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I ignore him, forcing myself to stare ahead. Triskin is talking about this semester’s focus, but listening is an impossible task. Ace's eyes burn into the side of my face, intense and suffocating.
“Stop,” I breathe, glaring at him.
A smirk tugs at the corner of his mouth. His eyes are half-lidded and cloudy.
Yeah, he’s definitely high.
But even in his inebriated state, it’s like he sees me better than anyone else in the room.
“Make me.” He leans toward me.
I can hear Lylah and her friends whispering, drawing their own conclusions about Ace’s interest in me.
Great, just what I don’t need.
“Hey, Ace,” Lylah whispers seductively.
I watch out the corner of my eye as he glances over his shoulder. “Yeah?” he says.
“You should come hang out with us tonight at Surf’s.”
“Am I supposed to know what the fuck that is?”
“It’s the beachside diner we go to sometimes.”
“Will Remi be there?”
I swallow the urge to groan. He isn’t making this easy. It's only the first day of school, and already he’s painting a target on my back.
“Remi?” Lylah says with mild disgust. “Why the hell would she be there?”
“I am sitting right here,” I hiss.
Of course, Mr Triskin chooses that exact moment to stop talking. “Miss Tanner.” He glares at me. “Is there something you’d like to share with the class?”
Lylah snickers.
“No, sir," I say with saccharine enthusiasm, "but I think Lylah had a question for you about the work."
“Bitch,” she whisper-coughs.
“Miss Donavan, I’m waiting. Or perhaps you’d like to join me after class?”
“N-no, sir. Everything is fine.”
“As I suspected. Now, if it’s not too much trouble, how about you try paying attention to the rest of class. Who knows, you might learn something.”
Lylah gasps, which is ironic since everyone at Sterling Prep is intelligent enough to breeze into an Ivy League school of their choosing. And if they’re not, you can bet that mommy and daddy are paying enough tutors or writing enough checks to make it happen.
The rich and entitled... oh, how it must suck to be them.
Another few minutes pass. Lylah is drilling holes into the back of my head, but it’s nothing I haven’t already experienced a hundred times before, unlike Ace, who is so still and quiet I wonder if he’s asleep with his eyes open. He hasn’t written a single thing in his notebook.
I’m doodling Jane Eyre’s name when I sense Ace shift closer. “How about we make a deal, Princess?” His voice is a low whisper in my ear. “You take this class for me, and I’ll repay you.”
My eyes slide to his. He isn’t just watching me, he’s trying to ensnare me in his trap. I don’t want to succumb, but I feel myself falling.
“Repay me?” I hiss. “Trust me when I say, you have nothing I could ever want.”
