting to be part of a family. 

All the other students went home for the holidays, were visited regularly at the school by their parents and received calls, letters, or care packages. 

Not these five boys.  It was almost as if their parents had forgotten that they had given birth fifteen years ago. 

And what was worse, this group of young men were brilliant.  Absolutely brilliant!  Each one of them had an intelligence that Charles couldn’t even comprehend, which was one of the main reasons he hadn’t expelled them already despite their repeated violations of the school code of conduct.  He sincerely wanted them to succeed, but to be honest, he was running out of ideas on how to help them. 

Until now.  Until his little niece, also battling the pain of loss, had demanded and won their attention. Her parents had only been buried this past weekend; a tragic car accident had left her orphaned and not really understanding her new world. 

He’d received word from the hospital last Wednesday about the accident and hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye to his lost brother.  He’d raced to help, only to find that his brother and sister-in-law had already passed away, leaving their only daughter, little five-year old Scarlett, in his care.  She hadn’t said a word since he’d picked her up from school that day.  She’d just stared up at him, those enormous blue eyes not even crying.  Just staring at him.  He knew she was lost, scared, in pain, and desperately worried about what was going to happen next.  All of those emotions were in her pretty, blue eyes as they looked to him for help.  It had been the most heartbreaking weekend in his life. 

Until this moment, he’d been at a loss.  But she’d finally spoken to these boys: five fifteen year-old boys, four of them from wealthy families and the fifth a scholarship student who was lashing out at what he termed the “rich kids who looked down on him”. 

It truly was a miracle. 

Charles watched in relieved fascination as each boy dusted himself off, presenting himself to the tiny, blond general.  One of them wiped his bloody nose on his white shirt, another stuffed a torn pocket underneath his arm, as if he were trying to hide it from Scarlett. 

Scarlett, adorned in a yellow dress and white frilly sweater, stepped forward, not saying anything more.  His little niece just stared up at each of the boys, her huge, blue eyes transfixing each and every one of them. 

The first one wiped his hand on his pants, cleared his throat and stepped forward.  “I’m Harrison Aimsworth, Duke of Selton,” he said, extending his hand to the blond child.  His British manners demanded nothing less of him, and Charles breathed a sigh of relief.  Scarlett took the boy’s hand and shook it, her tiny hand getting lost in the abnormally tall boy’s handshake.  “And you are?”

“Scarlett,” she whispered.  She reached up and Harrison instantly bent down on one knee.  “You’re hurt,” she said, one tiny hand still enfolded in Harrison’s while the other reached out and touched his lip that was bleeding.  “I’m sorry.”

Harrison smiled, cringing when his lip stung.  “I’m okay.”

She simply stared at him.  “Don’t fight anymore, okay?” she asked him. 

Harrison hesitated, not sure what to say.  Her small hand touched his cheek, as if she could somehow heal the headache that was sure to hit him very soon.  “Promise, okay?” she asked. 

Harrison sighed.  “Promise,” he told her. 

She looked to the next boy.  And just as Harrison had a moment before, the next stepped forward while Harrison stepped back, making way as if Scarlett were royalty and these boys her subjects.  “Malik Amari del Nader, Crown Prince of Sarkit, at your service, Miss Scarlett,” he said and bowed over her tiny hand. 

She looked at him with the same, steady gaze she’d given Harrison.  “Malik, if you are a prince, that makes you a very important person.  Right?” she asked, almost soft enough so only he could hear. 

He nodded.  “I will someday rule Sarkit, just as my father has done for the past twenty years,” he said, bowing his head slightly. 

Scarlett stepped closer.  “Then you shouldn’t fight either,” she admonished softly.  “You have to be stronger than everyone else.”

Malik chuckled.  “I am stronger.” 

Scarlett’s eyes turned sad.  “My mother told me that it takes a very strong man to figure out how to be strong without fighting.  Billy used to pull my hair all the time and she said he was just being weak.” 

Malik’s stunned glance couldn’t move away from the little woman standing in front of him.  How many times had he heard something just like that?  His father, his mother, Headmaster Evans, his teachers….so many times.   But Scarlett was right.  He was stronger.  He was smarter too. 

Malik swallowed painfully as he accepted her dictate.  “I won’t do it again,” he promised.

In response, her eyes softened once again and she almost smiled.  “I’ll help you.” 

He smiled and stepped backwards after touching her gently under the chin. 

The third boy actually made her smile as she looked up at his golden eyes.  “Your eyes look like a lion’s,” she said, causing the boy to kneel down and take her hand.

“My name is Damon Galanos, my lady.  And you are the prettiest little thing I’ve ever seen.”

Scarlett didn’t bat an eye at the compliment.  Normally, Damon had the ladies blushing in seconds and panting minutes later.  But Scarlett simply stared at his bruised features.  “Why were you fighting?” she asked solemnly. 

Damon opened his mouth to give her a glib reply, but her silent reprimand stopped him.  That, and the fact that he couldn’t remember what had prompted his anger this time.  “I won’t do it again,” he promised. 

Her hand came up to his face, her tiny thumb rubbing against a scrape.  “It looks like that hurt.”

Damon didn’t flinch at her touch.  It did hurt, but her gentle touch also felt very good.  “I’m fine.”

Her rosebud lips compressed.  “No you’re not.”

He laughed softly.  “I will be.”

She stepped closer, her hand covering his heart.  “I’ll help,” she whispered.  Damon was stunned.  Obviously, no one had ever offered help so absolutely and freely before.  He wasn’t sure what to say, so he smiled slightly and nodded. 

The fourth boy knelt down as well, barely restraining his impulse to elbow his Greek nemesis out of the way.  “Will you also help me?” he asked.  The tone was teasing, but there was a serious note behind the words. 

Scarlett turned slightly, facing the new boy.  Her eyes looked at his bloody nose and the spray of blood on his shirt.  “Will you be nice to Damon?” she asked. 

Stefan Kozlov was stumped by that plea.  “Nice to him?”  He laughed.  “I might…” he started to say “kill him” but the words just wouldn’t come out.  Instead, he heard himself say, “Yes.  Of course, I’ll be nice to him.”

She smiled slightly and nodded her head.  “Good.  Then I’ll help you.”

Stefan had no idea how a tiny little blond girl was going to help him, but he didn’t have the heart to say anything other than, “Thank you, little lady.”

Both boys stood up and looked at each other warily.  But Scarlett wasn’t going to let them get away with anything less than full cooperation.  She took each of their hands and connected them, forcing the boys to shake hands. 

She smiled again when Stefan and Damon smiled.  It was just a wisp of a smile, but it was a start. 

When the last boy just stared down at her, she stared right back at him.  They stood like that for several long moments, no one making a sound. 

Grayson Brooks glared angrily at the almost-toddler, not wanting to bend to her silly will.  She was just a girl, and a tiny one at that.  There was no way he was getting down on one knee.  He didn’t do that for anyone. 

“That’s Grayson,” Malik said by way of an introduction.  The other four boys faced off, more than ready to defend any insult to the little girl.  But Scarlett took matters into her own hands and walked over to Grayson and took his battered hand in hers.  The fifth boy was stunned!  His instinct was to whip his hand out of the blond child’s but…he couldn’t do it.  He couldn’t hurt her! 

He stared down at her, those blue eyes staring right back up at him, unwavering.  For a long moment, the two of them just…stared.  Finally, Grayson sighed.  With a nod of his head, his shoulders relaxed.  The girl-child smiled again.  And that was the end.  That smile, those pretty eyes and…her tiny hand in his.  He was done.  She’d won.  He couldn’t hurt this tiny girl’s feelings. 

“We’re all okay now,” she said, looking up at her uncle. 

Charles Evans was dumbfounded.  Never had these five boys been so close in proximity for such a long period of time without a fight breaking out.  It didn’t matter that they’d just been fighting.  Their history over the past three months was that the five of them were mortal enemies, determined to either avoid each other or pound the closest one to a pulp. 

He looked at each of the boys, all five of them staring back at him with blank expressions while his niece…well, it appeared as if she’d simply “adopted” these boys as her “brothers”!

Breathing a deep sigh of relief, he straightened his shoulders, resuming his role as headmaster.  “Now that this mess is finished,” he said sternly, “the dinner bell has rung already.  You will need to hurry to your rooms to clean up before reporting for dinner.  I will instruct the dining hall to wait exactly ten minutes to serve you.  If you are not to the dining hall in ten minutes, you will not eat dinner tonight,” he told each of them.  “Furthermore, since all of you have agreed to no more fighting, I will be very pleased to see the five of you sitting at a table together, enjoying your meal and your newfound friendship.”

