“The Darlings,” she says without hesitation, as if she was expecting that question.
“Brothers?”
“Cousins,” she says. “They’re one of Faulkner’s founding families. Their great-great-great grandfather of so many generations back settled here in the 1700s or something.”
“I’m more interested in the ones that go here now than their ancestry.”
She gives me a pitying look. “This is the south, honey. Family means something here.”
I already don’t like this bitch, but I keep my mouth shut. She doesn’t have to tell me about the importance of family. But I need information, not an enemy.
“Got it,” I say. “So, they’re royalty in this school because of their name.”
“They’re royalty in thistown,” Lacey corrects. “They get whatever they want. You’re new, so one of them will probably want to get in your pants.”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” I say, sensing her resentment in that statement. “I don’t date.”
“If they want to date you, you’ll date,” she says. “They get whatever, and whoever, they want. Their family pays the salary of everyone who works at this school. Learn the way things work around here, and you’ll be fine.”
“Well, thanks,” I say. “Guess I’ll figure it out soon enough.”
Lacey stops at my class, having pointed out the others along the way. “You want my advice?” she asks, planting a hand on her hip. “Say yes to whatever they want, try to keep your dignity when they’re done with you, and move on. Don’t be fooled into thinking you’re special. You won’t be the first girl to get screwed by a Darling boy, and you won’t be the last. Don’t take it personal.”
“Even less interested now,” I say. “My brothers are protective. They’d never let me date a guy like that, and I wouldn’t want to.”
“You’d be lucky to land one of them. Devlin doesn’t really do the whole dating thing, but the others have a short attention span. If you play your cards right, you could be a Darling Doll. The Dolls are set for their entire time at Willow Heights.”
She’s obviously into the Darling cousins, and she doesn’t care much what I have to say. I’m fine with that. I’m more into listening today. This is a new school, and I don’t want to step on the wrong toes and draw attention. I’ll have to wait and see what my brothers say, find out the game plan. I might end up being best friends with this girl. At a school like this, it’s all about social status, not about deeper connections. If I dated a Darling, I could be in her group. I could have status. I could be aDarling Doll.
The name makes me want to gag, but I don’t show my distaste. I’m lucky she’s laying it out so clearly for me. I’m still not even sure what I want, and if I can have it. I’m not sure I can be a wallflower. It’s not the Dolce way. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be someone different than I was before.
The one thing I know for sure is that I want to be better, to find some way to pay for what I’ve done. But I don’t know how I’m going to do that. I’m okay observing until I figure it out. If helping take down the kings of this school and letting my brothers step into their shoes is going to assuage my guilt, I’ll do it. I know that’s what my family wants, so I’ll probably do it, whether or not it’s what I truly want. Sometimes, we all make sacrifices for each other. That’s what family is all about.
A soft bell chimes, and students begin to appear at the ends of the hallway, coming in for classes.
“Thanks for showing me around,” I say, sliding my schedule into my bag. “I think I’ve got it for the rest of the day.”
“I have one piece of advice for anyone new in town,” Lacey says. “Faulkner is built on tradition. We’re set in our ways, and we don’t like to see those ways disrupted. That goes for your entire family. Don’t make waves, and you might survive.”
five
The first day at a new school. My one chance to make a first impression. Who will I be? Who would I be if I didn’t have to be a Dolce daughter, instructed to take my rightful place in the social hierarchy—at the top? If I had a choice, I might wonder. I don’t, so wondering is a waste of time. Dolce’s don’t dwell on what-ifs. We see what we want, what we deserve, and we take it.
“Hey, girl,” drawls a sexy southern voice as I make my way to my next class, typing out an entry on my blog.
I look up to see one of the Darlings, the one with the longish hair swished across his forehead. His voice is almost as sexy as our neighbor’s and full of mischief that makes me want to smile back even though I know better.
“Whatever you’re going to ask, the answer is no,” I say before I can get sucked in by his playful smile that reminds me a little of Duke’s. But while Duke is all energy, like a cute puppy, this guy looks like he’s biding his sweet time before he decides on a plan of attack. There’s something calculated in the way he strolls along, as if the world moves at the pace he sets. I realize too late that I’ve slowed to his pace, that I’ve fallen into step with him as if he’s drawn me in with the gravity of his very presence.
I won’t be a moon orbiting him or any of his cousins. I have my own sun to orbit—King. He’s the brightest light, the one that gives life and keeps the worlds turning in the Dolce universe.
“I was just going to say we’re in the next class together,” he says. “You can’t say no to that.”
“How do you know what class I have next?”
“Magic,” he says with a wink.
“Very funny.”