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“You must be Miss Salvatore. I’m Mr. Francis, your new World History teacher. Take a seat and we’ll get started.”
The pudgy little man turns toward his whiteboard and starts listing class assignments for the week. While walking to the back row of seats, I trip over the foot of a prissy looking girl in the middle of the class. She glares at me with an ugly, pinched facial expression on an otherwise lovely face.
She sneers, “You might want to watch where you’re going,trash. In fact, why don’t you just turn yourself around and walk right back out. It doesn’t matter what name is on the building, weallknow you don’t belong here.”
A few snickers can be heard around the room, but nothing that catches the attention of the teacher. Either he’s deaf or he’s studiously ignoring the blatant bitchiness that is this girl. So it’s gonna be like that, huh. Freaking fabulous. And here I was hoping we could skip the cliché mean girl routine.
Take a deep breath and donotsmack a bitch on your first day. I remind myself internally. Leaning down, I get directly in her face and give her a deadly smile.
“Hm, soI’mtrash, huh? Where I come from, it takes a lot more than some catty, stuck up bitch running her mouth to make me back down. In fact, where I come from, you earn your place in sweat and blood. You earn it by being the smartest and fighting for it. Hear me now, princess. I’m here to stay, so unless you wanna go toe to toe for that invisible crown you’re toting around, step up your game or shut the fuck up.”
I stand up to my full height at five foot eight, my boots making me a solid five foot ten, square up, and stare her down. I look her dead in the eye so she can see how serious I am. Everyone always looks down on me until they see what I’m capable of, and why? Because they come from money or a higher status? Fuck that. These fools are gonna learn real quick that when it comes to me, respect is earned. I give not even one single fuck about these people, their status, or their superiority complex. They need to stay out of my way. I’m here for the piece of paper that is my ticket out, the end.
She scoffs.
“Ugh, whatever trash.” She says but doesn’t fight back like I expected.
As soon as I’m sure she knows what’s up, I make my way to the back and flop down in my seat.
“Damn girl, that was hot! I love me a good cat fight!” A smooth voice, full of rambunctiousness and excitement greets me.
I scowl at the guy sitting in front of me and make note of how he’s looking at me like he’s starving and I’m his snack. Eyes sparkling with playfulness and maybe just a hint of something deeper, something darker. These Richie Rich assholes affect my attitude in the worst way. I need to rein it in and play it smart, not dirty. It’s clear this dude is looking to get the shit smacked out of him.
The thing is, I can’t tell if it’s because he wants to get me kicked out or because he’d actually enjoy the beating. I can already see that these people are entitled as fuck. The ones who consider themselves royalty, are going to do whatever it takes to push me until I snap. I gotta give it to ‘em though. It would be the fastest way to get me kicked out, since I’m sure they’ve all heard about the fighting from my old school.
“Ohh, I see. Pretty Boy likes ‘emfeisty, yeah?” I smirk,getting in his face and batting my eyelashes at him obnoxiously. He smiles like he’s just won me over, licking his admittedly delicious full lips. He leans in like he means to tell me a secret. So close I can feel his warm breath on my lips and smell the mint of the toothpaste he used this morning.
“Yeah Alessandra, I do. How about you follow me out to the gym after class and you can show me how well you work that feisty ass mouth of yours.” He whispers.
“Ha!” I laugh louder than I mean to.
“You’d have a better chance at getting me to fuck your pretty little princess up there. I don’t do fuckboys. No offense but even I can see that, pretty you may be, you’re just the court jester in this big ass ‘kingdom’. Nah, I can’t be bothered with any of that.” I push back from him, leaning farther back in my seat.
“Oh, and my name is Quinn.” I smirk.
He narrows his molten chocolate eyes, allowing that hint of darkness to burn bright through those alluring irises, then pushes some of his thick blonde hair out of his face, much longer on the top and shaved close on the sides, as he frowns. I much prefer his smile, if I want to be honest with myself but no, he’s an asshole and I don’t cave for cute boys.
“So that’s how it’s going to be, huh feisty?” He masks his fury at being turned down quickly, giving me a devilish smirk.
“I like a girl that’ll make me work for it.” With that he turns around and faces forward, ignoring my entire presence for the rest of class.
* * *
“What the hell was that?!I thought I told you to get it together, not bring on the full force of the royal court! We need to game plan. Fast. You just pissed off some of the most influential people in the school. You’re lucky I like you.” SB practically drags me through the halls as she goes on her tirade.
“That was Avery Arden and she’svicious. One year, she literally had a girl tied up to the football stadium stairs, butt ass naked. Then she had people cover her in horrible names and sayings in permanent ink, and had it filmed and blasted all over everyone’s socials. All because she got drunk and kissed Matteo at a party. That poor girl moved to, like, Ohio or Arkansas or something. Avery is the daughter of Angelo Arden. He’s the CEO and majority shareholder to Arden Entertainment, one of the top multimedia conglomerates on the west coast. She's at the top of our class with a perfect 4.0 GPA. She’s captain of the girls’ field hockey team and is the lead dancer on the school dance team. She’s obsessed with the royals and she’ll likely see you as her biggest threat, so be prepared for that disastrous mess.
“That guy you were flirting with is one of Matteo’s best friends, Noah Bailey. I mean, he may seem cute and funny, but that’s a dangerous game. And not one I’d want to play. There’s an undercurrent of cruelty there. He’s a beast on damn near any sports field he plays on. He’s a big time ladies’ man. He doesn’t really care about school, but he’s wicked smart. He plays it off, but if you pay attention, you’ll notice. He flies under the radar and only gets good enough grades that he can play football and field hockey. But seriously, keep your eyes open with him. If I were you, I’d just steer clear of him. In fact, I’d keep my distance fromallof them.
“You’ve hardly interacted with them and you’ve already got a target on your back. You haven’t even met Cohen yet. God forbid you piss him off. He’s the more analytical one and once he sets out to ruin you he’s absolutely lethal. He’ll map out how to torture you, cover every possible outcome, gauge how you’ll react on pure instinct and he’ll be right. He’s literally never wrong. He’ll go over it with his boys and Matteo will be the final call on whether or not to torment you. Do not make an enemy of them.” She looks genuinely panicked at the thought.
“Shh, take a deep breath. I’m made of tougher stuff than I look. Everything will be ok.” I say, doing my best to console this girl, but she’s still practically a stranger. She huffs out an angry breath in response.
“It’s moments like these that you prove just how new you are. Stop painting a bigger target on your back. Your last name won’t necessarily save you here. Guys like them only see you as a shiny new toy to play with, break, and throw away. Your only saving grace will come from being related to your grandfather. Look, I know that you have this thing for fighting but damn, it’s your first day. You need to cool it before people get hurt.”
“Calm the fuck down. I didn’t do anything wrong. That bitch is the one who started shit. I only intend to finish it if need be. I don’t know how everyone out here defends themselves, but I’m not about that bully game. If they wanna try it with me, they're gonna learn.”
“Um, seriously? Do youliketrouble? I guess it makes sense with your bloodline and everything, but still-”
