“Name.”
Wow, nice greeting, I think before my escort flutters beside me. “Name? Oh my God. How rude, I haven’t even asked your name!”
I glance at my stranger-friend who seems to be muttering some phrase in her head, before turning my focus back to the receptionist.
“Hendrix. Hendrix James.”
The receptionist whose name tag says ‘Sharon’ starts typing away on her computer as if she hadn’t even heard me, but my new friend nudges my side.
“Hendrix. Cool name. I’m Lucy by the way, but my friends call me Luce.”
“And is that what we are? Friends?”
“Duh,” is all she answers as she rolls her eyes. “Although, I won’t be that great for your social status here if that’s what your game is. I mean I wouldn’t blame you. It’s everyone’s game here.”
I was a little curious as to why someone like her, would be a downer to my social standing. She was basically the most gorgeous girl I had ever seen. If she struggled with these people, I would stand no chance.
“Do I look like I’m even worried about that?” I ask as I motion my hands around my outfit. “I just want to get through my classes, graduate, and….” I pause, coming to the realisation that I really didn’t have a future plan except to get out of my old world. This is all I have right now, and it’s the only thing I am going to dare-dream to keep.
“And then what do you want to do?” Lucy asks, her warm smile something I almost find myself mimicking if it hadn’t been for her question. Thankfully I was saved by snooty Sharon here.
“Okay dear. Here is your schedule. All classes are held in this main building, the South Wing, and you will do well to remember that tardiness is never acceptable. No matter the reason. Scholarship students are housed in the West Wing dorm on the 4th floor. Here is your access code, which will only get you up to the 4th floor of that Wing, plus the gymnasium, the pool and this main building. The North and East Wing are strictly off limits to you, and your curfew is 9pm sharp before your dorm wing will be locked. Your access code will not work after that time, so if you don’t like sleeping outside, I suggest you stick to curfew.”
She slightly pushes her glasses down her nose, and her narrow eyes find mine over the top of the frame.
“Duly noted.”
“Good. And your card here will cover all necessary meals in the cafeteria as well as the coffee house on campus. For any other expenses, you’re on your own. Uniform will be in your room; which I suggest you change into immediately. We don’t tolerate non-uniform and you’ll be best to remember that in the future. I’ll give you a pass for your first class, but please make sure you do not be tardy to the next one. Do you understand?”
Wow. If I wasn’t nervous before, I am a little now. But I nodded swiftly and took the items from the top of her desk.
“I think I got it.”
“Good. We are done here. Welcome to Arthur Academy.”
Chapter Two
Paxton
I rolled the ball between my hands, loving the way the tan-leather seemed to know that we were made for each other. It was barely the start of the semester and to some it meant a lot of things, most of which mean absolutely nothing to me. Back to the Academy and to those people who drain from others to get ahead. Back to classes to face my junior year head on and having to deal with being one step closer to something I can barely deal with just thinking about. I grip the ball harder, my muscles in my forearms flexing in irritation. But it also means going back to the Academy which is a place I do reign supreme. My voice is law around there, which means I get away with pretty much anything I want. It’s liberating. Freeing even. My grip relaxes, knowing I still have two more years of being in control of my daily life. Of hanging with my friends - those loyal fuckers are basically my family; and getting my dick sucked from whoever and whenever I feel like it - although I couldn’t even tell you when that shit last went down. I’ve been getting over the needy girls and emptiness for awhile now, because the morning after, it wasn’t just the girls that I couldn’t stand to look at anymore – it was my own reflection as well.
But then there was football.
My air. My breath. The main reason for me getting out of bed in the morning. The only reason if I’m being honest. I force the fears and the hopelessness that follows when I think about football - far down, as I promised myself I wouldn’t dwell on what I couldn’t change. I’m here now. I’m going to live every day. I’m going to fucking enjoy – every fucking day, until I can’t anymore. That was my promise to myself. I’ll deal with everything else later.
