that he sat next to me in American Literature, scooting his desk a little closer to mine.
It was the fact that a rift seemed to have opened up between the Princes.
They still sat together at lunch, still walked across campus together in a straight row, still gathered together in the halls. But where so often before, the four of them had seemed like a singular being, some kind of beautiful, multi-headed monster, now they were… divided.
Distinctly separate.
Tense.
Chapter 14
As the rest of the week passed, the tension between the Princes didn’t lessen. If anything, it became more obvious, more overt. I’d noticed it right away because I was—for better or for worse—deeply attuned to each one of the Princes.
But other students noticed it too, particularly Adena, who used the division between them to push back even harder against their control of the school. Preston was becoming a regular fixture at her side, and the two of them started bullying other students, particularly the freshmen and sophomores, probably trying to get the littlest fish in line before they went after the big ones.
I wasn’t particularly inclined to stop her, except that her rebellion against the Princes also included being more of a bitch to me. She was sneaky about it though—she wasn’t dumb—only going after me when none of the four guys was around to see.
Philip called me on Thursday to ask if I’d meet with him again. I agreed, with the same terms as the previous time—I got to decide where we went, and I got to decide what we talked about. This time though, I didn’t press for more details about my mom or Jacqueline or any of the fucked up mess that was my family life. Instead, we talked about stupid stuff, like what kinds of movies we liked, what our favorite foods were, and what places we’d been—Philip—or wanted to go—me.
I wouldn’t have thought I’d have much in common with a guy in his early seventies, but we had the most important thing in common. Blood. And Philip actually had a pretty hilarious, dry sense of humor when he came out of his shell a bit. He still looked a bit haggard, with heavy bags under his eyes, but his entire face changed when he talked excitedly or laughed at something I said.
Our coffee date ended up lasting a couple hours, and I wasn’t sure what he told Jacqueline about where he’d been, but I didn’t care. I had no interest in talking to her, but I was glad to have a tiny sliver of a real family back in my life.
Over the weekend, I juggled studying with continuing my research on the Princes. I’d told Finn that he could try to prove he’d changed, but I hadn’t promised him a truce. And besides, part of me was still sure all those feelings I had thought I’d seen in his eyes were fake, lies to lure me in again.
Digging up dirt on him and the rest of the Princes felt like fortifying my defenses. And I needed them to be strong.
On Saturday night, I spent a few hours pouring over The Great Gatsby and then pushed the book aside and dragged my laptop onto the couch with me, flopping across the cushions on my stomach before prying it open.
I’d been Googling each of the Princes’ names along with different combinations of words, trying to find something beyond the top ten results that popped up at the first search.
Tonight, I typed in Finn Whittaker Oak Park, then clicked through the first few webpages. Eventually, my search led me down a rabbit hole of prep school admissions forums, where parents got together and bitched about what schools their kids should’ve gotten into or were unfairly waitlisted for. I wasn’t even quite sure at first why I landed there, but as I scrolled down the page, Finn’s name popped up.
Anderson4810: It’s not exactly fair that someone like Finn Whittaker is taking up a slot at Oak Park Prep. My daughter was waitlisted, and she actually has the grades to earn a place there.
CA.Dad.28: What do you mean?
Anderson4810: Just that money can buy a lot of things.
CA.Dad.28: Yeah, I guess they’re hoping that NFL money will come back to them later.
Anderson4810: Or they already got their kickback.
CA.Dad.28: You think?
Anderson4810: I know.
The conversation moved on to other topics after that, but I went over that short exchange several times, trying to read between the lines. Had Finn’s admission to Oak Park been bought?