Trina’s lips tightened. “I’m sure your dad’s money and networking ability won’t hurt his application,” she muttered, obviously still annoyed about Hunter’s crappy attitude earlier. “Not to mention the fact he’s graduating from RFA.”
I thought Adam might be offended by that, but he simply chuckled. “Normally I’d agree with you on that, but he’s actually doing it properly. Dad offered to make all the calls to ensure his acceptance, but he said no. He wants to get in on his own merit. He’s even applying under just his first and middle names. No last name, in case they recognize it and decide to suck up to our family based on that.”
I raised my brows. “Wow. That’s pretty cool.”
Even though I didn’t like Hunter much, based on how cold he’d been toward me so far, I had to admit I was impressed by his attitude toward the college issue. He could’ve taken the easy route, greased by money and power, but he was choosing to make it on his own, just to see if he was actually good enough.
It might seem like a low bar to the rest of us who didn’t have a choice in the matter, but for someone like him, raised with all that money and privilege, it probably wasn’t an easy decision.
I liked to think that I’d never use wealth and influence to smooth my path into college if I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but who knows? Maybe I would. Maybe I’d be a whole different person.
“Yeah, I think I’ll actually do the same thing.” Adam nodded slowly. “Anyway, fuck all this college talk. It’s our first day back. Let’s talk about something else.”
Trina arched a brow. “Maybe we should tell Laney about the secret history.”
“Yes!” Adam replied, eyes lighting up.
My forehead crinkled. “The secret history?”
“Of RFA,” Trina explained. “There’s a lot of rumors and mysteries involving this place. Stuff you probably wouldn’t hear about on the internet or anywhere else outside of Royal Falls.”
“Why?”
“Duh, they cover it up. They need to maintain our shining reputation,” she replied. “Most of it’s probably bullshit, anyway. Urban legends and whatnot. But it’s all interesting, and kinda creepy too.”
I leaned forward, dropping the delicious fry I’d just been about to munch on. “Okay, I’m intrigued. Urban legends are totally my jam.”
Trina smiled. “You know about the history of the school, right?” she asked. “Like how it used to be a university?”
My brows shot up. “No. I didn’t know that.”
“Oh. Well, it was built about two hundred years ago, back when Royal Falls was still establishing itself as, um… what’s a non-douchey way to describe it?”
“A bastion of wealth and privilege for the most elite Americans?” I said, waving my hand around with a joking air of snobbery.
She grinned. “Yeah. That. Anyway, the plan was to keep everything pretty sequestered. Keep all the families and their businesses right here their whole lives, so the town would always thrive and prosper. That meant we needed a school and a college. Otherwise the kids and young adults would go off to other cities for their educations, and they might decide to stay away.”
“Uh-huh.”
“This campus was originally Royal Falls University, all the way up to 1988. The old RFA was on the other side of town. Nowhere near here.”
“What happened to it?” I asked, brows knitting.
“It burned down. Just an accident. Nothing suspicious. But when it happened, the town council decided it was time for a change. It was almost the 90s, and obviously the world had changed a lot since the town was built back in the 1800s. Transport and communication was much quicker and easier, so it wasn’t as hard to keep people tied to the place, even if their colleges or companies were on the other side of the country.”
“Like my dad, for instance,” Adam cut in when Trina paused for a breath. “His companies are based all over the world, but we still live here and contribute to the town economy.”
“Yup,” Trina said with a nod. “So anyway, they decided we no longer needed a university. People could attend colleges all over the world, and they’d still return in the end. It’s a great town, after all.”
“So they closed the university and turned it into the new high school campus?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Wow. I had no idea.”
“In the early 90s, they were actually going to expand it and make it a full K-12 institution. They started to add some other buildings, but they changed their minds halfway through. That’s one of the things we have to tell you about.”
“And show you at some stage,” Adam added.