Her father’s encouraging words replayed in her mind. Maybe it wasn’t too late to start. She made up her mind. There was no way she was going to lose now. She’d given up all those foolish teenage experiences so she could be the best. How was it fair that what she’d given up to achieve perfection now made her feel like she was somehow incomplete?
Hannah straightened her spine and slammed her laptop shut. She took a deep breath. She would not let this stupid speech unnerve her. There was no reason she couldn’t have it all. Who said she couldn’t be studious and popular? She would resort back to her tried and true techniques for success—studying and practice.
How hard could it be to fit in? To be an average teenager? She’d never tried, but she had four weeks to cram in an entire high school social life. Hannah’s father was right. If anyone could achieve it, Hannah knew it would be her. She was determined and when she set her mind on a goal, she always achieved it.
2
Step 1: Immersion
Hannah reasoned she just needed to immerse herself into a clique, study them and then join in. Maybe she could even handle a different clique each week? She scanned the quad deciding where to start. It was lunch this period and the lush green grounds of Stanton Prep were dotted with clusters of students enjoying the thawed spring weather. There were the jocks, freaks, geeks, flunkies, and of course, on the bridge that overlooked the campus, were the Goldens.
The Goldens were the popular kids. Someone at Stanton Prep coined the term long ago, donning all the trust fund brats, socialites, and celebrity offspring as the proverbial golden children. Born with more than a silver spoon in their mouth, these social climbers made the rules at Stanton.
Everyone wanted to be, date, or kill one of the Goldens. Knowing exactly where they’d be at this hour, Hannah zeroed in on them. They always held court on the bridge at lunch. Everyone passed under it each day to enter and exit their campus, giving the Goldens the perfect view of their kingdom.
Hannah heard laughter coming from what her fellow classmates snidely referred to as the Golden Gate Bridge. She gazed studiously at the bright clothing and shiny hair peppering the stone bridge. That’s where she would focus. The Goldens would be her Everest. If she could crack them she could gain access to any clique in the school.
Game on.
Step 2: Recon
Hannah picked up her bagged lunch and moved closer to the bridge, settling directly below a cluster of three gorgeous senior girls. Savannah Huxley, Madison Carmichael and Blakely Anderson. They were all yammering on excitedly about something. Hannah silently chewed her PB&J listening intently.
“Madi . . . really? I think you can do better than Vera Wang,” Blakely scoffed.
“What’s wrong with Vera?”
“Nothing if you don’t mind looking outdated.”
Madison’s perfectly glossed lips parted in shock. “Vera is classic!”
“Yeah, classic last year maybe.”
Savannah piped up. “She’s right, Madi. You wore Vera last year.”
“But she’s a close friend of Daddy’s. I feel bad wearing someone else.”
“This is the last Cohl ball. It’s the culmination of our high school reign. Our dresses need to be perfection,” Savannah added. “This is how we will be remembered.”
Harrison Cohl’s masked ball! That was it. That was Hannah’s ticket to high school social success. Harrison Cohl was one of the Goldens. Okay, more like the Golden. His parents, Alastair and Evelyn Cohl, were powerful politicians. They’d divorced over an alleged affair when he was a child but still worked together, each holding power positions in Boston’s governing party. The Cohl’s practically owned the state—a title their sons were happy to tout. And with a political safety net like that, the Cohl boys got away with everything. Including throwing hedonistic parties full of underage drinking, sex and debauchery.
The Cohl boys were legends at Stanton Prep. They basically built the Golden dynasty. And their famous crown jewel? Their not-so-secret, secret masked balls. They were held at a different location every year at the end of the semester. And you couldn’t gain access unless you were given a coveted key. Of course Hannah had never been invited. She was pretty certain that the Goldens didn’t even know she existed. Harrison Cohl certainly didn’t. He was the youngest of the five Cohl boys and he would be graduating with Hannah in a few weeks. But not before throwing one last legendary party.
If Hannah could get an invite to the ball she would have no trouble making wild, carefree memories with her classmates. She reined in her excitement and focused back on the bickering girls.
“I’m going to be photographed more than a Kardashian when I show up on Harrison’s arm,” Blakely mussed.
“Not if I beat you to him!” Savannah sneered.
“Oh please, like either of you have a chance?”
“And you do, Madi?”
“I didn’t say I did. But you know Harrison always goes dateless so he can play his games. It’s half the fun of wearing a mask. Never knowing who’s with who . . . the allure of bedding a stranger . . . it’s all so romantic,” Madison sighed.
“Oh god, Madi, give it a rest. It’s not like you’re going to meet prince charming. Besides, everyone knows you’ve slept with the whole senior class by now so no one will be new to you,” Blakely retorted.
Savannah laughed, but Madison just smiled. “I guess I’m just a hopeless romantic. And how else is a princess to find her prince without trying them all?”
The three girls laughed.
“But seriously, I hope there’ll be some new blood at this ball,” Blakely whined.