Grayson started to pull away but the little girl squeezed his hand.  He looked down at her, about to snap at her but the look in those huge blue eyes stopped him.  With a resigned sigh, he bent down and shook her hand.  “It is a pleasure to meet you, Scarlett,” he finally said.

The beaming smile she gave him made something inside of his chest ache.  She was cute, he thought.  Standing up, he walked out of the science hall and hurried towards the dormitories.  He needed to change his shirt and get to dinner.

He followed behind the four others.  None of them spoke to each other but they also didn’t threaten or punch the one closest – that in itself was a miracle. 

He promised that he wouldn’t fight those boys, as long as they didn’t start anything. 

 

 

 

Two days later…

 

“What’s wrong, Scarlett?” her uncle asked when she looked up from her coloring book.  She’d been intent on coloring the unicorn purple with orange stripes, but she seemed startled, almost angry. 

She spun around and looked out the window.  Pushing open the glass doors, she walked onto the stone patio that looked out over the sports field. 

Sure enough, five boys were squaring off.  Headmaster Evans sputtered with fury as he watched the precursor to fight brew between the five regular combatants.  The same five boys who had vowed only two days ago that they wouldn’t fight.  He’d thought that things were getting better, that the boys were actually starting to become friends.  Lord knows that these five boys could use a friend.  They all kept to themselves, not even trying to fit in, and he knew exactly why.  Harrison and Malik thought themselves above the other students even though their hearts and souls needed the connection of a confidant.  Their positions in the social and business world were guaranteed.  Malik would rule a country some day and had the burden of that to follow him around.  Harrison had centuries of tradition weighing on his already-broad shoulders as well, but with absent yet demanding parents who only communicated when they felt the need to admonish their only son. 

Grayson kept to himself because he was the only scholarship student at the school.  He didn’t want to associate with the others and Charles knew that the chip on the young boy’s shoulder was a tough one to carry. 

Damon and Stefan were foreigners.  Of course, Malik and Harrison were as well, but they were royalty.  Damon was the son of a Greek shipping magnate while Stefan’s family was from Russia and had made their fortune in oil and gas.  Their accents made them stand out from the rest of the students.  Their snobbery further ostracized them. 

If only these five boys could see their similarities instead of their differences.  They were all tall and fit, each of them had higher than average IQs – significantly higher!  And all of them were forsaken by their families, who had basically abandoned them to the isolation of a foreign boarding school experience. 

If they could just understand that they needed each other instead of fighting with one another, they could go so far!  But how could he make them grasp that concept?  How could he get them to embrace a friendship that he knew could last them a lifetime?

And then something astounding happened. 

It was almost as if the five boys could sense Scarlett’s presence.  One by one, they looked over in her direction, starting with Grayson.  They stared at her and she stared right back.  The rest of the world kept on moving, the soccer game that was starting to organize on the field was still ongoing but these six people just stared at each other.  Charles looked from the boys to Scarlett, a plan forming in his mind. 

Scarlett was the first to break eye contact.  She looked up at him quickly, then back towards the field.  “May I go watch the game, Uncle Charles?” she asked, not looking away from the boys. 

“Of course, dear.  But be careful to stay back from the action, okay?”

She didn’t answer but a split second later she was sprinting down the stone steps, across the grass and smiling up at the five boys who just glared down at her.  Charles worried for a moment that the magic between them was gone.  That one of the boys, with their lonely, angry heart, might say something to hurt her tender feelings. 

But instead, she spoke to them and they slowly nodded their heads.  He couldn’t hear their conversation from this distance, but after that exchange, the boys moved onto the soccer field while Scarlett sat down on the bench, her flowered dress fluttering in the breeze as she swung her skinny legs back and forth. 

Charles watched from his office, ignoring the piles of paperwork that needed his attention.  He was astonished by what happened next and, just like Scarlett, he couldn’t look away. 

When the boys worked together, they scored, blocking out all the efforts from the opposing team.  They didn’t even need the other players on their team.  It was almost as if the five of them could read each other’s minds, knew where each of them stood on the field and could pass the ball to the other.  Their spatial awareness was astounding.  And when they scored, Scarlett jumped up onto the bench, screaming out her excitement for the five of them. 

As the game played out, Charles was astounded to find the five boys high fiving each other, muttering in each other’s ears as they discussed strategy.  There were eleven boys on each team but the five boys were a team unto themselves.  The six others on their team stood back, playing defense and goalie.  But the five boys dominated the game so completely, the defense didn’t really need to be on the field.  The soccer ball rarely went past the mid-field line.  Any time it did, the sweeper stepped in and kicked it right back to one of the boys. 

By the end of the game, the score was ten to one, the opposition being crushed by the taller, more athletic boys who had gone from angry combatants to cooperative teammates. 

Charles stepped back into his office, a plan in place and a hopeful heart. 

 

New living quarters

 

He’d relaxed his guard too soon. 

By the time the dinner bell rang several hours later, the camaraderie they’d gained on the soccer field had vanished and they were once again glaring at one another in the dining hall line.  The fight hadn’t materialized – yet.   But the way each of the boys were bracing themselves, a confrontation was imminent.   

Charles stepped into the dining hall, sighing with disappointment, but not willing to give up.  “Mr. Harrison, Mr. Nader, Mr. Galanos, Mr. Kozlov and Mr. Brooks!” he bellowed.  All noise in the dining hall ceased while every boys’ eyes turned towards the podium.  The five boys stood up.  “In my office.  Now!” he snapped. 

The boys filed out of the dining hall, ignoring the taunts of the others in the room. 

“This is it,” Malik groaned to no one in general. 

“We’re being expelled,” Stefan said, agreeing with Malik as he walked across the grass covered quad. 

“It’s your fault,” Grayson snapped.  “If you hadn’t…”

“You did it!” Damon growled, again, to no one in particular.  “I can’t believe that we’re going to be expelled!  If the four of you would just leave me the hell alone…”

“Silence!” Headmaster Evans said as he held open the door to the building which housed both his office and his private apartment.  Most of the building had been vacant.  Until now.

The five boys filed in, head’s bowed and hearts heavy.  Each one of them had been warned by their families of the consequences of failing at this particular school.  It was the best in the world.  Graduation from this school would give them entrée into any university they wanted.  And now, expulsion would be on their records instead.  A big, black mark that would follow them for years. 

“Ass!” Grayson grumbled to Damon when the other boy shouldered him.  Headmaster Evans closed the door and moved behind his desk.  Grayson hadn’t said it loud enough for the headmaster to hear, but the others had and they shifted on their heels, all of them sick with worry over what was to come, but none of them willing to show their anxiety to the others or their headmaster. 

“Fighting again!” Headmaster snapped behind them.  “It seems that you five boys can’t seem to get along without an argument breaking out unless I oversee you constantly.”  He was disappointed but still unwilling to accept defeat.  “From now on, the five of you will be sharing the room upstairs,” he explained, ignoring five identical looks of horror.  “You will eat in the dining hall together, you will walk to every one of your classes together.  You will sleep, eat and study together.”  He glared at each of them, daring them to argue.  “There is a large dormitory above this office and I’ve had five beds and lockers moved into the area.  It is still a mess.  You will each grab a broom and scrub brushes to clean it up.  It has been used as a storage area for about the last fifty years so you’ve got your work cut out for you.” 

He stood there, waiting for a reaction.  When nothing happened, he nodded his head.  “This way, gentlemen.”  He opened his office doorway and walked up some old, wooden stairs.  The building was made of wood with a stone exterior, just like many of the school’s nearly three hundred year old buildings.  This meant that everything creaked and groaned, no room was especially warm and the windows most likely allowed in any wind that came across the campus.

On the plus side, the room was larger than the more modern dormitories, which were six floors high, each with rooms housing two students, about twenty rooms per floor.  And one bathroom per floor.  The storage room had its own bathroom, so there would be five boys sharing the bathroom facilities instead of forty.  It was also closer to the dining hall and the classrooms. 

On the down side, it was twenty steps away from Headmaster Evans. 

Scarlett stood at the end of the long, wooden hallway, her pink flannel pajamas with white bunnies allowing only her little toes to poke out.  Her teddy bear was in her hand and she had obviously just had her bath since her hair was wet.  The housekeeper glared at the boys as she nudged Scarlett into her bedroom. 

