by Callie Rose
“Wow. Don’t sound so fucking excited about it.” I crossed my arms over my chest, still glaring warily at him.
“Well, if you’re expecting a damn parade, you’re shit out of luck,” he drawled. “But what I am offering is a ceasefire. A reset. We’ll start over, and this time we’ll treat you like a Royal should be treated. No bullshit.”
I still didn’t speak. My lips were pressed so tightly together my cheeks ached, and I searched the depths of his eyes for some hint of his true intentions. His irises were such a pure, distilled color of green that it was hard to believe they were real sometimes, and all I saw in them was a sort of amused annoyance.
After a long moment of silence, Mason cocked his head. “I don’t understand. I thought this was what you wanted, Talia. To be one of us. I’m offering you a fucking olive branch here, which”—he shook his head, laughing under his breath again—“I don’t do often. You don’t have to take it if you don’t want, but it won’t change the fact that you are a Hildebrand. You’re meant to be one of us.”
“I don’t believe you.” My voice was scratchy.
A Cheshire smile lit his face, and he stepped away from me, reaching for the door handle. “You don’t have to, Hildebrand. The truth is written in your damn DNA.”
Chapter 17
Mason hadn’t been kidding.
He hadn’t been lying.
Somehow, in the two weeks since the end of fall semester, the Princes had decided I was one of them. I was a Hildebrand, granddaughter of two of Roseland’s wealthiest citizens. A Royal.
…and just like that, the bullying stopped.
Not just from them, but from everyone at Oak Park. Adena and her little posse still seemed to hate me, but even they didn’t actively taunt me or push me around anymore.
If I’d ever had any doubt of the Princes’ sway and power over the school, it died the first day of spring semester.
As quickly and thoroughly as they’d turned the entire student population against me, they undid it. Kids talked to me in the halls, people in my classes offered to study with me, I got invited to parties and social events.
The whole thing was such an abrupt turnaround I felt like I had whiplash as I went through the first week of classes—as if I’d literally stepped into someone else’s shoes, some other girl who was popular and well liked.
But that wasn’t the only change.
The weirdest, strangest, most unnerving part of the whole thing was that the Princes didn’t just leave me alone.
They enfolded me, as if their little unit had always been five rather than four.
Over the next few weeks, they insisted I eat lunch with them every day. In the classes I shared with them, they held a seat for me right next to theirs. They walked me across campus, and Finn started hanging out in the ballet studio with me again during sixth period gym. He seemed happy to be there, and I wondered if he’d missed this little haven hidden away on the second floor of the gymnasium.
It was sort of nice to have him back, actually. I still hated all four of the Princes, and I refused to let them just brush the entirety of the previous semester under the rug like it’d never happened. But even when things had been at their shittiest, the ballet studio had always been a weird neutral territory, a place where we’d both let our guards down.
Sometimes we chatted about random stuff, and sometimes we didn’t talk at all. But I found I could concentrate better when he was around, although I had no idea why. Something about the sight of him leaning against the wall opposite the barre and mirrors put me at ease.
As far as the rest of it?
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
It was nice not to be singled out and tormented by my classmates anymore, and the Princes weren’t really even dicks to me when I hung out with them—no more than they were to each other, anyway. They gave each other shit and joked about old, embarrassing stories, and they included me in those conversations almost as if I’d been there.
As if I’d been here this whole time.
They’d been friends since they were toddlers—something I’d guessed after my talk with Philip over the break—so they knew all of each other’s buttons and exactly how to push them.
But they also had each other’s backs. Always.
It was strange to be on the inside of this tight-knit group looking out, rather than on the outside looking in. It felt strangely safe inside the circle, although I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Leah had walked into the dining hall on the first Tuesday back, and the second she’d seen me sitting stiffly at the Prince’s table, her jaw had practically hit the floor. I’d seen her body lock up, seen her internal debate about whether to leap in and try to save me or run for her life, and I’d shaken my head at her quickly.
It wasn’t her job to try to save me from… whatever this was.
She’d blown up my phone the rest of the day with text messages demanding to know what the hell was going on, and as soon as we got out of Chemistry, she’d dragged me back to my dorm before the Princes could get their hands on me.
Ensconced in my room, we’d picked apart every detail of my interaction with the Princes at the party and beyond, trying to pinpoint what had caused the abrupt about-face.
“I mean, shit, girl. If you have a chance to get back in their good graces, take it! I saw how miserable they made you last semester. If they’re willing to drop the whole thing because you called them names at a party—which I can’t believe I was inside the house for, by the way—then take that deal and fucking run.”
“Yeah…” I wrinkled my nose. “I just wish they didn’t want me to be part of their stupid Royals club.”
“You know, it does kinda make sense though. I mean, Mason’s not wrong,” she’d mused, popping a pizza roll into her mouth as she lounged on my couch. “Your family are the fucking Hildebrands! You are on their level. Maybe they just got scared you’d send your grandparents after them if they didn’t stop being such shits.”
