by Rachel Angel
Chapter 3
I found my way to the front gates of Kingsbury Prep, which looked just like the photos Lily found for me on the internet. A medieval-like castle with an imposing gate and walls like a fortress, I felt as though I had stepped back in time and into another world.
An attractive woman in her 30s and wearing a navy dress suit, her smooth dark hair in a bun, greeted me. “Tempest Ryan, Welcome to Kingsbury Prep. I’m Alisa Turlington. I’m the Principal of this school.”
“I thought you were a student,” I smiled, relieved to finally find someone from Kingsbury who seemed normal and not up to some diabolical plot. She seemed friendly enough, and I instantly liked her.
She laughed. “Thank you for that. No, I’m not a student, but I once did attend Kingsbury when I was your age. Years ago though. I’m in my 40s.”
“Nah, you don’t say,” I said my mouth dropping open.
She laughed. “You are like a breath of fresh air, Tempest. The faculty and staff are excited you’re here. We were all amazed at your achievements noted in your application. We are all looking forward to getting to know you, to challenge you, and having you be a success at Kingsbury Prep.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m hoping to be success here, too.”
She put her arm around me and led me through the gates and into the world of Kingsbury Prep inside.
As soon as the massive wooden gates were closed, I felt the choking atmosphere of being trapped inside a gilded cage.
As we cross the beautifully-kept lawn and gardens towards the main building, Ms. Turlington gave a short overview of Kingsbury Prep’s history. “The reasons why it was first established was to help prep the children of monarchs for ruling, for understanding and learning the ways and cultures of other countries, and specific training royals needed for state meetings and diplomacy,” she summarized.
“As a secret school for the royals,” she said, “It was also a way for countries to forge peace through their children’s relationships at the school. Well, that was the intention. For almost 500 years, Kingsbury Prep has operated in this mode. Most of the world’s royalty has sent their children to attend Kingsbury Prep at some time or another in history. No one wanted to be left out of what advantages another country would have if they didn’t.”
“Kingsbury Prep is the breeding ground for the most powerful people in the world. Alliances could be formed just by becoming roommates or friends with certain people at Kingsbury. Also, vice versa. Enemies could be found by aligning with the wrong people. As you know in history, sometimes that could turn bloody.”
“I understand,” I said, reading between the lines of her welcome speech. “So Ms. Turlington, where do I fit into this long history at Kingsbury Prep?”
Ms. Turlington laughed. “I like how you get to the point, Tempest. Very direct. I could tell you have leadership abilities, and I would love for you to explore that at Kingsbury. You are the first non-royal student to be attending Kingsbury, and it is well…an experiment for us. We don’t know yet how that would work. We also don’t know if we will expand upon it. It depends on how you work out here at Kingsbury.”
“So I’m a beta,” I said. “Your test subject.”
Ms. Turlington nodded and said, “You could say that.”
“Have this been tried before…a non-royal coming into Kingsbury Prep?”
Ms. Turlington nodded. “Decades ago, back in World War Two. There were a handful of non-royals accepted, but none of them continued past the first semester.”
“Why?” I asked.
“For personal reasons or their families could no longer afford to, one joined the army since he was older…” Ms. Turlington said.
“Oh for a moment there,” I said, “I thought it was because they were forced out. You know, threatened.” I wanted to see if she knew anything about the Q2’s plans to kill me even before I’ve arrived.
Ms. Turlington waved that question aside. “The students here are generally a good bunch. They study hard, are respectful to the teachers, and they take charge of all the student events and activities. Like the Spring Formal and the charities.”
“Great,” I said, recognizing a canned Public Relations response.
I noted how she had warned me between the lines, but also how she immediately switched to the cheerful public relations speech, showing how she was trying to hide something from me.
Being around the rough kids at my old high school, those who did drugs and skipped classes, and were my sometime tattoo clients; I could tell when someone was lying or not.
Ms. Turlington was lying, and I wondered why?
