Trina giggled. “According to the legends, yes.”
“But that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Adam said.
“Wait… really?” A fluttery feeling appeared in my belly.
Trina nodded. “There are all sorts of rumors about what used to happen here when it was still a university,” she said. “Most of it originated in nearby towns, where the people were kinda envious of everything Royal Falls had. So they made up nasty rumors, and I guess they stuck.”
“Like what?”
“There was allegedly some sort of secret society for guys at RFU. So secret that no one knew what they called themselves or what they did,” Adam said. “Some people claimed they were just a typical old boys’ club who liked to throw exclusive parties with strippers and drugs. Or they organized fetish events and orgies.”
“But others said there was drug dealing, prostitution, and even ritualistic murder going on in their ranks,” Trina added. She lifted a shoulder. “Who knows?”
“Wow.”
“The part that I find really creepy is that because no one knows if there even was a secret society here, there’s no way to know if it’s extinct.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. I’d only heard half of what she said, because I was still thinking about the other stuff regarding the possible drug dealing, orgies, and ritualistic murders. It was wild.
“I mean, most of the rumors assume it ended when RFU closed in 1988. If it actually ever existed.”
“Oh, I get it now. You mean it could still be around, and no one would have any idea except the current members.”
She nodded. “Exactly. It probably wouldn’t be here, seeing as it’s a high school now, but it could still be somewhere in town.”
“Spooky.” Adam made spirit fingers in my direction, tongue wagging out of his mouth.
Trina elbowed him again. “Stop! I think it could actually be real,” she said indignantly. “What about you, Laney? Do you think so?”
As she spoke, I happened to be looking around the cafeteria, admiring the intricate stone embellishments on the walls near the door. My eyes landed right on Hunter, who’d just stepped inside the room. His head was down, brows furrowed with concentration as he looked at his phone.
I looked away, but then I couldn’t help myself, and my eyes darted right back to him. He was so damn hot.
My breath hitched as I realized he wasn’t looking down at his phone anymore. He was staring straight at me, face set like marble.
My skin flushed red-hot, and even though I knew I should look away, I couldn’t. The weight of his gaze had me pinned to the spot.
I finally managed to lower my eyes slightly, and that was when I noticed the gold signet ring on his right hand. I couldn’t see the pattern on it from here, but it made me wonder… what if Trina was only half right? What if there was a creepy secret society for men here back in the day, but when RFU became RFA, they carried on right here on campus instead of moving somewhere else in town?
Maybe the members wore signet rings to proclaim their membership to those who knew about it.
Or maybe it was nothing. I remembered reading something in the rules that rings associated with school clubs were allowed to be worn at the academy. Hunter was probably just wearing one of those.
My shoulders deflated. “I don’t know,” I finally said. “I guess there could be an old secret society in Royal Falls. But if there was, we’d never know, would we? That’s the whole point.”
“True.” Trina nodded slowly. Then she turned her head, eyes following the direction of my gaze. “Oh, look. It’s your best friend Hunter.”
I let out a soft laugh. “Maybe I should try to talk to him,” I suggested. “Clear the air a bit. What do you think, Adam?”
He shrugged. “Sure. You’d probably get more of a response out of him than me.”
“You’re his brother!”
“Hey, I might live with him, but I only see him if I cross a dozen hallways. So you can imagine how often we sit and chat.”
Trina rolled her eyes. “You two are ridiculous. Anyway, Laney, I think you’re right. Go and see what he has to say.”
Swallowing nervously, I got up and approached Hunter.
“Hi,” I said, wishing my voice didn’t suddenly sound so squeaky. “I know we don’t really know each other, but I just wanted to come over and clear the air between us, because you seemed kinda mad at me earlier. If I did something to annoy you, then I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to. I’m just new to all of this, and I—”
He held up a hand and cut me off. “You know, for someone who supposedly earned a scholarship here, you don’t actually seem capable of learning at all.”
I gaped at him. “Huh?”
“I thought I made it clear that I don’t want to speak to you. Do I need to wear a fucking sign, or are you going to get it through your head?”
I narrowed my eyes. I was trying to be civil, and he was being a total dick in return. “Look, I don’t understand what I’ve done to piss you off. If you could just communicate like an adult and let me know, then maybe we could sort it out and—”
I was cut off yet again, this time by another guy. He was wearing a signet ring just like Hunter. “There you are, man!” he said, grinning as he slapped a hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “Ooh, fresh meat,” he went on, sparkling brown eyes landing on me. “What’s your name?”
He must’ve arrived late today, because obviously he hadn’t been informed by Hunter that I was persona non grata to their princely crew.
“Laney,” I said. I could feel a blush creeping across my cheeks. This guy might not be as sexy as Hunter, but he was still hotter than all the boys at my old school.
“Nice to meet you, Laney. I’m Chris. I’m guessing Hunter has volunteered to show you around?”
My lips tightened. “Not exactly,” I said stiffly.
“Well, if you ever need someone for that, feel free to ask me,” he said with a little wink. “Oh, and you should come to our party in a couple of weeks. Down by the lake on Friday the 13th. Because of the date, I figured we should make it a spook-fest. Dress up like it’s Halloween. Or maybe do a full-on Friday the 13th movie theme thing.”
