“Hey, Declan. Want to team up?” I roll my eyes as a blonde girl turns in her chair and drapes herself over his desk in a way which just happened to thrust her rather ample bosom in his general direction.
“No, thanks. I thought I would work with Ivy this time.”
My eyebrows shoot up when I hear Declan say my name. “Seriously?”
“I never kid about something as serious as music,” Declan tells me. “You need to ignore anything Metcalf says. That song of yours is dope. I think we’ll write something amazing together–if you’re up for it.”
“Sure.”
I smile sweetly at the blonde girl who looks like she has just sucked on a lemon as she turns away to find someone else to team up with.
Declan shuffles his chair along, pulling out a notebook and placing it on the table so I can see his notes. As he moves, I notice the Head Boy badge pinned to his jumper, right underneath ‘House Dauphin’ – the people my father claimed ambushed him and gave him that impressive scar.
“Dauphin?” I ask innocently. “Are you actually part of that family or are you just Head Boy?”
“I’m a Dauphin through and through. The Dauphin heir,” Declan says. “Which means you’ve probably heard terrible things about me.”
“Not you specifically,” I answer honestly.
“Look, there’s a history between our houses and you’ve probably only heard one side of the story,” he says. “But there’s always more going on than meets the eye when it comes to House politics. Who knows? Maybe our generation can be the one to heal the rift between our families.”
“Maybe,” I murmur. At the moment, I’m not going to take anyone’s word at face value, but Declan certainly seemed sincere and meant what he said. Possibly. It’s hard to trust the sexy music dude.
“In fact, that can be the theme for our song,” he suggested. “It would fit the brief of doing something which is better than either of us can achieve on our own.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I nod, as Declan starts scribbling down some notes.
I lose track of time as we start to bounce ideas off each other. I can’t believe my luck in getting the Dauphin Head Boy as my partner on this project. He had a really interesting approach to lyric writing, freestyling and recording himself so that he had a record of those moments of genius which flowed out. I am more of a sit and agonise over every single word kind of writer, so his way of doing things gave us a foundation to build upon while I work on tweaking and improving things.
“All right, everyone.” Mr Metcalf claps his hands to get our attention. “I hope you enjoyed working with each other.”
“Yes, sir,” everyone choruses, some more enthusiastically than others. Declan and I exchange a grin. We really had had fun together.
“Glad to hear it,” Mr Metcalf says. “Because you’re going to be partnered together for the rest of the term. I expect you to support your partner and work together to improve both your grades. If one of you fails, you both fail. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I guess we’re going to be having some homework dates then,” Declan says.
My stomach clenches with excitement. Suddenly, things are looking up.
Chapter Eight
Archer Knight
Walking into the deadbeat bar, I find the rich assholes I am looking for right away. You can't miss them in this shitty place with broken chairs lining the floor around creaky tables. The bar itself looks clean enough, but no one has painted anything in here in a long time. I eye a talking fish statue on the wall that is playing some shitty music.
This place is shitty and crazy. Nice fucking mix.
The assholes I'm meeting are wearing high-end designer clothes, expensive watches and they actually look clean unlike half the people in this place who stare at them like fucking gods have walked into their bar.
They are close.
We are kings instead.
Declan looks back at me like he can sense my arrival as I walk over and take the stool in the middle of him and Romeo Navarre. We never talk like this, the whole thing is ridiculously awkward but now more than ever we need to meet up.
This conversation has been coming for a long time.
"One beer," I tell the middle-aged bartender with a white long beard and a tattoo on his left cheek. He eyes my thousand-pound designer leather jacket like it's a piece of shit compared to his very worn down one on his shoulders.
"Coming up," he grumbles back, looking disgusted with his new customers.
I might end up liking this place after all.
"Why this dive?" I eventually ask, stretching my arms out in front of me.
"No one will recognise us here," Romeo answers. "Now to business, I want Ivy Archaic. So. Back. The. Fuck. Off."
"Make me, pretty boy," I sneer. "She won't be another notch on your belt."
"We will see," he answers with a cocky grin. I humourlessly laugh before grabbing the collar of his jacket and slamming his face onto the bar. He kicks me hard in the chest, making me stumble and lose my grip, my ass nearly slipping off the seat.
"Calm it down or you all need to fucking leave," the bartender shouts as I straighten up and Romeo climbs up off the bar.
"Why don't we let Ivy choose who she wants?" Declan suggests, looking too pristine as he picks his whiskey tumbler up and downs it in one go. "Now, why don't we figure out where she has been all this time?"
"What do you mean?" Romeo asks, clicking his fingers at the bartender for another drink as he places my beer on the side. I drop a few hundred pounds in cash on the bar for the trouble and pick up my drink, taking a long sip as I look at Romeo. Turns out he is as fucking stupid as his face looks.
Declan laughs. "No fucking way was that hellcat in some posh boarding school all this time."
"Do you think she scratches?" Romeo jests. "Because I could get on board with that."
"I will punch you if you don't shut the fuck up," I warn him and he smirks.
Fucking hate this guy.
Declan clears his throat and steps close to me with a knowing grin. I might not like these fuckers, but we grew up together as kids. Our parents want us to get along, therefore we all went to the same schools and were forced to interact with each other. Eventually we drifted apart, girls and parties being the main distractions. "A little birdy told me you drove her into our little town. Now, are you so sure you don't know anything?"
"I never said I didn't know anything."
"What does Solomon have over your family that is worth helping him with her?" Declan asks me curiously, no judgement in his voice. I narrow my eyes though. The Dauphins do have ears everywhere, it seems.
"I'm going to warn you two just this once, and next time it won't be pretty. Stay away from Ivy," I snap, slamming my glass on the bar and walking away before I start a house war by trying to kill these two.
"If you think you can control a girl like Ivy Archaic, you're mad," Romeo calls after me. "She is too wild for you!"
I shake my head, gritting my teeth as I go outside and breathe in the cold crisp air. I don't waste much time getting on my bike and driving the fuck out of here.