by Elle East
I quickly forgot my indignation when Archer whispered, “He’s not wearing it.”
I looked and sure enough the headmaster’s wrists were bare. He must take it off when he gets home and changes out of his suit, I reasoned. It was probably in his bedroom, which I guessed was on the second floor. I leaned back and looked up to see if there was anyway to climb up there.
“So how are you going to do it?” Archer asked.
“I’m thinking,” I whispered back in annoyance.
“It’s just that we don’t have all night and I’d like to get back to enjoy my yacht party before everyone leaves.”
“No one told you to come!” I raised my voice before clamping a hand over my mouth.
Both our heads whipped around to see if the headmaster had heard. He continued to read like nothing had happened. I blew out a sigh of relief.
I kept low and started walking around the other side of the house, looking for a way up to the second floor. I found it when I rounded a corner and spotted a trellis directly under a window.
“Yes!” I whispered in excitement.
I went over and grabbed on to the wooden slats. I shook the structure lightly to see how strong it was. It didn’t move at all so I knew it was pretty sturdy, sturdy enough to support my weight at least—I hoped.
I put my foot on the bottom slat, reached up with both hands, and started to climb.
“You don’t have to do this,” Archer hissed from below me.
I looked down at him, confused.
“It’s my dare, I have to.”
“It’s just a stupid game, Maddy. Doing this could actually get you expelled, you realize that, right? It’s not worth hanging out with the Queens for.”
Why was he trying to talk me out of this? There was no way he could actually be concerned about my future at this school. He’d love nothing more than to have me expelled, most of the students would, even the scholarship students wouldn’t mind if I was gone. He was probably just trying to psych me out or something, I reasoned, make me so nervous I don’t go through with it.
Yeah, it was just a stupid game and under any other circumstances there’s no way I’d risk my academic future trying to fit in with a bunch of spoiled rich kids, but these weren’t normal circumstances. I needed to do this so I could keep hanging out with the Queens and get incriminating information on you, Archer. So yeah, I did need to do this, but it’s not like I could tell him why. I wouldn’t have bother telling him even if I could, he wasn’t worth it.
I ignored what he said and kept climbing higher. I heard him swear from the ground.
The trellis had been solid at the bottom but was less so near the top. I climbed very carefully as the wooden structure swayed and creaked. My adrenaline helped carry me up to the window. I gripped on to the ledge gratefully and breathed a sigh of relief as I anchored myself to the house and stopped the trellis from leaning out over the ground below. I was never much of a climber, being scared of heights and all, but this school had made me climb two dangerous things so far.
I looked in through the window and even though it was dark the light from the moon was enough to see that the room was a bedroom and that it was empty. I placed one of my hands on the glass and gently pushed up. I felt like yelling in joy when it slid upwards. I kept pushing and when there was enough room for me I hoisted myself up and slipped into the room.
I scanned around as my eyes got used to the dark. The room was neat and orderly, like I would have assumed, it was also devoid of personal touches; it looked sterile—also what I would have assumed of the headmaster. On the dresser by the closet there was a leather box that was short and wide. It looked like it could be a watch holder so I very, very carefully made my way over to it.
The wooden floor beneath my feet creaked with one of my steps and I froze. My heart was hammering in my chest so loudly I was scared the headmaster could hear it. If he found me here I was done—just like Archer had said—no more Crestmoore. It felt like I waited there for an eternity, but the sounds of someone coming up the stairs never came. I started tiptoeing again at the speed of a sloth.
Finally, I made it to the dresser. I opened the box and sure enough it was where he kept his three watches. I didn’t know a lot about watches but I assumed these were expensive by how shiny they were. I picked up a silver one and was surprised by how heavy it was. I felt bad about stealing—he would definitely notice—but I had to, and I would bring it back when I was done. I think if the headmaster knew what I was going through he would have understood, at least that’s what I told myself to feel better about it. I wasn’t stealing, I was just borrowing.
I slipped the watch into my pocket, closed the lid and started tiptoeing my way back to the window. It was then that I heard footsteps on the stairs.
Fuck!
My adrenaline shot up even higher. I swung myself over the windowsill and slipped outside. I could see Archer down below me and he looked worried. My feet touched the trellis and I started shimmying down just as I heard someone come into the room.
I climbed down at the speed of light and then when I was close to the bottom I jumped. I landed next to Archer and without a word we both took off running.
We rounded the side of the house and sprinted into the woods. We didn’t stop running until we were halfway back to the boat. My lungs were burning and I took deep gulping breaths. Archer was out of breath too but not as bad as me since he was in peak athletic shape from the football practices he had almost every day.
We walked the rest of the way as I caught my breath and my heart rate slowed to a more manageable level. When we got back to the yacht Archer quickly jumped down first and I was too drained from the night to protest much when he grabbed me by the waist and set me down on the deck.
I could feel the weight of the watch pulling my pocket downwards. I reached in and took it out to look at it.
“You actually got it?” Archer asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, of course. What did you think I was doing in that room? Making the bed?”