“Here is your new home,” Headmaster Evans said to the boys trudging up the stairs behind him.  “Brooms and mops are in the closet over there,” he said, pointing to a set of double doors.  “Bathroom is there,” and he pointed in the opposite direction.  “Get to work.  You’ll need to carry all of your personal belongings over here before lights out at ten o’clock.  If you make any noise during the night, you will wake both me and Scarlett up and neither of us will be happy about such an occurrence.”  With that, he shut the door, chuckling to himself as he walked down the hallway.

The five boys stared at the room that contained nothing but spring beds, rolled up striped mattresses and a footlocker to hold their personal belongings.  No closets to hang uniforms.  Even pillows and linens would have to be brought over from their dorm rooms. 

“This sucks,” Damon grumbled, looking at the high ceilings and wooden floors.  He walked across to one of the beds, noticing how heavy his footsteps sounded.  “I doubt we’ll be able to get away with anything in here.”

Stefan scowled, but was secretly relieved that he wasn’t being sent home to face the humiliation of expulsion.  Instead of having to explain to his parents, who never listened to excuses anyway, he walked to the cleaning closet and took out a broom, starting on one side of the room, working his way around the corners.  Within only moments, he had a large pile of dirt that he was sweeping towards the center of the room. 

“Better get to it,” Grayson sighed, taking another broom and starting on the other side of the room. 

Harrison grumbled under his breath but he grabbed a mop and bucket, filling it up in the bathroom.   The pipes squealed in protest as he turned on the hot water, but he didn’t complain.  At least he wouldn’t be going home in shame to his parents where he would have to explain why he’d been expelled from school.  Once the bucket was filled with hot water, he lugged it over to the corner Damon had already swept, getting the rest of the dust that a broom just couldn’t reach. 

While two of them swept, one mopped, Stefan and Malik grabbed the scrub brushes, both of them horrified at the idea of doing manual labor.  But neither of them said a word as they scrubbed the toilets and sinks.  Since none of them really knew how to clean, never having done it before, it took them extra time.  But within two hours, the room was relatively clean and the bathroom with two toilets, two showers and two sinks, looked at least useable. 

As the five of them stood in a line, surveying the work they’d completed, each one of them felt a sense of accomplishment.  Something they’d never experienced before.  Sure, they all received stellar grades in school, but none of their classes really challenged them.  They heard the other students grumble about the work or the time needed to prepare for classes and exams, but the five of them thought the work load was pretty light.  Of course, each of them had an almost photographic memory, so reading something once stuck with them forever.  Even their advanced math and science classes’ concepts were logical and, therefore extremely easy, because their minds were wired that way. 

“What now?” Stefan asked. 

Harrison grimaced as he glanced at the time.  “We should get our stuff from our rooms.”

“Everyone will ask what happened and where we’re going,” Damon commented.  None of them liked the other students to be in their business. 

“So we won’t tell them,” Grayson said, shrugging his shoulder like that was the most obvious thing in the world.  “If they ask, just smile like we have a secret and move on.”

The other four boys liked that idea and nodded their heads.  “Okay.  Let’s do it,” Malik said, trying to get rid of his accent so he would fit in with these guys a bit more. 

Harrison accidentally laid a conspiratorial hand on Damon’s shoulder.  Damon whipped around, thinking the other boy was about to start something.  But when Harrison only lifted his hands up, palms out as if apologizing, Damon’s stance relaxed.  “Sorry about that,” he grumbled, filing out behind the others. 

“Conspiratorial smiles, men,” Grayson said as they separated to go to their individual dorm rooms.  “We’ll meet back here in fifteen minutes.  Don’t be late, or they’ll think something is up.  Deal?”

All five of them nodded and walked across the quad together.  At the door to the dormitories, they silently split up and went to their rooms, quickly packing their things and walking out.  No one said a word to anyone as they all silently met back up at the door. 

“All set?” Harrison asked, looking around and closely observing each boy’s eyes to see if he was okay.  This was a pretty major event in the history of the school.  Never had boys been separated like this.  But neither had any student ever gotten away with as much as the five of them had and not been expelled.  This was all new territory for the boys and the school.

When they arrived back at the headmaster’s building, they stood outside for a moment, wary to enter. 

But as they stood there, the enormous door opened slowly.  The five boys wondered who had come to greet them but when they saw nothing, their heads lowered. 

“Aren’t you coming inside?” little Scarlett asked as she looked up hopefully, worried that her newfound friends wouldn’t be sleeping in her house.  “Please say you will!”  She hopped from one foot to the other, her bare toes feeling the cold of the night that had seeped into the stones. 

The boys all smiled as they walked past the tiny girl holding the door open for them, lugging all of their personal belongings along with them. 

When the door closed, Scarlett raced up the stairs, slipping in between each of the boys towering over her.  Her hair had dried and her flannel nightgown flapped between her legs, but she still beat her new friends into their new living space.  “Okay, here’s how I think you should sleep.”  With those words, she directed each of the boys to a bed, explaining why one should sleep in a specific bed versus another area.  She pointed out the tree outside of the window, the birds, the crack on the ceiling, some silly reasons and some that truly made sense. 

In the end, she had all of her friends settled into the room with a satisfied sigh.  “Okay, I have to sneak back into bed now.  Don’t tell Ms. Hamlin that I was here.” 

Harrison stared after Scarlett, his mind trying to wrap itself around the fact that little Scarlett had disobeyed.  “I never would have believed it,” he commented, staring at the door through which she’d just disappeared. 

“What a little sneak,” Grayson agreed with a chuckle. 

Damon and Stefan snorted.  “We’d better keep an eye on her,” Stefan said as he headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed. 

Malik followed, a smile on his face as well.  “She’s going to be trouble.” 

All of the boys laughed in agreement.  “Big trouble,” several of them mumbled.

 

 

 

“Whatcha doin?” Scarlett said as she plopped down on the chair next to Damon.

“Homework, brat,” he told her but the tone was affectionate. 

When Scarlett leaned her chin on his shoulder, he barely even acknowledged the extra weight. 

“What does ‘forbidden’ mean?” she asked.

Malik turned his head towards her.  “It means you can’t do it.”

Scarlett grinned at him.  “You guys ignore all of the forbidden rules, don’tcha?” she suggested.

Damon chuckled as he worked away across the table from Malik.  “She sees too much,” he commented, but continued to work. 

“She’s a nuisance,” Grayson grumbled.  “Don’t you have homework yourself?” he asked.

Scarlett shrugged her shoulders.  “I’m in first grade!” she told him as if homework in that grade was unheard of.  Her eyes went back to Malik’s computer.  “Besides, I didn’t know you were supposed to study forbidden stuff,” she commented, her tongue struggling with the new word. 

Harrison looked up from his computer.  “I thought you were doing a physics paper,” he asked of Malik.

Malik’s lips curled into a smile.  “I finished that.  Already e-mailed my paper to the professor.”

“So what are you working on now?” Harrison asked, looking down at his own computer as he typed up his organic chemistry paper.  He took the class at the nearby community college because none of the other students could handle the concepts.  Well, Stefan could, but he’d tested out of organic chemistry.  The man was a freaking genius when it came to chemistry, Harrison thought with jealousy. 

Each of the boys were allowed to take one college level course each semester, as long as they kept their grades up in their normal classes.  And astonishingly, none of them felt overly burdened by the effort, unlike their fellow students who struggled to finish all of the assignments of a normal class schedule. 

“Jennifer Flores needs help with her Shakespeare paper,” Malik explained and continued typing. 

There was a moment of silence as five sets of startled eyes looked at Malik.  “Why are you doing some girl’s homework?” Damon finally asked what everyone else was thinking.

Malik didn’t even look up as he clicked away.  “Because she told me she couldn’t go out with me tomorrow night because she had to do this paper.  I told her I’d send her the paper and she agreed to meet me by the creek.”

Harrison was the first to speak.  “Are you kidding me?  You have a date with Jennifer Flores?”

Grayson was scowling.  “I did her algebra homework for her last week.”  His expression softened, and he smiled slightly.

Malik looked up with that announcement.  “Was she worth it?”

Grayson didn’t answer.  He simply shrugged his shoulder and looked back down at the computer.  He wasn’t the kind of guy who would kiss and tell. 

“Worth what?” Scarlett asked.  When no one answered her, she looked at Malik.  “Are you going to kiss her?” she asked, squinching up her nose as if the idea of kissing was disgusting. 

“None of your business, brat,” he replied. 