“I’m sure you’d like to get situated, cleaned up, and get ready for lunch. I’ve heard how you’ve just arrived from a long flight that was delayed and then postponed, and finally took off. So I’ll show you your room.”
We walked to a building to the right of the main one. There were doors all along the hallway. “This is Clarity Hall,” she said. “You get to have a nice view of the gardens,” she exclaimed, while opening the door to a room.
The room was larger than I expected. It was also furnished like a hotel suite, complete with a small kitchenette, a living room, bedroom, and bathroom. Decorated in navy blue and white, it was devoid of any colors, but was perfect for me to add a few touches of my own.
“I love it,” I turned to hug Ms. Turlington.
“Wonderful,” she said. “I could see you’re already fitting right in.”
I beamed. I liked the history and mission statement of Kingsbury. I could understand how monarchs and heads of states would want a school to teach them how to rule and be monarchs. Parents, even well-intentioned ones, weren’t always the best teachers for their children. They needed specialists and experts to teach their children to excel in certain subjects. A busy monarch running a country, wouldn’t have all the time and patience to spend on raising their child or training them.
If I could avoid the Q2’s and concentrate on my academics at Kingsbury, I could see how Kingsbury Prep could be the very kind of school my parents would have wanted me to attend. For their sake and for the sake of a better future for Lily and myself, I was going to stick going to Kingsbury out. Despite the Q2’s. Despite Hunter’s warning to leave, and even Ms. Turlington’s hidden message.
“I’ll see you after lunch,” Ms. Turlington said, handing me a map of the campus. “Come to my office, and I will have all your books, school supplies, and even uniform for you. Yes, you have to wear the Kingsbury uniform. It helps us identify you as one of our own. But for today, you could wear what you have.”
“Thanks!” I said again. “See you after lunch.”
I quickly unpacked and spread out my belongings, making myself at home. While I may love the cute Airstream trailer that had been home for Lily and I, this room was larger and luxurious. Showering under the rainwater shower head was heavenly, and I spent far too long washing my hair in it with the fragrant shampoo and conditioner that lined the shower wall.
While blow-drying my hair, I looked out my window and was awarded with the view of a French flower garden complete with a maze and trimmed topiary trees. Ms. Turlington was right, the view to the garden was breathtaking. I felt as though I had moved to a fairy tale castle in the mountain.
Of course, Kingsbury Prep had to be the loveliest school, given real princes and princesses who had left their enormous palaces were going to live at the school for an extended time. After I finished brushing my long purplish-tinted hair, I chose a pink and lavender tweed zipped jacket and mini skirt two-piece outfit that best showed off the purple of my hair and violet of my eyes. I swiped on mascara and pink lip gloss before wearing pink knee-high socks with crochet lace at the cuffs. Completing the outfit, I slipped into platform gemstone embellished slip on sneakers. I was dressy enough yet not overly dressed, girly, yet practical.
I grabbed my phone and took a selfie with the window view of the garden behind me.
And posted it on my social medi
a. “Love my new home’s view of garden.”
I also grabbed my silver bling backpack, filling it with my sketchbook, laptop, and a few other goodies. Who knew where I would be going today. I may end up having some time to spend in the library or in the student lounge.
I took out the map of Kingsbury Prep and studied it, memorizing everything. I also took a snapshot of it on my phone in case I needed it. Despite having a memory almost akin to photographic memory, I knew that sometimes when I was especially tired, I wasn’t so accurate. So, having a photographic memory was literally having a photographic memory by photographing what I wanted to remember.
I spent a few more minutes safeguarding my room, making sure no one could break in, but if they did, I could tell. There was a lock but that was about it. Anyone could get a copy of my key to enter my room. Especially students with an agenda to kill me. I’ve read enough mangas, academy books, and even bully academy romances to know bullies like the Q2 tend to break into the heroine’s room to steal her diaries, add cameras to film her having sex, or anything they could find to blackmail her. Yes, before attending this Academy, I’ve read what I could find about Academies. Funny how they all seem to follow the same theme, yet still be a bit different. That was my research for Kingsbury Prep, but also to see what Lily was getting herself into at Skylark Academy.