Archer stared at me like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Suddenly I felt warm hands on the sides of my face and then lips pressed possessively against mine.
My eyes bulged in surprise before the feeling of the kiss took over and they fluttered shut. I subconsciously leaned into Archer’s hard body as he pulled me closer. His kiss was demanding and intense. When you were kissing Archer King nothing else in the world existed. He kissed me like he was trying to wipe away my previous kiss with Grayson, trying to rewrite that event.
His large hands were on the sides of my face and neck. They slid into my hair as he controlled my body and deepened the kiss. All I could do was reach out and grab onto his waist and hold on to stop myself from getting washed away.
I needed space to catch my breath, even though I didn’t want to. I pulled back with a gasp. Archer was breathing heavily too. Our foreheads rested together as our chests heaved.
All at once I came back to my senses. I was kissing someone who tormented me for the past month and a half. He didn’t get to be an asshole to me then sweep me up in a leg-shaking kiss—that’s not how it worked, that’s not how I worked.
I placed my hands on his chest, I could feel his well-developed pecks flex beneath my palms and it made my mouth water. I ignored my body that was screaming at me to keep going, keep kissing him, keep touching him, and pushed him back. He resisted for a second before letting me put space between the two of us.
“Don’t ever do that again,” I managed to say through kiss-swollen lips.
Archer was staring at me like he couldn’t believe what had just happened. I couldn’t blame him, I didn’t know what the hell had happened either.
I needed to get away from him. I walked around him and went inside. The bright lights made my eyes sting after being in the dark for so long. I squinted, trying to see what was happening.
“Maddy!” Victoria called, and I walked over to her.
The Quee
ns were now sitting on a couch in another corner of the yacht. They all had their phones out and were taking selfies. I could see that Jayla had had a bit too much to drink as she was leaning on the armrest with a vacant smile on her face.
“Well?” Victoria asked.
I pulled the watch out of my pocket.
“Oh my God! I can’t believe you did it!”
She stood up and came over to grab it out of my hand.
“That’s like insane.” She laughed and put her arm around my shoulder. “Maddy did it!” She announced to the party.
There were cheers from the other students. Despite the reaction I was getting, I didn’t feel proud, I felt kind of dirty. I had played right into their game and ended up doing something that could get me expelled. I never thought I would be a thief, but that’s what Crestmoore and the Royalty had done to me. I just wanted to go home and take a shower. I was drained both emotionally and physically from the night.
Victoria slipped the watch back into my pocket and I felt it weigh me down.
“Truth or dare?” she asked, still with her arm around my neck and I could smell the alcohol on her breath.
“Oh, come on,” I pleaded.
“Just one more, I promise.”
“Fine.” I was too tired to argue. “Dare.”
“I dare you to keep that watch on you at all times for the next week,” Victoria said.
“No way! I could get caught.”
“You won’t get caught.” Victoria rolled her eyes. “Just put it at the bottom of your backpack or something. You don’t have to wear it or anything. It’s safer there then in your room anyway. Staff are allowed to check our rooms, but I’ve never heard of them checking anyone’s backpack before. If you do this you’ll be, like, the Queen of truth or dare. No one could top this.”
“Fine,” I agreed begrudgingly, but there was no way in hell I was going to do it. Victoria was drunk and being sloppy about hiding her intentions.
Victoria squealed and clapped her hands together in excitement.
“I knew I was right about you, Maddy. All the Kings told me that you were some ungrateful gutter trash from the ghetto who had somehow managed to fuck her way into this school, but I could see that you were more than just some poor slut.”
She gave me a hug. I managed to pat her on the back with one hand before she let go. She went back to the couch and I numbly followed her.
I was pissed the guys had said that about me; it made me even angrier at myself for just having kissed two of them. I didn’t know why I was surprised though, based on everything that had happened since I got to Crestmoore, saying those awful things seemed like the least horrible thing they had done to me.
“Uhh I think we should go,” Claudia said as she looked at Jayla who was passed out.
“Nah, I’m not ready to go home yet, the party’s barely started,” Victoria said as she applied more lip gloss.
“Mind if I take her back?” Claudia asked.
“Sure, whatever,” Victoria said.
I saw my chance. “I’ll help too.”
Claudia and I both grabbed one of Jayla’s arms and lifted her to her feet. Jayla was surprisingly heavy, probably because she was barely conscious and unable to stand on her own two feet. We dragged her through the party and out into the fresh air on the deck.
“How are we going to get her up there?” I asked.
There was no way Jayla would be able to jump up to the rock by herself.
Claudia shrugged as she considered what we should do.
“Maybe I’ll jump up and you pass her to me?” I said as I went and hopped up.
Claudia struggled to hold up Jayla by herself and with difficulty she dragged her closer to the railing. I crouched down and reached behind me, grabbing on to a root from a nearby tree to use as an anchor so that we both didn’t tumble back onto the deck when I was pulling Jayla up. I reached out with my other hand and grabbed Jayla’s and started pulling with all my strength.
“Push!” I called to Claudia.
