His eyes narrowed dangerously. “I’ll loan you mine.”
Ignoring his suggestion, I ate a forkful of my lunch—ew, oh so gross, chicken pot pie—and chewed very slowly before replying to him.
“Bite me, Archer. Oh hey, Bree!” I waved at my friend who’d just entered the cafeteria, then gave Archer a quick up and down. “You can go now, unless you have anything more interesting to say? No? Didn’t think so.” I shifted my chair to give him my back, then greeted my friend enthusiastically when she sat down opposite me.
Archer said nothing more, and soon I saw him take a seat across the room where Steele already sat with several girls. Kody was nowhere to be seen, so I guessed it must have just been my bad luck to share a lunch break with both Archer and Steele.
“What… was that all about?” Bree asked with raised brows, casting a quick look over her shoulder at where the guys sat. “And what’s with the outfit? I thought you were all jeans and sneakers these days and the primped Barbie-doll look was a thing of the past? Not that you don’t look great—you do. I’m just… confused.”
I gave a small shrug. “Spur of the moment idea to piss my new housemates off. I think subconsciously I could smell the alpha male BS on those three and wanted to poke it with a stick.”
Bree snorted a laugh and grabbed the slice of cake from my tray. “Well, be careful. It might be your first day, but those three have already built an entire army of enamored followers.” She darted another quick look, and I couldn’t help but follow her line of sight. Steele was chatting to a pretty blonde who looked a couple of years older than me, and Archer… hmm. Archer had a brunette in his lap and was whispering something in her ear that she seemed to find hysterical.
Ugh. I knew her type. I used to be her type. If that was the kind of girl my new housemates were into, then we definitely wouldn’t be forming that reverse harem Bree kept teasing me about.
“Anyway, I’ll deal with them later. After we get through at least a few days of this… unconventional university.” I wrinkled my nose, looking around the cafeteria. It used to be the main restaurant of the country club, so it was actually really nice. Just strange, considering my last class had been in a building so hastily painted you could still make out the graffiti on the walls. On the other hand, the food—for the most part—was restaurant quality good so there was no need to leave campus to get decent lunches.
Bree nodded, waving a fork covered in cake crumbs. “You’re telling me. Girl, we were supposed to be at Stanford this year.”
I sighed and glowered across the room again. Not that it was Archer, Kody, and Steele’s fault so many students in Shadow Grove had suddenly been denied entry into their college of choice… but they damn well knew more than they were letting on. It wasn’t a coincidence the stolen Laughing Clown key had been in Kody’s pocket that night. It also hadn’t been a coincidence that Zane had been exchanging a big old bag of cash with some creepy dude dressed as Beetlejuice.
“Quit staring at them,” Bree teased, kicking me under the table. “Anyone would think you’ve got a crush… or two.”
“Hah!” I scoffed. “Hardly. I’m just thinking through my plan. I’ll start small, I think. Only escalate if and when more drastic measures are called for.” I drummed my fingertips on the table thoughtfully, observing my prey. Steele was laughing at something Archer had just said, and damn, he was pretty when he laughed. The brunette had disappeared from Archer’s lap, but a strawberry-blonde was glued to his side like… uh… like glue.
“Typical man-whore behavior,” I commented with a disappointed sigh. “Acting all caveman because I dressed a little provocatively, then letting a revolving door of women paw all over him. Double standards in action.”
Bree nodded and shrugged like this wasn’t anything new. She was right, it wasn’t, but damn that trope was getting exhausted.
My friend started to say something, then her attention shifted over my head and she gasped. “Watch out!” she exclaimed, but it was too late.
Sticky, orange liquid drenched me, soaking my entire T-shirt and puddling in my lap.
“Oops,” a girl said from behind me. “Sorry, I guess I tripped.”
This bitch sounded anything but sorry.
Furious, I shoved my seat back and turned to confront the clumsy juice owner. Then I laughed. “I guess I should have seen this coming a mile away,” I commented, eyeing the pretty brunette with disdain as Archer, Steele, and their posse wandered over to us. “Stupid me for thinking crap like this belonged in high school.”
The brunette—the same girl who’d just been giggling in Archer’s lap—just smirked and flipped her hair, sauntering out of the dining hall and leaving me standing there in my sticky puddle of orange juice. Steele sighed and shook his head at me, then followed her, but Archer? Yeah, he lingered a moment.
Textbook bully behavior right there.
“Wait,” I said, holding my hand up when he parted his lips to deliver what I was sure would be a truly devastating zinger. “Let me guess. Now you have to change, Madison Kate.” I adopted a deeper voice to say this, mocking him. “Or maybe you were going to go with the whole fake concern angle? You should have listened to me, Madison Kate.”
Archer tilted his head to the side, running his thumb across his lower lip and shrugging. “Take your pick, gorgeous; sounds like you got the message.”
My eyes narrowed, seeing victory all over his face.
Fuck. That.
“Um, sure,” I replied, nodding. “If your message was that you time-traveled straight out of the fifties when it was socially acceptable for men to shame women for dressing in a way that flaunts their sexuality? Was that the message you were aiming for? If so, I got it… but I respectfully decline to accept it.” Grasping the hem of my orange juice–soaked T-shirt, I peeled it up and off, tossing it onto the floor at Archer’s feet. My mini-skirt followed, hitting the floor with an audible splat, as every student had their eyes on us, rather than conversing.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Archer demanded when I met his gaze unflinchingly.
With what was no doubt a feral kind of smile, I propped my hands on my hips. It wasn’t like I was stark fucking naked or anything; I still had my bra and panties on, despite the fact that my bra was soggy with juice too. It was no more revealing than a bikini, so where was the embarrassment?
“Bree, babe, you don’t mind if I borrow your cardigan, do you?” I asked my friend, nodding to the thin, baby-pink garment draped over the back of her chair. She obliged, handing it over while she turned red from holding back her laughter.
I slipped it over my arms, then tied the loose belt around my waist to hold it closed. Sort of. The fabric was long enough that it covered my ass—just—but the crossed-over front showed a whole lot more bra than I’d thought it would.
Fuck it. I was only proving a damn point, so long as no administrators saw me before I could find an actual change of clothes…
“Try harder next time, Archer,” I advised him, bending over to pick up my backpack and flashing my ass to anyone who cared to look. “Oh, and those clothes are dry-clean only.”