I sent her a picture of my room. I also taped myself walking from my room, across the lawn to the cafeteria, narrating about the history of Kingsbury. I sent that video to Helen and Mr. Nichols. They would like to know how I was doing, I was sure.
Helen responded immediately, while Mr. Nichols sent me a thumbs up.
Lily had yet to respond, probably not able to since most academies didn’t allow students to use their phones while in school.
At Kingsbury, it seemed phone use was fine. After all, how could you take away phones from students whose parents and bodyguards needed to be able to get a hold of them at any second? That was the privilege of being at the most elite school in the world, where normal rules did not apply.
Finally, I entered the hallway leading to the Cafeteria, which had always seem to be the room where the most dramas happen. Walking in, I felt as though I had entered a hotel’s ballroom, set up with fancy round tables with white linen tablecloths. To the side, there were silver food warmers with domed platters lined up. Servers donning the kind of uniforms you’d find at a hotel’s event stood behind the domed platters, waiting to serve you a generous proportion. I had entered the Cafeteria from one side, which seemed to be where most students entered. There was another side with special gilded French doors where I guessed it seemed to open up into an outdoor seating area.
The entire cafeteria stiffened and tensed, becoming silent, as the crowd of rowdy students fell into place like the scales on the body of a dragon. The lower class students or the first years were at the bottom of the body, the tail. Then the second year, the middle. The third year or the Seniors were the head. At the top of the head, were the Crown Royals.
The lesser Royals were lined up along the gilded door, as though awaiting a procession.
"They're almost here!" a girl with strawberry blonde hair tied into side ponytails, gushed excitedly.
A boy with acne on his face, glasses, and greasy hair took out his phone ready to film whatever or whoever was going to come through those doors. "I wonder what they are going to be wearing," he said next to me.
As if the universe heard him, the door burst opened, and three of the most gorgeous unbelievably beautiful guys walked, no, sauntered in. Without a care in the world. Dressed like Kings, but with the attitudes of rock stars.
"Who are they?" I asked, unable to believe there were guys as beautifully flawless as these three. Taller than everyone. Clear smooth skin. Hair that were shiny and healthy. Unlike the drug-out almost skeletal guys I knew on the streets.
"Besides the fact they looked like they were immortal heavenly beings," a girl wearing the Burberry plaid headband in her platinum blonde hair said, "they are the K3, legendary icons in their own ways. All three of the K3 guys are princes in their own country. They are the elite of elites, the Crown Royals."
My jaw nearly dropped open. Crown princes?
The girl with the strawberry blond ponytails walked up to the tallest one with thick raven blue black hair and a cruel smile. He was beautifully rare with azure blue eyes, a straight nose, sharp cheekbones and full lips that would make any rock star fill with envy. "Would you accept this red rose from my family's garden as a token of my affections?" she bowed and presented the rose to the raven-haired blue-eyed hottie, who seemed to be the leader.
He smiled at the girl before taking it. "Don't you know, Sweetie," he touched one of her ponytails. "I can't stand the sight of red roses?" He swiped at the rose and let it drop to the floor before tramping on it with his feet.
Anger burst through me. "Hey, this isn't Boys Over Flowers, you jerk!"
Raven-haired blue eyes stopped walking and turned his gaze to me. "What?"
"Don't be a cliche bully romance manga," I said. “Or can you not be an Original?”
He turned to me, cruelty darkening his beautiful azure blue eyes to nearly black. His sexy mouth frowned.
He slowly assessed me with his cruel but beautiful azure blue eyes, undressing me, from head to toe, his eyes lingering on my lips. “Were you sent here to be my fuck?”
Nervous laughter from the younger students filled the tensed air.