“Laney can’t make it,” Hunter said, lips curling into a slight sneer. “She’s busy.”
I folded my arms. Screw this guy. I’d tried to be nice, but he was being a total asshole. “Actually, I can make it that night,” I said, smiling sweetly at Chris. “I’ll definitely be there.”
With that, I whirled around and strode back to my table. Trina and Adam were waiting for me, brows raised and shoulders hunching forward.
“How’d it go?” Trina asked.
“Hunter was a dick again, but his friend was nice. He invited me to a Friday the 13th party in a few weeks.”
“Oh, I heard about that!” Adam said. “We’re going, right?”
“I said I would, yes.”
The bell rang, and we hastily packed up our stuff and headed off to our next classes.
The rest of the day was normal. A few students looked at me for a beat too long, clearly wondering who I was, but most of them were nice. In one of the classes, the desks were big circular things designed for groups, and some girls invited Trina and me to sit with them, chatting and giggling with us as if we were all old friends.
I couldn’t believe it. I’d worried so much about not fitting in at a school like this, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I did fit in, and people actually liked me. It was a far cry from my old school, where I was mostly invisible. Neither popular nor unpopular. Just a shadow wandering the halls.
After the last period was over, I spent some time studying in the library with Adam and Trina, and when they left to go home, I wandered down to the cafeteria for dinner. Some of the other boarders invited me to sit and eat with them, and before I knew it, I felt as if I’d been here for a hundred years. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming.
I didn’t get back to Blair Hall until
nine. After I trudged all the way up to my dorm on the top floor, I unpacked as much as I could from my bags. Then I sat down and blew out a deep breath, wondering what I should do next. It was getting late, but I was still buzzing with excited energy, so I didn’t want to go to bed just yet.
I sat up straight when I remembered something Ms. Flores told me earlier this morning. She mentioned an old observatory in Blair Hall, somewhere here on the top floor.
I grabbed a scarf and slowly headed down the hall, trying to find the right room.
“There you are,” I murmured to myself, finally locating the entrance at the other end of the top floor. It was a dimly-lit octagonal room with a domed glass ceiling, and it smelled of old leather and vellum. The walls were covered in star maps, and over by the enormous window which extended down from the glass ceiling, there were several old-fashioned telescopes and astronomy binoculars mounted on tripods. There were chairs and low tables nearby.
An empty condom wrapper lay on the floor under one of the tables, and I rolled my eyes and sighed. Obviously, other students liked to use this beautiful old room as a hookup spot, and they’d forgotten to clean up after themselves last time.
“Not tonight, guys,” I said out loud, striding over to the nearest astronomy binoculars.
I fiddled with the different knobs on the device, trying to figure out how to use it properly. The eyepieces were facing down from the domed ceiling, pointed out the window toward the enormous lake on the other side. When I looked through it to make sure my focus was right, I spotted an island in the center of the water, lit by the bright moonlight.
“Wait, what?” I whispered to myself. I didn’t know there was an island in the lake. It wasn’t on the campus map.
With a curious frown, I turned one of the knobs to increase the magnification so I could get a better look.
I accidentally twisted one of the focus knobs the wrong way, and everything went blurry for a few seconds. “Dammit,” I muttered, twisting it back around.
Everything came back into focus, and with the new magnification, I could see a lot more—towering trees lining the island, silvery water lapping at the shore, an old wooden pier.
A light suddenly flashed in the very corner of the left lens. Eyes widening, I moved the device slightly to the side. There were more lights now, flickering amongst the trees.
“What the hell is that?” I muttered.
I kept increasing the magnification, trying to figure out what I was looking at, but the lights had already disappeared. No matter how much I zoomed in, all I could see was an expanse of trees and bushes.
With a sigh, I brushed the weird lights aside and moved the binoculars all the way up to the sky so I could get some proper stargazing in for the night.
By the time I finished and fell into bed, I was exhausted but deliriously happy. RFA was amazing, and I was incredibly lucky to get a free ride through my senior year. Because of this place, all of my dreams were going to come true.
I just knew it.
I awoke early the next morning, showered in my luxurious new bathroom, and put on my uniform. Then I practically skipped over to the cafeteria for coffee and breakfast. Trina and Adam were already there waiting for me.
I noticed a few people shooting me odd looks, but I wasn’t fazed. It was probably just the same as yesterday, when the other students were confused about who I was. As the new girl, it would probably be like that for the next few weeks.
“All right, let’s go,” Trina said at a quarter to eight, before smothering a yawn with one hand. She looked like she hadn’t slept much. Dark circles under her eyes, heavy-lidded eyelids, and messy hair.
We headed to the hall with the senior locker banks to grab our stuff for class. Normally Adam would go down another hall to get to his own locker in the junior section, but he tagged along with us today, wanting to borrow a book that Trina had in hers.
When I arrived at my locker, I saw that someone had spray-painted it black.
“What the hell?” I said, body tensing. “Who would do this?”
