I turned my head for a few seconds and saw Adam and Trina standing on the shore, waving like mad and grinning from ear to ear. I half-expected to see a bunch of other people holding signs saying stuff like ‘Loser Laney’, ‘Virgin’ or ‘Drown, Walmart Trash’, but no one was paying any attention to me at all. They actually seemed to be here to watch the races.
Clearly, I was just being paranoid.
I breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to face the dock. A loud beep signaled the start of our single scull race a moment later, and then we were off, propelling ourselves through the water as fast as we could.
I rowed faster and harder than ever before. Soon my skin was slick with perspiration and my whole body felt like it was roasting. I ignored the painful feelings of exertion and kept my focus on my breathing and my strokes, making sure everything was perfect.
When I allowed myself a split-second to check my position, I realized I was ahead of everyone else. Way ahead.
I could actually win this thing.
“Go, Laney!” I heard Trina scream from the shore.
I grinned as a burst of adrenaline rushed through my veins, allowing me to push myself even harder.
The exhilaration faded only seconds later. Something was wrong. Despite my best efforts, I was slowing down.
Gritting my teeth, I looked down at the floor of the scull. Water had started pooling in it, sloshing around the base of my shoes.
“What the hell?” I muttered, stomach sinking.
It was normal for a few droplets of water to fly into the rowing shells when they were in use, but this wasn’t just a few drops. It was a puddle, and it was getting bigger by the second.
There had to be a hole somewhere. That was the only explanation.
“Shit, shit, shit!” I gulped down a panicked breath, tasting blood in my throat as I looked all over my scull, trying to figure out where the issue was.
I spotted it about a minute later. There was a hole in the left side, toward the back. I hadn’t noticed it until it became a problem, because I hadn’t checked the scull before I went out on the water. Usually I would, just in case, but today we were all told that the assistant coaches had checked everything before the regatta to save us time.
Dammit. I should’ve personally checked mine anyway.
By now, half the racing group had passed me, and my scull was rapidly filling with lake water. I waved madly at the dock, trying to signal the issue to Coach Reilly.
“I’m getting swamped!” I screamed, hoping my voice would carry.
He finally noticed what was happening and blew a whistle, indicating the emergency situation to the other rowers. Then I saw him frantically gesticulating and shouting at his assistants, commanding them to help me. They raced down to the end of the dock, where a little rescue dinghy was tied in the water.
I knew the protocol. If our boats got swamped, we were supposed to stay with them and wait for help instead of trying to swim to shore. The boats would still float when they were completely filled, so we had to stay seated in them and keep as much of our body out of the water as possible. If we tried to swim away instead, we risked losing too much heat and energy, especially in cold weather conditions.
A cheer went up from the crowd on the shore as my scull became completely submerged. The freezing water was up to my waist now, and every cell in my body screamed for respite.
“Shit!” I cried out as the scull suddenly moved beneath me.
It was still floating, but it was tipping violently to the left, probably due to the hole on that side. I knew exactly how things would go from here—within a minute or so, I would be tipped into the water too, and then the scull would flip completely onto its side. My only option then would be to paddle next to it and try to maneuver my body onto the sky-facing side to preserve energy and warmth.
The rescue dinghy wasn’t far away now. I could hear the buzz of its engine as it cut through the water, heading straight for me. Above that, I could hear more whooping and cheering from the shore. The spectators were celebrating my failure.
Of course they are, I thought bitterly to myself.
I should’ve known that I wasn’t just being paranoid when I saw the size of the crowd today. Rowing didn’t magically become a popular sport at RFA overnight—all of those students knew something was going down today, and they turned up to watch with glee.
Assholes.
The rescuers finally arrived, and several minutes later, they had me rugged up on the dock, safe and sound. My teeth chattered like mad as Adam and Trina raced toward me, eyes saucer-wide.
“Are you okay?” Trina asked, grabbing another blanket to wrap around me.
“I… I’m fine,” I choked out. “Just c-cold.”
“What the hell happened?”
I tightened the blanket around my chest, gulping down deep breaths. “Hole in boat,” I managed to get out.
“How could there be a hole?” Adam asked, eyes narrowing. “I thought the boats always get checked before you go out!”
“They do,” Coach Reilly cut in. “My assistants were meant to check every last one.”
One of the assistant coaches spoke up. “We did, sir. We—”
Reilly held up a hand, cutting him off. “We’ll discuss this later. Right now our main priority is Laney.” His face softened as he looked back at me. “We need to get you to the school nurse. I don’t think you’re hypothermic, but we need to make sure.”
As we headed down the dock, I spotted Hunter standing on the shore, watching us.
Suddenly I wasn’t freezing or exhausted anymore. I was hot with rage instead, filled with an overwhelming urge to knock Hunter to the ground and pound his arrogant face with my fists until he bled.
Our gazes connected a few seconds later, and my breath hitched. Even while anger burned inside me like a wildfire, he made me feel like my heart would burst right out of my chest every time I looked into his eyes.
