There was a menacing darkness to his voice that made me shiver with fear. Or, I was pretty sure that was fear. Yeah, let’s go with fear.

Jerking my face out of his reach, I glared harder. It was all I had in my arsenal today. “Dante would never hit a woman. I suspect he has more honor and decency in his left shoe than the four of you combined.” I cast my disgusted glare over the other three standing over me in what was clearly intended to be a threatening way. Of course it was. Why else would they be doing this? “Just leave me the fuck alone, Sebastian,” I continued, snapping the words at Beck. “I don’t want to be here any more than you want me here. It’s only two months until my birthday and then I’m done.”

Evan made a noise and when I glanced up, I caught a look passing between him and Jasper. Before I could demand to know what they were getting cagey about, Beck leaned in closer to me. His shiny leather shoes creaked and his mouth watering smell filled my nose. It was a mix of expensive aftershave and something that was all Beck. Dark and alluring.

“If only it was that simple, Butterfly,” he whispered with an edge of foreboding. Giving me a long, unreadable look, he stood back up and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Catherine Deboise is up to something, and you’re her pawn. We intend to see you wiped from the board before she can make her move.”

I spluttered a noise of shock and outrage. “Oh yeah?” I scoffed. “What does that make you, the king?”

This time—for the first time—his smile held real humor. But it was gone again as fast as it came, and it was Jasper who responded.

“You’d better believe it, trailer trash. Don’t mess with the king.” He snickered at his own oh-so-witty analogy, and I rolled my eyes.

“Clearly expensive schools don’t teach chess,” I remarked. “Otherwise you’d be well aware the queen is the most dangerous piece on the board.”

The four of them just stared down at me before Beck shook his head. “Nice panties, Butterfly.”

He smirked, then walked away as my cheeks flamed and I pinned my skirt down. Despite what Eddy had said, it was still too short to sit on my ass without flashing my black lace underwear to the world. Evan and Jasper followed him—like the brainless pawn they’d just accused me of being—but Dylan stayed where he was.

“What?” I snapped at him, as a frightened tremble set into my limbs. I was still on my backside, so he was absolutely towering over me.

The scary ass dude stared down at me for a really long, really awkward moment before he stuck out his hand. When I made no move to take it, he sighed. “It’s not poisoned, Riley. I just wanted to help you up. You’re like a baby giraffe in those shoes.”

Uncertain, but not wanting to look scared—or any more scared than I already was—I took his hand with my un-plastered one and let him pull me back to my feet.

“Thanks,” I muttered, and he just shrugged and started walking away in the direction his friends had gone.

“Hey!” I called after him, seizing the opportunity to try and salvage my safety. “I’m serious. I’m not here because I want to be. Just leave me alone and I’ll be gone before you know it.”

Dylan paused, turning slightly to give me a sad, pitying look. “You’ll learn. It’s not about what you want any more.”

With that cryptic statement, he turned the corner, and I leaned heavily on the wall as all the strength drained out of me. Was this what the rest of my school year would be like? Threats and sexual innuendos? So much for the feminist movement. Clearly, old world money was exempt from things like common decency and equality.

“Hey,” a guy called out from down the hall, and I startled. “Shouldn’t you be in class, new girl?”

I frowned as he came closer, trying to work out where I’d seen him before but not having any luck. He was cute, in a preppy sort of way. Chocolate brown hair and a light tan, offset by mossy green eyes. The kind of guy I probably would have flirted with if Beck hadn’t just stripped me of all my brain cells.

“Uh, yeah. I guess.” Hunting through my bag, I found my phone and pulled it out. Flipping through my schedule, I located the class I was supposed to be in and groaned. “Economics.” Fucking Catherine Debitch. A quick scan of my other classes showed more of the same. Calculus, finance, debate... The only subject I was excited about on this schedule was English Lit. It made me sad that I wouldn’t have art history or photography, my favorite subjects at my old school, but office chick had made it clear that there was not a single chance of me changing this schedule.

The guy let out a low whistle, reading my schedule over my shoulder. “Guess you must be a smart one, then. Most chicks here just take the easy grades in event planning or sewing or some shit.” He laughed as he said it, and I honestly couldn’t work out if he was telling the truth or talking shit. “Come on, I’ll show you the way to your class.”

Giving him a suspicious side-eye, I shifted my bag higher onto my shoulder and followed as he strode down the marble tiled hall. He didn’t speak again as I hurried along behind him, not until we stopped outside a classroom which overlooked the school parking lot.

“Hey, I should probably thank you,” he said suddenly, blocking the door as I reached for the handle.

“Huh?” I tilted my head, confused. “For what?”

Just as he was about to answer, the door was yanked open from the other side and a middle aged man with a neatly trimmed beard glared at us.

“Miss Deboise?” he enquired, despite clearly already knowing who I was. “Class started almost twenty minutes ago. Next time you’re late, it’ll be detention.”

My jaw dropped. “But it’s my first day!”

“And not off to a great start, are you?” he replied with a sneer, then stepped back to indicate for me to enter the class.

“See you around, new girl,” the cute guy who’d walked me there whispered as I entered the class and the door slammed closed behind me. Suddenly, every damn student in there was staring straight at me, and I awkwardly dodged eye contact with anyone until I found an empty seat near the windows. That nameless guy had been right, there were hardly any girls in the class.

Sighing to myself, I propped my face on my hand and stared out the window as the teacher continued whatever he’d been saying before I arrived. The guy from the hall was crossing the parking lot and tossed a grin in my direction—like he knew I was watching—before opening the door to a cherry red Porsche 911 and sliding behind the wheel.

Mother. Fucker.

I sucked in a sharp breath and sat up straighter. Suddenly it became clear what he was thanking me for: an easy win and eight hundred thousand dollars.

7

The rest of my morning went pretty smoothly—as far as any first day at a new school could. I’d managed to find my way to the rest of my classes on time, and hadn’t yet slipped over in my stupid heels despite the dangerous patches of ice on the outside paths between classes.

All in all, I was feeling not too bad by the time lunch rolled around. Except now, I needed to navigate whatever Ducis Academy passed off as a cafeteria and find Eddy, or I’d be eating alone.

I followed the stream of students—uniformed and not, because apparently only high schoolers wore the uniform—in the direction of the lunch room while nerves mounted in my stomach.

“Fuck it,” I muttered under my breath as the entrance to the dining room came into view. “Worst case I can just eat outside.”

The idea of sitting in the freezing cold to eat was unappealing to say the least, but it was better than doing something stupid like accidently sitting at Beck’s table or tripping and landing face first into a bowl of soup.

Just the idea of all the ways I could humiliate myself made me groan, and I considered whether I actually needed to eat at all.

“Hey,” Eddy called out, waving at me from just inside the dining hall, “Riley! Over here!”

Gritting my teeth, I entered the room and made my way over to the petite blonde. I still couldn’t get past the transformation from the edgy, punk girl that I first met, compared to this prissy princess wearing a damn headband.

“Were you trying to stand me up?” she demanded, propping her hands on her hips in mock outrage. “I can’t imagine why! This school is so welcoming.” She couldn’t even get through her own sarcastic statement without rolling her eyes, and I grinned.

“Come on, the food is at least good.” She grabbed my unbroken hand and dragged me over to the buffet. The only way to describe the lunch at Ducis Academy: it was like the buffet at a five star luxury hotel. I was so focused on all the incredible edible options on my plate that I barely even noticed where Eddy was leading me—until I sat down.