Scarlett leaned her cheek against his shoulder.  “You guys don’t tell me anything!” she grumbled. 

“When you grow up, we’ll tell you everything,” Stefan promised.

Scarlett perked up at that.  “Everything?” she asked, eager for more information.

“Not everything,” Grayson told her with a stern look. 

Scarlett’s only response was to stick her tongue out at him, which earned her another chuckle. 

 

 

 

“You’re not coming,” Stefan said firmly, ignoring the pleading look in Scarlett’s blue eyes as she begged the five boys she now considered to be “hers”.  “You’re too little.”

She stomped her foot, furious that he would tell her no.  These guys always let her tag along!  Why was he being so obnoxious about a stupid movie?  “I’m eight years old!”

Damon bent down lower.  “Hey, if you’re good, I promise I’ll explain calculus to you.”

Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest, not buying into his bribe.  “I don’t like math,” she grumbled. 

Malik tussled her hair.  “Yes you do.  You just like drawing things better.”

Scarlett smoothed down her hair and pretended to step away, accepting that they weren’t going to let her come along.  Willingly.  She didn’t go far, knowing that her “brothers” were still trying to figure out the details of their plan. 

Twenty minutes later, she knew what was going on and had her own plan in place.  As soon as the boys snuck out the second-story back window – the only way to get out of the administrative building silently – she watched their process.  She waited a few minutes, then shimmied down the tied up sheets herself.  She didn’t let herself get too far behind, not wanting to walk through the woods alone.  She knew her “brothers” would protect her, but they wouldn’t know she was there. 

When they reached the movie theatre, the boys all bought their tickets, but Scarlett was obviously too small.  So she just walked into the theatre, pretending to be part of a family going to one of the other theatres.  But when the family turned right, she turned to the left, moving into the theatre where the boys had gone. 

“Hi there!” she said happily as she set herself down on the chair right next to Grayson. 

Grayson almost dumped his popcorn when he saw who had popped in.  “Oh no!” he groaned. 

“What’s wrong?” Stefan asked, staring at one of the girls that had just walked in.  There were two of them, both of them giggling and looking back at the five of them. 

Grayson nudged Stefan, trying to get his attention.  Stefan finally looked away from the ladies, not happy with the interruption.  “What?” he snapped.  They had been together for long enough that his question didn’t erupt into a fist fight as it would have three years ago. 

Grayson pointed at Scarlett who had stolen Grayson’s popcorn and was happily munching away.  Stefan groaned as well, nudging Harrison on the opposite side of him.  And so went identical reactions until Malik was the final groan.  “Go home Scarlett!” he commanded, standing up to his full height of six feet, three inches.  He was working on using his authoritative voice and doing an excellent job. 

“She can’t!” Grayson snapped. 

“Why not?” Harrison demanded, glancing over at the ladies.  Then their location hit him.  Scarlett couldn’t walk home through the woods by herself.  It was too dangerous and too scary.  “You’re right.” 

“One of us has to take her back,” Damon said, standing up, obviously volunteering. 

“I’ll take her,” Grayson said, resigned to doing it himself. 

“I’ll do it,” Stefan offered, chuckling at how daring this little girl could be.  She was like their shadow and had been driving them crazy ever since the day she’d introduced herself.  But they all loved her.  “I’ll spank her butt the whole way home.”

Scarlett stood up, facing off with the five boys.  “First of all, I can run faster than any of you.  So there will be no spanking of anyone’s butt.”  When she only received snorts of disbelief, she continued.  “And secondly, I’m not going back.  If you guys are old enough to watch this movie, so am I.”

“You’ll be too scared, Scarlett,” Malik said.  “You’re going home.  And I’m taking you even if I have to sling you over my shoulder.  And you know I’ll do it, so start marching.”

Scarlett blushed because she’d been caught spying on him just last week and he’d definitely plopped her over his shoulder that afternoon.  “Hey, Nancy only screamed a little,” she said when she’d been caught peering down at Malik and Nancy kissing in the stables last week.  “And you don’t really like her all that much anyway.”

“I don’t have to like someone to…” he started to say something, only to stop when four sets of eyes glared him into silence. 

Scarlett’s eyes were wide as she waited.  “You don’t have to like Nancy to what?” she prompted, painfully curious.  “What were you and Nancy going to do?” 

“You’re a menace,” Damon grumbled but there was laughter in his eyes. 

Scarlett still didn’t understand, her curiosity driving her crazy.  “I think you all know but you won’t tell me.”  She huffed and sat down, eating Grayson’s popcorn. 

“She did it again,” Harrison said, laughing and shaking his head, referring to how Scarlett could change the subject or twirl the issue around, confuse the five of them until she got her way.  She was the only one who could do that.  Their professors never could win an argument and with the five of them on the debate team, other schools dreaded having to face off with them.  Scarlett just seemed to have some sort of magic touch when it came to the five boys. 

“She always manages to do that,” Stefan said, but the opening music to the movie began and people started watching. 

“You’re going home!” Stefan said and started to move to get by.

“I am not!” she hissed right back.  “And if you make me go back, then I’ll tell Mr. Simmons that you didn’t study for that chemistry final and he needs to make it harder.”

Stefan rolled his eyes.  “Not going to work.”

Scarlett thought quickly because Stefan and Grayson were getting ready to pounce.  “I’ll tell Melanie that you like her!” she almost shouted, grasping at straws now. 

Thankfully, that seemed to do the trick.  Both boys froze, dropping their hands.  “You’re evil,” Stefan hissed back at her.

Melanie was one of the students at the girl’s school.  The boys referred to her as a stalker although Scarlett had no idea what that meant.  She just knew that the Melanie girl annoyed Stefan and the others.  She wouldn’t leave the guys alone during the dances, which hindered Stefan’s chances of meeting the other lovely ladies. 

Grayson chuckled.  “She plays dirty,” he said but sat down. 

Harrison just laughed, eating more popcorn.  “Let her watch.  It will teach her a lesson.”

Malik didn’t like that idea.  But Damon was too busy trying to get the ladies’ attention once again.  “I agree with Harrison,” Damon said and slid down lower in his seat. 

The movie started and Scarlett happily munched on the popcorn.  But twenty minutes into the movie, she couldn’t swallow any longer.  The horror movie was much scarier than she’d ever thought possible.  While her “brothers” were sitting next to her laughing, nudging each other with their elbows and making fun of the movie, Scarlett scooted lower in her seat, trying to not watch the show, but unable to tear her eyes away from the gruesome scenes. 

By the end of the movie, she was sitting on Grayson’s lap, shivering as she buried her face in his neck.  Grayson nudged Stefan and the whole nudging process started over again, moving down the line until Malik realized what was wrong.  He silently led the procession out of the movie theatre and through the woods back to their quarters, their after-movie plans with the ladies disintegrating.  Scarlett didn’t lift her head for a moment.  Grayson started to think she might have fallen asleep, but when he tried to shift her in his arms, she clamped her skinny arms more tightly around his neck. 

When he tried to put her into her bed, she shook her head.  “I’m not going to sleep.  Ever!” she proclaimed. 

The five boys looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do.  They were going to be in huge trouble if Headmaster Evans ever found out that his niece had snuck into a horror movie.  He would know that she only did it because she’d been following the five of them. 

“What are we going to do?” Malik asked, rubbing his jaw. 

Grayson rubbed her back, trying to calm her down.  “Honey, how about if we sleep around your bed.  Will that make you feel safer?” he asked. 

Scarlett thought about it for a moment, then she finally nodded her head.  “You promise you won’t leave?” she asked, looking up for the first time. 

When she received five nods of agreement, she accepted and released her death grip from around Grayson’s neck.  She walked into her bathroom and quickly changed into her nightgown, brushed her teeth and scrambled back out.  By then, Malik had gone into their room and grabbed pillows and blankets.  Scarlett went around to each of her “brothers” and hugged them, thanking each of them in turn and telling them where to sleep.  She wanted Stefan, Grayson and Damon on each side of her bed and the foot of her bed.  Harrison was to sleep by the doorway and Malik was assigned the floor under the window. 

All five men accepted their assigned sleeping posts and assured her that they wouldn’t leave until they had to get up for class tomorrow morning. 

Then, and only after one more assurance, would she lay down and go to sleep. 

“We’re in a huge heap of trouble tomorrow when Headmaster finds out what happened,” Malik said from the window when they heard Scarlett’s breathing slow down.

“Scarlett won’t tell,” Grayson said, still crabby but knowing his girl wouldn’t rat them out. 

