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“You’re right.” A slow smile spread over my lips.
“I always am.” Her answering smile disappeared. “Seriously, though. I know what the three of them can be like, so I understand if you’re wary. Want to swap numbers in case you want to talk or anything?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, that would be great.”
She input her details into my phone and then texted herself so she had my number before glancing to her left, her eyes brightening. “Gracelyn! You’re coming tonight, aren’t you?” She grabbed the arm of a passing girl that I hadn’t been introduced to yet, pulling her around to face me. The girl had long red hair and pale, freckled skin, and she gave me a warm smile when she met my gaze. Aria waved a hand between us. “Grace, meet Elena. Elena, this is Gracelyn. Or Grace.”
“Hi.” I returned her smile. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” she said. Turning to Aria, she grinned. “Of course I’m coming. Samira is too.” Raising her hand, she beckoned someone from across the room, and I followed her gaze to see a striking girl with cropped dark hair and flawless brown skin heading towards us, who flashed me a bright smile when she noticed me looking. When she reached us, she hopped up onto the table we were sitting at, tugging Gracelyn between her legs. Gracelyn nodded her head towards the newcomer. “Elena, this is my girlfriend, Samira, or Mira if she likes you. Samira, meet the new girl. This is Elena, Knox’s new roommate.”
Mira grinned at me. “I know.”
They all laughed, and after a moment, I joined them. “I guess news spreads fast here.”
Tucking her phone back into her bag, Aria looked between us all. “You’re the new girl, so you’re already the most interesting person in the school. Living with the Ashcrofts makes you ten times more interesting.” She clapped her hands. “Now we’re all friends, can we talk about this party? Elena, want to come and get ready with us? We’re all roommates, so we’ll be getting ready together. I might be able to procure a bottle of vodka for the pre-party celebrations.” Her expression darkened. “We’ll need it to deal with the three gods and their wannabe goddesses.”
“Gods and goddesses?”
She rolled her eyes. “Stupid Hatherley Hall tradition. There’s a ball every May with a Greek gods and goddesses theme. People dress up and vote for their favourite gods and goddesses. It’s a popularity contest, and it’s obvious who’ll win each year. The votes are separated by groups. We have the first three school years, who all vote together for three gods and goddesses split across their three year groups. Then there’s the GCSE students—the next two years, who again vote for three gods and goddesses. And then there’s us—the two years of A-level students. Same process. Anyway, it’s only September, so we don’t need to worry about that now. Tonight, we have the party, where you can see who’s who…or who to avoid, and then the next big event is the Halloween party that’ll also be held in the crypts. I guess we should probably make an appearance at that too.”
“You love the parties, really.” Samira eyed her with amusement.
“I love reminding Tristan that I’m so far out of his league I’m in a different orbit.”
“That’s my girl.” Gracelyn gave her a high five, and I watched with a smile on my face. So far, my preconceptions about the students here had only turned out to be partially true. Aside from Knox and his friends and hangers-on, most of the other people I’d met had been nice. Genuine, as far as I could tell. It was unexpected, and if I was honest with myself, it had shaken me. My mum had spent months with me, going over everything I could expect, how I couldn’t trust anyone, how rich, elite people were all the same, but…I couldn’t help wondering if we’d been wrong.
I cleared my throat. “Thanks for the offer of getting ready with you guys, but I…I’ve got a few things I need to do beforehand.” I probably sounded like I was making excuses, but with the way my head was spinning, I needed time alone to process everything.
Aria’s gaze softened, and I had the feeling that maybe she got it. “No worries. The offer stands for any of the future parties, so we’ll have plenty of opportunities to make up for it. You’re definitely going to come tonight, though, right?”
“Yes,” I said decisively. I really did need to find out more about Knox, and this party could be a good opportunity to see how he acted when he was around his friends outside of a school environment. Plus, if I was lucky, maybe I could explore his space when he was otherwise distracted.
A smile spread across her face. “Good. Invite Katy and Will if you want. I doubt they’ll come, but they might if you ask.”
“Okay,” I said. “What’s the party for, anyway?”
“Two reasons. Celebrations or commiserations after the lacrosse team’s game, and it’s Link—Lincoln Bellingham’s—birthday. He’s on the team.” She eyed me with amusement. “Do you want to go and watch them play before the party?”
“No.” My reply was instant and emphatic, making Aria laugh. That would definitely be crossing a line with Knox, and why would I want to see him running around, getting all sweaty, his muscles—
I stopped that train of thought in its tracks. Even though he was hot—yeah, I had eyes—it didn’t change his abhorrent personalityorthe fact that his family needed to pay.
* * *
“I can’t believe you talked me into this.” Katy shook her head disbelievingly, tugging the hand of a reluctant Will.
“Yeah, me neither.” He pulled a face. “To make it clear, I’m only here for the alcohol.”
I couldn’t help my smile. “Whatever the reason, I appreciate you coming. And believe me, I’m going to need alcohol to get through tonight.”
We fell silent as we reached the entrance to the crypts. The thick stone had muffled any sound, but as soon as Will opened the heavy wooden door, I could hear music spiralling up from below. Stone steps led down into the darkness, penetrated by flashes of coloured light. Despite the murmurs of noise that reached us, telling me there was a crowd of students down there, I couldn’t suppress the shiver that went through me, a chill penetrating my body as we began to descend. I couldn’t tell if it was fear or excitement.
“This place creeps me out.” Katy ventured. “I see why Knox and the rest of the elite like it here—the seclusion and the fact that it’s deep below the rest of the school, but I wouldn’t want to sleep here at night.” She glanced up at the low ceiling above our heads, spiderwebs criss-crossing the stairwell. “Really, really wouldn’t want to sleep here at night.”
“But on the plus side, think of the uninterrupted nights we could have.” Will smirked at her, and she laughed.
“Hmm, you do make a good case.”
