AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I haven’t seen you around before. You didn’t attend the preparatory academy.” Not a question, but I answer her just the same.
“No. As you’ve already deduced. I’m not from money.” And my grades would never have been on par for scholarship standards either, but I keep that to myself. She nods at that.
“Scholarship then?”
“No.” She tilts her head assessing me, pursing her lips, but as she opens her mouth, I inject quickly to halt any questions.
“I’m Briar Greyson.”
I’m met with more narrowed eyes, then she shrugs her shoulders and picks up her mug, taking a long sip and answering. “Peyton Vasiliev. Freshman, and the way you seem to have no idea what is going on around here I can guess that you are too.”
I give a single nod in response. Having finished my food, I push up from my seat and grab my dishes to take over to the kitchen since I can’t see a depository for them. Peyton quickly tells me to leave it and the staff come clean the tables. I look at her like she’s insane, but she just laughs at me like this is normal behavior and not lazy as fuck.
“What classes did you sign up for?” She asks as we walk back to the dorm rooms.
“Uh, literature and communication, computer science, programming and engineering, introduction to science, world history, and dance.”
Peyton stops midstride and turns to face me. She looks at me again before shaking her head slightly and speaking. “Literally none of those classes make sense together. What’s your major?”
“I’m undeclared, just trying some things out, figuring out what I like.”
She tsks again, before adding, “I’ve chosen some of the same classes, show me your timetable and I’ll see if we have any classes together.”
Doing as she says, I pull up the digital timetable I uploaded, and she goes through it, scrolling through. She taps at my phone for a moment and then a ping sounds. “We have dance and world history together. I’ve entered my number and texted me, so I have yours. We should sit together”
“Anyways, this is me.” She taps the door behind her before continuing. “Bye girl.”
I nod my head, a small smile on my face as I wiggle my fingers at her in a gesture of goodbye. This has been the weirdest interaction I’ve had with someone new, but I think I made a friend.
Chapter Two
Caffeine. I need caffeine in copious amounts. I move towards the coffee machine and gulp down my third mug of the morning. It’s only 7am, but I barely slept a wink last night, not unusual for me, and now I’m a blubbering mess of jittery energy and nerves.
I stayed up most of the night going over the recommended reading list for the week, which was about as useful as digging a grave with a spoon because I can hardly recall a single thing I read. Every time I managed to get a good rhythm in my reading, the reality of being here, in a real university had me wanting to break out in very-unlike-me excited squealing.
And not just anywhere, but Fairwater Academy. This place has the highest ratio of graduates stepping into high official roles. Granted most of the students are the sons and daughters of the wealthiest tycoons in the United States and will be stepping into roles as soon as they graduate.
I laid spread out over my bed try to imagine what today would be like, but sigh heavily when I draw a blank. I barely attended high school. Two years was not nearly long enough.
Closing my eyes, I try to recall the faces of the other kids in my year, or the sound of the teachers droning on in the classrooms. But all I remember is the crushing weight of Clarke’s prodigious presence. His eyes were everywhere, and the heat of his gaze would sear into my skin no matter where I went. I was never approached by students, and I was never scolded by teachers, not that gave them reason to. Clarke’s power felt larger than life.
But then Junior year happened, and everything changed. Clarke had graduated the year before, being two years older than I am, and the stark contrast was immediate. The heaviness of him was gone, like it was never there to be begin with. The moment I moved around in those halls without him looming over me, I had my first taste of what it would feel like to be a bird. Free of the cages that surround me.
But there will always be a cage, and the sense of freedom I felt was a façade. I knew it too. But fake laughs and faux smiles ask for a phony pretense of liberty.
Charades cannot be kept forever and within the week it was stripped away to reality. The demand in Clarke’s company becoming higher and with it, the future I so desperately wanted started seeping through my fingers like water. So, I pushed my want into a box and set it aside to do what needed to be done.
To be there for him. He needed me, as I once needed him. Clarke has given everything to me from the moment he took me under his wing, but he has taken so much more.
So now that I’m only hours a way of attending my first class, I’m wound tight. The anticipation settling like lead in my chest. I know I should really go to the dining hall to eat, but the very idea of food right now has me roiling and wanting to run to empty the contents of my stomach.
Instead, I’ve showered, made a useless attempt at taming the wild mess of curls on my head, and now I’m downing coffee like it’s life support. I’m seriously considering getting an IV drip straight into my veins because there is no way I’m making it through the day without an unhealthy supply and potentially a sugar high.
Uniforms were delivered yesterday afternoon and it fits perfectly. The white collared shirt is slimming, somehow, and runs against all my curves narrowing my waist. I run my hands uselessly down the gunmetal grey and blue tartan skirt, as if that will stop it from being so short that not showcasing my ‘assets’ to the entire male population of this school.
Paired with my black chucks, the tie hanging loosely around my neck and the smoky eyeshadow I put on this morning, I look straight out of a punk chick magazine. I think about changing my shoes to a low kitten heel like I saw the other girls wearing yesterday but decide against it. There is no way I’m walking in heels all day without incentive.
I check one last time that I have everything I need and do up my tie as Blakely walks out of the bathroom sans towel. Fucking Jesus! I didn’t plan on starting my day seeing some other girls vag, but I also didn’t expect to walk in and see a cock in her mouth yesterday either, so this may be a regular occurrence rooming here.
