8. Maddison

Maddison

P eople are staring. It’s like no one has ever taught them that staring is rude. Or maybe they just don’t give a shit. I need to go back to that girl, the one who gives zero craps about anything. But this place—the shininess, the wealth, the upper class—is making me feel like I’m playing dress-up in clothes that don’t fit me. It’s all in my head. I know this since what I’m wearing hugs my body like it’s meant for me.

“God, it’s like people around here have never seen someone from northside before,” I state as Lily and I walk down the hallway, heading toward the room where orientation is taking place.

“Honestly, most of them probably haven’t,” she informs me as she tosses a nervous glance around the room. “But they’re probably staring at me just as much as you.”

“Really?” I question since she looks like she belongs here.

She nods, flicking a glance toward me. “There was this incident in high school, and a lot of people who go here now were involved in it.” She swallows hard but doesn’t elaborate.

While I want to know what happened, with how upset she looks, I’m not about to pry.

“Is everyone here like this?” I ask as my shoes scuff against the polished floor.

“No, but a lot of them are.” She pauses as she stops at the end of the hallway. It enters into a massive circular room with black and white checkerboard floors, a high-arched, cathedral-like ceiling, and walls painted with splashes of color. In the center of the room is a colossal statue of some man donning a crown, and around that are stone benches where people are sitting, laughing and chatting. “My brothers aren’t,” she adds as she glances at a blond guy sitting on one of the benches.

They make eye contact, and his lips kick up into a smirk.

She hurriedly looks away and shakes her head. “Let’s get to the orientation room.” She power-walks in the direction of a hallway just adjacent to where we’re standing.

Four hallways in total branch out from the quad-like room, and this is one of the many buildings that make up the campus. It’s overwhelming to think about how easily I could get lost.

Sighing at the thought, I hurry after Lily, wondering who on earth that blond guy was.

“Are you okay?” I ask as I jog up to her.

Her jaw is set tight. “I just hate that guy; that’s all.” She forces a smile onto her face as she spots a girl with auburn hair heading down the hallway in our direction. She has her hair down and curled at the ends, and she’s wearing a black dress, fishnet tights, and an oversized army jacket. She almost looks like she’s from northside except for her perfectly manicured nails and the platform designer shoes.

“Wren!” Lily waves at her. “Oh my God, I thought you wouldn’t show.”

“I almost didn’t.” Wren stops in front of us. “My parents were dead set on sending me overseas, but then they learned that the prince of East Kensford was going to attend here, and you know, they thought they’d work on getting that arranged marriage they’ve dreamed about since I was born.”

“Wait … arranged marriage?” I don’t mean to say the question aloud—I don’t even know this girl—but what the hell did she just say?

She looks at me with puzzlement etched across her features.

“Sorry,” I apologize. “I’m Maddison—or, well, Maddy. I’m here on a scholarship, so I don’t get how everything works here.”

Her confusion deepens. “I didn’t realize they were letting scholarship students in.” She pulls a remorseful face. “Sorry, that probably sounded ruder than I meant it.”

“You’re fine,” I assure her, trying to pick up on her vibe. Is she nice or mean? I can’t tell.

“No, it’s not fine.” She sighs heavily. “Sorry, I’m just having a shitty day. My parents just dumped this whole arranged marriage idea on me right before they dropped me off here.”

“Arranged marriages are kind of a thing in this social circle,” Lily explains. “It’s not necessarily spoken about a lot in public, but privately, things are set up by our parents. Then they send us here so that we can make these ideas happen.”

“What if you don’t?” I wonder, fiddling with a leather band on my wrist.

Lily and Wren trade a solemn look.

“Then you end up like Ava B.” Wren is the one to answer. She scratches her wrist while peering around as if she’s nervous to speak about this aloud. “Her parents sent her here so she could hit it off with this specific prince, but she fell in love with another one. When her parents found out, all her money was taken away, and rumors say that she lives on the streets of northside now.”

“That could be a rumor,” Lily stresses as she fiddles with a heart-shaped pendant attached to her necklace. “No one knows for sure.”

