Defiant Princess (Boys of Oak Park Prep #2) - Callie Rose Page 0,77

of us still definitely weren’t.

So instead, I hung out on the quiet Oak Park campus on Thursday, and Leah, Maggie, Dan, and I went to the beach on Friday. It was late November, so the weather wasn’t exactly warm, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to sit on the sand, listen to the waves, and watch the gulls careen overhead.

Leah and I had still been using Maggie—and sometimes Dan—as our buffers, but as we sat in the massive folding lounge chairs she’d brought, the two of them wandered off down the beach hand in hand. I realized with a start that I was actually alone with Leah for the first time in forever. Then I realized with another jolt of surprise that it actually didn’t feel weird.

It felt nice.

Comfortable.

Like old times.

She turned to me, her blue eyes shining bright in the sunlight. “Okay, real talk. What the hell is going on with you and the Princes?”

I dug my toes into the sand, working my way from the warm, dry grains near the top to the cooler lower layers. “I honestly don’t know. It feels like they’re trying to make amends for last year, but I don’t know if I trust it.”

“Good for you, girl. Be fucking skeptical.” She flipped her sunglasses down, raising her eyebrows at me.

“Yeah. I don’t know if I’ll ever be anything else when it comes to them. I mean, they spent a whole semester trying to convince me I was one of them, and it was all a lie. So I feel like, no matter how hard they try, I’ll always be waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Well, Maggie had a point.” Leah shrugged. “At least this time, they’re letting you dictate the terms. I mean, Finn’s been driving you around like your fucking personal chauffeur. And you know they’ve been going after the kids who are still giving you a hard time, right?”

Adena and Preston had managed to amass a pretty significant following at Oak Park over the past several weeks, and the number one target of their vitriol was me.

It was strange to see, and I couldn’t help but wonder if part of it was their preoccupation with me or my war against them earlier in the semester, but the Princes’ control over the school seemed to have been slipping.

“They have?” I lifted my head to face her more fully.

“Yeah. I saw Cole cornering some sophomore a couple days ago. I don’t know what the kid was planning to do, but I’m pretty sure all he actually did was wet his damn pants.”

She seemed almost pleased at the notion, and my brows drew together as I asked, “So, you’re really not mad I’m talking to them again?”

She laughed. “It’s fucking weird, I won’t deny that. But I wasn’t even mad the first time. More hurt, I guess, because it felt like you chose them over me.”

“I didn’t mean to. And I won’t ever again.”

“Anyway, they do seem different. And hell, if someone has to be in charge of the school, I guess there are worse options than those four. Plus—” She broke off, flipping her sunglasses back up as she studied me, her face oddly serious. “You seem different. Maybe it’s because you’re more skeptical, like you said. But you don’t seem like you’re just letting them walk all over you, which is good. You seem… stronger.”

A flush of pride bloomed in my chest.

She was right.

I didn’t always feel like it—had moments of doubt and weakness. But no matter what had been thrown at me since I’d gotten back to Oak Park, I’d kept hold of my determination. And maybe that was the same thing as strength.

“You know what?” She scrunched up her face. “I actually think the Princes all have crushes on you. As they should. You’re a hot fucking piece of ass.”

I batted my eyelashes and stuck my tongue out at her, and she pretended to swoon as she rested back against the lounge chair. My stomach did a strange little flip-flop as we stared out at the ocean though. I hadn’t told Leah what’d happened between me and Elijah. Hadn’t told her that Finn had kissed me in the dance studio the day I broke his phone. I hadn’t told anyone.

Because I didn’t know what it meant. What to do with the strange, intense connection I felt to all of them. Sometimes it felt like we were magnets that someone kept flipping over and over—repelling and attracting each other,

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