It didn’t bother me too much. I wasn’t exactly unpopular. I just didn’t have any close friends.
I used to have a tight group of buddies, all through elementary and middle school, but things changed when I was fourteen, and they all slowly faded from my life. By the next year, I didn’t have a single person I could call in hard times.
I didn’t blame any of them. There was too much drama surrounding me at the time. It still stung, though.
I could be somewhat comforted by the fact that I simply wouldn’t fit in anymore anyway, even if I tried my very best. Most people in this town were born here and died here. They finished school, got a local job, got married, had kids, and kept the same group of friends their entire lives, all without setting foot outside town aside from the occasional summer vacation.
There was nothing wrong with that—it was a valid life choice for those who wanted it. I just didn’t want it for myself.
I’d seen too much of the dark side of places like this, and I’d seen how it could drag a person down if they took a few steps in the wrong direction. Some people developed almost feral instincts when that happened, sharpened by the simple need to survive, and that struggle could amplify those instincts with disturbing results; a story I’d seen unfolding time and time again as I grew up here.
Crime was at an all-time high in the town and its outskirts, even if the local council tried to bury that in the yearly stats by classifying things in sneaky ways. That wasn’t going to change anytime soon, because nothing was being done to fix it or at least reduce it, so it simply wasn’t a safe place. Not compared to the pretty, polished surrounding towns in this part of the state.
The average income in Silvercreek was shockingly low, too, and I didn’t want to spend my whole life living paycheck to paycheck with no hope of saving anything. I’d seen what that sort of stress could do to people. Like my mother, for instance. She made a few poor choices when she was younger, and that shaped her entire existence.
She was a bright young college student when she met my father, and he promised her the world. All she had to do was quit college, move to his hometown, and support him while he started his own business. She was happy to do so, because she didn’t worry about all the things that could go wrong. All the things that would go wrong.
They did, of course, and by then she had me, so she was stuck working whatever jobs she could to get by and support me in the process. Always worrying about what the future held. Always feeling trapped in the teeth and claws of poverty.
Sometimes my internet friends—people I’d struck up conversations with on chat forums and other websites—would ask me why she didn’t just go back to college. Finish her degree. Then she could move us to a better town with better opportunities and get a higher-paying job.
I knew they meant well, but sometimes I just wanted to reach right into cyberspace and slap the shit out of them when they asked that so casually, as if it genuinely didn’t occur to them that it wasn’t an option for most people. They’d clearly never had a job which barely paid enough to cover rent, food costs, and utilities. It didn’t occur to them that there was nothing left over for a college savings fund, let alone anything else.
That was the thing about people who’d never been poor: they just didn’t get it. They could try their hardest to understand when you explained it to them, but unless they fell on hard times and experienced it themselves, they couldn’t know what an anxiety-inducing balancing act it was to get by every month. They didn’t know how easy it was to fall behind and slip under.
They’d never swiped their card at the grocery store checkout, heart thudding so painfully in their chest that they thought it might explode, all because they weren’t sure if there was still enough money in their account to cover the meager weekly food costs.
They’d never spent sleepless nights calculating exactly how much they needed to make in tips to pay the overdue bills before they were sent to debt collectors.
They’d never spent their time worrying about so many little things like that, all adding up to one big, seemingly never-ending headache.
I was determined to get out of the trap and make things better for myself. My mom, too—after taking care of me for so long, she deserved a break.
I knew I wasn’t the smartest kid in the world, but I still put in the hours and effort to keep my GPA as high as I could. I went to school early when it was on, just so I could study as much as possible in the library before class, and I spent my vacations doing much of the same. Books weren’t just a brief escape from reality for me. They were my way out.
“Laney!”
I whipped my head around as I tied my apron in a bow behind my waist. One of the other waitresses, an older blonde woman named Joanna, was grinning and waving at me from behind the counter.
I headed over to her. “What’s up?”
She leaned in, a conspiratorial smile lighting her face. “I had the cutest guy come in while you were on your break. Too young for me, but he’d be perfect for you.”
I returned her smile. “Oh yeah?”
“Trust me, your heart will stop when you see him,” she said, gesturing for me to peek around the side of the countertop with her. “I’m honestly scared to take his check over to him. I’m worried I’ll accidentally let a burp or fart slip out. Stuff like that always happens around the cute ones, doesn’t it?”
I laughed. “If it happens, just blame it on the squeaky tiles,” I said, eyes crinkling around the corners with amusement.
My smile instantly faded when I saw her ‘cute customer’. The one who was supposedly perfect for me.
It was Hunter Connery.
After the party I worked at a couple of months ago, I never thought I’d see him again. I didn’t care, either, given his attitude toward me at the end of our chat… or at least that’s what I told myself whenever he popped into my mind over the last several weeks.
Now my palms were trembling and sweaty on the edge of the countertop, and my face was flushing with heat. I definitely cared.
“See?” Joanna whispered, nudging me. “Gorgeous, right?”
“Right,” I murmured.