“Of course she won’t, but how are we to explain our presence in her room tomorrow?” Damon asked, laughing at how ridiculous they must look.

There was a stunned silence for a moment, then several chuckles.  “We’re screwed!” one of them laughed. 

“Definitely.”

 

 

Off to the races

 

“It’s ready,” Grayson and Harrison called out, wiping their hands on the fabric of their pants as they walked into their make-shift dorm area.  “Do you have contestants lined up?”

Malik and Damon nodded their heads.  “We have about forty participants lined up.  They’ve been told to find their own racers,” Damon explained. 

Stefan walked in at that point as well.  “I think I’ve figured out a way to get our guy to move faster,” he said and raised a vial of liquid. 

Scarlett raced into the room.  “Uncle Charles suspects something!” she said, gasping for breath since she’d raced across the school campus ahead of her uncle in order to warn the guys.

Five boys looked down at her.  “What do you mean?” Malik finally asked.

She shrugged her skinny shoulders.  “I don’t know how, but he started asking me questions.”  She looked at Grayson and Harrison.  “Are you sure that it is hidden well enough?”

“No idea.”

She sighed.  “You’d better let me look at it.”

“You’re only eight years old.  What can you do?”

Her blue eyes narrowed up at him.  “Something a whole lot better than whatever you’ve done, and you darn well know it!”

The five men chuckled.  They were always astounded when their sweet, gentle Scarlett started getting huffy.  She always looked so…cute!  Too cute to cop an attitude, at least. 

“Take me to your track and I’ll hide it better than you guys ever could.”

“You aren’t very good at hiding anything,” Grayson replied, ruffling her blond curls. 

She pushed his hand away and glared up at him.  “Oh yeah?  Where’s my stash of candy bars?” she taunted. 

All five boys looked down at her in stunned silence. 

“You have a candy bar stockpile?” Malik demanded.  “Where is it?”

She quickly shook her head.  “You guys are always hungry.  There’s no way I’m going to tell you where I stash anything.”

“You never eat, little girl,” Damon commented.  “Give over.”

Scarlett sighed.  “Are you really going to try and get the information out of me?  Or are you going to let me help you?”

The five boys looked at each other, then back down at Scarlett.  “Okay, you can help.”

“Good.  I want in on the profits then,” she told them all.

Five boys immediately crossed their arms over their muscular chests and shook their heads.  “No way.”

“Fine, then I’ll just let Uncle Charles discover your race track and you can deal with the consequences.”  Scarlett knew that word extremely well since she’d been with these guys.  They were always into some sort of mischief.  Most of the time, they didn’t get caught but there were times when Uncle Charles figured out their plans. 

Grayson’s eyes narrowed once more.  “Here’s the deal.  You get four percent of the profits but you forfeit half back if your uncle ever discovers the track.  Deal?”

Scarlett thought about that for a moment, then shook her head.  “I want fifteen percent.”

All five boys shook their heads.  “No way.”

She mimicked their stance although it wasn’t as intimidating when she crossed her scrawny arms over her skinny chest.  “Fine. But you guys pass by my hiding place every time you go down the stairs.”

Irritation turned to stunned silence once again.

“Eight percent,” Malik offered. 

“Ten,” she countered. 

“Fine!” Harrison agreed.  “Ten percent.  And you show us your stash.”

She shook her head.  “Ten percent and you guys forget I have a stash.”

The five boys shifted on their feet. 

Scarlett knew she needed to sweeten the pot.  “Ten percent and I’ll buy the first pizza to celebrate after the first night of races.”  She knew they were wavering.  Food was always a good way to sway these guys because they were already well over six feet tall and constantly hungry.  Her uncle had said on numerous occasions that he doubted there was enough food in the kitchens to feed these five young men.  “And I’ll show you how to get past Mustafa’s kitchen security.”  Mustafa was the head chef at the boarding school and knew all of the tricks boys tried to pull to sneak extra food. 

The boys were practically salivating now.  “Show us how and it’s a deal.  Otherwise, we don’t believe you.  We’ve tried sneaking into the kitchens several times and haven’t been successful.”  All five boys curled their fingers into fists as memories of mouse traps snapping on their fingers came to mind. 

“Deal,” she replied. 

Ten minutes later, five boys and a blond headed girl snuck into the pantry and loaded their arms up with food, easily sneaking back out again, completely undetected.  They made their way through the buildings to the woods where the race track was set up. 

“Do your stuff,” Malik ordered as he sat down and pulled out bread, meat and cheese, slapping a sandwich together and taking an enormous bite.  Four others did the same, then stood watching while Scarlett examined the wooden race track. 

She glanced up at the trees, then over behind a rock, by the creek and behind a set of pine trees.  When she was finished, she came back to them.  “Here’s what you have to do,” she said.  “I saw this in one of your physics books but you would have to do the math to figure it all out.”  And she drew out a picture of what they would need to build.  When she was finished, the guys were all staring at the picture, more than a little impressed with her creativity. 

“Well done, little girl,” Grayson praised with a patronizing tone that he knew would rankle Scarlett.  Sure enough, she poked him in the ribs with her elbow, causing him to grunt. 

The six of them went to work and within a few hours, the race track was set up on pulleys and lifted into the trees.  Scarlett had pulled over old branches of trees and tied them to the bottom of the wooden track.  When the whole thing was lifted into place, one could barely notice that it was there! 

“You’re a genius,” Malik said, hugging her skinny shoulders. 

“I agree,” Damon replied, shaking his head as all six of them continued to stare up into the sky. 

The following night at the appropriate time, forty teenage boys and one blond girl gathered around the wooden race track that had once again been lowered to the ground.  The rules had been established, bets had been placed and, with the crack of a BB gun, the race was on.  Ten frogs were bouncing around the wooden race track amidst laughter, cheers and yells of encouragement to each of the frogs. 

Of course, Malik’s frog won almost every race, thanks to the chemical scent that Stefan developed to lead their frog to the end line more directly than the other frogs had hopped.  They pulled in over a hundred dollars that night, more than covering the cost of the wood and supplies. 

Over the next several months, they held the races every Tuesday night after curfew and room checks, bringing in more money every week. 

Charles knew that something was going on, but he couldn’t figure out what was happening.  He was even able to follow the worn down pathway through the woods to the site where the grass had obviously been well-trampled.  But he still couldn’t discover what was going on.  One afternoon, he discovered a well laid-out cage filled with frogs and a strange scent, but he just thought that it might be yet another science experiment Stefan was doing. 

 

 

 

“What the hell happened to you?” Harrison demanded as soon as Damon walked into the dorm room. 

Damon’s only response was to smile, ignoring the pain in his cracked lip or the eye that was slowly turning purple. 

Grayson and Stefan sprang off of their beds to look at their friend who was now lounging on one of the beaten up old chairs that Scarlett had found, creating a sitting room for them at one end of their make-shift dorm area.  “It was that wimp Isaac and his sidekick Wyatt, wasn’t it?” Grayson demanded. 

“What’s going on?” Malik asked as he entered the room, dumping his books on his bed and coming to join the group.  Seeing Damon’s face, his fists clenched as well.  “Who did this to you?”

Damon shook his head.  “Guys, I took care of it.  Isaac thought he could take me but I proved him wrong.  Wyatt just got a sucker punch in.  He was lucky.  Once.”

The four other boys stood there, staring at their friend as their anger increased.  “Sorry, but we’re not going to let those idiots get away with that,” Harrison commented, the statement sounding casual, but there was a fire in his eyes that always indicated danger. 

“I agree,” Grayson said.  “They tried to ambush me last week.  They need to be stopped.”

The four others looked at Grayson.  “Why didn’t you say something?” Malik demanded. 

Grayson crossed his arms over his chest.  “Because it was just Isaac,” he looked over at Damon.  “They are doubling up now.  They have to be stopped.”

Damon stood up, agreeing with the others now. “So what’s the plan?”

Five sets of eyes lit up with malicious glee.  “We can’t fight any more.  Headmaster Evans would boot us out for sure,” Malik said, rubbing his jaw as his mind worked out a plan. 

“You’re right,” Harrison said.  He turned to Stefan.  “Remember that formula you were working on in the lab last week?”

Stefan’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then he nodded his head with an evil-looking smile.  “I think I can do something creative with that.  What if….”

Five heads bent together as a plan was developed. 

