I roll my eyes then. God, it sounds like the raging hormones in this place are out of control. My tactic of keeping to myself in all of my previous high schools means that I’ve almost forgotten what a hot bed of sex and scandal high school can be. Except this place is like high school on steroids—I guess it must be the obscene wealth that makes these kids think they can do whatever the hell they want.
“And that’s Lance Oaknorth next to him. He plays defense on the team and he’s also super hot. He’s probably the nicest out of the three guys, but it’s too bad he’s been dating Ivy Hemlock since junior year, who, as you’ve already seen, is kind of a bitch.” I catch a tinge of wistfulness in Dani’s tone as she eyes Lance, but I hope I’m just imagining it. Dani isn’t the type of girl to knock guys on their asses, but she has a girl next door look which makes her undeniably pretty. Plus, she seems to be the only decent person here in Regency. She’s much too good for any of these Dynasty heir pricks.
“You’re living in Sovereign Hall, right?” Dani asks then.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“God, that’s amazing. You’ll get to go to all of the crazy parties that they throw there.”
I don’t like the sound of that.
“What parties?”
“The Dynasty heirs are always throwing parties at Sovereign Hall. The school has a strict curfew, but they turn a blind eye to the parties, if they’re being hosted by the Dynasty heirs.”
“Of course, they do.”
“In fact, I think there’s a party tonight—first day of semester and all.”
I let out a frustrated groan. Great. I’m going to have to make sure that I get upstairs and lock myself in my room before it all kicks off.
“I wouldn’t know. I’m not invited.”
Dani shakes her head in disbelief again.
“I really don’t get why they hate you so much. I mean you’re meant to be one of them and your father was the King, for god’s sake. I get the fact that you being half human and the whole stripper waitress rumor doesn’t exactly put you on the A-list. I guess there’s also the age old rivalry between the two sovereign Dynasties—yours and Raph’s. But to have the Dynasty heirs actually decree that you’re an outcast—that’s like giving you the kiss of death. It’s some pretty serious shit.”
“I’m not one of them,” I repeat. I don’t know what she means about the rivalry part, but I have no interest in asking for any further details.
“They’ve made that clear and you know what? I couldn’t care less. They can hate me. Screw them.”
Dani gets that thoughtful look again.
“It’s a shame though—because I know that every guy here probably thinks you’re the hottest thing to set foot in Regency Mount since … Layla herself.”
“And if it wasn’t for the Dynasty heirs’ school-wide decree, you’d probably have at least a dozen guys over here right now, asking you out.”
I can’t help but laugh in response.
“What? That’s crazy.”
Dani looks at me like I’m dense.
“Oh, god, you’re not one of those hot girls who knows that they’re hot but puts on the fake modesty, are you? Let me guess—you were like the hottest girl in your last school?”
I laugh again.
“No, not even close. I’m not being fake modest, but I’ve had more important things to think about.”
Dani looks at me like I’m crazy, or like life suddenly doesn’t make sense.
Her eyes travel from the popular table, where Raph is still staring, to me and back again. Then a small smile forms on her lips.
I catch Layla following Raph’s eyeline, the look of displeasure on her face is clear. She gets up and walks over to where Raph is sitting, and drops her ass onto his lap. He doesn’t push her off as she pulls his face to hers. I look away then, not wanting to throw up my lunch.
“I think I get it now,” Dani says, her smile growing wider and with a knowing gleam in her eyes.
I don’t ask her to spell it out because frankly, I really do not want to know.
9
Thankfully, the next period goes by uneventfully, mostly because there are no Dynasty heirs in my theology class. Dani is in my class, though, and when we compare schedules, we find that we actually share most of our classes. I find myself liking that. I’ve always walked the high school halls alone and never thought anything of it. But Dani is right—having a friend does make things more bearable and I like her. She seems different from the rest of the spoiled rich kids at Regency. Maybe it’s because she understands what it’s like not to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth. We’re from two totally different planets, but in some ways, our backgrounds aren’t that far apart.
When I walk into my last class of the day with Dani, I’m not so glad to find that sociology isn’t so Dynasty heir free. The first thing I see when I walk in is Raph, sitting, no, more like lounging, in one of the front row desk chairs. Layla is perched on the desk in front of him, sitting in a very deliberate angle, so as to expose as much of her long legs as humanly possible. I think I might throw up my lunch.
Those blue eyes fix directly on me as I enter the room. His face was utterly blank just a moment ago as he regarded Layla’s peep show. A block of stone would have been more expressive in comparison. But those irritatingly perfect features draw together in a scowl when he sees me. Great. He hates me so much, that even his stone cold mask can’t hide it.
Layla follows his line of sight and her pert nose wrinkles at the sight of me, as if she’s just caught a whiff of a dead animal. Nice.
I purposely ignore them as I try to find some seats. We’re the last to arrive, so I’m expecting only the seats at the back to be free. But I’m surprised to see two spare seats at the front. In the same row as Raph.
I’d rather chew my own arm off than sit in the same row as the asshole King and his bitch Queen. But I don’t have the luxury of being able to make other students move with just a look. Not that I’d want to do such a dickish thing. So, I take the seat at the front and Dani drops down next to me.
When the class starts, I keep my eyes fixed to the front, at Professor Gorman, as he drones on about this year’s syllabus. But I can feel Raph’s eyes burning a hole into me all the while. I ignore him completely, not wanting to give this asshole the satisfaction of thinking I’ve even noticed that he’s in this class, or in the same school, for that matter.
We’re halfway through class when Professor Gorman asks everyone to open their textbooks to this week’s topic. I follow the instructions on autopilot and I can hear my own scream when an explosion of pure white light flares from my open textbook, blinding me in an instant.
I feel my ass hit the cold hard floor with a painful thud as I fall off my chair in an attempt to get away from the death lights. Laughter explodes around me, and when my vision returns, I can see that my ass is sprawled out on the floor. The whole class is in hysterics. Everyone, apart from Dani, who is looking at me with concern.