“I missed you after your gym class,” she said, her long hair in a tight braid today. She really was a lovely girl. She just… hovered. I didn’t do hover. At least, not well. She grinned up at me, placing her tray on the line. “Did you see me?”
I actually hadn’t and missed everyone at gym today since I’d hidden in the library through the period. Gym had been scheduled outside this morning, and I wasn’t trying to take the risk that a certain boys club was out there too.
“Sorry,” I said. “Must have, uh… must have missed you.”
She waved me off, still grinning. “That’s okay. Found you now.”
“Yeah,” I stated, then eyed her. “You know, I probably don’t need you anymore. I’m sure you have other things to do. People to escort?”
She appeared very accomplished, and since she’d told me about her life story on any given day, I actually knew a lot about her. She mentioned her work as student guide was to help with her college applications, as well as one of the many things that’d look good when she went for student body president when it was time.
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” She grabbed some egg rolls. “Escorting you has been fun. Besides, we still have a few days together yet.”
I forced a smile, hoping I and my introvert could endure it. I really was an awkward fuck.
Even still, I started to tell her I was probably just going to take this and go eat in the art room or something. It was usually empty before my next class, and I could use the quiet.
But then, I spotted the pack of hungry wolves.
Or rather one “wolf” and three others who were equally vicious. The dark prince and his buddies ate in the courtyard outside the cafeteria. I assumed this was a pretty popular place to eat considering all the traffic that flooded out there, but since I never ate out there for that particular reason, I had never bothered looking to see who ate in the area.
Had I, I would have spotted my Windsor Prep tormentors again, and of course, they were popular. Their table was a cluster fuck of ladies and dudes—mostly ladies. Wolf himself had two under his arms at their picnic table, and the big guy with the piercings had a girl actually feeding him.
I rolled my eyes at that, able to see them over the a la carte line through the window. Their attention (gratefully) wasn’t focused in my direction, otherwise Blondie might have had something to say. He was definitely there too but seemed to be more occupied by his phone than the chaos around him. A chick had her arm arou
nd him, massaging his big body with her little hands.
Mr. Prinze barely acknowledged it, actually yawning at one point. Whoever this girl was, she was boring him, and when another girl joined, slinging an arm around his waist, that confirmed this activity was just another day for this guy. He was as arrogant and privileged as he came across, clearly.
Bow caught me staring above the line and popped up on her Mary Jane heels. “What are you looking at?”
It took but a moment for her to see despite her being shorter. There was enough action over there for her to easily see the popular kids having their good time. Wells, the platinum blond, was there too, but while the other guys sat in the center of their ladies like the god of their harems, he kept his attention on just one person. He actually didn’t sit with the other guys, lounging against a tree with another boy. He had his arm around the guy, laughing with him.
Wells bit his mouth, full-on making out with this dude in the courtyard, and that showed me his privilege too. There were teachers everywhere out there, well within sight of his make-out session, but the guy clearly didn’t care.
The elite indeed.
“Oh.” Bow’s cheeks colored as she returned her heels to the floor. She clearly spotted Wells and no doubt the others too. She shrugged. “That’s just my brother and his friends.”
I just about stumbled. “Who’s your brother?”
If she said Blondie, I seriously was about to lose it. There was no way in hell something as bright and sprightly as this little rabbit was related to something as dark and brooding as the dark prince. I didn’t believe it. Refused.
She pointed over the pass. “The one with the dark hair, earrings?” she stated, laughing. “Can’t really miss him.”
She was right about that. That guy was huge and, currently, was taking selfies of himself (by himself) like he was the shit.
“Oh, the pretty one.” I rolled my eyes, and the little rabbit snorted. Like full-on snorted at the pass.
Her cheeks colored again as she covered her mouth. “You’re really brave. I’m pretty sure no one around here has ever referred to Thatcher Reed as pretty. At least, audibly.” Laughing, she lifted her eyes. “But if it’s not the truth. He spends more time in the mirror in the morning than I do.”
I had a laugh at that.
“Yeah. Brave.” Either that or stupid depending on how one looked at it. Those fuckers over there were scary as hell, and I managed to call them out like my first fucking day. I jutted my chin in their direction. “I’m assuming they’re the popular clique?”
If that wasn’t already obvious, and after getting our trays filled, Bow and I took seats at an inside table. There was no way I was going to eat outside. Not after what had happened at the beginning of the week.
Bow opened her carton of milk. “Legacy isn’t popular. Popularity is Legacy,” she stated, the reference lost on me. She blinked. “You’ve been here a full week, and you don’t know anything about them?”