by Eden O'Neill
“You little cunt,” he said, laughing with it, and started to get closer had not a whistle blown across the field.
Two gym teachers formed a beeline right for us. One of them I recognized as mine and the other could have been theirs had they actually participated in class. Something told me these guys just did whatever the fuck they wanted.
“Mr. Mallick, is there a problem here?” the one who wasn’t my teacher asked, and Wolf whipped in his direction so fast I questioned if the dude gave himself whiplash. Wolf opened his mouth, no doubt to shoot off something.
But then, Blondie raised his hand.
He’d done it in front of his friend, but he stared at the teacher.
The teacher stopped in his stride. Like actually legit stopped and mine did too beside him.
One of the men wet their lips. “Mr. Prinze, is there a problem?”
Hesitance backed the words, a caution like the teacher was speaking to an animal.
Or a dark prince.
With Blondie’s last name that seemed fitting.
Mr. Prinze lowered his hand and both of the teachers swallowed hard. They really seemed to be intimated by the guy. What the fuck?
The platinum blond, Wells I remembered, hooked an arm around the dark prince. “Dude, I don’t feel like hearing it from my dad today.”
“Right, bro.” The colossal-sized guy with the piercings shrugged his shoulders, casual about it. “You know my pops. Dude’s crazy. You know I don’t mind backing you boys up, but only if shit’s worth it.”
The guy jutted a chin in my direction and, apparently, today’s match wasn’t worth a brawl with whoever his father was.
The others seemed to share the same sentiment, even Wolf who raised his hands.
“Whatever,” Wolf said, backing off, and once Blondie did too, the teachers visibly relaxed. The four boys ventured back, but it was Blondie who pointed at me.
“See you around, Noa Sloane,” he said, obviously having gathered enough intel about me to know my name. With a smirk, he proceeded to toss the ball back and forth with his boys.
“Ms. Sloane, back to volleyball with the others,” my teacher said. Suddenly, his balls had been restored. He left with the other teacher without a response from me. Eventually, I did make it back over to my class, but it was hard to play with the watchful eyes clearly behind me.
It lasted the rest of class.
Chapter Six
Sloane
The next few days, I attempted to avoid the dark prince and his boys. This was made gratefully easier since we managed not to share any classes. Even that gym class we hadn’t shared. Our classes had just both happened to be outside that day.
That fucking day.
It’d been truly fucked up and nothing I’d ever experienced. Bru and I had gone to the absolute worst schools, but even the guys and girls with attitudes there didn’t fuck with the teachers. They’d rather not come to school than deal with any disciplinarians.
But these boys…
They were in a different breed, clearly. Especially that dark prince. I hadn’t made any friends yet at Windsor Prep, so unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to get any information about him or any of them. I needed to know what I was dealing with here.
I needed to know exactly who I’d pissed off.
Bru and I were still at odds, so besides passing each other in the halls or around the house over the next few days, no information was being gotten there. That was of course if he had any information himself.
I was aware his new guide was named Wells, but I wasn’t exactly sure if that was the same Wells from the dark prince’s friend group. In any sense, the odds of my brother telling me anything about the guys I’d pissed off were slim. He’d want me to stay out of trouble.
Bru and I shared a lunch period, but talking to him about anything there was a dead end too. Right from the jump, he started taking his lunches into the computer lab, claiming it was easier to study with the quiet. He was trying to catch up after we’d enrolled late, and respecting that, I started eating lunches by myself. I usually slept or drew through them. I had an art class both before and after, so lunchtime proved to be good for something.
“Oh, Sloane. Hey!”
As well as avoiding the little rabbit.
This was the nickname I’d given Rainbow Reed, aka the little rabbit, since she both walked and talked a mile a minute. She and her pep fortunately only had the one class with me, but she was still acting as my personal stalker everywhere else. She met me both before and after each one of my classes, hot on my heels the whole way. When I wasn’t trying to get to my classes super quick and avoid any unnecessary confrontations, I was attempting to dodge her and had managed it a time or two.
She talked my ear off.
I guess one could call me a bit of a loner. An introvert, I kept to myself and liked it that way. Bow Reed was making me not be an introvert and times like lunch were usually pretty easy to avoid her. For starters, the lunchroom was broken up into two sections, not to mention the outdoor courtyard. I’d never gotten that far, but I knew about it.
Needless to say, blending into the sea of many faces had been easy, but today, the little rabbit found me in the lunch line.
I actually chose to eat lunch today, in the lunch line at Windsor Preparatory Academy like a bougie salad bar at a restaurant. These people had actual menus, options divided up by what part of the world you wanted to eat at for the day. This afternoon, I chose Chinese, and Bow caught me at the fried rice.
“I missed you after your gym class,” she said, her long hair in a tight braid today. She really was a lovely girl. She just… hovered. I didn’t do hover. At least, not well. She grinned up at me, placing her tray on the line. “Did you see me?”