 

The following morning at breakfast, Harrison “accidentally” bumped Isaac as he moved out of the breakfast line towards a place at one of the long tables.  Stefan, coming up on the other side, sprinkled something on Isaac’s food and moved on.  Malik did the same thing to Wyatt, all with coordinated efforts while Damon did the sprinkling this time.  Grayson casually took an opportunity to chat with the administrators, blocking their view until the deed was done.

The five of them then moved off as if nothing had happened. 

Three hours later, in Latin class, the five boys watched the faces of Wyatt and Isaac as the sprinkled “dust” worked its magic.  The sweating was the first sign that the science project was working.  Then came the shifting in the hard, wooden chairs.  Both boys were fidgeting, trying to get comfortable.  But nothing was working. 

And then the dust really kicked in and the identical, surprised shock on their features was priceless.  Maintaining looks of complete innocence, not a single feature on five boys’ faces moved as the two bullies urgently raised their hands to request permission to use the bathroom. 

“Both of you?” the Latin professor asked, surprised and more than a little perturbed. 

The boys could respond only with frantic nods of their heads.  Glancing at each other, the boys started to wonder what was going on, but they didn’t have time.  Wyatt jumped up, scrambling out of his desk and sprinting for the door, not even waiting for the professor to grant them permission to leave.  Isaac wasn’t as lucky.  Because Wyatt had made his escape, he’d used up precious seconds.  His bowels were unable to hold out and…well, suffice it to say, the red expression on his freckled face and the stench told the class exactly what was going on. 

If the two boys had only picked on Grayson, that would have been the end of it.  But they’d cheated in a fight with Damon as well and that could not be ignored. 

Biding their time, the five friends waited several more days before the next phase of their operation.  During a mandatory lecture for all students, Malik and Stefan, armed with yet another potion created by Stefan in the biology lab, snuck out of the lecture hall.  The three others shifted in their seats, ensuring that no one was aware of the escape. 

Fifteen minutes later, the two were right back in their places, looking solemn as Headmaster Evans continued to drone on about eating a variety of foods so that one’s young systems weren’t thrown out of whack.  The others in the lecture hall were too busy snickering to notice the absence of two of the infamous five boys.  Besides, everyone knew that the headmaster was talking about Isaac and Wyatt’s bowel issues from earlier in the week. 

By the following day, the classmates had more to snicker about. 

“Is something wrong?” Professor Dean demanded of Wyatt and Isaac who were scratching.  And scratching. 

The professor stood up, his eyes growing concerned as he watched the two boys wiggle and scratch.  “Go to the nurse!” he yelled, thinking the boys had some sort of infection or perhaps lice, although they weren’t scratching their heads.  He wasn’t going to even venture a guess what was going on with those two. 

When the boys continued to scratch, he shook his head and sternly pointed to the door.  “Go!” he commanded. 

The boys stood up, trying to put their books away, but the itching feeling was too intense and they couldn’t scratch and grab books at the same time.  “Just get your books later,” Professor Dean told them, wanting them out of his classroom.  They were troublemakers and poor students anyway so it was no loss that those two were gone. 

The rest of the class knew that something was going on and could barely contain their laughter as the two boys once again hurried out of the classroom.

The following day, Wyatt and Isaac knew that they’d messed up by picking a fight with Damon and Grayson.  As they passed by the table where the five guys were sitting, both of them looked at their opponents warily, wondering where the next attack would come from.  Since Wyatt and Isaac were mediocre students at best, their imaginations couldn’t take them to the extremes that their five enemies could dream up. 

When the two had walked by, Malik leaned in to Stefan.  “Is it ready?”

Stefan watched the two boys sit down several tables over while he nodded his head.  “Yep.  And it’s even better than what I’d originally created.”

“Is it going to work?” Damon asked. 

Stefan looked up.  “Absolutely,” he replied with spooky confidence.

“When are we going to do it?” Harrison asked.

Grayson chuckled.  “Believe it or not, they have dates this weekend.”

Stefan’s eyes widened, then looked over at the other two boys.  “Really?”

“Both of them?” Harrison asked, all five of them stunned. 

Grayson shrugged his broad shoulder.  “Some women just have strange tastes,” he commented.  The other four nodded their heads.  Each of them had encountered women with very strange, very quirky things on their minds. 

“Saturday night, it is,” Stefan said.  “That will give me time to make another batch.  Just in case.  Don’t want to run out.”

 

A few days later, the five boys waited in the dark shadows of shrubs, watching for their victims to leave the dorm.  When the two hurried off, eager for a night with the ladies, the five moved in, stealthily working their way through the halls so that none of the other students saw a thing. 

This prank took a bit more time, but it was well worth the effort. 

Several hours later, the two boys were coming back from their dates, slapping each other on the back as they bragged about what each of the girls had let them do.  They were completely unaware of what they were about to encounter. 

When they opened their dorm room door, they stopped in their tracks, confused.  “What the…?”

Wyatt glanced at the room number again, verifying that they’d entered the right dorm room. 

“Where’s our furniture?” Isaac demanded. 

“And all of our stuff?!” Wyatt almost yelled. 

Headmaster Evans was walking down the hallway, doing room checks for the night.  He stopped behind the two students who were scratching their heads in confusion.  “I could be wrong,” Charles said, trying to hide his amusement, “but I’m pretty sure that furniture on one’s ceiling is a violation of school rules, gentlemen.  Please rectify this situation immediately.”  And he continued on down the hallway. 

Both boys looked up, stunned silent for a long moment as they stared up at the ceiling.   

“It’s them, Headmaster Evans!” Isaac finally yelled as he tried to figure out how the five boys had glued all of their furniture onto the ceiling of their dorm room.  It seemed physically impossible!  There didn’t appear to be any nails!  How in the world…?!  Even their sheets were on the beds, not a corner out of place. 

Charles turned around, looking over his glasses at the two boys who were known to be cruel and abusive.  He’d never been able to catch these two though.  “Are you making an accusation, Mr. Simmons?” he asked of Isaac. 

Isaac nodded his head vehemently.  “It’s Grayson, Harrison, Malik, Damon and Stefan, sir!” he exclaimed. 

Charles moved closer, still trying to hide his amusement.  “Are you trying to tell me that five boys came into your dorm room and did this?”  Charles would never admit to anyone, but he was inappropriately proud of his boys for this particular prank.  It went beyond impressive. 

“Yes!” Wyatt exclaimed.  “And they put the laxative in our food too!  Not to mention the itching powder.”

Charles wanted to roar with laughter.  And he had no doubt that Wyatt’s accusations were true.  But… “Do you have credible proof of your accusations?”

Wyatt and Isaac were stumped.  “I’m sure someone saw the five of them in here, doing this to our dorm room, sir,” Isaac replied with impotent fury. 

A crowd had gathered now, all of the other students on the hallway trying to get a look at the furniture, most of them trying to figure out how it had been done. 

“I didn’t see any of them come into the dorms, Headmaster,” one of the students said, still in awe of the latest prank. 

There were other murmurs of agreement.  No one had seen the five being accused even near the dorm rooms. 

“I saw them in the commons area earlier, playing cards,” another student said.  “Your niece was with them, sir.”

Headmaster Evans chuckled.  “I’m sure she was,” he replied.  “And probably winning,” he mumbled.  “You’re accusing those other boys of a serious violation.  This is destruction of property, gentlemen.  But I’m curious;  those five boys, they generally stick together, not bothering anyone else.  Their wrath is only directed at people who provoke it.”  He paused and watched carefully as the boys’ faces lost all color.  “Did either of you do something to provoke their tempers?”  Another pause.  “Didn’t Mr. Galanos have a black eye recently?” Charles suggested. 

Isaac was the first to recover.  “We had nothing to do with that, Headmaster,” he proclaimed, hiding his hands behind his back.  Wyatt nodded his head, moving slightly behind Isaac. 

Charles knew exactly what had happened and that these boys were lying.  “Well, you still need to get your furniture off of the ceiling.  If you find any evidence, please bring it to me quickly and we’ll resolve this issue.”

Charles moved on down the hallway, continuing with his hall check, laughing silently at the mischief his favorite students had caused. 

Twenty minutes later, he walked into the make-shift dorm room that looked surprisingly homey now.  All five boys, as well as his niece, were sitting in the room reading.  That alone would be an easy clue that they’d done something wrong.  It was Saturday night.  There were many lonely ladies wondering where these boys were.  Speaking to all five of them, he watched their expressions carefully.  “There was some furniture glued to the ceiling of a dorm room tonight.  Any ideas on how that happened?” he asked. 

Six eyes glanced in his direction but not a single change in expression.  Simple, polite surprise was all he got. 

