Boy toy must have mentioned my less than subtle staring from earlier, and admittedly it was rude. If Blakely noticed at the time, she wasn’t bothered, or at least not enough to stop. I have a feeling this arrangement is going to be a nightmare, but I’ve co-existed in group homes my whole life without drama, I can do it here for however long is necessary.
Lie.One time I stabbed Melissa Taylor with my pencil when she cracked the screen on my laptop. The group home called it an ‘overreaction’ and I was forced into mandated therapy. I spent months working to get the money to afford a second-hand Lenovo, and within hours of having it, the screen needed to be replaced. The repair costs were almost as expensive as the stupid thing. Besides, a little light maiming never killed anyone so there was no reason for her hysterics.
“Noted.” I reply coolly to the empty room, before climbing onto my bed and pulling out all the things I’ll need for classes this week.
The increasingly loud growling of my stomach pulls me from my reading. I’ve ignored it in favor of trying to get ahead in my literature and communications class because, well, I suck at it. Eventually the obnoxious protesting turns into a full-blown roar, and I decide it’s time to seek out food.
A glance at the clock shows it’s after 6pm and from the schedule I read earlier, the dinner meals should be underway. My limbs are stiff when I stretch them out and I quickly pull the map I’d programmed in my phone earlier in the day. Thank God for location data coding, finding the dining hall will be a sinch.
The room is bustling, teachers and students alike, talking over on another and much to my surprise the noise isn’t dissimilar to when I attended public school. I don’t know why I thought I expected different, I imagined that rich people would be, I don’t know, quieter, more refined. But as I look around and see the familiar sit of girls sitting in guys laps, pretty much grinding on each other over a plate of spaghetti, it just looks like home.
The hall is massive with an open ceiling roof decorated with white support beams, and full-wall length arch windows paned in color which leaves beautiful reflected patterned light on the marble flooring. The tables themselves are rounded and instead of having individual chairs there is bench seating circling the base. There’s no trays or food displays to the kitchen, and I’m about to walk up to the kitchen to order when I see a boy at a nearby table hover his phone over a white and black square, tapping away. Soon after, a pasta dish is placed in front of him. Huh.
All the table are full to the brim, and from what I can see, there isn’t any other way to order food, so I circle the room before seeing a blonde-haired girl sitting at a large table by herself. The sigh of relief comes too soon because as I approach, she’s giving real “fuck off” vibes. I’m starting to shouldn’t just starve for the night, a night of no food won’t kill me but listening to the grouching might kill my sanity.
The girl must sense me there because she lifts her head in my direction, and I’m immediately struck at how gorgeous she is. Her skin is the color of porcelain, which should make her look ghostly, but against her platinum blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes, it gives her a doll-like quality. Her expression is bored as she looks at me, but unlike the others I’ve run into there’s no disgust at me or my ratty clothes. She just looks at me for a moment before looking away, effectively dismissing me. I step a little closer before clearing my throat and tap a finger against the wooden top.
“Can I sit here?”
The girl raises a perfectly shaped brow at me but doesn’t answer me right away, drawing out the uncomfortable silence between use until I’m honesty thinking about turning away and just dealing with the hunger pains. That’s got to be better than standing here, right?Lie.It’s really best for everyone involved if I eat. Even I don’t want to deal with me when I’m hungry.
With a heavy sigh, she waves her hand at the other side of the table flippantly and focuses back on her phone. Sitting quickly, I pull out my phone and copy what I saw the other kid doing, leaning over the center of the table where a QR code sits. I frown at my phone as it leads me to a today’s menu choices.Fancy.
“Jack doesn’t eat in the hall for dinner, just so you know.”
My head shoots up to look at the girl. She’s looking at me again, both eyebrows raised, and a smirk on her face as she watches me fumble through my order. I order some rice dish and a large coffee because I’m in dangerous need of caffeine and carbs if I’m forced to deal with more snarking today, before setting aside my phone to reply to her.
“I don’t know who Jack is.”
She reels back a bit and takes a proper look at me. It doesn’t feel like she’s judging me, but more like she’s cataloguing everything she sees, the color of my hair that lacks the sheen that is present in her own, my unmanicured nails, then curiously stares at my clothes. Tilting her head to the side, she clucks her tongue and leans forward to rest her elbows on the table, hands folded in front of her.
“Then why are you here if not to try land yourself a filthy rich husband? You clearly don’t come from money.” The venom in her tone takes me by surprise and it’s my turn to reel back.This bitch.
“All the other tables are full, and you were sitting here alone. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”
I level her with my best scowl and I’m honesty surprised that she doesn’t even bat an eye. That scowl has had grown men piss themselves, and it makes me wonder why she’s so unaffected. When she continues to stare at me with narrowed eyes clearly not buying my very legitimate reason. I huff out a breath and shake my head at her.
“Look, when my food comes, I’ll just take it outside to eat. You can go back to whatever you were doing, and we can both forget thisinteractionever happened.”
She picks up her phone without a word and goes back to ignoring my presence. Rolling my eyes, I decide to do the same., my phone vibrating immediately like Clarke knew exactly what I was doing.
How are you settling in, Rosie? Miss me yet?
Closing my eyes, I think back to the boy he used to be, the cheeky grins he would flash me and the way he would make me laugh before he became involved in… well, everything. The small runs for local gangs became drug peddling and petty theft. But it never stops there, and now he’s renowned in our hometown.
Clarke has always been observant, seeing the things other people are so good at hiding. It didn’t take him long to find the disloyal and traitors. And it took less work to switch their loyalties to him, building his empire on the backs of the filthy and deceitful
But the foster boy with big brown eyes and floppy blonde hair? I answer him honestly before stuffing my phone into the pocket in my yoga pants.
More than you know.
The silence is uncomfortable and I’m thankful when the server drops off my dish so that I can get the fuck out. She has a burger and fries in front of her, and nibbles on them as she continues to stare at her phone. My lips quirk at that, it seems so anti-rich girl. I know I shouldn’t make assumptions, but she definitely threw some harsh ones my way so fuck her. Grabbing my plate and drink, I stand but don’t make it two steps before I hear her voice.
“Plates can’t leave the dining hall and as you said, all the other tables are full. Sit down, new girl.”
Jesus Christ. I quickly glance around again and yep, everywhere is still full. I’m cursing out the person who decided circular bench seats were the way to go here because it’s not like I can even drag a chair to another area. Her eyes have barely left her phone screen, so I’m sure she can’t see the eye roll I give her, but she sure as shit can hear the grumbling because the corner of her mouth lifts in the barest show of a smile.
Her phone buzzes endlessly as we eat, but for the most part she ignores it, only checking and responding twice while we finish our meals. If the eyeroll is anything to go by, she’s clearly not impressed with whoever keeps texting her.