I could hear her grunt with the effort of pushing this barely conscious person upwards and I pulled harder. We managed to get Jayla halfway, and she started trying to grab onto the rock but it wasn’t happening. She wasn’t going any higher.
“Pull!” Claudia called.
I tried to pull harder, but it was no use. Claudia and I weren’t strong enough. I actually started getting worried that we would drop Jayla. This had been a stupid idea, I realized, we should have just left her on the boat to sleep it off.
“Claudia, we’re going to hav—” I started before suddenly I was pulling Jayla up effortlessly as if she weighed nothing.
I looked down and saw Claudia was standing off to the side and in her place was Brett. I helped pull Jayla as Brett pushed until she was standing on wobbly feet on top of the rocks. I held her around the shoulders to keep her steady.
Claudia stepped over to Brett and tapped him on the shoulder. He immediately lifted her up and placed her next to us.
“Thanks,” I murmured to him.
He was looking up into my eyes with an unreadable expression. His blond hair fluttering in the breeze. His strong jaw outlined in moonlight.
We turned to leave. Claudia and I struggled with Jayla back to her dorm room—which was a hundred times nicer than mine but nowhere near as decadent as Victoria’s. We heaved Jayla on to her bed and she started snoring the second her face hit her three million thread count pillow. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Dragging someone was more tiring than I thought it would be.
“Thanks,” Claudia said as we turned to go. “I wasn’t feeling well, so I wanted to get out of there. Jayla was a good excuse, but I wouldn’t have been able to bring her back without you.”
“No problem, I’m not really feeling that well myself right now. I was happy to leave.”
“What’s wrong with you? Are you taking those new fat blocker pills too? Don’t they just kill your stomach?”
“What? No, I just have a regular headache, I think.”
“Oh yeah, me too,” she said quickly. “Anyway, goodnight!”
She dropped me off at the elevator before heading to her own room which was down the hall from Jayla’s. I walked back across the deserted campus and through the deserted school. It was all super creepy this late at night and by myself. I was happy when I finally reached the Bell Tower. I raced up the steps and was grateful when I saw that there was no garbage piled in front of my door. Be grateful for small mercies, I thought derisively. I shut the door quickly behind me and locked it.
The night had been absolutely crazy. So much had happened and there was so much I needed to process. I felt like I had been turned inside out a million times. I had kissed not one but two of the Kings. I had stolen the headmaster’s watch; I took it out of my pocket and examined it in the light. I had possibly screwed up—both with the kissing and with the stealing. I felt like I was loosing control of my situation.
But I was too exhausted to worry about it anymore that night. I needed a shower. I felt like I could still feel Grayson’s and Archer’s lips burned into mine and I needed to scrub them away. I just prayed that the water would also wash away the aching desire my body was feeling for their touch again—but I knew it wouldn’t and that terrified me.
Chapter 19
It was cheerleader try out day—that fact filled me with dread. I was not the kind of girl who cheered; I was the kind of girl who made art and went for long walks in the woods. I didn’t want to do this, but the Queens were all cheerleaders and they wanted me to try out so if I wanted to keep hanging out with them then I had to. Unfortunately.
I had successfully avoided the Kings after the party on Saturday and it was already Wednesday. It was something I was kind of proud of, but the Queens and I had been busy getting me ready to try out so I hadn’t had a lot of spare time, and we’d been eating our meals in the Queens’ Study so it hadn’t been all that hard. In the classes we had together I just made it a point
to never look in their direction and I think they were doing the same thing. They seemed to be avoiding me as well, which was good for me but also hurt my feelings a bit—and I didn’t know why because ignoring me was way better than the bullying they were doing before. I felt so pathetic when it came to them and I hated it.
We were in Victoria’s room getting ready. One of them was lending me their uniform—there was no way I’d fit into Victoria’s so it must have been one of the other girl’s. We were taking shots for our nerves, but I didn’t really know what the Queens had to be nervous about. They were all already on the squad and were just going to be judging the girls who were trying out. I desperately needed the shots though, the butterflies in my stomach were banging around like they were playing the drums at a rock concert. The Queens had taught me an easy cheer that they guaranteed would get me a spot on the squad.
The cheer was just about how great our football team, the Eagles, were, and at one point I had to wave my arms like a bird. I knew nothing about cheering, I had never even been to a football game before. The cheer was dumb but it wasn’t that bad.
The Queens buzzed around me, applying makeup. I looked in the mirror and I thought I looked like a clown, but they assured me that cheerleading makeup was like stage makeup and it had to be exaggerated so people in the stands could see it. I shrugged and let them do their thing. The two shots I had taken had me feeling great already, I barely cared what was happening.
“Another shot,” Victoria said as she poured out five more.
“I better not,” I slurred slightly.
For some reason I was really feeling the alcohol that day. I didn’t know why though, because I had eaten just before coming to Victoria’s place.
“Oh, come on, one more won’t hurt,” Victoria said lightly as she put it in my hand.
We all took them at the same time. When I placed the empty glass down on the makeup table, I said, “That’s enough for me. I still need to be able to stand straight.”