“How did someone glue furniture to the ceiling?” Stefan asked.

Charles looked at the young man who was a genius at chemistry.  “Good question, Stefan,” he replied, more casual with these boys than the other students.  “You’ve been diligently working on something in the laboratory recently.  It wouldn’t happen to be a formula for a remarkably strong type of glue, would it?”

Stefan shook his head.  “Professor Dindal was challenging me to separate crude oil.”

Charles knew that Stefan was lying, but it was a good answer.  And Jeremy Dindal had mentioned that Stefan was the only one who had come up with a good way to separate out the oil in a surprising new process. 

“Fine,” he replied with a chuckle.  “I won’t even ask why you aren’t out charming the ladies tonight.”  With that, he walked away, still shaking his head at the incredible brilliance of these five gentlemen.  Scarlett too, he thought with pride.  Although his pleasure was mixed with an equal dose of trepidation as he wondered what might happen next. 

 

So long, for now

 

“Don’t go!” Scarlett whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks.  She stared at the five young men while her heart ached.  “Please, don’t go!”

Uncle Charles could feel the pain in his niece and wished there was some way he could fix this for her.  But the five men had graduated last May and had stayed at the school over the summer.  Ostensibly all of them were doing an internship for the school, but the bottom line was, they wanted to hang out together and with Scarlett.  The six of them were fast friends, closer than some families.

Unfortunately, the young men needed to go off to college now. 

Grayson took the almost-nine-year old Scarlett into his arms.  “We’ll be back for breaks, brat.  Don’t worry.  And I’m only a half-hour away.”

Scarlett wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face against his shoulder as she hugged him.  “I don’t want you to go.  I don’t want any of you to go!”

Charles bent down, knowing that the five men were in an awkward position.  “Scarlett, you and I talked about this last night.  You told me that you understood.”

Scarlett heard the words but her arms tightened around Grayson’s neck.  Only for a moment. 

But she rallied, remembering her conversation with her uncle.  She was making this harder for her “brothers” and she didn’t want that.  She loved them and she would be terribly lonely without them, but she was also excited that they were going off to learn more about the world. 

“You’re going to be okay?” she asked Grayson, laying a hand on his scruffy cheek.

“I’ll be fine.  Will you be okay?” he asked, tweaking her nose because he knew she hated it.  He needed her to be angry.  Those blue eyes affected him deeply.  They tore at his soul every time she was sad and lightened his heart when she was happy. 

Scarlett’s chin quivered for a moment, but she pulled through.  “Yes.  I’m going to be fine.  As long as I hear from you guys,” she said, looking at all of them so that they got the message.  “I want updates on what you’re studying, who you are dating, pictures of where you are, what you’re doing…everything!”

The five men chuckled because she was such a little tyrant.  “Got it,” they said, all nodding their heads. 

“Fine.  Go!” she told them all, waving her hands in the air as if she were royalty, dismissing her admirers. 

“Not without a hug, brat,” Harrison cautioned. 

Once more, the chin quivered.  But she knew she’d be horribly upset if these men walked out of her life and she hadn’t hugged them each one more time.  Throwing her skinny body into Harrison’s arms, she hugged him with all of her strength.  “I’ll miss you!” she whispered to each of them as she hugged them goodbye. 

One by one they stepped into limousines, all except for Grayson who got into a cab that was taking him to the train station.  He was the only one that didn’t have the money for a limousine to take him to his university, so he’d be taking the bus. 

As they drove away, Scarlett stood still, watching until she couldn’t see the taillights any longer.  And even then, she sat on the hard, concrete bench, holding her uncle’s hand tightly, unable to leave. 

“They are going to be okay, Scarlett,” Charles finally said, lifting her off of the bench and pulling her onto his lap.  He wrapped his arms around her body, trying to give her some comfort.  But even he was having a hard time today.  Those boys, so much trouble initially, had become like sons to him.  He’d never married, having lost the love of his life to someone else years ago.  So he’d never had the joy of raising children…not until those five boys had stepped onto this campus and Scarlett had come into his life as the result of that tragic chain of events. 

It was both a blessing and a joy.  The six of them had given him grief and frustrations over the past few years.  But they had also given him the greatest joy, watching them change and grow, learn to be friends and care for one another. 

“It is going to be okay, honey,” he told his niece.  It had to be okay, or at least get better than it felt right now, he thought as his heart ached. 

 

Turnabout is fair play

 

Five years later…

 

“What are you doing here?” Scarlett demanded of the five men who were crowding around her uncle’s foyer.  “Go away!” she hissed as the doorbell rang again.

In response, the five men simply crossed their arms over their massive chests or leaned against the wall, pretending to be bored.  But deep down inside, each of them were furious.  Scarlett was going out on her first date and none of them liked it! 

Uncle Charles was delighted.  Not only had these men kept in contact over the years, but they had continued to act like Scarlett’s big brothers.  They’d come back for holidays and long weekends, sent Scarlett presents and admonished her if she achieved anything less than an A for any sort of test.  When she had trouble with algebra, Malik had flown into town one weekend and tutored her until she’d hunkered down to figure out the problems.  When she'd gotten a B- on a Shakespeare test, Harrison had arrived with study notes, harping on her until she understood the plays.  No matter what problem or challenge that was going on in her life, Scarlett knew that she had the support of her five “brothers”.  Charles might do the day to day upbringing, but her “brothers” were her biggest cheerleaders. 

The reverse was also true.  She’d kept in contact with each of them, saving up all of her babysitting money and summer job income so that she could send presents on their birthdays and important holidays.  She’d learned to cook so that she could send them care packages, cookies or fudge when she sensed that they were sad, brownies when they had a big event, or special recipes whenever she suspected they just needed a smile. 

When each of them had graduated from college, she’d mapped a route around the world, found the best prices for airfare and presented Charles with a plan.  Sure enough, Scarlett was front and center for all five of their college graduations, yelling the hardest when they’d received their degrees.  Charles had never been more proud, both of Scarlett or his men. 

Charles had e-mailed them three days ago, letting them know that she had been asked on her first date.  One by one, they’d all shown up on his doorstep, demanding information about the boy who was going to take their “sister” out on a date. 

“Are you going to answer the door?” Malik asked, a sneer on his handsome features as he practically growled in anticipation of not liking the boy. 

Scarlett sighed, her head dropping into her open palms.  “This is a nightmare,” she groaned.  But she walked over to the door and pulled the heavy door open.  “Hi Jeremy,” she said with an apologetic glance.  “Come on inside and ignore the ogres looming in my uncle’s house.”

The boy stepped inside, his hazel eyes looking around.  Jeremy swallowed as the five men stepped forward, all of them more than a head taller than he was.  “Um…hello,” he replied weakly. 

Grayson was the first to speak.  “Where are you taking Scarlett tonight?” he demanded.

Jeremy’s eyes grew even wider.  “Uh…we were just going to a movie,” he replied. 

“What movie?” Malik stepped closer. 

“Just a comedy,” Jeremy explained.  Lifting his hands, he said, “It received very good reviews and is rated for all audiences.”

“What makes you think Scarlett will even like this movie?” Harrison asked with his British sarcasm coming through. 

“Uh…she suggested the movie,” Jeremy defended in a weak voice. 

Scarlett pushed herself between Jeremy and all of the other men, who were obviously trying to intimidate her date.  “I don’t think this is any of your business.  Shouldn’t you guys be out doing something…making another million or something like that?”

The guys ignored her, still glaring at the young man who had dared to show an interest in their Scarlett.  “What time is the movie over?”

Jeremy swallowed again, leaning back and trying to think quickly.  “Uh…the movie ends around nine-thirty, I believe.”

Stefan’s dark eyebrows shot up at that response.  “You think?  You’re not sure?”

Damon didn’t like this guy.  “Why don’t you know?  Don’t you think Scarlett is good enough for you to put in a little effort, be sure of your itinerary for the night?”

“Stop it!” Scarlett hissed, trying to push the men back.  “You’re not being fair.”

“My driver will take you to the movie,” Malik announced.

Scarlett shook her head adamantly.  “No way!  We’re walking to the movies.”

“Not through the woods!” Harrison snapped. 

“Not happening, Scarlett,” Grayson seconded. 

Scarlett’s palm slapped against her forehead again.  “Fine!  We’ll take Malik’s car!  But no bodyguards!”

“Bodyguards?” Jeremy squeaked. 

Malik shook his head.  “Two bodyguards!” he came right back. 

“No!”