“No, but I think we all know that if we don’t do what our parents say, even when we’re grown-ass adults, they’ll cut us off. And then what? We’ve been raised to be dependent on them.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Lily’s shoulders slump.

Wren sighs. “Sorry for bumming you out. I’m just having a bad morning,” Wren tells her then looks at me. “So, northside, I’ve always wondered if parents are better over there. I mean, I know it’s poverty-stricken and everything, but you guys don’t have arranged marriages, right?”

I laugh, but it’s humorless. “No, no arranged marriages. We have to worry more about our parents doing shit like getting in trouble with drug lords and us taking the fall.”

Her brow arches. “Are you speaking from experience?”

I shrug, wondering if I’ll scare them off. But Wren looks more curious than anything else, and Lily looks shocked, her eyes wide.

“Ladies.” An arm drapes over my shoulders at the same time one falls over Lily’s. A split-second later, Finn pushes his way between us with a cheeky grin. “Wren, how lovely to see your bright and cheery face this morning,” he teases.

With an unimpressed look, she lifts her hand and gives him the middle finger.

“You know, I’d take offense to that, but in Wren language, that basically means hello, sexy.” His smirk widens as Wren’s eyes narrow.

“Finn,” Lily warns, slipping out from under his arm and aiming a dirty look at him. “Don’t start with her.”

“What? I’m just teasing her. It’s our thing. Right, Wren?” he asks with a twinkle in his eyes.

Wren stares at him blankly, unamused.

Finn blows out a dramatic breath. “Fine, I’ll direct my lovely energy toward someone who can appreciate it.”

I expect him to walk off, but he turns to me and blinds me with his pearly whites.

“Maddison, so nice to see you again.”

Great, he’s learned my name.

“I think we established the first time we met that your pretty boy smile doesn’t work on me.”

“See? You think that’s an insult”—he wags his finger at me—“but all I hear is that you think I’m pretty.”

I target him with a hardy-har look, but I’ll admit, I almost laugh. He’s kind of funny, and maybe if I’d met him in middle school, I’d have tried to become friends with him. But I’m older now and know that’ll never work. Sure, I’m attending school here, but northside and southside don’t mix. We’re too different.

“Finn, what’re you doing?” a familiar voice floats from over my shoulder.

Finn twists around, and since his arm is still around my shoulders, I have to turn around with him.

Standing behind us is none other than River.

His dark gaze sweeps across me from head to toe, as if he’s checking me out. But I doubt it since he hastily narrows his eyes on his twin brother. He likely doesn’t approve of what I’m wearing.

“You’re supposed to be with your team,” he reminds Finn in a glacial tone.

Finn rolls his eyes but removes his arm from my shoulders. “Whatever.” He glances at me. “Sorry, Dad’s here to ruin our fun, but we’ll pick up on this later.” He winks at me then basically skips off through a doorway a few steps ahead of us where other people are wandering in.

River fixes his attention on me. “I see you decided to change. That’s probably a good idea.”

“And I see you decided to be the same grumpy asshole,” I quip with irritation. “It might be a good idea to change that. But what do I know? I’m just northside trash who doesn’t know how to dress.” With that, I swiftly walk toward the doorway Finn disappeared through, crossing my fingers it’s the room where orientation is happening. The moment I step foot in the room, though, I become painfully aware it isn’t.

The room consists of a long table with chairs, each occupied by a guy around my age. Standing in front of the table are three men, and I can tell right away they are coaches.

“This year will be brutal, but we’re going to state,” the tallest one is saying as he points to a digital TV in front of him.

Crap, this is a football meeting.

Back out of the room, Maddy, before anyone sees you ? —

My boot squeaks against the floor, and suddenly, all eyes are on me.

“Can I help you?” the coach asks me, sounding annoyed.

Finn is sitting at the table, and a confused smile breaks across his face. Then his lips part—who knows what the guy plans to say, but thankfully, he’s interrupted.

“Sorry, Coach Prescot.” River appears beside me and snags a hold of the sleeve of my leather jacket. “She’s new here, and I’m supposed to be showing her around, but I got distracted for a second.”