I looked over at my friends. Trina had gone deathly pale, and Adam’s eyes were wide. A small crowd was starting to gather around us, pausing in their morning rush to stare at me.
“What’s going on?” I asked, tilting my head slightly to one side.
“Laney…” Trina said, voice barely above a whisper. “You’ve been blacklisted.”
4
Laney
I gaped at Trina. “Blacklisted? What does that mean?”
The crowd around us was getting bigger. They were all staring at me and my locker. I couldn’t make sense of it, nor could I understand the frantic whispers and mutters, narrowed eyes, and hostile expressions.
“Come with me,” Trina muttered. She grabbed my sleeve and pulled me toward the nearest bathroom. Adam trailed behind us.
As we entered, a toilet flushed in a stall, and a freckled girl came out to wash her hands. She shot a withering look at Adam. “You can’t be in here!” she said shrilly.
“Fuck off,” Trina snapped, glaring at the girl until she skittered out of the bathroom like a terrified mouse.
“What’s going on?” I asked, wide-eyed. “What’s the blacklist?”
Trina and Adam exchanged glances.
“You know how I told you the Princes basically rule the school?” Trina said.
I nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“Well, every so often they paint someone’s locker black. That means they’re blacklisted. Once that happens, they’re screwed. Everyone has to treat them like shit until they leave.”
My eyes widened even more. “What? You mean they get bullied right out of the school?”
“Yes.” Adam nodded, lips pressing into a grimace.
A cold feeling settled into my bones. “And the teachers don’t stop them?”
He shook his head. “The teachers are basically powerless against it. They’d only ever step in if someone was going to physically hurt another student.”
“Why? Part of their job is to protect their students from bullying, right?” I said.
“You’d think so.”
My eyes narrowed. “How could a bunch of fully-grown adults let some arrogant, entitled teenagers control everything like that?”
Adam lifted a shoulder in a tired shrug. “They turn a blind eye to it because they know their high-paying jobs are on the line if they step in,” he explained. “The Princes are all from uber-wealthy founding families, so they can get someone fired with the snap of a finger if they want.”
“Oh my god,” I murmured. I couldn’t believe it. “What about the students? Does everyone go along with it?”
“Mostly. They feel like they have to, for two reasons,” Trina said. “For one, if you refuse to participate or try to defend the person, there’s a chance they’ll add you to the blacklist too. So most people do it out of fear, just to avoid that.”
I swallowed hard. “And the second reason?”
The two of them exchanged glances again, shifting their weight around on their feet. They looked deeply uncomfortable.
“Just tell me,” I said with a sigh, raking a hand through my hair.
“Usually if a person gets blacklisted, it’s because they deserve it,” Adam mumbled. I barely even heard him.
“Deserve it how?” I folded my arms.
“The Princes don’t just pick on people they don’t like for petty reasons. They only blacklist the ones who genuinely deserve it in their eyes,” Trina said. “Like last year, there was a senior trying to sell hardcore opiates to freshman boys and girls. They got rid of him pretty fast.”
“And Brett Weston… remember him?” Adam said.
Trina glanced at him, nodded, and looked back at me. “Brett was a junior last year. He took a sophomore girl outside during the spring dance to ‘talk’. Then he tried to force himself on her. She managed to fight him off and run back inside, so nothing too terrible happened in the end, but it was still bad.”
&nb
sp; “Two other students saw everything,” Adam interjected. “So we all knew the girl wasn’t making stuff up. But when she reported it to the teachers and headmaster, things got dicey. The boy and his family lawyered up. Tried to say she was lying to wreck his reputation after he rejected her, and that there was no proof the boy actually did anything. They also accused her of asking the two witnesses to lie for her.”
“We all knew it was bullshit,” Trina said. “She wasn’t even friends with the two witnesses. But the boy’s family was richer than hers, and they had better lawyers.”
“So he got away with it until he was blacklisted,” I said in a hollow voice.
“Yeah. The headmaster couldn’t expel him, because his hands were tied. He had no reason to do it, in the sense that nothing could be proven, and the boy’s family threatened to sue the shit out of RFA if the boy was expelled or even suspended. So the Princes stepped in to make sure the trash took itself out.”
“How long did it take?”
“He was gone in two weeks. Couldn’t take it any longer than that,” Trina said softly. “Last I heard, he transferred to an all-boys boarding school in Connecticut.”
I sighed and rubbed my eyes, wishing this was just a nightmare I’d wake up from any minute. “I don’t understand,” I muttered. “What could I possibly have done to the Princes to make them add me to their list?”
Trina shrugged. “I don’t know.”
I shook my head slowly. “I guess I was kinda rude to Hunter in the cafeteria yesterday. I mean, I was polite at first, but then he was a total dick to me, so I matched his energy. But that’s all.”
“There’s no way he’d blacklist you over something as petty as that,” Adam replied.
“Well, I don’t know what to tell you,” I said, shoulders sagging. “That’s all I can think of.”
Lines appeared on Trina’s forehead as she raised her brows. “Are you absolutely sure you haven’t done anything to any of them?” she asked.
Savage Prince: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Royal Falls Elite Book 1) Page 6