A smirk curved his lips as I stared, and just like that, the fiery anger outweighed the attraction again. I burst ahead of the others and marched right up to him.
“You did this,” I hissed, jabbing him in the chest.
“I didn’t do anything. I was in class all afternoon, and then I came down here with my friends,” he said, smugly arching a brow. “I can prove it.”
“You still made this happen. Someone sneaked in and put a hole in my boat because of your stupid blacklist!” I said.
It occurred to me then that it had to be someone in the rowing club. Only they would know which racing scull was mine, and only they would know when and how to put a hole in it without getting caught by the assistant coaches as they checked everything.
Great.
Until today, the bullying hadn’t infiltrated any of my clubs, aside from the odd stare or outright ignorance of my presence, and as a result, I’d come to view them as a bit of a safe haven. Now I needed to consider quitting all of them for my own safety.
Hunter shrugged, looking bored. “Even if they did, who cares? You can swim, right?”
“That’s not the point!” I jabbed him again, and my voice rose an octave. “Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you? What did I ever to do deserve any of this?”
His eyes narrowed. “You know what you did.”
“Don’t give me that copout bullshit. Tell me. Now!”
His face clouded over, and he opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, Coach Reilly approached us and lay a hand on my shoulder. “No time for chit-chat, Laney. We need to get you checked out.”
Hunter sneered and strode away.
“Prick,” I muttered.
When I arrived at the school nurse, she examined me thoroughly and decided I was fine. Apparently I just needed a hot shower, a big helping of warm food, and a long rest.
“Too bad I have an English paper to research,” I muttered to Adam and Trina as we finally trudged out. “I’ll probably be in the library all night, buried in books. Then I have to proofread
an economics paper and hand it in.”
“We’ll come to the library so we can make sure nothing else happens to you,” Adam said.
I flashed him a grateful smile. “Thanks.”
“Laney?”
I turned to see Coach Reilly hurrying toward us. “I just wanted to apologize for today’s incident again,” he said. “I have no idea how it happened, but rest assured, I’ll be conducting a thorough investigation.”
I knew he wouldn’t find anything. My bullies would make sure of that.
“Also, it didn’t escape my attention that you were in first place before the problem arose,” he went on. “So despite the mishap, you’re still in the top position in your group, and you have a very good chance of moving up to the intermediate division by spring racing season.”
“Thank you, Coach,” I said, smiling faintly. At least the day hadn’t been a total loss.
Adam and Trina lounged on my bed while I had a long, steaming shower, and then we all headed down to the cafeteria for a big early dinner. After we’d stuffed ourselves full of veggie burgers and parmesan truffle fries, we went to the library and hit the books.
When the library finally closed at nine, we packed up and headed out to the parking lot. “Thanks for hanging with me tonight,” I said, giving Adam and Trina quick hugs.
“Anytime. See you tomorrow!” Trina said.
They headed to their respective cars and took off. I turned and walked back to Blair Hall.
When I reached my dorm, I froze. My door was ajar, propped open with one of my shoes.
I knew I closed it earlier. I had a crystal-clear memory of standing right in front of it with Adam and Trina as we discussed our plans for the evening, and there was no way I accidentally jammed a shoe in it at any stage.
“Oh, no…” I slapped my palm against my cheek as I realized how thoughtless I’d been.
After last Friday’s incident, I went to the boarding admin office and asked to get my locks reset along with a new keycard, because I was terrified Hunter would get in again. They allowed it, and I received a new keycard within a few hours.
The next day, just to be safe, I decided to go back and ask them if they could also install a second lock which required a proper metal key. Considering how easily the Princes had stolen and copied my keycard last time, it made sense to add that as a precaution.
However, I got caught up with something else before I could go to the office, and over the hustle and bustle of the next few days, it totally slipped my mind.
That meant Hunter and his minions still had full access to my room whenever they wanted, as long as they managed to copy my new keycard, which was as simple as getting someone with decent pick-pocketing skills to slip it out of my blazer and copy it for them during class.
Any number of students could’ve done that dirty work for them.
I tentatively stepped inside my dorm and looked around. There was no one in the main room or bathroom. No one hiding in the closet, either.
I was safe.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I put my bag down on my desk and started unloading the library books I checked out earlier. A chill suddenly shot down my spine, and I stiffened.
My laptop was missing.
I could’ve sworn I left it on the right side of my desk earlier, next to a few textbooks, but now there was nothing but a big empty space there.
Pulse racing, I checked my desk drawers and then everywhere else in my room, hoping I’d simply moved it earlier and forgotten all about it.
I didn’t find it, but I did find a note under one of my pillows during the search.
Hi Virgin,
We’re getting bored with the usual shit, so we’ve created a little game of sorts. Something to test you. There’s no option for you to abstain—you have to play, or you’re fucked.
We’ve taken some of your things and put them in one of the teachers’ offices. It’s up to you to figure out which one.
If you’re smart enough to get all your stuff back before the bell rings tomorrow morning, you’ll win the game, and we’ll leave you alone for a whole week out of respect for your wit and tenacity.