“Well we know who won’t be there,” Savannah smirked,
Hannah followed Savannah’s line of sight to the slouched figure that strolled under the Golden Gate with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. His dark, shaggy locks fell like curtains over his face as if trying to hide his identity, but it was no use. Even if he wore a mask everyone would know Cody Matthews.
“Kill anyone today, Cody?” Blakely called.
Cody flipped her off without looking behind him.
Hannah shook her head at Blakely’s cruelty. It was true that Cody’s girlfriend died when he crashed his car. He’d been driving home from one of Harrison’s parties. He was drunk and lost control of the vehicle, slamming into a tree. It was quite the scandal, but not just because of the DUI. That happened quite often at Stanton. But Cody’s girlfriend, Elena, was pregnant. They were both Goldens, but had been dropped with alarming speed once the pregnancy rumor caught fire.
The snickering above called Hannah’s attention back to the vicious girls on the bridge. She wondered how they could be so cruel to one of their own. How did they not see that they could fall just as quickly as Cody had under the right circumstances?
“I don’t know what Elena ever saw in him,” Savannah scowled.
“I do. Tall, dark and handsome,” Madison quipped.
“And dangerous,” Savannah added.
“That just makes him sexier,” Madison purred.
“Well you can forget about it. Harrison would kill you if he sees you flirting with him. Besides, it’s not like he’ll be at the ball.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Blakely replied. “He still has his key from last year.”
“Only because he was locked up in rehab. There’s no way Harrison would honor his key.”
“He’d have to. There’s only two rules . . . a key gets you in, and your mask never comes off.”
Hannah smiled to herself as a plan started to unravel in her mind.
3
Step 3: Formulate a Hypothesis (aka: The Plan)
The more Hannah eavesdropped on the Goldens the more she realized that she didn’t have enough time to infiltrate them and get an invite to the ball on her own. She only had four weeks and as she looked around at the other cliques on the lawn she realized they’d had four years and still hadn’t found a way to climb the social ladder to high school royalty.
That just meant she’d have to come up with a different strategy and it just so happened his name was Cody Matthews.
Facts: Cody possessed a key. And Cody owed Hannah.
After returning from rehab at the beginning of the school year, Cody was dangerously close to flunking out of Stanton. Being a tutor in every subject, Hannah was assigned to catch him up. He was still wrecked from losing everything he cared about—his girlfriend, his friends and even his spot on the basketball team—so getting him to focus had been a challenge. Hannah often wondered why Cody even came back to Stanton. It wasn’t that she didn’t think he was sharp. But there were plenty of good schools where his scandalous reputation might not have followed. When she asked him about it, he said he believed sins should be paid for.
She wasn’t really sure why, but Hannah lost sleep over that comment. She knew Cody must wrestle more than a few nasty demons after what happened to his girlfriend, Elena. But to force himself to relive the pain every day by facing her friends at Stanton . . . it seemed too cruel.
Everyone blamed Cody for Elena’s death. And the police report claimed it was his fault since he’d been driving drunk, so there really was no other argument. But still, it’s not like Cody planned to kill Elena. He loved her. Hannah remembered how inseparable they’d been as a couple . . . Cody always doting on her, Elena cheering at his basketball games. It was sad that their love story ended in a drunken car crash. Hannah knew Cody wished he could take it back. Or at least that’s what his quote in the paper implied. He’d said he’d do anything to take back what happened to Elena. But that didn’t change the facts. Elena was dead and the students at Stanton Prep were happy to remind Cody that it was his fault.
Rumors swirled around Cody’s return. Everyone thought he would be sent to prison, or juvee at least. But to return with little more than a stint in rehab and a suspended driver’s license seemed like a slap in the face to Elena’s friends. That’s what the Goldens had become—Elena’s champions. Even though they dropped her the moment they found out she was pregnant, after her death they’d adopted her back as their saint, if only to curse Cody further.
Harrison, who’d been Cody’s best friend, was the coldest. As the basketball captain, it was his decision to kick Cody off the team. But strangely another rumor surfaced that it was Harrison’s father’s legal team that got Cody off with such a light sentence. It made no sense to Hannah, but then again she didn’t try to understand the strange operating of the upper echelon.
With so much drama surrounding Cody, it wasn’t any wonder why he couldn’t focus on his studies. Hannah eventually took pity on him and passed him with C’s on his make up exams so he could rejoin his classes. He’d graciously thanked her and in his own words had said, “I owe you one.”
“Time to call in that favor, Cody,” Hannah murmured to herself as she gathered her things and headed after him.
4
Step 4: Execute The Plan
Hannah hadn’t been able to locate Cody before the bell rang and classes reclaimed her for the remainder of the day. But she didn’t worry . . . she plotted. She knew exactly where he’d be after school and headed straight there. Hannah smiled when she caught sight of him walking slowly down the road they shared. His backpack was slung over one shoulder and he had earbuds in, unable to hear her approach.
