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“Keep your fucking mouth shut, you got it?”
“Y-yes.”
Picking up my hoodie, I shove my feet in my sneakers and wrench the door open, leaving her shell-shocked behind me.
Thankfully, I don’t see anyone on my way out as I retrace our steps, hoping that she’s right about the security camera.
I don’t stop until I get to the beach, where I embark on starting a bonfire, ready to burn the evidence that tonight ever happened.
Chapter One
Hadley
I should know by now how quickly life can change. One day, you’re in ninth grade with the world at your feet, and the next, you’re being shipped off to Sterling Prep.
It’s not all bad. The dormitories are more like five-star hotels and the food court is like something out of a fancy shopping mall. Of course, the expensive tuition and esteemed reputation hide a darker side. Like the vapid cheer bitches currently heading in my direction.
“Hadley,” Lylah Donovan, and newly crowned Homecoming Queen, glares at me. “I thought we said today was high ponytail day.”
“No, you said it was and I... well, I woke up and my hair felt like a braids kind of day.” I offer her a saccharine smile, twirling one of my pigtail braids for effect.
“You’re so... annoying.”
“I’ve been called worse.” Way worse. But I shut down the memories. Until two days ago, I thought the shitshow that is my life was all in the past. I left Gravestone County. I left the whispers and stares of disapproval. Here, I’m a good student. I get good grades and keep my nose relatively out of trouble.
At least, I did.
But then Ace Jagger and his twin brothers arrived at the beginning of the semester and blew the lid off St
erling Prep’s prim and proper reputation.
My best friend, Remi, got tangled up with Ace, and now the two of them are together. Which is practically a local scandal since Ace is the son of crack whore and Remi is the daughter of one of the Bay’s most influential and esteemed businessmen.
And somehow, when Remi entered the Jagger inner circle, I found myself pulled in right along with her. Not that the boys from the wrong side of the tracks—better known as Sterling Heights—ever really let anyone into their circle.
Boys like Ace, Cole, and Conner Jagger don’t play well with others.
I really should remember that.
“Did you want something else?” I ask Lylah, since she’s still standing there, scowling at me.
“I’m captain now,” she swishes her pony, “and you need to start acting like you’re a member of this team.”
“Hey, I pull my weight.” I never miss practice, and I make an appearance at most team socials. It’s not like I have a choice with Miss Jones, our coach, always breathing down my neck.
“Yeah, yeah, tell it to someone who cares,” she snarls. “I don’t know how or why you have Miss Jones wrapped around your little finger, but this is my team now, and I’m not about to let you or your trash friends ruin senior year.”
We’re drawing a crowd now. You’d think after two recent scandals, kids at Sterling Prep would want life to return to normal. But no, they’ve had a taste of blood and want more.
First, Queen Bee and Head Cheerleader, Michaela Fulton was dethroned by none other than Ace Jagger, and then Bexley Danforth, football captain and most eligible guy in school, attacked my best friend in a drugged out stupor. He’s gone now, shipped off to finish senior year far, far away from Sterling Bay and the shame he brought upon his family, and Michaela is walking around school with her tail between her legs.
And now, kids are looking at me like they’re just waiting for the third scandal to break.
Well, they’ll be waiting a long time. My secrets are my own, and I’m not about to give them up for anyone. Especially Lylah Donovan and her cheer Barbie-bitch friends.
Some of the football players appear, pushing through the crowd as if they own the school. Hayden, one of my only allies on the team, frowns, glancing between me and Lylah. “What’s going on?” he asks.
“Oh hey, H.” Lylah bats her eyelashes and smiles sweetly. “We were just talking about practice.”