Hunter seemed to feel our eyes on him, and he lifted his chin and stared right at us. I gulped, grabbed a cloth and pretended to wipe down the already-spotless countertop. Joanna ducked behind the pie case under the pretense of rearranging the desserts.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hunter still looking over at me. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, but I detected an air of danger around him all the same. His stiff demeanor and slightly-narrowed eyes betrayed a dark and fierce undercurrent flowing beneath his skin, sinful and seething.
For one mad moment, I considered going over to the booth and asking him if he remembered me. If he had some sort of problem with me.
I didn’t do it, of course. He was too scary with his impossibly-perfect face and intense gaze, equal parts shrewd and assessing. Instead I silently interrogated him in my mind as his eyes followed my every movement.
What are you doing here, Hunter? Why are you watching me like that? What dark little secrets are you hiding in that irritatingly-handsome head of yours?
We all had secrets.
A sudden flash in my mind startled me. A memory. Blood. A pitiful choked cry. Eyes filled with fear.
I blinked and turned away, slipping around to the other side of the counter, where Hunter couldn’t see me.
I stepped out onto the main floor a few minutes later to mop up a strawberry milkshake that a child had just knocked over. On the other side of the diner, Joanna was giggling and fawning as she handed a check to Hunter. A few seconds later, she gasped.
I whirled around to look over at her, concern pinching at my face. She hurried toward me, holding up a hundred dollar bill. “Laney, look!” she said, eyes alight with excitement. “This was my tip!”
Back at her table, Hunter was slipping his phone and wallet into his jacket pocket. Then he got up and headed over to the
exit. I couldn’t help but notice a cruel smirk playing on his lips as he tipped his head toward me in a subtle nod.
“That’s awesome!” I said, turning my attention back to Joanna. “You should use it to spoil yourself later. Get some wine and nice chocolate.”
“Oh, I will. I still can’t believe he gave me so much,” she gushed. “He said he thinks I’m the best waitress in this place, and he can’t wait to come back!”
I shouldn’t have taken that as a dig made at me by Hunter, but I did. I couldn’t help it, and it felt like a cold knife in the gut.
“Well, you’re great. You deserve it,” I said, briefly turning my head to one side to finish wiping up the remnants of the milkshake. I could see Hunter outside the window, waiting to cross the street.
“Thanks, hon. You’re so sweet,” Joanna replied, leaning down to help me. She lowered her voice for a second. “Hey, are you okay?”
I turned back to her. “I’m fine. How come?”
“You had a funny look on your face for a second.” She glanced out the window in the same direction I’d just been looking in a moment ago. “Do you know him from somewhere?”
“Hm?”
“The guy who just gave me the huge tip,” she said. “You guys keep looking at each other.” She paused and leaned closer, slow smile spreading over her face. “I thought maybe you had a secret fling going on, or something like that.”
I swallowed hard and gritted my teeth. “No,” I said, lifting my chin high. “I don’t know him at all.”
My feet were blistered and aching by the time I made it home at six.
Our house was ancient and small with thin walls and a patch of lawn out the front that was usually half-dead. It was beautiful on the inside, though, furnished with flea market finds and decorated with cheap yet pretty items from thrift stores. My mom liked to paint, too, so there were a few landscapes around the place, adding swashes of color to the plain taupe walls.
With a long, heavy sigh, I collapsed onto the overstuffed couch in the living room and yanked my shoes off. Mignon padded in, licked my bare feet, and nuzzled my hand, begging for some head rubs.
“Laney! Is that you?”
I sat up. “Mom? I thought you were at work.”
She appeared in the doorway from the narrow hall, cheeks flushed. “I got sent home early.”
My eyes widened. “Did something happen?”
“No. Nothing bad, anyway.” She waved a hand. “There was just nothing else to do at the place. We cleaned everything in record time.”
“Oh, cool. Now we can cook dinner together,” I said. “What do you want to have?”
She stepped closer, hands twisting together with what appeared to be nervous excitement. “First things first, baby. I have news for you. Come into the kitchen with me.”
With a curious frown puckering my brows, I followed her into the kitchen and sat at the table, back ramrod straight. I hadn’t seen my mom look this happy or excited in months. Maybe even years. Whatever this news was, it had to be something big.
She grabbed a large yellow envelope from the center of the table and presented it to me with a flourish. “This came for you today,” she said, eyes brightening even more. “I thought it was for me and accidentally opened it. Almost fell over from the shock.”
My frown deepened as I stared down at the envelope and turned it over in my hands. There was a stamped red wax seal on the back, like it was a letter right out of the seventeenth century. It was broken in half from where Mom had opened it earlier.
“Read it!” she said, practically jumping up and down with enthusiasm.
I retrieved the letter from inside the envelope and poked my tongue against one cheek as I scanned the page. At the top was a golden crest, made up of a crown in a shield with some Latin words below it.
I read the text under the crest without taking a single breath.