“Yo’ Pax you ready?”
A loud horn accompanies the sound of my best friend calling my name, and I look up from my seat on my parents front steps to see Austin leaning out his drivers-side window. A cocky smirk taking over his pretty-boy face.
“About time you got here. You know I hate staying here at my fathers. Making me wait isn’t something I forgive easily asshole.” I sling my bag over my shoulder, and grip the ball in one hand as I hop to my feet and saunter toward his black AMG Jeep.
“Can you at least wait until we get to class before you start reaming me? My head is fucking killing me.”
“Yeah you were wasted last night when I saw you, and I left early,” I add as I approach the open window.
“Pax it’s like I blacked out or something. I remember Banks, River and I taking shots at the beach, and then I woke up face down in the sand with my junk out.”
I chuckle darkly. “You don’t think you were raped do you? I wouldn’t put it past that freshman Gabe to try and have a crack.”
Austin groans. “It’s not funny. I have sand and chafing in places no bro’ wants sand and chafing. Besides, I might have taken a blacked-out hook-up with Gabe than what I think the alternative was...”
I turn and look at him.
“Why, who was it?” I bite. I could feel the anger bubbling in my chest, when I thought about who Austin could’ve been with. Someone, he knows to stay far away from.
“Pax, calm down. You know I wouldn’t go there. We’re brothers. I wouldn’t touch her, I promised.” Austin shuffles in his seat awkwardly, but my heart rate settles at his confession. Austin knows she is off-limits to him, and to anyone at the Academy. She is far better than the lot of us and I intend to keep it that way.
“Okay, so which chick has got you preferring you took it up the ass then?”
“Well, not that I remember details. At all. But I felt like I woke up from a dream where the only face I saw…. Was that freshman girl Mercedes,” he sighs heavily.
“Shit, man you went there? I thought you were staying clear of her because she was obsessed with you?” I toss my bag in through his backseat window, before hopping in the front seat.
“I don’t even remember talking to her Pax. My dad was riding me about the game yesterday and I just wanted everything to stop. All I know is my jeans were missing, I definitely had sex, and her face is the only thing I kind of remember.”
I swallowed down the discomfort that threatened to rise when I heard Austins situation. Our families, more specifically, our fathers, were definitely not the kind from the Brady Bunch. They cared about one thing and one thing only – power. And they used us – their sons – like pawns in their game for more power. We’d been through this type of shit since the day we were born. But like I’d practiced a thousand times, I kept my face indifferent and shrugged my shoulders.
“As long as she was fast out the door, what’s it matter? She got to ride out a childhood crush, and you got the ride,” I snicker. “You don’t want her ass sniffing around for more anyway. You know we don’t have those options.”
He sighs. “I hope you’re right. I know that she’s had some crush on me but I’ve just never looked at her like that because….” He pauses, turning at the set of lights before regaining his focus. “Her little group has hated us since we were kids anyway, so I doubt this was more to her than some drunk-hook-up too. I
just….”
“What?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing.”
“Well, at least you got laid. I can’t remember the last time I released some tension that didn’t come from my own hand,” I huff, smacking Austin in the back of the head as he speeds down the street. The more I thought about his situation, the more it irritated me. Why had I stopped fucking around? It wasn’t like I didn’t have options. I shuddered when I thought of one such option that had been a mistake I now had to deal with. But regardless, maybe I need to find myself back on that horse. All I’ve been feeling for months now, is like a cobra coiled ready to strike. I’ve been wound so tight, anxious about my father and what he expects of me, of trying to look after my mother and my friends…. Everything is weighing down on me that I know I’m about ready to do something I’ll regret. I take a shallow breath, noticing my chest feeling tight and uneasy. I glance in the side mirror of Austins jeep and the smaller my white palace that they call my family-home disappears in view - the more I feel like I can breathe fully again. Maybe Austin has it right. A drunk night with some drunk, not remembering sex. Maybe that’s what I need. Some release. I just pity the girl who will be on the receiving end of that when I finally decide it’s time to blow.