If you fail to get it in time, we’ll tell the teacher we saw you rifling through his drawers, looking for upcoming test sheets to cheat from, and when he checks up on our story, he’ll find your stuff there. That won’t look good for you, will it?
Don’t try to call your friends for help. We’ve already taken care of that, so you’re in this alone.
Good luck. You’ll need it.
With a frown, I patted my pockets. My phone wasn’t there, even though I was sure I put it in my jacket pocket earlier. I went and checked my bag, and it wasn’t there either.
Someone must’ve stealthily pilfered it while I was at the library.
With an anguished groan, I turned and dashed out of my dorm, heading for Royal Hall. A security guard was at the front entrance, locking everything up.
“Hey!” I called out as I approached, flailing my arms. “I need to get back in!”
He looked at me, eyebrows raised. “Sorry, kid. No one’s allowed in here once we’ve locked up for the night.”
“Please,” I said, eyes wide. “I left something in there. My laptop. There’s a really important econ paper on it, and it’s due tomorrow, so I need to get it.”
That wasn’t a lie. There was a completed economics assignment on it; one which I needed to email to my teacher before the deadline at eight a.m. tomorrow. I’d planned on taking a quick look at the paper when I got back to my room earlier, just to make sure it was edited and referenced properly, and then I was going to send it off.
“You’ll have to send it from one of the school computers,” the guard told me. “The IT lab over in Fitz Hall has twenty-four hour access. Go there.”
“I can’t. The paper is only on my laptop.”
“You didn’t back it up anywhere else?” he said, brows furrowing as he shook his head. “Hell, kid, I don’t know much about computers, but I still know you’re meant to back stuff up.”
My chin trembled as my stomach churned. He was right. I should’ve backed the assignment up to a flash drive or a cloud-based site like Dropbox. I had no excuse for not doing so, unless you counted a complete and utter lack of foresight as an excuse.
“It’s a brand new laptop, so I didn’t think I’d have any problems with it crashing,” I muttered, knowing how silly I sounded. “Otherwise I would’ve backed it up.”
The guard shrugged. “Wish I could help, but rules are rules,” he said. “Sorry.”
My shoulders sagged. I trudged back to Blair Hall, mind whirling as I considered my next move. I could go to the IT lab and message Adam and Trina for help on Facebook, but they hardly ever used it, preferring Snapchat or WhatsApp instead. That meant they might not see my messages for hours.
I could try emailing them instead, but that presented the same issue. They might not check their inboxes until tomorrow morning, and by then it would be far too late.
By the time I returned to my dorm, I’d decided that my best option was to drive to Trina’s house in Royal Falls and ask her for help in person. She always knew what to do.
I fumbled in my bag for my car keys, only to discover they were missing too.
“Shit!”
The bastards had thought of everything.
I couldn’t even be mad at them. Not compared to how mad I was at myself.
If I’d remembered to go to the boarding administrator’s office and ask to get a second lock added to my door, then the Princes wouldn’t have been able to steal my computer, and if I kept a better eye on my jacket and bag at the library, they wouldn’t have been able to take my phone and keys.
Granted, most normal people didn’t live their lives in a state of total paranoia, watching everything they owned like a hawk and getting multiple locks installed, but I wasn’t normal. I was blacklisted.
That meant I should know better.
I slumped down on my
bed and ran through my options. If I did nothing and waited until tomorrow to get my laptop back, I’d receive a twenty percent deduction from my grade for handing in my essay late, because the economics teacher was strict as hell. That would tank my overall grade in the class. It might even put my scholarship in jeopardy.
I’d also get in trouble when the teacher found my stuff in his office. I wanted to believe he would be shrewd enough to realize it was a setup, because no one could possibly be dumb enough to break into his office and leave an entire laptop, phone and keys behind, but I couldn’t risk it.
With a groan, I realized I only had one real choice.
I had to break into Royal Hall.
15
Laney
I waited until eleven o’clock, when the sky was pitch black, and then I crept toward Royal Hall, ducking behind hedges and trees whenever I saw flashes of light from the patrolling security guards.
When I reached the west wing, I crept into the darkness along the side of the building, stopping every few seconds to check the windows in the hope that one would be unlocked.
No such luck, of course. They were all sealed tight.
I made it around to the south wing just as a flashlight swept over the area. I gasped and ducked behind a rhododendron bush in the garden, hoping the guard hadn’t spotted me.
For once, I was lucky. He walked right past, humming softly under his breath.
I waited for him to turn the corner, heart in my mouth. When he was gone, I stood up and promptly tripped over a garden sprinkler, almost knocking the wind out of my chest as I fell onto the soil.
“Shit!”
This really wasn’t my day.
I was about to get up when I noticed something on the bottom of the stone wall to my left. It was a window set low in the ground, half-hidden behind the flowers and shrubs.
Royal Hall had a basement level.
My spirits instantly soared. Figuring it was much more likely that one of those largely-unnoticed basement windows would be left unlocked, I crawled over to it and tried to pry it open. Nothing happened.
Savage Prince: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Royal Falls Elite Book 1) Page 19