Dear Delaney,
It is a great pleasure for me to inform you that you have been selected by Royal Falls Academy to receive an excellence scholarship for your senior year of high school. Each year, students who have distinguished themselves through outstanding academic achievements are chosen from a pool of candidates, and I am pleased to let you know that you were top of the list on this occasion.
RFA excellence scholars receive free tuition and board, along with a $10,000 scholarship allowance to spend at your own discretion.
Please accept my congratulations on your selection for this great honor. We look forward to welcoming you into the RFA community.
Yours sincerely,
Gerald Sanders
RFA Headmaster
My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I simply shook my head as my stomach fluttered with a mixture of confusion and surprise.
“I can’t believe it,” Mom said, giddy with happiness. “You’re going to Royal Falls Academy, baby!”
“But…” I slowly shook my head. “I didn’t apply for a scholarship anywhere.”
“It sounds like they don’t actually ask for applications,” she said, nodding toward the letter. “They just track down the best students at each school in the state and pick a few candidates from the list.”
“I’m not the best student in the state, though, and it said I was top of the list,” I replied in a small voice, chest tightening. “This can’t be right.”
Surely this was an error, and they meant to send the letter to a different Delaney Collins.
“Stop being so modest,” Mom said, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re amazing. You always get the best grades.”
“But that’s just at Silvercreek High. We’re the worst-performing school in the state.”
Mom’s forehead creased, and she sighed. “Laney, you’ve got to lose the negative attitude! You’re allowed to be proud of yourself and your achievements.”
“Sorry, Mom. I’m just really surprised, that’s all,” I said. “I know my grades are good, but still… I wasn’t expecting anything like this.”
She finally sat down. “I understand. It really came out of nowhere, didn’t it?” Her brows suddenly shot up. “Oh, I almost forgot. This was in there too.”
She turned and grabbed a glossy catalog off the counter and passed it to me.
“That explains why the envelope was so big,” I said, flipping through the pages. It was basically one big advertisement for Royal Falls Academy, complete with pictures of smiling students in perfectly-pressed navy blue blazers with gold trim, extensive lists of amenities and clubs, and pages upon pages of beautifully-shot photos of the campus.
The school stood on an enormous piece of land seven miles away from Royal Falls, right next to a national park. The sight of it was awe-inspiring.
The main building had been constructed to look like a Gothic castle with its pale gray stonework, soaring towers, pointed arches and leaded glass windows. Intricate stone carvings lined the top of each level, and deep green ivy wound its way up the lower walls. The smaller buildings had been created in the same manner, regal and awe-inspiring despite their size.
There were gargoyles everywhere, too. Creatures with bat wings, pointy ears, and ugly squashed-looking faces. They crouched on the corners of every slanted roof and on the edges of outcroppings. An extra-large one sat over the main entrance, stone chest seemingly puffed up proudly as it watched over the students streaming into the building.
Most of the photos had been taken in the fall, New England’s most beautiful time of the year. A zoomed-out landscape image of the academy showed an amphitheater of mountains in the background with a light dusting of snow on the peaks and streaks of red, orange and gold throughout the thick foliage.
It was utterly breathtaking.
I never thought I’d have the opportunity to set foot in such a place. Not even in my wildest dreams. To me, a private academy like RFA felt as far away as a fairytale castle. Nice to dream about, but not possible in reality.
Now here I was, sitting at my kitchen table with this offer lette
r. I felt like I suddenly had the whole world within my grasp.
“The Connery kids go to RFA, don’t they?” I asked, glancing up at Mom.
“I think so,” she replied, scratching one cheek. “Hey, you could become friends with them! Wouldn’t that be nice?”
I let out a vague grunt. “I doubt they’d want to hang out with me.”
Mom’s brows knitted. “You know… you don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” she said slowly. “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t accept, because it’s such an incredible opportunity, but I can’t force you. If you want to stay at Silvercreek High, you can. I just don’t want you to regret it later.”
I knew she was right. This scholarship was an incredible opportunity, and I would kick myself forever if I turned it down just because I felt out of place amongst the elite.
I cleared my throat and squared my jaw. “I’ll go,” I said. “You’re right. I studied my ass off for this, even if I never knew it was an option. Plus, we could really use that ten grand, couldn’t we?”
She squealed and wrapped her arms around me. I leaned into the embrace, finally letting myself smile as excited warmth radiated throughout my body. I felt weightless, like I was floating up in the clouds, and the smile stretched into a grin so wide it felt like my lips might split right open.
After so many years of struggle, I finally had the chance to let it all go and make my dreams come true. Royal Falls Academy was going to be my new home come fall this year, and nothing—not even a rude, smug asshole like Hunter Connery—could take that away from me.
Going to RFA was going to be the best thing that ever happened to me.
To be continued….
More Information
Pre-order the rest of the Royal Falls Elite series now:
Savage Prince
Shattered Kingdom
Both of these books are full-length novels following Laney Collins and Hunter Connery at Royal Falls Academy
Twisted Elite: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Royal Falls Elite Prequel) Page 5