to creep in. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Despite what you might think,” Tristan snaps at me, “we never wanted you to die.” He turns on his heel and heads for the door, slamming it behind him.
“You should just leave before you get hurt,” Zayd says, pauses, and then adds, “again.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I snap, glancing over and catching Windsor’s gaze. He winks at me with his pretty hazel eyes.
“There’s not a single club member who doesn’t have the resources to bury you, Marnye,” Creed drawls, leaning back against my wardrobe. “Face it: you’re outnumbered, outranked, and can be out bought at any moment.”
“Not necessarily,” Windsor purrs, standing up and heading for the door. He opens it wide and holds out a hand, indicating to the two remaining Idol boys that it’s time to leave. Reluctantly, they both do. I watch them go, feeling my heart pound like crazy in my chest. This is nuts; this is absolute insanity, I think. I’d heard high school was hell … but I didn’t expect this. “With me by her side, Marnye won’t have to worry about silly things like money.”
Zayd and Creed both glance back in surprise, but Windsor’s already slamming the door in their faces.
Guess they’re surprised I bagged a prince as a friend.
Guess I’m lucky he’s a revenge-crazed bully of bullies.
Lucky freaking me.
There’s a definite shift in dynamics after the drowning. Creed has stopped flirting with Ileana, and I rarely see Tristan and Harper in the same room. She is, however, still wearing her ring, and I can’t stop myself from thinking about William Vanderbilt and the crack of his palm against his son’s face. No matter what, Tristan won’t dump Harper. Not unless … I get Lizzie involved.
I put that plan aside for now. I can’t pair Tristan up with Lizzie until after I win my end of the year bet with Harper. There’s no way I can compete with Lizzie Walton for Tristan’s affections, so I’m not even going to try. Instead, I focus on casually working myself into situations where I know the boys will be present. They’re as standoffish and weird as they’ve been all year … at first.
But the more I try, the easier things get.
We’re nowhere near the level of ease and companionship that we had before, but I’m making progress. Of course, from my end, we’ll never have that sort of connection again. Zack, on the other hand, is truly remorseful. Or at least, he’s convinced me that he is. I’m pretty sure the Idol boys are still not sorry about what they did to me.
“I still don’t get why they told me,” I tell Miranda as she flips through a yaoi manga—a boy on boy Japanese comic book. The drawings are, um, very explicit, and the funny thing is, she’s even more into it than Andrew is. When she showed it to him, he wrinkled his nose, shrugged and said, “I think those are more … aimed at women?” And then disappeared into the depths of the library.
“Because they’re manipulative sociopaths,” she says, closing the cover of the book and glancing up at me. She’s lounging on bean bags in the ‘Quiet Nook’ which is actually where everyone used to go to make out before the librarians moved the shelf with the new release hardcovers and exposed the corner to the side door. It’s not quite so private anymore. “I’m sorry, I know Creed is my twin, but I don’t trust him for shit. I told him as much last night.” She pushes up from her position on her stomach and nestles into a glittery white bean bag. “He swore up and down and all over hell that they’re telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The thing is, Marnye,” she continues, tucking some of that shimmering blonde hair behind her ear, “they’re all a part of that damn Club. It’s so strict that people get hurt when they don’t follow the rules. So maybe Creed’s lying to you or me or both of us to protect himself. It wouldn’t be the first time things had gone down like that.”
She crosses her legs at the knee, leaning back so far that I can see her garters. Last year, I just assumed she was wearing them to impress a crush. Now, I’m pretty sure she just wears them because they’re hot. They’re even in the school dress code: Academy-issued thigh-high socks can be worn with garters. Of course,