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It was the coat I’d hung on my wardrobe door.
I slumped back onto the mattress with a groan.
This school was going to be the death of me.
CHAPTER THREE
CAT
Iwasted all my allotted time before orientation slapping concealer over my dark circles, adding blush to my sallow cheeks, and painting a sharp black wing on both eyes, because there was very little that winged liner couldn’t solve. I had just enough time to grab a slice of toast and an iced coffee from the dining room downstairs before I met Byron and Honey outside. Honey was as bright and excited as ever, a massive grin on her face and her dress a bright yellow to match her mood. Byron hid under a massive hoodie with the hood up and sunglasses over his eyes, his arms wrapped around his middle. It was a very relatable look, and one I regretted not copying. All that time wasted on concealer and I could have just hidden behind shades.
“Gimme,” he groaned, lurching towards my coffee.
“Hey.” I held it out of reach. “Get your own.”
Honey caught his hood before he could duck back inside the building and do just that. “We’re gonna be late already. Let’s go, let’s go!”
“I couldn’t brave the breakfast room alone,” Byron muttered to me. “There were too many people in it when I got there.”
And it was blissfully empty just now. I tipped my straw towards my best friend in pity, and he slurped up a quarter of my iced latte before I wrenched it away.
“Thief,” I hissed.
I’d been friends with Byron long enough that I didn’t worry about catching cooties from using the same straw. I followed his example and drank enough coffee that my eyes glazed. Oh shit yeah, I dumped three pumps of vanilla in it. That was the best thing about coming to a school where no expense was spared—we had amazing coffee and the best food.
In the main building, the ground floor had a cafeteria, a pasta bar, a restaurant, a Costa Coffee, a bubble tea shop, and a Japanese ramen place that didn’t even franchise in the UK. My stomach was looking forward to the tour part of orientation.
“Hurry up,” Honey urged on the path ahead of us, her satchel bouncing on her shoulder.
“Motherfuck,” Byron hissed when we walked under a stretch of trees still covered in last night’s rainwater, and leaves divested themselves of their burdens.
I sped up to avoid the same fate, but a fat drop splashed on the top of my head, as cold as ice water. “I hate rain,” I announced. “I know it’s the only reason we have plants and flowers and a thriving ecosystem but—”
“It’s far too early for the word ecosystem,” Byron grumbled, but there was warmth in his blue eyes when he threw me a smirk. “Can I have more coffee?”
“Sure,” I agreed. “There’s a coffee shop in the main building.”
The look he levelled on me was so flat and annoyed it reminded me of an exasperated cat, and I burst out laughing.
“By, stop being grumpy and walk faster,” Honey called. “You too, Cat. Exercise will wake you both up.”
She said that like I didn’t usually start my day with a jog, but I didn’t point that out. I was too drained after a night of restless sleep, and too keyed up with nerves about, well, everything. The orientation, meeting our classmates, meeting professors, memorising my schedule, learning the layout of the university—and that was just what was on my anxiety agenda for today.
But Honey was right. If we got there late, it would be so much worse. Everyone would stare, already huddled into their groups and cliques. Whoever was guiding us through the school today would scowl with disapproval. I hated disapproval. My stomach knotted and I quickened my steps.
“Lend me some of your optimism,” I said to Honey. “I need it more than you.”
She laughed, about to reply when we reached the end of the path and spotted the group of people hovering awkwardly at the bottom of the steps to the biggest building—which I’d learned the name of the second we were given our welcome packs.
Unlike most schools, they didn’t send out any information to students before we got here and enrolled. No class list, no syllabus or staff list, not even a map of the place. It was weird and a tad alarming, but Ford was a school with old traditions and this mystique was one of them.
I only knew about the food places because of gossip Honey had picked up last night. Mum said the secrets were necessary since so many students were from high profile families—children of billionaires and business moguls and celebrities and even royals sometimes—and it was a security risk to send out maps, or even upload them to a website that anyone could browse.
Which I understood, but it was frustrating for someone to whom arming themselves with knowledge and information in advance wasn’t just smart preparation but a survival instinct.
I ran my thumb over my crown ring and dragged air into my lungs. The last thing I needed was to make a fool of myself by passing out. Instead, I waited for Byron to catch up to us and then pulled my lips into a smile—not too wide, not too small. Friendly but not smirking, not stretched and psycho either. It was the smile I’d mastered years ago that said I’m completely normal and just like you.
Judging by the looks of it, our guide wasn’t here yet. Would they be a member of staff or a senior student? I knew good behaviour was rewarded with positions of power among students—Mum had told me that much. She was strangely secretive about parts of her time here, citing security issues. If she told me too much, it would put others in danger. Even though she knew full well I wasn’t going to tell anyone, and neither was I an axe murderer who’d use that information to go on a killing spree.