“Bodyguards?” Jeremy squeaked again, his face looking pale. 

“Two bodyguards, Scarlett, or you stay here and we watch a movie,” Malik told her, a smile forming on his wicked lips.  “All together in Uncle Charles’ den.”

They heard Uncle Charles chuckle behind them, but Scarlett was too busy glaring up at the five of them, worried that Jeremy was about to bolt.  “You’re driving me crazy!” she almost screamed. 

“What’s it to be?” Harrison asked.  “Two bodyguards or the den?”

“Fine!” Scarlett threw her hands up into the air.  “Bodyguards.  Now leave us alone!”

“What time are you going to be back?” Damon snapped.

Scarlett was finished.  “We’ll be back when we get back!”  She pushed Jeremy towards the door.  “No more questions!  We’re finished.  Go…” she waved her hands in the air, “bother someone else.  We’re leaving!”

And she was out the door.

Six men stared at the closed door.  Five of them turned and looked toward Charles.  The older man laughed softly.  “Go!  I know what you’re planning!  And believe me, she probably deserves it.  I know she drove you guys crazy when she was younger.”

Damon’s lips slowly curved into a smile.  “How many times did she follow us through the woods to the movie theatre over the years?” he offered to the others. 

Grayson’s eyes stopped scowling as he realized where Damon’s idea would take them.  “Too many times,” he replied back.  “What about all of those dates she interrupted because of her curiosity?”

“I think I want to see a movie tonight,” Malik commented.  “And since my guards will already be there…”

Stefan laughed and clapped his hands together.  “Oh, I love payback!”

Harrison joined in.  “This is perfect retribution.”

Uncle Charles shook his head.  “I don’t want to know details,” and he pushed his shoulder away from the wall and walked into his den.  “Have fun.  Just don’t let anyone die tonight, okay?”

“Sounds easy enough,” Harrison responded. 

Uncle Charles settled into his well-worn chair and picked up the book he’d been reading.  “Not outside the bounds of possibility,” he mumbled as he listened to his boys leave the house, determined to follow after Scarlett and her date.  “Poor girl,” but he laughed softly, knowing that his little girl would be safe tonight.  Poor Jeremy, on the other hand…

 

Scarlett was happily munching on popcorn when she felt something strange…something that…

Spinning around, she gasped when she saw five very large, very muscular men walking into the movie theatre, their arms loaded down with popcorn, soda and other movie theatre treats. 

“No!” she gasped. 

Jeremy turned as well, still self-conscious because of the burly bodyguards that were sitting four rows behind them.  But the sight that greeted him at that moment banished the armed guards from his mind.  The two men behind them were nothing compared to the terror he felt as Scarlett’s friends sat down in the row behind them. 

“Go away!” Scarlett hissed.  “You already sent your guards to hover over me and make me miserable!  This is outrageous.”  She didn’t even acknowledge the bodyguards who chuckled at her anger.  All of her fury was directed at the men who wouldn’t leave her alone on her first date. 

Grayson rolled his eyes.  “Turn around and stop interrupting.  We’re here to enjoy the movie!”

“I know the kind of movies you jerks prefer and this isn’t one of them.  There won’t be any boobs so get out!  You’re here to interrupt my date!” she came right back, not believing for a second that these men wanted to watch a romantic comedy. 

“Scarlett!” Harrison gasped, pretending to be scandalized.  “Language!”

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the man.  “Don’t you even start!”

He laughed.  “Remember Tanya?” he replied back, referring to the woman who had screamed when she’d seen Scarlett peering over the edge of the sofa.  Tanya had run as fast as she could away from Harrison that night. 

Scarlett’s fury diminished a notch.  “You didn’t even like her!”

Harrison shrugged a shoulder.  “I liked parts of her.”  The other men chuckled. 

Scarlett’s glare swung over to all of them.  “You’re being horribly rude.”

“Leslie Matthews,” Malik came back. 

Scarlett crossed her arms over her stomach.  “What about her?”

“Jessica Williams,” Damon threw that date’s name out there. 

Scarlett shrugged a shoulder.  “You told me that she had a boyfriend.”

“Not that night,” he came right back.  Chuckling when Scarlett rolled her eyes. 

“Nancy Peterman,” Grayson tossed out. 

Stefan tossed back some popcorn before he said, “Laura Swenson, Abby Benson, Cynthia something-or-other and that blond woman…can’t remember her name.”

Scarlett latched onto the last two.  “It doesn’t count if you can’t remember their names!”

“It counts,” Stefan came back, then looked at the other men.  “They count, right?”

“Absolutely!” “They count!” “All of them count!”

She was outnumbered. 

“Fine!” she sighed and swung back around, sitting down next to Jeremy again who had slunk down in his seat so that the top of his head just barely showed over the back of the seat. 

“Just ignore them, Jeremy,” she told him, trying to ignore them herself.  Unfortunately, Grayson had chosen the seat right behind her and there was really no way she could get that man out of her head.  He’d been there for several years and he was sort of…stuck there. 

She had absolutely no idea what happened on the screen, too conscious of the men behind her, determined to get retribution for all of the times she’d messed up their dates over the years.  Boy!  They really held a grudge, she thought. 

When the movie ended, Jeremy almost raced out of the theatre, taking her hand and practically dragging her to the limousine. 

At the door to her Uncle’s house, he shook Scarlett’s hand.  “It was great.  Call you soon,” and he was gone before the five men could take the first step towards the door. 

Scarlett’s face fell as she watched her date race down the road towards his house.  “He was a nice guy,” she said as the five men surrounded her under the light from the portico. 

Grayson watched the wimpy boy as he took off at a run.  “I didn’t like him,” he commented, then herded Scarlett inside the building.

 

Uncle Charles stood up as soon as the door opened, coming out of the den.  “What are you doing home so early?  It isn’t even nine o’clock.”

The five men nudged Scarlett into the kitchen.  Grayson already had the bottle of scotch out and Harrison was shuffling the cards.  “The guy was too nervous to continue his date.  So we’ll play poker and let Scarlett cheat.”

Scarlett dumped her sweater on the counter and pulled out the ice cream.  “I never cheat.  You just say that because I beat you.”

Damon took down glasses from the cabinet, setting them all on the table.  “You cheat.”

Scarlett rolled her eyes again.  “Can’t stand to have a woman beat you, eh?”

Grayson plucked the spoonful of ice cream out of her hand and ate it himself before handing the empty spoon back to her.  “Can’t do it tonight though.”

He sat down at the kitchen table, lifting up his glass of scotch. 

Scarlett came up behind him and plucked the glass out of his hand before it even touched his lips.  She was just about to take a sip when Harrison grabbed the glass.  “Not a chance, little girl,” he said and slammed the scotch back himself, handing the empty glass to Grayson before taking another. 

Charles’ eyes lit up as the rambunctious group of men and his niece settled down to play poker.  He didn’t dare enter into the fray, knowing how cut-throat this group could be when they played.  Thankfully, his delicate-looking niece could hold her own.  After an hour of watching them play, he stood up and went to bed, knowing that the six of them would be playing for several more hours. 

 

Scarlett’s graduation

 

“So in the great words of the fabulous Dr. Suess, ‘You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.’”  Scarlett finished off.  She paused to let the laughter die down before she finished her Valedictorian speech.  “I challenge each of you to go out into the world and follow your dreams, make mistakes, make history…just make yourself into the best person you can be.”

The graduates stood up, cheering loudly as Scarlett walked off the stage.  Her eyes skimmed along the crowd and found them.  Her “brothers” were there, right next to her Uncle Charles.  One by one, they stood up and clapped and she relished the pride she saw in each of their eyes.  When her baby blues locked with Grayson, she held her breath for a long moment before releasing it.

“Thanks guys,” she said, hugging each of them as they offered her their congratulations. 

There was an elaborate dinner and a huge party with all of her friends, lots of talk about where they were heading now that high school was over.  Scarlett knew she was heading off to business school.  She’d major in business and art.  She knew exactly what she wanted to do. 

Looking at the five men who had tormented her, pushed her, challenged her and comforted her, she ached just as much at her own graduation as she had after theirs when they’d gone off and left her.  Her “brothers” and her uncle were her world.  This was the end, she thought.  She might see them occasionally, but her uncle was their anchor, the man they all came back to. 

How was she going to live without them all in her life? 

 

 

If you enjoyed these short glimpses into Scarlett and the boys’ lives, be sure to pick up the Boarding School Series romances at your favorite vendor!  See for more information!