Savage Royals: A Reverse Harem High School Bully Romance(26)
“So, they’re all just waiting around to become rich?” I asked after a moment of silence.
“More rich,” she offered with an arched brow. “The legacies they have waiting for them will give them wealth, power, and vast opportunities. If Charlotte were still here, she would have been given the same.”
She didn’t mention it, but I could hear her unspoken words. Now that my mom wasn’t here anymore, I was the last part of the Hildebrand legacy—including all the good and bad that came with it.
I leaned back in my chair, considering what she’d just told me.
Jesus. No wonder the Princes are so controlling and cruel already. They’ll probably be a thousand times worse once they graduate.
I wanted to push her for more information, but if I asked any more questions, it would make my intense interest too obvious. I’d brushed off the bullying, making it sound like nothing, and I didn’t want to give her any reason to circle back to that topic.
We made lame conversation about safe subjects like the weather and the architecture of the house, then ate dinner in silence.
By the time I left on Sunday, I’d learned more about my tormentors than about my two last living relatives in the world.
Chapter 10
It was almost a relief to make the thirty-minute drive back to campus on Sunday morning. Staying at my grandparents’ house had never gotten any easier. I still felt like an outsider there. Philip only acknowledged me when he had to, he and Jacqueline barely spoke, and her calm, cool mask was essentially impenetrable.
After driving through the black gates, I parked in the student lot and climbed out before snagging my bags from the back seat. Then I shrugged my backpack and overnight bag over my shoulders and made a beeline for Craydon Hall, praying my locker had been fixed over the weekend.
The building was mostly empty, thank God, and I breathed a shuddery sigh of relief when I pulled on my locker door and it swung wide open, revealing my precious notes inside. I scooped them up, cradling them to my chest as I slammed the door shut and bolted down the hallway. There was only one night left for me to study for the English Lit test, and if I didn’t start cramming soon, I was worried I’d fail.
As I turned a corner, planning to cut through Hammond Hall, I plowed into someone hard. We were both thrown off balance from the force of the impact, and my notes scattered over the floor.
I looked up, about to apologize, but the words died in my throat when I saw who it was.
“Watch where the hell you’re going, bitch,” Adena snapped.
“I didn’t see you,” I muttered, dropping to my knees to gather my shit.
“Clearly.” She crossed her arms over her chest, angling her head to look down at me. “Is that because your head is up your ass?”
I sighed. “I’m just trying to get to my dorm.”
Adena moved closer, her fat feet stepping on a pile of my notes. Her face twisted with gleeful malice when she noticed my frown, and she twisted on her heels, scuffing up the papers and tearing them raggedly.
“Jesus!” I leapt to my feet and shoved her, hard. “Get the fuck off those!”
She stumbled back a few steps, and when her blue eyes snapped to mine, they were narrowed to slits. She bared her teeth like an animal about to attack, her whole body shaking.
“I know what you’re trying to do here, slut,” she hissed. “And it won’t fucking work. Why don’t you pack up your crap and go back to the middle of nowhere where you belong?”
I snatched up my remaining notes and clutched them in my fist in a crumpled up wad, my body tense and alert in case she decided to bum rush me or something.
“All I’m trying to do is go to school,” I said in a low, shaky voice. “If you’d leave me the hell alone, we wouldn’t have any problem. I haven’t done shit to you, and you know it.”
She huffed a laugh, a cruel smirk tilting her lips. “Oh, honey. It’s not me I’m worried about. I can take care of myself. But you better believe I’ll defend what’s mine.”
Then kicked at my notes one more time, flipped her long, straight hair over her shoulder and stalked away, leaving me staring after her.
What the hell? I knew I shouldn’t have pushed her back, but she’d pissed me off. What had I done wrong? Walk to my dorm? God, she’s the fucking worst.
I quickly retreated to my room and dumped my things before I flopped onto my bed, doing my best to smooth out the crumpled, torn pages Adena had stepped on. They were salvageable, but barely.
When I had everything straightened out, I yanked my phone out of my backpack and tapped Leah’s contact.
“He-ey!” she sang. “What are you doing, loser?”
“Dying,” I muttered. “What are you doing?”
“Studying. I’m seriously buried in fucking poli sci notes. There was a party on Friday, and I was so hung over I hardly got anything done yesterday.”
“Wanna meet up and study? We can use the Wastelands common room.”
“Sure,” she chirped. “Be over in ten.”
I gathered up my stuff and headed down to the common room. Maggie hung out here a lot during the week, but she went home every weekend and didn’t usually get back till late on Sunday. She had a family that actually loved her and wanted her around—a concept that was so foreign to me, I never knew what to say when she talked about them.