It’s barely ten minutes to the Academy when Austin’s driving; the loud music and the wind whipping through my dark-blonde hair. We pull up in our reserved space at the front of the lot, and not seconds later River’s silver Maserati rolls in beside us.
“Are we ready to stir up this shit up boys?” Banks hollors as he slams the door to Rivers baby, earning him the death glare of the century from him.
“Let’s just get this done.”
We stroll to the front of the school mostly keeping to ourselves, but you can’t help but notice the fanfare that greets us with each and every step. The guys here all want to be us, well, they want us gone, but since that’s not happening anytime soon – they want to be us. And the girls…? Well let’s just say that any self-respect they think they have, drops as fast as their panties whenever we give them the tiniest bit of attention. It’s the image. The farce. Our parents are legends in this town. They all run various businesses, but all of which earn a shit tonne of money. Enough money that between them, between us, we basically own everything this side of prestigious Armadore Springs. It’s enough for families to want their rich daughters to bag one of us and become even richer, or for the not-so rich to see a ticket to a better life. It’s just the way it is here. And it’s been that way since I was a wide-eyed kid in Prep school. But all of us know that it’s not the glamourous life that we let everyone believe. We too, are just props in their games. All of us are dealing with shit that guys our age shouldn’t have to deal with, especially from the people who are supposed to be our parents. But I guess that’s what’s made our bond what it is too. It’s unbreakable. The Arthur Elite is what they call us, and it’s the best thing that’s happened out of a fucked-up situation. We keep to ourselves. We get our shit done. And we don’t let people inside. It’s our non-spoken rule. We can’t let people get too close; and it’s not because we are far superior like they’re led to believe, but it’s mostly for their sake. It’s enough that we are stuck in this world, but to bring anyone else in would make us as fucked up as our folks are. And it’s our little bit of hope we hold onto to make us believe we aren’t as evil as our parents are and to what our last-names promise we’ll become.
I shake my head as we enter the building, when River slaps my shoulder.
“You good Pax? You seem out of it this morning.”
We head to our lockers and grab the books for first class.
“I’m good, just keen for ball to start.” I place my pride and joy inside before slamming the door shut.
“I hear ya’. I’ve been working out all break just to make sure this body protects our pretty QB’s face,” Austin says as he flexes his bicep at me. I shove him.
“You’re the one making us late because you were screwing around with some freshman.”
“Screwing what freshman?” Banks asks as he hangs over Austin’s shoulder. “Who did you fuck?”
“Fucking hell Pax!” Austin mutters, as I laugh on my way to class, like he’s pissed at me for outing him. Austin and I have a closer bond with each other than the others, but I wouldn’t think me outing an empty fuck would rile him up. He seemed to have no issue talking about it this morning.
We take our seats at the back of the class, which is basically an unspoken rule that we sit here. Every class, it’s always the same. These people would do anything to be one of us, and it actually gets fucking irritating if I’m being honest. This game. We are all sick of it and just deal with it the best way we know how. Some of us drink our way through it, get high to mask it, or just fuck around to numb it. It’s our coping mechanism. But these idiots? They don’t know that. They don’t even try or want to see it. They don’t really want to know about us. They just think we are living the fuck out of this, and good, that’s what we want them to see. The only way a King can be dethroned is if his weakness is exploited and he becomes vulnerable. Well I have two years. Two fucking years to stay at the top, and I don’t plan on doing anything at all that will fuck with my last chance for freedom before I spend the rest of my life in my own personal prison.
“So, Austin, was it Amber? Because you know I don’t think Pax will be happy to hear that,” Banks goads, as he sits on the edge of Austin’s desk beside me.