I actually hadn’t and missed everyone at gym today since I’d hidden in the library through the period. Gym had been scheduled outside this morning, and I wasn’t trying to take the risk that a certain boys club was out there too.
“Sorry,” I said. “Must have, uh… must have missed you.”
She waved me off, still grinning. “That’s okay. Found you now.”
“Yeah,” I stated, then eyed her. “You know, I probably don’t need you anymore. I’m sure you have other things to do. People to escort?”
She appeared very accomplished, and since she’d told me about her life story on any given day, I actually knew a lot about her. She mentioned her work as student guide was to help with her college applications, as well as one of the many things that’d look good when she went for student body president when it was time.
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” She grabbed some egg rolls. “Escorting you has been fun. Besides, we still have a few days together yet.”
I forced a smile, hoping I and my introvert could endure it. I really was an awkward fuck.
Even still, I started to tell her I was probably just going to take this and go eat in the art room or something. It was usually empty before my next class, and I could use the quiet.
But then, I spotted the pack of hungry wolves.
Or rather one “wolf” and three others who were equally vicious. The dark prince and his buddies ate in the courtyard outside the cafeteria. I assumed this was a pretty popular place to eat considering all the traffic that flooded out there, but since I never ate out there for that particular reason, I had never bothered looking to see who ate in the area.
Had I, I would have spotted my Windsor Prep tormentors again, and of course, they were popular. Their table was a cluster fuck of ladies and dudes—mostly ladies. Wolf himself had two under his arms at their picnic table, and the big guy with the piercings had a girl actually feeding him.
I rolled my eyes at that, able to see them over the a la carte line through the window. Their attention (gratefully) wasn’t focused in my direction, otherwise Blondie might have had something to say. He was definitely there too but seemed to be more occupied by his phone than the chaos around him. A chick had her arm arou
nd him, massaging his big body with her little hands.
Mr. Prinze barely acknowledged it, actually yawning at one point. Whoever this girl was, she was boring him, and when another girl joined, slinging an arm around his waist, that confirmed this activity was just another day for this guy. He was as arrogant and privileged as he came across, clearly.
Bow caught me staring above the line and popped up on her Mary Jane heels. “What are you looking at?”
It took but a moment for her to see despite her being shorter. There was enough action over there for her to easily see the popular kids having their good time. Wells, the platinum blond, was there too, but while the other guys sat in the center of their ladies like the god of their harems, he kept his attention on just one person. He actually didn’t sit with the other guys, lounging against a tree with another boy. He had his arm around the guy, laughing with him.
Wells bit his mouth, full-on making out with this dude in the courtyard, and that showed me his privilege too. There were teachers everywhere out there, well within sight of his make-out session, but the guy clearly didn’t care.
The elite indeed.
“Oh.” Bow’s cheeks colored as she returned her heels to the floor. She clearly spotted Wells and no doubt the others too. She shrugged. “That’s just my brother and his friends.”
I just about stumbled. “Who’s your brother?”
If she said Blondie, I seriously was about to lose it. There was no way in hell something as bright and sprightly as this little rabbit was related to something as dark and brooding as the dark prince. I didn’t believe it. Refused.
She pointed over the pass. “The one with the dark hair, earrings?” she stated, laughing. “Can’t really miss him.”
She was right about that. That guy was huge and, currently, was taking selfies of himself (by himself) like he was the shit.
“Oh, the pretty one.” I rolled my eyes, and the little rabbit snorted. Like full-on snorted at the pass.
Her cheeks colored again as she covered her mouth. “You’re really brave. I’m pretty sure no one around here has ever referred to Thatcher Reed as pretty. At least, audibly.” Laughing, she lifted her eyes. “But if it’s not the truth. He spends more time in the mirror in the morning than I do.”
I had a laugh at that.
“Yeah. Brave.” Either that or stupid depending on how one looked at it. Those fuckers over there were scary as hell, and I managed to call them out like my first fucking day. I jutted my chin in their direction. “I’m assuming they’re the popular clique?”
If that wasn’t already obvious, and after getting our trays filled, Bow and I took seats at an inside table. There was no way I was going to eat outside. Not after what had happened at the beginning of the week.
Bow opened her carton of milk. “Legacy isn’t popular. Popularity is Legacy,” she stated, the reference lost on me. She blinked. “You’ve been here a full week, and you don’t know anything about them?”
I’d managed not to, shrugging.
She did the same. “I’d just stay out of their way. Since they are Legacy, that basically means they are the it around here. My brother and his friends are the Nile and everyone else is just the lakes and streams that run off it.”
“What’s legacy?”
She cuffed her arms. “In a nutshell, Legacy are the direct descendants of the last generation who roamed these halls from Maywood Heights’s most prestigious families. They basically shaped this town, and it’s been a while since Windsor Prep has actually had any blood relatives from one of those families. My brother and his friends are direct descendants.”
“Which makes you Legacy too, then?”
