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1
JADE
"Everyone, please welcome our newest addition to Coldwater High, Jade Wells!"
There was an awkward cough in the silence, but otherwise, nothing. No red carpet rolled out, no round of applause swelled up to greet me in response to my new homeroom teacher’s enthusiastic introduction. The tepid response made sense, at least. A bomb going off might not have been enough to get the attention of a classroom full of seniors who had already mentally checked out of high school. But I still wished for a little more fanfare as I smiled out at my new classmates. This was the debut of my new identity, andJadedeserved more ceremony thanHannahwould have ever wanted.
Eyes followed me as I made my way to an empty seat in the middle of the unfamiliar classroom. A few scathing looks, lots of clear skepticism as they all tried to figure out the new girl.Let them try,I thought with a smirk.Jade Wells is a mystery even to me.
The desk was squeaky as I took my seat, but at least it looked clean. I didn’t expect much from a public school after attending an upscale private school for the past three years. Theugly fluorescent lighting and dull linoleum floors, at least, were straight out of every teen drama TV series my parents thought I shouldn’t watch because I should have been studying.
And so were the guys sitting on either side of me. Both unfairly handsome, both with secret dark sides, and both completely unaware that I was here to use them for revenge.
On my left was Bryce Fisher. He didn’t know me, couldn’t repeat my name even after the teacher had just announced it to the class. He was the predictable kind of handsome at first glance—tall, broad, with impressively chiseled bulky football-player muscles that threatened to escape his fitted T-shirt. His dark blond hair was a little wavy-shaggy, but just enough to give him the surfer guy hotness I associated with California, but without the cliché blue eyes to match. His eyes were warm brown, honey and cinnamon. They reminded me of the beautiful chestnut coat of my favorite horse, Sequoia, who I still looked forward to seeing at my grandfather’s beautiful stables though I’d ridden her since childhood. It was almost comforting, except for how it wasBrycewatching me.
Xander Townsend watched me from my right side, and by contrast, his eyes were the cold kind of blue I could practically feel sprinkle ice across my skin. More frigid lake than sunny sky. Where Bryce almost cast a shadow over me with his physical size, Xander's elegant frame was slender. His neat, short hair was light brown and showed a hint of a curl under the product that kept it in a pristine style, and his clothes weren’t outwardly ostentatious, but their clean lines and obvious quality mirrored the kind of wealth I was used to from Worthington Academy. His best friend, Owen, never knew why Xander preferred to go to public school even though his family could afford to send him wherever they liked. But then again, my ex could be obtuse in a lot of ways.
I let that thought, the twinge of rage it sent through me, be my motivator as I turned toward Bryce.
“Do I have something on my face?” I asked innocently, batting my eyelashes to showcase the green of my irises, highlighted now by my dark eyeliner and dyed red hair. Even Owen had had a weakness for my eyes at one time, so I hoped this would be a good first step in my plan.
Bryce blinked, then let his gaze slide from my face all the way down my body. As he took in all five-foot-two of me, his expression didn’t change, but I could feel heat on my skin that I knew wasn’t just my reaction to being surveyed in this way. He took his time pulling his eyes back up to mine, tracing my every curve with enjoyment he wasn’t even trying to hide. When he’d finished his perusal, he gave a crooked, white-toothed grin. “Hmm. No, nothing on your face, new girl, but I’m happy to change that if you want.”
The wink he threw in at the end shot straight through me, heating my blood all the way down to my lower belly. It was actually rude how hot he was.
But then his words sank in. The obvious innuendo.Gross.I’d met some cocky assholes at Worthington, but the prep school crowd at least kept their misogyny hidden under layers of snooty politeness. I heard Xander give a quiet scoff-laugh from my other side, and I whipped around to face him.
“Something funny?”
Xander followed Bryce’s lead and looked me over, assessing everything from my black boots to the low neckline of my top. Again, heat prickled my skin despite his frigidity.
When he’d had his fill of checking me out, he raised one perfect eyebrow at me, the rest of his statuesque face unmoving. It annoyed me that he looked so good even when he was clearly looking down his nose at me. He was the rare, runway model kind of handsome that was hard to even capture in photos—I’d never seen the appeal of him in all of Owen’s social media pictures, but in real life, I understood.
“You can put the claws away,” he said with a bored tone, his voice as cold as his eyes. “I was laughing at my friend’s complete lack of a filter.You’vehardly made an impression.”
Before I could think of a response, Xander was looking away from me, turning to the complicated math problems he had been working out in a notebook. It was such an easy dismissal, so effortlessly cool, that I wasn’t sure what to do.
Bryce laughed then, too. I looked back at him.
“Don’t worry, new girl. Xander’s tough to crack, but I’m here if you ever want some fun.”
“I’d rather eat glass,” I shot back, and Bryce’s smile didn’t falter. He just took another moment to check out my cleavage—which, okay, Ididmake an effort to highlight with my first-day outfit, hoping to channel femme fatale energy—and shrugged.
“Aw, come on. I’m a fun guy,” he said, grinning as he gestured to himself. “I can guarantee you’d feel different once I got my hands on you.”
I knew better than to dignify that with a response even before he burst out laughing at his own joke. As if the idea of touching me was laughable to someone of his social status. It stung a little, especially when he and Xander both ignored me for the rest of homeroom. But when I’d moved to this school and rebranded as Jade, I’d sworn to leave Hannah and her fragile ego behind just like I’d left Owen, my so-called-friends, and all of Worthington Academy.
Maybe Hannah would have been worried after facing down these obvious bullies, but Jade? She was ready for a challenge. For the revenge she came for, no matter how annoying Bryce and Xander might make it.
I remembered, then, that there was still a third target I had to meet, too.Damn it. He was supposed to be here.
My eyes scanned the classroom for another face I’d recognize from pictures, landing instead on an empty seat at the back of the room. Somehow, I knew that seat would usually be filled by my ex-boyfriend’s third and final friend. He couldn’t be as obnoxious as Xander and Bryce, could he?
I pulled the armor of Jade around me before I could think any cowardly, maybe-this-was-a-bad-idea, Hannah-like thoughts. Instead, I steeled my spine and thought to myself,Let the games begin.
2
JADE
