“…new student, Lacey Knight. Come up here, please, Lacey.”
I snapped my attention to the center of the room and Principal Simmons who was smiling broadly, and gesturing for me to join him in the center of the gym.
My stomach sank. For fuck’s sake. Why was he trying to torture me?
I pushed to my feet, trying to ignore the stares of what had to be six hundred students. The room fell into a hushed silence as I slunk my way to the principal’s side.
“I’m sure you all heard about the recent fire at Providence School for Girls. Lacey was the top of her class junior year, and we’re incredibly pleased to have her continuing her education at Saint View. I’m sure all of you in the senior class especially put your best foot forward and endeavor to show Miss Knight that Saint View is the same high-quality school she’s used to.”
Kill. Me. Now. Simmons beamed at me, like his words weren’t currently painting a bull’s-eye on my back. What fresh hell was this? Some sort of passive-aggressive bullshit? He was deluded if he thought Saint View offered the same sort of education Providence did. Hell, I’d had to promise Selina I’d do extension work with a private tutor before she’d even considered allowing me to enroll here. Providence had brought in teachers from all over the world, paying astronomically high wages in order to attract and retain the best. A teaching position at Providence set a person up for life. There was nothing higher than that for educators. Except, of course, for the principal’s position, but my uncle had held that for longer than most could remember. His job had kept my aunt in the lavish lifestyle she’d grown up in.
I didn’t have to see the faces of my fellow classmates to know each and every one of them were right now hating my guts. I couldn’t blame them. I was completely out of place in Jimmy Choo sandals that probably cost the same as some of their cars.
But I wasn’t going to stand here, shriveling like a wallflower either. I wouldn’t give anyone that sort of power over me. So I kept my head held high and my shoulders pushed back. I looked around the room while Simmons droned on, digging my social grave even deeper, meeting the gazes of those who tried to stare me down.
My gaze caught on Colt’s dead black stare. His mouth lifted in the corners, like this entire situation amused him. I didn’t see how. Gillian sat next to him, her piercing eyes forcing me to take a little internal step backward. What was her problem? She hadn’t seemed like she’d cared about what Colt had said earlier. About not fucking her if he’d known…well. Yeah. I would have been pissed off if I’d been her. He’d been an asshole. But she’d acted like he couldn’t have possibly been serious and hadn’t given the comment any weight at all. But the hate shining in her eyes right now told a different story. It was enough to wilt even the strongest of characters, and it made me want to curl into a ball. I wouldn’t show it externally, but I’d obviously somehow managed to make an enemy before I even got to first period. Great.
There were two more boys on the other side of Colt, facing each other in conversation. One had dark hair, shorter than the other and artfully tousled. Black-rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of his nose. He was cute from what I could tell. The glasses suited him. The other boy…I frowned at his profile. Blond flop of hair. Tanned skin. Beaded wood necklace around his neck and a surfer logo on his T-shirt. He turned to face the front again, and recognition jolted through me as our gazes met.
My mouth dropped open.
“Banjo?” I mouthed unconsciously. What the hell was he doing sitting up there with the students? My head spun in dizzying circles as I tried to make sense of what was happening here. His face split into a wide grin, and my heart fluttered, but at the same time, my brain caught up. He was either the dumbest twenty-one-year-old in the history of forever and had repeated senior year multiple times.
Or he wasn’t twenty-one.
His cheeks blushed pink, and he shrugged sheepishly. I couldn’t help it. I smiled and shook my head at him, just a tiny bit. Damn. He was cute. For a liar. If he lied about his age, who knew what else he lied about.
Colt elbowed him sharply, and Banjo broke his stare-off with me in order to shoot him a dirty look. I couldn’t hear them from where I stood, but Banjo seemed to ask what Colt’s problem was, and Colt argued back.
“…okay, then. That’ll do for this morning. Rafe, can I see you, please? Everyone else, happy first day of school. Make it a good one.” Principal Simmons switched off the microphone and gestured toward the main exit.
Groans rang out around me, echoing my internal one that grumped that this had been a stupid idea. I kind of agreed with it right now. I shifted my backpack to my shoulders. Kids streamed down the bleachers, but I kept my attention glued to Colt and Banjo. They loped down the stairs, both taller and broader than most around them. I didn’t know if it was solely the fact that they were both big guys, or perhaps the fact Colt seemed ready to burn you alive if you got too close to him, but people gave them a wide berth. They paused at the bottom, slapped hands, and went in different directions, presumably to their first class of the day. Banjo shot me a look, and mouthed, “Later.”
I bit my lip to fight from smiling. He might be a liar, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if I had a friend. Could I consider someone I’d barely met but considered giving my virginity to a friend? Surely that made us friend-ish? My attention snared on Colt as he strode by me, closer than he really had to. His intoxicating scent washed over me once more, and something low in my belly clenched.
He walked with such confidence it would probably be called swagger. Like he owned the school.
And knew it.
“Lacey, this is Rafe,” Simmons said, interrupting my drooling over Colt.
The third guy, the one who’d been talking with Banjo, stood by the principal’s side. Whoa. His profile had not done the guy justice. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his shoulders filling out a T-shirt nicely. His red-and-black Converse sneakers matched a pair I had at home. I wished I’d worn them today. Not that they went with my outfit.
“Hi.” I stuck my hand out.
He took my hand and smiled, but it didn’t really reach his eyes. “Nice to meet you.”
Simmons beamed. “Look at you two getting along so nicely already.” He clapped his hands. “Rafe will be your guide. He’ll show you around, introduce you to students and teachers. I’m sure he’d be happy to sit with you at lunch, too, right, Rafe?”
Rafe seemed like he’d rather watch paint dry than do any of that. “Sure. Yeah. Whatever. Can I go?”
Principal Simmons nodded.
Rafe walked off without another word, leaving me to chase after him. But I refused to be a follower. His long legs had a good few inches on mine, but I lengthened my stride and hurried my gait in order to walk side by side with him as we burst out into the sunshine again. He didn’t say anything, just strode on like a man on a mission.
“Don’t you want to know what my first class is?” I asked, confused because we seemed to be walking in the complete wrong direction to all the other students. Instead of joining the tail end of the teenagers streaming back into the school, we were headed toward the back of the gym.
A wooded area loomed beyond the school grounds. Or at least I assumed it was beyond the school grounds. There were no fences to mark a boundary. Perhaps the school used the woods for cross-country running or archery practice.