They were on a secluded road, far away from the busy traffic near Stanton. Hannah had specifically waited in the parking lot for twenty-six minutes before starting her car and making the drive home. She passed Cody every day walking home from school. She knew this would be the best time to catch him—when he was alone, away from the prying eyes of the Goldens and gossips. Her plan needed to remain secret if it was going to work.
And just as she planned, Cody was now only about a mile from his home, and half a mile from her own. She passed him and pulled onto the shoulder cutting him off. She could see his startled look in her rearview mirror. She took a deep breath. “You can do this, Hannah.” After her pep talk she rolled down the window and waited for him to approach.
Cody stopped next to her navy Volvo and leaned down to look in at her. His brown hair fell over his golden-brown eyes, blocking the light that filtered in through the tree canopy above.
“Hey, Cody,” Hannah said casually. “Do you want a ride home?”
“No thanks.”
“I don’t mind,” Hannah persisted. “I mean, it’s no trouble.”
“You pass me walking home every day, Hannah. What made you stop today?”
The venom in Cody’s voice sliced Hannah with guilt. He was right. She saw him every day and never offered him a ride before. “I . . . You’re right. I’m sorry. That wasn’t very kind of me. I’m usually so lost in thought I don’t see what’s right in front of me. But I’m trying to change that.”
“Starting with me?” Cody asked suspiciously.
“Okay, fine. I need your help with something. Can you just get in the car?” Hannah barked impatiently.
“There it is,” he said letting a smirk show.
“What?”
“Miss direct and to the point, Hannah Stark.”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, don’t be ashamed of it. It’s how you get your straight A’s and stay above us, right? I actually admire it. It’s refreshing compared to all the fake, two-faced snobs I deal with all day at Stanton.”
“I don’t think I’m above you!”
“Don’t you?”
Hannah was silent. Did she think she was above him? She was planning to use him as a tool to get what she wanted. But she sort of was above him. Cody was barely passing, had no license, a dead girlfriend and a DUI. If he was going to insist on categorizing things then, yes, she was above him.
Cody was right and Hannah was on the verge of admitting that when he opened the backseat of her car and threw his bag in. He marched around to the passenger side and got in.
“Let’s just get this show on the road, okay? I’ve got things to do.”
Hannah looked over at his smug face. She was wrong to assume he was a shattered soul. He still held the air of a Golden—entitled, bothered, bored. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought. But Hannah never backed down from a challenge and she wasn’t about to start now.
5
Step 5: Blackmail
Hannah put her car in drive and spoke clearly without moving her eyes from the road. “You owe me a favor, Cody, and I’m here to collect.”
“What do you want?”
Straight to the point . . . good. He wasn’t denying he owed her.
“I want your key to Harrison’s ball.”
Hannah kept her eyes on the road, but she could feel Cody staring at her. After a few moments he started to laugh.
“You’re actually serious,” he said between fits of laughter. “You want to go to a Cohl ball? You?”
Hannah gritted her teeth, hating his insulting tone. “You want to graduate, don’t you?”
His laughter trailed off and she felt his eyes burning into her.
“If I divulge that you didn’t actually pass your make up exams you won’t graduate.”
“What do you want?” Cody asked flatly.
“I already told you. The key to Harrison’s party.”
“Why?”
“That’s not important.”
“Fine, but the key won’t matter. You won’t fit in.”
“Then you’ll tell me what I need to know so I do fit in.”
Cody chuckled. “It’s not something I can explain in one car ride home, Hannah.”
“Fine, then I’ll drive you to and from school until you’ve explained everything.”
Cody scrubbed his face in frustration, realizing each time he opened his mouth he seemed to be making things worse for himself. “The inner workings of the people and things that happen at Harrison’s parties wouldn’t make any sense to you. You won’t enjoy it.”
“Why?”
“Because, you’re not like us.”
> “You mean them,” Hannah shot back. “You’re not a Golden anymore.” It was a low blow and she knew it, but Cody’s cocky attitude was pissing her off.
“Yeah. Them.” Cody replied quietly. He was silent for a while before he spoke again. “It’s not a bad thing, Hannah. They’re not good people. You don’t want to be like them.”
“You don’t know what I want, Cody. You don’t even know me.”
“You’re right. I don’t know you. But I know Harrison and his crew. If you show up at the ball they’ll pick you apart.”
“Maybe I don’t care.”
“Why would you possibly want that abuse?”
“That’s none of you’re business. All you have to do is give me the key and fill me in on what I need to know to fit in.”
“Hannah, making you fit in isn’t possible!”
“Then I guess you won’t be graduating.”
“Christ, Hannah! I’ll give you my key, but I can’t guarantee who the fickle pricks at Harrison’s party will decide to stomp on.”
“Fine. The key and your best effort.”
“Fine!”
“So we have a deal?”
“Yes. It’s a deal,” Cody groaned.
Hannah smiled, looking at Cody for the first time. “Perfect. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
He shook his head. “I might have been wrong about you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Extortion suits you. You’re more like the Goldens than I thought.”
6
The Boyfriend Series Box Set (Books 1-6): YA Contemporary Romance Novels Page 2