I’d chuckled and thrown a pizza roll at her face. Honestly, I didn’t think my grandparents had much interest in defending my reputation—they were more worried about me destroying theirs—but she had a point.
“It just kinda sucks,” she’d said as she hugged me goodnight. “If you really are being adopted by them or whatever, does that mean I have to hate you now?”
“No!” I’d assured her vehemently. “I’m not one of them. And I hate them just as much as you do. I’m just taking the little bit of peace where I can get it, like you said. They’re not my friends.”
And they weren’t.
I meant it.
Just because they were no longer actively tormenting me didn’t mean I was willing to forgive and forget all the shit that’d gone down the previous semester thanks to their unfair war on me.
But the thing was, I hadn’t realized how exhausted I was until the bullying stopped. Hadn’t realized how much it had been wearing me down until it was over.
So maybe what they were doing now was nothing more than some new kind of psychological warfare, some new way to control me and assert their dominance over the whole school, but for the time being, I would take it.
By the end of the third week of this strange new dynamic though, I felt like I was crawling out of my skin. The Princes were everywhere, so fully integrated into my life that even I was starting to have a hard time remembering when they hadn’t been there. Their voices, so familiar to me already, were permanently ingrained in my brain now.
I was starting to know their quirks, their habits. I could read the expressions on their faces—even Cole’s and Mason’s, who presented themselves to the world as closed books.
And I needed a break from it.
In Chemistry, I typed out a quick message on my phone, hiding it under the table in my lap.
ME: What are you doing after class? Shopping trip?
Her phone was on silent, but she must’ve had it out of her bag too, because her an
swer came almost immediately.
LEAH: Um yassss! Sheesh, I was thinking I really was gonna have to start hating you.
ME: Sorry. Been a little tied up.
LEAH: Ew. Please don’t tell me you mean that literally
ME: What? No
LEAH: Hey, I dunno what kind of kinky shit the Princes are into
My whole body burned as heat rushed up my cheeks, and I turned away slightly so she wouldn’t see it.
ME: *barfing emoji*
LEAH: Hmm, so maybe my friend hasn’t been body-snatched after all.
ME: Nope. Still here. So… shopping?
There was a pause as Mr. Young made his rounds through the classroom, checking in at all the tables. As soon as he walked away from mine, I turned my phone over in the folds of my skirt and smiled at the one-word response.
LEAH: Duh
After Chemistry let out, we grabbed our books from our lockers and headed right over to the student lot. My chem class was in Johnson hall, and all the Princes had their eighth period classes is Hammond Hall, on the other side of the U, so it was the perfect chance to make a break for it.
We walked arm in arm, heading between two smaller admin buildings on the east side of campus toward the student lot.
“God, I’m so ready to get out of here for a while,” Leah chirped happily, turning her face up to catch the sun. “Ever since Maggie and Dan got together, I’ve lost my best shopping buddy!” She turned to me, squeezing my arm and laughing. “No offense! You’re my second best! But you still kinda suck at it, to be honest. You like, pick up a million things and then put most of them back on the rack before you check out. That’s not really how shopping works.”
“It is when I do it,” I joked back, although she was totally right. I still didn’t love shopping. It stressed me out in a way I wasn’t sure would ever really go away. Too many memories of what it used to be like.
But I liked hanging out with Leah, and I needed to get out of Oak Park for a few hours. If shopping was what it took, I’d happily charge a few things to my grandparents’ credit card.
I was about to tell her I could drive us when a heavy hand fell on my shoulder. I jumped and spun around, coming face to face with Cole, who was flanked by the rest of the Princes.
Dammit.
“Um, hey guys. What’s up?”
“We need you.”
That was all he said. As if that were all that was required, the Royal equivalent of flashing the bat signal in the sky or something.
My brows furrowed. “Um, sorry. I’m going shopping with Leah. We have plans.”
Four sets of eyes turned to her, and she swallowed nervously. I understood that. I knew exactly what it felt like to be the focus of all that look.
“You sure about that?” Cole asked, his blue gaze cutting back to me. “This is important.”
I hesitated. They were all watching me, and Mason’s eyes had narrowed slightly, as if this were a test and he was trying to predict whether I’d pass.
A thick cloud of tension hung in the air as they waited, and it occurred to me suddenly that this was a test.
They’d declared me one of them. They’d called off the school and protected me from those who still wanted to make my life miserable. And now they wanted to see if I really was one of them. If I was ready to claim my legacy, or whatever over-dramatic, medieval sounding way they’d phrase it.
My stomach pitched sideways.
If I said no, if I blew them off, I was certain that would be it. The switch that’d somehow been flipped at Petra’s party would flip back, and I didn’t think I’d ever be able to undo it this time. If I got on their bad side again, I’d stay there forever.
But I couldn’t just let them win. I couldn’t force myself to go along with them—couldn’t choose them over my friend.
I opened my mouth to say that, but before I could speak, Leah interjected.
“You know what, go.”
What?
My gaze shot to her, and she shrugged. “It’s fine. My mom wanted me to come home and visit this weekend anyway, so I’ll just go see her. She’ll take me shopping. It’s cool.”
