I was so focused on him bolting from my presence I didn't notice every set of eyes on me. I turned back around, letting the noise creep in, a skill I was born with, the ability to drown out anything around me and focus. This time wasn't on purpose and certainly not the best time.
“New Girl! Hey!”
The snapping of the Queen Bitch’s perfectly manicured fingers cut through the haze left over, making my head snap in her direction.
“It's Arianna. Not ‘New Girl’.” I stressed the not, and she dropped her hand to her lap and smiled back at me placid, neither offended or excited. She was a tiger, lying in wait to pounce, completely unseen but lethal.
“Okay, New Girl. We aren't the enemy. Bolton, the guy who darted past you...? Debatable.”
Austin made eye contact with each person left sprawled along the stairs purposely when introducing me officially. I never knew someone to put so much value on eye contact, except parents when they drove home the same unsolicited advice for the tenth time. Eye contact did not mean you were soaking in whatever they wanted you to. Words were messy. Meaning was a hurricane made of feelings, motivation, and maybe some of your astrological sign feeding off the position of everything else.
“So what's his problem?” I asked in pure curiosity but a small part of me took it personally. How could I not?
Another guy, Nyx, the one Austin told me was a total mystery spoke, and the group fell silent from their small chatter. “She doesn't look that special to me, Austin. Purple hair, really? I'm out. I got better shit to do.”
He stopped in front of me, letting his fingers clamp around a runaway strand of my purple hair, giving it a swift tug as his eyes bore into me. Austin scoffed, with his arm around his perfect girlfriend, who had no reason to be a bitch. She was perfect on the outside.
That was the second guy to bolt from the room since I walked in. Was I missing something? And what did he mean special? Was I supposed to be? I raised an eyebrow, not sure how I fit into this environment yet. Solitude was so much easier. I didn't know why I was entertaining Austin and his insulting group of friends anyways.
Actually, I did know why. Even with a caged heart, I was still trying to fill the spaces left vacant by the love that was hard to feel between continents and a parent whose love was something I had to dredge up past memories to feel.
Bolton
A few days had gone by since the new girl had settled in Arcadia Prep, like she had been here the whole time and wasn't, in fact, new. She blended in with the group with no real proof she belonged.
I wasn't wasting my time on another flawless face. I was trying to find the last person our circle was missing, not a girlfriend or best pal.
The rest of the circle forgot that when they integrated her in without my approval. I let them pretend she was special—the one we had waited for, for fourteen years. They knew better than to cross me and get too attached.
Austin said he felt the impact of a shock as soon as their hands touched. I wanted lightning and the world to split open undeniably. I wanted unequivocal proof she was the one, so I watched her every move—not in the bathroom or her bedroom. I had boundaries. I'm not that much of an asshole.
She was painfully normal. She was naturally curious, though, which made observing her a dangerous game.
My new favorite game.
Every time she went by the faculty building, her gaze scrutinized the doors, willing its secrets loose. Secrets I protected fiercely for the group’s safety, tucked into the basement, behind limited access. No one could know why the unlikely bunch of us were friends, why we snuck into the building every Wednesday, or what Mr. Alba’s involvement was.
We weren't just friends.
We were Fate and Destiny wrapped up into unavoidable responsibility. None of us were able to move on until Fate and Destiny were satisfied with us, enough to spit us into the real world.
Arcadia was too small to not have classes together. The senior class was maybe pushing one hundred at this point. Everyone knew everyone’s business.
We all had one class together, Ancient History, taught by none other than Mr. Alba himself. He referred to this class as babysitting us, even though there weren’t enough students to get lost in a crowd.
Ancient History was more than the history of the United States, but about gods and goddesses, magic, and everything we didn't have to play down. We could talk freely and arrogantly as we wanted, because we knew our own history better than the books.
Alba made it clear that was our problem: arrogance. He was convinced if we just gave in to our humanity, we wouldn’t be in this prison.
We knew we were above humans, and we flaunted it just as much as our over-privileged asses or off-putting personalities. Each of us was slightly different.
I preferred a scowl above talking, listening, or any real effort for anyone else. Kate, our Queen Bitch, preferred pointed jabs, while Nyx preferred not talking at all. I would have loved to not talk but nothing would get done if my lips were sewn together. I was the only one making decisions.
Heavy is the crown who wears it, right?
I refused to learn her name or let anyone else deviate from the path of only labeling her as “New Girl.” I watched her clumsiness guide her into History, nearly tripping over her own feet as she juggled too many books.
This was the only part of her not adjusted.
Arcadia Prep was a college-level preparatory school, and everyone was already the smartest person in the room. She obviously came from public.
Nyx twisted in his seat in front of me, giving me a smirk and a raised eyebrow. We were both judging every part of her messy appearance.
Her uniform didn't look ironed, and her wrinkled white shirt was only half tucked into her skirt. One knee high sock landed at a different place on her shin, and her distastefully purple hair landed disheveled at her jaw line. It begged for attention, and without even trying, she had it.
Everyone’s. Except mine.
She sat down next me to with a loud huff displaced, shaking Alba’s disposition at the front of the class. Out of all the scholarship kids that came through here, she was by far living up to pity.
I glared at her, wondering why she sat next to me when I tried so hard to seem un-relatable and unpleasant. “Seat is taken. Move it, New Girl.”
Nyx started laughing into his closed fist, making it hard to deliver the statement without grinning too.
She glanced around the room at the empty seats and back at me before she quipped, “Finders keepers.” The shrug drove her lack of caring home.
I couldn't blame her adolescent answer when I was acting the same way. The seat was only taken by my annoyance of her being in this class too.
Alba’s presence between us demanded attention but I didn't bother looking up for the scolding. “Do we have a problem, Bolton? Hate to send my best student to detention.”
Nyx stepped in, speaking before I had the chance, “Come on. She's disrupting the fucking class.”
I looked up as soon as I heard the word, and I knew he was purposely taking this lick. That's what people did for their sovereign; they kissed the ring, any way they could, if it proved loyalty. Nyx was the most loyal person I had ever come across. His loyalty was fierce and dangerous for others.
“Detention, Nyx. Windows after classes. Same for you, Arianna. Your student handguide has the uniform standards. Please brush up.” He shook his head in disappointment before standing at the front of the class again. “Page fifty. Greek Mythology.”