Her cheeks flashed in red color. “I guess, but I’m not really active in the Court or anything. I’m in the Court on paper, but…”
When I obviously didn’t know what she was talking about, she laughed. She laced her fingers. “The Court is a small society of those in the upper echelon of the town. It’s like a club for the elite. Basically, the really rich families of the city.” Her eyes lifted toward the heavens. “I’m only in it because it helps with college applications and stuff. The Court also does a lot of active work in the community since our dads, some of the Legacy fathers, started reform a few years ago. The Court used to only let boys in if you can imagine.”
I definitely could with the way those Legacy boys were out there flaunting who they were. It’d looked like a circus at their table. “Who are they all? The Legacy guys? I know you said your brother.”
Bow speared her salad. “My brother’s Thatcher.” Angling around, she directed her fork toward the view outside. “And by the tree with that girl is Wells Ambrose.”
My eyes twitched wide. The platinum blond did have a girl now. He’d been making out with a guy before, but this time, he had his arm slung around a brunette.
She kissed his neck while he lazily ate a cheese stick, and after shaking her head, Bow pointed back over to the guys’ table.
“Ares Mallick,” she said, referring to Wolf. “Though most people call him Wolf. Don’t call him that to his face, though. That’s only reserved for my brother and his friends. It’s a football thing. They’re all football players.”
Any why wasn’t I surprised? A classic cliche of elitist power. I folded my fingers together. “And Blondie?”
He was still out there on his phone, no actual lunch in front of him. In fact, he’d just put his phone down and started looking around. Like he was looking for someone.
“Dorian Prinze,” Bow said. “Basically their leader and most certainly the last person you want to get in the way of. Really, any of them. It’s been a long time since this school has seen a Reed, Mallick, Ambrose, or a Prinze. My brother and his friends definitely play it up. They pretty much run things around here, and anyone else should probably just back up. I heard before my brother and his friends got here, being in the Court was the it thing.” She faced outside. “But now, it’s Legacy. Court kids are just their minions. You know they’re Court by their rings. These.”
She put out her hand, the school’s mascot on it. At least, it appeared to be that. The chrome ring below her knuckle had a growling gorilla in the midst of a bite.
How symbolic.
I’d taken Bow’s hand to get a closer look but let go when I noticed the dark prince rise from his table. He greeted a new arrival, one of those bro combination hug handshakes. He let go of the guy with a snap, and I realized who the guy was when he drew back.
What the fuck?
“Sloane?”
I got up, ignoring Bow.
It was like I was on autopilot.
It was like I was ignoring everything she said about confronting Legacy because I was storming right out into the courtyard.
And into the belly of the beast.
A circle of popular girls and boys milled about, and I forced my way through them to find my brother.
My brother who just shook the hand of a dark prince.
His lunch tray in hand, Bru literally was about to sit between Dorian and Bow’s brother, Thatcher. The two boys were moving to make room for my brother and everything.
In the distraction of that, I grabbed my brother’s arm, and before he or anyone else could say anything about that, I dragged him back into the cafeteria.
“Sloane, what the fuck?” Bru jerked his arm from me. He’d actually been about to sit with them. What the fuck? His eyes blazed. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I shot back. “You’re sitting with those assholes?”
Or had he forgotten one of them called me bitch only days ago?
Bru’s attention was on anything but me, completely red in the face while he stared outside. Dorian hadn’t followed us, but he was definitely watching.
They all were.
Thatcher, Ares. Even Wells had gotten up to see what was going on inside the cafeteria. He’d slung his arms around his buddies, the four of them
speaking amongst each other.
I whipped Bru around to face me.
“Have you lost your mind?” I blazed. “You do remember what they called me, right?”
“Oh, yeah. I remember,” he said, making me twitch. He actually got in my face. “I also remember you didn’t help the situation.”
“So is that what this is?” I raised and dropped my hands. “Revenge because I embarrassed you?”
He shook his head, cutting around me. I reached to grab him again, but he was too quick this time. He backed up. “Not everything is about you, Sloane. Actually, none of this shit is.”
“What are you talking about?”
He forced fingers into his hair. “Those guys are on the football team. They approached me about going out for it. I was messing around tossing footballs one day in gym class. Word got back to them, I guess. They think I’d be a good fit and said they’d speak to Coach about me if I was interested in playing.”
Wait. What?
“Callum said we should look into clubs and stuff, so this is me trying to do that.” He raised and dropped his hands. “Do something fucking normal and make some friends.”
At this point, we’d gained the attention of those in the cafeteria as well, and even from my table, Bow was staring at us. She stopped eating her food, looking on like everyone else, but I didn’t fucking care. I folded my arms. “You don’t even like football.”
“What would you know about what I fucking like?” Bracing his arms, he angled close to my face. “You’re too busy being like dad. Suffocating and shit.”
He’d spoken the words in a whisper, making me swallow.
With a sigh, he rubbed a hand behind his neck and obviously realized what he said.
He went on anyway.
“Just back off of this,” he said, leaving me with little more than that. I started to go after him, but stopped.
Dorian.