“It’s okay, River,” the coach says while eyeing me over in annoyance. “Just make sure she understands this room is off-limits to everyone except for members of the football team, just like the sign outside there says.”

Whoops. There was a sign?

River nods then tows me with him as he exits the room. The instant we get outside the room, I jerk my arm away from him.

“I didn’t need you to do that,” I snap, noting the sign to my right that reads, “ DO NOT ENTER UNLESS PERMITTED .” “I can take care of myself. And besides, who the heck cares if I walk into the wrong room?”

“People here do,” he assures me. “And if you want to survive being here, you’ll have to learn that.”

“Thanks for the tips,” I reply dryly. “I’ll make sure not to dress like trash, I won’t walk into any rooms without permission first, I’ll make sure to bow down to everyone, and I’ll never be myself ever again.” Rolling my eyes, I start to walk away, wondering where Lily and Wren went. Why didn’t they come after me? Did I misread the potential friendship vibe from them?

When River snags a hold of the sleeve of my jacket again, I’m beyond annoyed.

“What?” I twist back around to face him with a groan. “Did I miss another rule? Did I step with the wrong foot? Did I breathe incorrectly?”

He releases my sleeve and massages the back of his neck as nervousness consumes his expression. But that dissipates as he arches a brow at me. “Are you always so defensive about everything?”

“No, I just get defensive when people insult me. Even rich guys who I’m sure are used to getting their way all the time.”

“I don’t get my way all the time—I never get my way,” he mumbles, but I don’t think he meant to say that aloud since he quickly clears his throat. “I was going to say that Lily and Wren went into the orientation room because I told them I’d get you out of there.” He points to the football room. “But I also assured them that once I did, I’d walk you to orientation.”

Okay, I don’t have an argument for that. Still, I’m not a fan of him, considering everything else he said about me.

“And I don’t think your outfits are trash,” he adds, scratching his arm. “It’s just that it’s important to be presentable at orientation. It’s why I checked to make sure Lily dressed appropriately. You can wear whatever you want to classes, but for events like orientation, there’s a dress code. And you might get kicked out if you don’t meet it.”

“Is that a rule?”

“An unspoken one.”

“Oh.” I frown. “So, that’s why I had to dress like a preppy girl student? Because of some unspoken rule? Personally, I don’t think this is much nicer than what I was wearing before. The only difference is it’s a dress.”

His gaze scrolls up and down me, lingering on my legs for too long. “You look fine. I promise.”

Wait … Was he just checking me out?

I misread what he was doing the first time he looked at me like that, but this is like the second time in ten minutes.

“Okay.” I tug on the hem of my dress. “Well, thanks for the heads-up, I guess.”

He studies me for a beat. “You didn’t even say that without being defensive.”

“Hey, you don’t know me, dude,” I reply. “I’m not always defensive. But it does come with the territory of being from northside—it’s a survival technique.”

He continues to study me. The guy is intense. “That could come in useful here, too. I mean, not all the time, but …” He wavers.

“People are going to treat me like shit because I’m from northside,” I finish for him. “Yeah, I already picked up on that.”

He shakes his head, wisps of his dark hair falling into his eyes. “It’s not just because you’re from northside. Almost everyone who goes here backstabs, betrays, and lies. It’s part of the royal side.”

“All right, royal boy, noted.” I smile when he frowns. “What?”

“Royal boy?” he replies with zero amusement.

“What? Don’t you think it’s fitting?” I ask with an innocent bat of my eyelashes.

“No,” he responds flatly. “And please say you’re not going to keep calling me that.”

I lift a shoulder. “We’ll see.”

He heaves a dramatic sigh but doesn’t argue further. “Come on; let’s get in there before orientation starts.”

I nod, and we start down the hallway. And in the back of my mind, I think, Okay, he’s not so bad . But then I realize how dangerous of a thought that is.

Are you seriously getting a crush on a royal, Maddy?

No, I can’t do that because royals and north-siders don’t mix. Not without something terrible happening. Like I’ve said, I’ve heard stories of what can happen, and I’m not about to become some royal’s secret whore. Besides, I already made a vow not to date until I’m done with school, and I refuse to go back on that promise—ever.