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“Told you. Cat among the pigeons.” Now that I’m a little more awake, I can concentrate on his words, but to be honest, I still don’t have a clue what he’s talking about. I just stare at him blankly. “Heard you caused quite the stir at dinner last night.” Ah, I think he’s talking about my choice of dinner seating. “I hope you know what you’re doing, little bird.” I nod, and he grins. “Good. Things were getting boring around here, and you’ve definitely shaken them up. I can’t wait to see what else you do.”
“Yeah about that... why are you guys never in the dining hall?”
“You’ve been in our kitchen, why do you think?” I smile. He has a point. If I lived in that house, I wouldn’t want to leave to eat in a dining hall, no matter how nice it is.
“Why? You miss us?” I shrug, refusing to answer that. “Aww, little bird, you only have to ask.” He slings his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in close. I’m so tiny next to him. I love it. “C’mon, we better get to class, Princess. Hmmm, I think Thorn has the right idea calling you that. It suits you,” he tells me as the bell goes.
It’s only when I slip into my seat that I realise I didn’t go to the loo. Damn it. He’s that much of a distraction.
***
That evening at dinner, I get the shock of my life. Maybe I should’ve seen it coming, after the time spent in the toilet with Rebel, but I honestly didn’t. I’m pretty tired after starting back in class, but still, I’m usually more on the ball than this.
I’m sitting with the princesses, mostly being ignored, when suddenly the hall’s full of whispers. It’s a low-level noise that spreads like wildfire throughout the room in a wave. Tilly’s jaw drops faster than her fork clattering to her plate. The other girls’ eyes go wide, and even Belle looks mildly intrigued.
Before I can turn around to see what all the fuss is about, a strong and heavy hand lands on my shoulder. Rebel. I know it’s him before he even speaks, though I’m not sure how I know it. “Princess, you shouldn’t be sitting with the riff-raff. Come join us, Little Bird.” His tone is softer than anything I’ve heard from him before, but it leaves no room for argument either. I can’t believe he’s just called the princesses riff-raff!
The room’s buzzing now, students no longer whispering behind their hands, but gossiping outright. I try to avoid meeting the girls’ gazes as I stand, but I accidentally catch Tilly’s. “What the fuck?” she screeches, and the room goes dead. I guess she can’t believe she’s been called riff-raff either.
“Tilly-“ Belle warns.
I hastily grab my plate and get to my feet, following Rebel over to the empty round table that sits next to the girls’. I’d always wondered who it belonged to. It’s set for five. Rebel takes a seat, and I sit down beside him, Thorn taking my other side, with Ace and Jax plonking down beside me. They grab menus and quickly order, oblivious to the commotion going on around us.
“Guys, what’s going on?” I ask them, glancing from one to the other.
“Rebel said our girl missed us at meals, so here we are.” Thorn grins, arms outstretched.
“Your girl?” I raise an eyebrow dubiously.
“Yeah, our girl. Have you or have you not been on dates with all of us?” Jax asks.
“Well yeah, but-“ It sounds bad when he puts it like that.
“My girl,” Ace grunts, pointing to himself. He points to each of the boys in turn, “Jax’s girl, Thor’s girl, Rebel’s girl.”
“Our girl.” Rebel smiles, his arm around my shoulders again. I let it go. This isn’t the time or place to talk about it, especially not with so many eyes on us. I can feel Tilly throwing daggers with her eyes at me. If looks could kill, I’d be dead several times over already.
When the boys’ food comes, they tuck in as I’m finishing up, and the conversation becomes laid back. They talk about their classes and assignments, their weekend plans. There’s no drama, and eventually, the rest of the crowd go back to whatever they were doing before.
“Is this your table? How come you guys have an empty table if you never use it?” I ask quietly and the guys all exchange a glance. “No bullshit,” I quickly insist.
Of course, Jax is the one to answer me, “See those girls over there?” he points to the princesses’ table, and I nod, wondering where he’s going with this, “We’re them. But the male version.”
“You guys rule the school? You’re princes?” Jax pulls a face at the term but confirms it. Whoa. I really didn’t see that coming. Why hadn’t Michael mentioned it? Or the girls? The guys don’t act like Tilly and her cronies.
“Who’s more powerful, you guys or the princesses?” There’s a twisting in my gut that I don’t want to address.
“Us.”
“Why? Are you having trouble with them?” Rebel cuts in.
“What? No! Nothing like that,” I placate him, sensing his quick temper. “So I guess you guys all know who I am then, huh?”
“Everyone in the school knew who you were the second you stepped out of your grandmother’s town car, if not before,” Jax confirms.
“So...this is...?”
“Us, choosing you. For you. Because we’ve spent a week getting to know you and we like you, and now we want to hang out with you more.”