“Move your junk away from my face Banks,” I growl at him, not giving two fucks about the girl he’s talking about. Amber is the equivalent female to me in this place, but I’d never let her fake-ass think she’s my equal. She was also said mistake that hasn’t gotten the memo that I don’t want her hanging around my ass twenty-four seven like flies to shit. But Banks ignores me and keeps poking fun at Austin anyway.
“What about Reception Sharon? I bet that old broad could give head back in her day.” Austin snickers, but overly scented perfume is smelt before I even have to see the body that comes with that odour. It’s said fly hovering far too close to me.
“What’s this about Reception Sharon?”
The nasally voice belongs to none other than Amber Westwood. The queen bee of Arthur Academy, and the Queen bitch of this town. Her father owns the Westwood hotel chain across half of North America making his family part of the elite, so she’s basically a spoiled queen bee with a lot of fucking money. As cliché as they come, she’s also head cheerleader which means she feels it’s her responsibility to be sniffing around my dick like she owns it. It was a couple of moments of weakness that I fucked her last year, and she hasn’t seemed to get the memo since. I swear she’s been planning our wedding already, and to make things worse, her father is hell-bent on making us happen too. I’ve seen my father planning business meetings with the Westwood’s and I know nothing good is going to come from that union at all. For me anyway.
“Oh well hello Amber, you’re looking especially hot today,” Banks jeers, which I know is all for my benefit.
“Thanks Banks. I was hoping Paxy here was going to come over this morning and finish what we started, but he left me hanging….” I move my arm, causing her hand to fall to the desk beneath it.
“I didn’t leave you hanging Amber, because nothing fucking started,” I grit my teeth hard.
“Is that what you call last nights’ messages Paxy? Nothing? I call it foreplay, I mean, a picture speaks a thousand words, right?”
I don’t even glance up at Amber to see the way her bright blonde hair, and brown eyes are perusing me right now. It’s like I can feel her gaze right to the bone, that leaves a trail of cold in its’ very wake. Ambers not a nice person. Which says a lot coming from me, and it only makes me angrier at myself for fucking her. I knew better, and I still did it anyway. It was supposed to be a fuck you to my father, but unfortunately it turned out to be a fuck you to myself instead.
“Amber babe, if Pax isn’t doing it for
you I’d be happy to help you out babe,” Banks stirs.
“What’s the matter Pax, having trouble rising to the occasion?” Austin adds from beside me.
“I don’t know Aus, maybe everyone needs to know about your morning activities with ‘Reception Sharon?’” I bite back. Knowing full well from the frown on his face that it’s not ‘Reception Sharon’ I’m referring to.
“Oh, come on Austin, Reception Sharon? I guess at least she had some fun before dealing with the charity case this morning,” Amber whines, glancing at her nails as she pops her ass on my desk.
“What charity case? New girl?” Banks asks, as he rubs his hands together sinisterly.
“Oh, trust me Banks, you would not want to go near this one. This scholarship girl takes the cake. She looked like something that escaped a cult. She even looks like she’s twelve. She won’t last a week in this place.”
I clench my fists on the table as they continued to chat around me. The charity cases. The scholarship kids. I hated having them being here with a passion. It was a mockery to me to have them come to this school, where these over-privileged assholes ate them for breakfast. An incentive my father started to show the community how giving our family was, to have the under-privileged alongside us over-privileged. But it made me hate the fact that they may not come from money, but they came from loving homes and caring families. And they gave all that up to try and get a piece of us assholes and have a better life. If they only knew that I envied what these kids grew up in compared to what I did. And every year, they got treated the same. Un-worthy, lowly creatures who shouldn’t habitat with people like us. It’s what they deserved. They needed to see the truth. Most of the time our group didn’t have to do anything, as Amber and her minions took care of it just fine. The torment, the humiliation I could turn a blind eye to. Just like my parents staff turned a blind eye to my shitstorm of a life growing up. But by the tone in Ambers voice, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by this girl that has Amber slightly sweating.
Broken Wing (Arthur Academy Book 1) Page 2