The white-haired one to his right was bigger than the other two and covered with tattoos all over his muscular arms and chest barely hidden by a teal unbuttoned shirt and ripped jeans said, “I’ll have her,” his silvery blue eyes devouring my body.
“Not if I can have her first,” the handsome hot dark-haired K-drama King, dressed impeccably in a tailored black suit said to his left. His tongue flicked out to lick his lips. “Delectable.” My gaze fell on his sensual lips that I could imagine kissing me, and his long tongue that I could imagine licking my folds until I come. When our eyes met, the electric jolt was still there. Hunter. He was part of this elite group of probably the most gorgeous men I’ve ever seen. With his hair slick back and his muscular sexy body now clad in an impeccable suit, he looked like a different person than the one I shared a tram with earlier. His chocolate brown eyes still lingered on mine as he took me all in. I was cleaned up now and dressed up rather than in week-old smelly travelers clothes that had been trekking across the globe. “Tempest,” he said, like he couldn’t believe I was there. He’d probably thought I’d listen to his warning and flee the island.
The blue-black haired one looked over at Hunter and walked up to me, looked me over again with more interest than before, like I was some meat he wanted to eat and said, “Come see me in an hour.”
He turned around and left, followed by Hunter on one side and the white-haired hottie on the other who was now looking at me with such intensity, it made my nipples hard. He looked so familiar but I couldn’t place him. A different time. A different setting.
“Hey,” a feminine high-pitched voice said next to me. “Thank you for standing up for me.”
I turned to see the strawberry-blonde pony-tailed girl looking up at me. I wasn’t tall nor short for my age, but this girl was tiny, like as tall as my sister Lily. “Sure,” I said. “I hate bullies so if I could help, I will.”
“Wow,” she said gushing. “You are the first real person here. I mean, who isn’t so self-absorbed. No one bothers standing up or doing anything for anyone here unless it’s because they’re obligated to by status.”
“What?” I asked, getting in line to get food from the dome-covered platters. She followed me in line, picking up a plate for herself.
“I’ll explain when we get our table,” she said, handing her plate to one of the servers who filled out the plate with all the food in line and handed it back to her at the end of the line. I held mine with one hand, while I went to another table to grab a cold glass of iced tea. “I’m
Lina,” she said “I’m pretty new here, too.”
“So you know I’m new?”
She indicated my outfit.
“Of course, duh. I’m getting my uniform after lunch. I can’t wait to wear the cool blazers.”
Lina smiled, gingerly touching the crest on hers. “I’ve dreamt about attending Kingsbury since I started my education. My brother attended Kingsbury and did very well. He had nothing but good things to say about it. When I finally reached the age of acceptance, I applied and was not accepted the first time. The next year, I applied, and here I am. I’ve had tutors teach me all my life so going to a school with my peers was something I’ve always wanted to try. So here I am.”
“You’re a junior? A second year?” I asked.
“Yes, but I’m small for my age,” Lina explained.
“I’m Tempest,” I said. “You may be small, but you’ve got guts. You were bold enough to try to be nice to that jerk. No one else in this school would’ve done that in public. That was brave, and what he did only made him look like the stupid jerk he is.”
“I was so embarrassed, I almost cried,” Lina said.
“Not your fault,” I said. “He’s the one with the dick move.”
“But he’s Kaz,” Lina said. “The leader of K3. I’ve been crushing on him for years since I met him at my family home. He once made a comment about liking the red roses in our gardens so I thought he’d like one. I had it flown here from my home.”
“That’s drastic,” I said. “But you were so sweet. Again, in my eyes, he was the stupid jerk, and you are the sweet one.”
“I just had my heart crushed, Tempest. Not just the rose, but my heart.”
Suddenly she started crying, and I pulled her to me to pat her back. Because of her small size and even her innocence, she reminded me of Lily. Her name even sounded close to Lily’s. Lina. “It’s okay, Lina,” I said. “You know you remind me so much of my little sister back in San Francisco. She applied for me to get into Kingsbury. She is really smart so if it wasn’t for her, I would be here.”