“Me neither. I’m so sorry, Laney,” Trina said.
“Maybe I should just leave.”
“No!” She pulled me to my feet and gently shook my shoulders. “You worked your ass off to be here! The rest of us were just lucky enough to fall out of the right vagina in Royal Falls.”
“But how can I deal with a whole year of this shit?”
“You won’t have to,” Adam said. “We’ll figure out what Hunter’s problem is with you, and we’ll end it. One way or another.”
“And until then? Am I just supposed to let it happen?”
“Like I said before: ignore it,” Trina replied. “Keep your chin up. Be strong. Don’t let them know they’re getting to you.”
I swallowed a lump in my throat. I knew she was right. I deserved my spot here at the academy, and I shouldn’t give any of the bullies the satisfaction of knowing they were bothering me already.
“We’ll be around you most of the time anyway,” Adam said. “Trina is in most of your classes, right?”
“Yes. But what about the others?” I asked, already dreading the classes we didn’t share.
“I don’t know,” he replied, shoulders sagging. “I guess you’ll just have to hope they leave you alone in class.”
“Wait,” Trina cut in. “Laney, do you remember those girls I told you about yesterday? The ones I call the Supermodel Club?”
I nodded miserably. “Yeah.”
“They’ll be nice to you, so if any of them are in your other classes, try to sit near them.”
“Why would they be nice to me if I’m blacklisted? Wouldn’t they be worried about the same thing happening to them?”
Adam shook his head. “No. It’s weird. That group seems to have some sort of understanding with the Princes. They don’t get involved with any of their shit, and vice versa. No repercussions.”
“Let’s be real,” Trina said, rolling her eyes. “It’s because they’re all uber-gorgeous. I bet half the Princes are probably desperate to bone them, and they know they’d ruin their chances forever if they attacked any of them, so they leave them alone. That’s my theory, anyway.”
I nodded slowly. “So they’ll really be nice to me?”
“Yes.” She glanced down at her phone. “Look at this,” she added, scrolling up the screen. She showed it to me—the blacklist group chat. I couldn’t see any of the messages; only that ten girls had left the chat.
“Is that them?” I asked.
“Yup. See what I mean? They’re refusing to participate in the blacklist bullshit.”
“Well, that’s something, I guess,” I mumbled.
“I’ll send you this screenshot so you can learn their names. If Adam and I aren’t around, and you think something truly awful is going to happen, try to find them. They’ll protect you.”
“If they’re so nice and cool, why don’t we just hang around them all the time?” I asked, knitting my brows.
“They’re part of an exclusive school club. Kinda like a secret society for girls,” Trina explained. “I’ve never been invited to join. So even though they’re nice to me and everyone else, I can’t actually hang out with them. No one can, unless they get invited.”
“Oh.”
“It’s a bit weird, I know. But trust me. They’ll help you out if you really need it.”
“Okay. So there’s ten of them, plus you two. Twelve people on my side and about six hundred against me.”
“I know it’s shitty,” Adam replied. “But like I said, we’re going to figure this out. Just try to hang in there until then.”
I swallowed thickly. “Okay. I’ll try.”