EVIL QUEEN - Rebel Hart Page 0,43

relieved. She wouldn’t be getting that information if her scholarship was at risk of being revoked. The call I made must have worked. I looked at Alistair, and he gave me a subtle nod. I smiled. “That’s so exciting. We’re gonna miss you next year.”

Avery’s expression didn’t get any happier, though. “Yeah, me too.”

Suddenly, Colette slammed both hands on the table. “Avery!”

Avery looked over at her with her eyes wide. “What?”

“You’re still missing Cherri, right?”

“Yeah,” Avery said. “She’s my best friend.”

“I’m gonna get her back for you!” Colette said, standing up. “I’m going to go and talk to her until she listens.”

Colette rushed off from the table, and Jaxon was up and off right behind her.

I looked over at Nikita and shook my head. “I can’t. I can’t watch that again.”

“I got it,” Nikita said, and she stood up and rushed off after them.

“God,” Alistair grumbled. “This fucking sucks.”

I slammed my head down on the table. “Tell me about it.”

14

Nikita

“Angel, wait.”

When the words left Jaxon’s mouth, it tripped me up a little. For as long as I’d known Jaxon, I’d never known him to use any terms of affection, let alone such a cliche one. I wanted to stop and ask about it, but stopping Colette was priority number one.

“I have to talk to Cherri,” Colette said. “She needs to hear how hard Avery is taking losing her. If I can just tell her, I’m sure Cherri will come back. I’ll tell her she doesn’t even have to be the queen if she’ll just be friends with Avery again. She’ll listen to me. I’ll talk to her until she listens. Cherri’s a good person.”

“Colette, she’s changed, or maybe she’s back to her old self. I don’t know, but I know that Cherri isn’t the same person she was when she was in The Royal Court,” I explained. “I saw her fight. She’s different now.”

“No,” Colette yelped. “Cherri is Cherri! That she’s a little rougher around the edges than we all thought doesn’t matter.”

Neither Jaxon nor I responded to that. It was a sweet enough sentiment, but it was directed toward someone who had decided to cut off all of her friends from the past four years without a second thought. Sure, The Royal Court was mostly vapid, but what Cherri had with Avery and even what she had with Alistair was deeper than that. Clearly, Colette had found something real with her.

If we could all stick together after everything we’d been through, why couldn’t she? None of us were asking her to forgive Nathan, but we didn’t kill Deon or create the issues that lived in the Loche family. Why was she blaming us for wanting to see her safe? If I’d been snatched away from Nathan in that situation, it would have made me mad, but I hope I’d have enough discernment to see that my friends were just trying to help.

Colette burst through the door that led out to the courtyard, a place where Cherri and Sicily were known to hang out during lunch. There were a few other students hanging around, but the second Colette walked out with Jaxon and me behind her, a bunch of them filtered out. Apparently, Cherri and Colette’s experience from the first day back after the winter break was still fresh in people’s minds, and they were expectant of round two.

“Cherri,” Colette said with a whimper as she approached her.

Cherri was sitting on the edge of the fountain in the center of the courtyard and flicking through her phone when Colette called out to her. She looked up, rolled her eyes, and looked right back down at her phone. Sicily was next to her, clicking away at the computer Nathan had gotten him, but he stopped and looked up when Colette approached. Sicily gave her the same exhausted look that Nathan had given me. Whether or not he was willing to admit it, he must be growing tired of seeing the different members of The Royal Court get into it with Cherri.

Colette was not sick of it, apparently. She plopped herself down next to Cherri like they were still best buds. “Whatcha looking at?”

Cherri locked her phone and looked over at Colette. “What do you want?”

“Did you know that Avery finally got her full ride to Yale?” she replied. “Aren’t you excited for her? She worked so hard for it! I’m sure we’ll all take a big trip to visit her. You’ll come, right? You’re her favorite, and she misses you so