“See? It’s cool.” Cole raised his black brows. “Now come on. We don’t have all day.”
The four of them turned and began striding back toward campus, and I glanced at her, embarrassment and guilt making my face flush. “Leah, I—”
She shrugged again, though her voice was a little colder this time. “It’s cool, Tal. I get it. If you don’t play along, they’ll go back to making your life miserable. It’s probably smart to just do your Royal thing.” She pasted on a smile. “We’ll rain check.”
“Yeah.” I nodded, my gut twisting. “Yeah, okay.”
I turned to follow the guys, but as I walked away, I shot a look back toward Leah. She was watching me, her lips pressed tight, and I could see the disappointment in her eyes. The judgment.
She thought the Princes owned me.
And maybe she wasn’t wrong.
I had to jog to catch up to the four of them since they hadn’t slowed down, and by the time I joined them, we’d almost reached Clarendon Hall, the dorm they all lived in.
Elijah led us up to his room, which was surprisingly messy for a guy who always looked so put together. Posters of rock bands hung on the walls, and a few pieces of clothing were piled on one arm of the couch.
The four of them arrayed themselves around the living room, pulling out their phones as they sprawled languidly over the furniture.
I stood blinking at them, my hands on my hips.
“What? This? This is the thing that was so pressing I had to break my plans with Leah? You’re not doing anything!”
“Chill, Legs.” Finn patted the couch cushion next to him, and I sank down onto it reluctantly, smoothing my skirt and trying to ignore the feel of his muscled leg pressed up against mine. “This is important. And we are doing something. We need to find as much dirt as we can on Evan Baxter and his whole family.”
My nose wrinkled. “Evan Baxter? The senior who drives that loud as fuck Mustang? Why?”
“Because,” Elijah said evenly, not looking up from his phone, “his dad is trying to steal a client from my dad. So we need to find something on either Evan or his family that we can use against them.”
“What, like blackmail?”
“If it comes to that.” Mason met my eyes over the black rectangle of his phone. “But we won’t know how we’ll use it until we find it—whatever it is. So hop to, little Princess.”
I gaped. “You want me to help you find shit on a teenage boy and/or his parents so you can bring them down and protect some business deal Elijah’s dad is doing? Why don’t you just leave it up to the adults?”
“Because what they do affects us. Every win or loss affects what our legacy becomes.” Mason’s emerald eyes glittered darkly. “I told you it’s not all roses and puppies on this side of the fence, Legs. You sure you still want to play this game?”
No. I wasn’t.
At all.
Chapter 18
We spent the rest of the evening in Elijah’s room, tapping away at our phones.
I didn’t actually find much—partly because I didn’t know where to look and partly because I didn’t want to find anything—but I was shocked at the amount of info the guys were able to dig up.
And what they found…
Well, it made me feel a lot less bad about their plans to sabotage Samuel Baxter. The man was a fucking creep.
But none of that made me feel better about the whole situation. Was this the world I was living in now? Where the “good guys” were only good because they were slightly less awful than the “bad guys”? Where everything existed in shades of gray, and blackmail could actually be a good thing somehow?
Finn went to pick up food at seven, and after they were satisfied with the information they’d gathered on Evan Baxter’s dad, we turned on a movie and chilled. It was strange, doing something so ordinary with them�
��something I’d done with people I considered my real friends plenty of times.
But it felt too… normal to be doing it with the Princes.
We watched a scary movie, which made me think of Leah with a twinge of guilt and shame.
Finn couldn’t restrain himself from yelling at the screen, and every time he did, Cole would swing something at his head. Since I was still sitting next to the blond football player, that meant I did a lot of ducking too, and even though the movie was legitimately terrifying, I found myself laughing.
“Jesus. You are the fucking worst. And now you’ve got her as your backup worst,” Cole bitched when his stash of nearby projectiles ran out.
“Sorry if we know how to enjoy cinema and you don’t.” Finn smirked, kicking his feet out in front of him, stretching his long legs. “It’s meant to be an interactive experience.”
“She’s fucking laughing. It’s not a comedy!”
“Legs,” Finn intoned, turning to me with a serious expression as he gestured to the TV. “This is serious. Someone is about to die. Can you please be respectful of that?”
That only made me giggle again, and Mason shot us both a look.
“Spoilers, motherfucker. Shut the hell up.”
Finn rolled his eyes, but for the rest of the movie, he actively tried to stop himself from speaking to the screen—which was actually funnier to witness than him blurting things out.
By the time the last victim was murdered, I found my eyelids drooping, and as soon as the movie was over, I made my excuses and left before any of them could offer to walk me back to my dorm.
As I made my way across campus in the dark, an odd feeling settled in my gut.
That had been… fun.
I hated to admit it, but I’d actually had a good time hanging out with the Princes. The Princes. The four boys I’d sworn to hate forever, the four who had gone so far out of their way to make my life miserable for an entire semester.
Just like they’d sat down today and dug up dirt on Evan’s family, they had systematically gone after me just because my presence threatened their worldview.
