She grimaced, taking another drag. “Want to talk about it?”
“Which part? That my stepbrother and his friends assaulted me last night and my stepfather gave me a stern lecture about the football team's future? Or that the Elite just gave me their official welcome to the Academy?”
A puff of white smoke exhaled from her glossy lips. “Yeah. I heard about the incident with Carter. Everyone is talking about how you attacked him.”
I rubbed at the side of my temples, the stirrings of a headache forming. “I’m sure he failed to mention that he had it coming or that one of his football friends got a little handsy with me.”
“Welcome to Elmwood Academy, where the jocks think they are untouchable and the Elite are kings,” Mads said, unfazed.
My nose wrinkled. “Do they really? Think they’re kings?”
She pulled a leg up onto the edge of the sink, the other still dangling over the side. “Well, it is more like Brock is the king. The other three are his knights.”
I shook my head disbelievingly, but the truth was, I could see Brock on a throne wearing a crown. “That is so messed up. This whole school is messed up.”
“You’re finally catching on.”
“I don’t know how I am going to survive an entire year of this shit,” I admitted, my shoulders slouching. Like I didn’t have enough to deal with at home. I had to add school drama to the list.
Mads waved her cigarette in the air, sending smoke fluttering about. “You need to be careful. This isn’t like your other school. The kids here, they not only have money, they have power attached to it. You wouldn’t believe the shit they get away with or the problems they can create. With parents that work in law enforcement, the courts, school boards, one phone call is all it takes to make your life hell.”
I turned, propping my hip against the sink, giving up any pretense of going to class. I needed a time-out. At least for a period, and hiding out in the bathroom with Mads sounded perfect. “So what am I supposed to do? I can’t do nothing. My stepbrother needs the crap kicked out of him.”
Something glinted in Mads's gray eyes. Something mischievous. “Well, I have an idea, but you won’t like it.”
“I don’t like being groped by drunk football players. Your idea has got to be better than that.”
She grinned, hopping off the counter and putting out her cigarette in the sink. “Just wait until you hear it first.”
Her grin was infectious, and I found myself smiling back. “I’m listening.”
“There is only one way to get immunity and protection in this school.” I was already getting a sense of where this was going. And I didn’t like it. Not one bit. “You need to become untouchable.”
“Like the Elite,” I offered as an example. Did she want me to form my own crew? I didn’t have time for that.
Her eyes grew brighter. “Exactly. You need to find a way to get your stepbrother to lay off you, to fear you. The only way to get that kind of status that the Elite has is to get them to bring you into their circle.”
I choked. “You want me to become part of the Elite? Are you stark raving mad? No. Hell no,” I shrieked.
But Mads was not the least bit deterred. “Think about it. No one in this school would mess with you. No one. And that includes your stepbrother and the entire football team. The Elite owns them.”
She had a point, and I could see the logic in her plan, but… Me? An Elite? I didn’t even know how to begin weaseling my way in with those four guys. I bit my lower lip, contemplating the craziest idea I’d ever considered. “So many things could go wrong,” I pointed out. I could get hurt, for starters. That was my big concern here—that the whole idea could backfire and blow up in my face.
“True. But like you said, do you really want to spend your entire senior year dealing with Carter and his bullshit?”
A chill ran down my spine. “Fuck, no.”
Pulling a pack of gum out of her pocket, she handed me a piece and began unwrapping one for herself. “Whether it was intentional or not, you’ve already captured their attention. You’re on their radar. And the fact that you’ve slept with the king works to your advantage.”
I popped the gum into my mouth. “And how is that?” I asked, chewing. I had no plans of sleeping my way into the Elite, if that was what she was suggesting.
“The guys like to maintain a certain reputation, which includes never being tied down. But Brock Taylor, despite his reputation, doesn’t sleep around lightly. He isn’t a casual sex kind of guy. He has what the Elite call standby girls. An Elite-approved list of girls available to scratch an itch. Brock never has random hookups. Until you.”
“Wonderful,” I mumbled. No wonder the girls in this school have been less than welcoming. Brock labeled me without even my knowledge. Why? What made him break his rule of sleeping with strangers? Why me?
Questions that I would have to get answers to another day.
“The other guys are different. They actually live up to the reputation of male sluts and basically fuck anything with two legs and a skirt. So the fact that Brock slept with you gives us an edge.”