“What about your parents?” I followed her down the hallway as I stared down at my schedule to find my first class.
“They’ll be out of town.” She said it like it didn’t matter one way or another to her. “Where’s your first class?”
“Mr. Fouch, English, room 201.” I read the first line of my schedule.
“Same as me.” She linked her arm in mine, and even though I didn’t know a single thing about this girl, I was happy to have someone by my side as I walked to my first class. Even if she was a complete stranger.
I sat at the desk beside her, and I pulled a blank notebook out of my backpack as I waited for the teacher to start. It was weird seeing all the students in matching uniforms, but somehow looking so different at the same time.
I had never had to wear a uniform before. Never even seen a school that had to, but I still pulled it on this morning like I knew what I was doing. Like I knew what the hell I was getting into.
The students were all looking at me as if they hadn’t seen a new student in their entire lives. It was everyone’s first day back, but they didn’t seem to care about each other.
They were too interested in me.
“Good morning, everyone.” I pulled my attention to the teacher and watched as he adjusted his tie. He looked like he was already stressed out, but it was only the first day of the school year. “I’m going to complete a roll call. Please say here when I call your name.”
He went through the list of names and everyone responded with a bored ‘here’ as if they couldn’t be bothered. For such an elite school, the students didn’t seem to care.
“Josephine Vos.” I winced as my name passed his lips.
“Here.” Several eyes turned back in my direction, but I avoided them all. Except for Cami, who shot her leg out and kicked the edge of my chair.
I looked over at her and her mouth was practically gaping. “What?” I whispered because Mr. Fouch was still taking roll.
“You’re Joseph Vos’s daughter?” She said it like it was supposed to mean something more than it did. She said it like he wasn’t the worst father in the world.
“Unfortunately.”
She chuckled before covering her mouth with her hand. “Holy shit. I didn’t even realize he had any other kids.”
Other.
Because Lucas had been his only one.
I guess he belonged to him more than I did.
“Long-lost.” I looked back up at our teacher and hoped she’d catch my drift that I didn’t want to talk about my father. I didn’t want to think about him at all.
“I bet Lucas is having a field day with you.”
I hated the way she said that. I hated that she even knew him, but of course, she did. They all did. I was the outsider here.
I tried to ignore Cami for the rest of the class, but she was back on me as soon as the bell rang. Apparently, my last name had made me far more interesting than I had been before she knew it.
A name I hated would determine where I stood with these people. It would tell them everything they needed to know about me. Every single thing that they cared to know.
But I didn’t care.
One school year. That was all I had to make it through.
The opinions of these people didn’t matter. They would go on with their charmed lives, and I would be gone.
They wouldn’t even remember that I was here, and I would make sure that I forgot every single one of them.
Even Beck.
I would make sure I forgot him just like the rest.
“Walk with me.” She slid her arm in mine, no longer oblivious over whether I was following her or not, and I tried to calm my heart.
People were staring at us as I walked with her, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before every damn one of them knew my name. They would all have figured out who I was without ever saying a word to me.
The halls were crowded with people all wearing the same uniform as me, but they were still so easy to tell apart. The cliques of every other high school still present through the money and privilege.
But none of them looked like him.
I spotted him before he ever noticed me. Beck was leaning against a locker, his back to us, but I knew it was him. His uniform jacket hung from his arm, the sleeves of his shirt pushed up to the elbow, and I hated that he looked so good. Even though I couldn’t see his face, he still demanded my attention.
Cami let go of my arm just as we reached where he stood, and I prayed she would just keep walking by. Avoiding him was the only plan I had at the moment. I didn’t know how else to deal with him. Not here.
But Cami had no intentions of walking past the king of Clermont Bay. I tightened my hands on the straps of my backpack as she pressed her body into his back and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
He smiled over his shoulder at her, and I knew, I knew deep in my gut it was a smile he didn’t give anyone else. That was a smile he reserved only for her, and I felt like I was going to be sick.
She pushed to the tips of her toes, and I couldn’t stop myself from watching as she pushed her lips toward his. Beck Clermont meant nothing to me. Not a damn thing, but I could still barely breathe.
He had touched me. His body convincing mine that I wanted him without any damn effort on his part, and he had her.
Of course, he had her.
He was Beck fucking Clermont.
He turned his head at the last second before their mouths touched, and her lips pressed against the corner of his as his gaze met mine. There was a moment of shock, but I didn’t know what he had to be shocked about. I was the fool.
I knew from the moment I had met Beck that he was cruel, but I would have expected him to tell me about her.
I had no idea why.
He hadn’t cared about me from the moment I met him.
I schooled my expression, and I prayed that he didn’t see an ounce of my being affected on my face.
I refused to allow him to think I was affected when he was touching her. When she was touching him. God, she was still touching him.
She dropped back to her feet, and she looked back in my direction with a smile on her face. “Have you all met my new friend, Josie?”
“Hey, Josie.” Olly smiled at me from where he leaned against the locker next to Beck. He looked back and forth between me and where Beck and Cami still stood together. Did he know? Did Beck tell him what I had let him do?
“Hi.” I tucked my hair behind my ear and looked down the hallway for some sort of escape. Any excuse to get away.
“You’re not going to say hi to me?” My gaze snapped up to Beck as he spoke. He had a smile on his face, and I noticed that Cami was still clinging to his arm even though he wasn’t touching her. Of course, I noticed.
“Hello, Beckham.”
He grinned harder as one of the guys beside him chuckled. I didn’t know if it was Olly or Carson or someone I didn’t know. I didn’t care.
“You two know each other?” Cami looked between the two of us, and I felt bad for her. I didn’t know the extent of her and Beck’s relationship, but it was clear that she had walked in here today expecting one.
I had no such expectations, but I had assumed that there was no one else. That was my foolish mistake, and one I wasn’t willing to make again.
“Josie and I go way back.” Beck was laying it on thick, and everyone around him seemed to hang on to his every word. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t saying a single bit of truth. He was important, and that was all that mattered.