“Hey! No empty hands tonight.” A guy with shaggy brown hair that reached his shoulders handed two cups to Ainsley and me. “No one enters without a drink. House rules.”
I offered him a smile of thanks. “If you insist.” I needed a drink to dull all the emotions swirling inside me.
Ainsley bumped her hip to mine. “Loosen up, girl. This is a party. Try to have fun. You need a bit of fun in your life.” She took a drink of whatever concoction filled our plastic cups.
We wedged our way through the crowd gathering inside the house. “Damn,” Ainsley said in awe, her eyes wide as she took in the rest of the house. “This place is ridiculous.”
I thought my house was over the top, but this place… It was another level of rich.
Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I saw that a crowd congregated outside around the pool and down to the beach where a string of bonfires burned.
“This is the kind of place that has a bowling alley in the basement,” she shouted in my ear.
No doubt.
We’d only been at the party for a few minutes when trouble found us. Typical.
“Who let the trash in?” a girl beside me sneered.
I turned to glare, knowing damn well she was talking about Ainsley. The hoity bitch looked down at my best friend like she was a pile of shit her Jimmy Choos stepped in. I cocked my head to the side and eyed her. “You must be part of the bitch welcoming squad.” I seriously hated mean girls, and seeing as this was my last year of school, I wasn’t taking any shit. “I heard you guys suck, if you know what I mean.” I made a lewd gesture with my hand and mouth.
The girl gasped in outrage, blinking her magnetic long-as-shit lashes at me.
Ainsley snickered beside me.
No rich bitch was going to mess withmybest friend. I didn’t give a crap who she was or how high up the cheerleader pyramid she ranked.
“Oh, you definitely go to Public,” she said, lips puckered like she just drank a glass of dirty water.
It was the first time I was actually glad to be going to the Academy, just so I could see the look on her face when I said, “Sorry, but unfortunately, you’re going to have to put up with seeing my evil face every day.”
She let out a short laugh, flipping her unnaturally red hair. “I can’t believe they would let someone like you in. The standards must be dropping.”
“Obviously, if you go there,” I snapped back.
I was only on my first drink, and already I was about to throw down in a catfight. This had to be a new record for me. I was contemplating tossing the contents of my cup into her face when a deep voice to my right interrupted.
“God, Ava, are you starting shit already? Give it a rest.” The voice belonged to a platinum-haired guy. He rolled his light blue eyes, a grin of amusement on his full lips. He had an aura about him, like everything in the world was a joke. Up close, he was dazzling.
He was also one of the Elite.
Ava’s eyes scanned up the guy, her mouth twisting into something sultry. She angled her body toward him, an invitation twinkling in her eyes. “I thought this was an Academy-exclusive party, Micah.”
“It is,” he replied, those mischievous eyes turning to me with keen interest, and the way he leisurely glanced me over left me feeling naked before him, as if he could see straight into my broken soul.
I fought the urge to cross my arms over my chest. So this was Micah Bradford. I couldn’t stop staring at him, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if my mouth hit the ground.
Beside me, Ainsley's fingers dug into my arm. I hadn’t even felt her grab me.
Ava twirled the end of her hair, causing her pink crop top to shift up to show more skin, a smug smile on her lips. “Then what are they doing here?”
Brows lifted, Micah asked, “Who are you?”
I’d had enough of this shit. I was done. This was not how I wanted to spend my night, getting the third degree by a bunch of entitled assholes. “Does it matter? We’re leaving.”
“You can’t leave without telling me your name. I swear you look familiar. Plus, I make it a point to know all the hot girls at school.”
“I just bet you do,” I mumbled under my breath, ignoring the thrill that ribboned through me at being called hot.