Page 77 of Kingmakers, Year One

“I’m reading for pleasure,” I say to Bram. “Ever heard of it?”

“Only if it’s a nudie mag.” He snickers.

“Can’t help you there.” I turn another the page.

Bram is silent for a moment, glowering. I know from experience he’s gonna throw another dart in my direction. He can’t help trying to make everyone as miserable as him when he’s in a bad mood.

What I don’t expect is for the dart to fucking sting.

“Leo Gallo got the Captainship.”

I lay the book down slowly. “What?”

“They just posted the list down in the commons. That arrogant fuck got it instead of me.”

I’d like to tell Bram he didn’t have a hope in hell of getting the Captainship. Me and at least three other people were better qualified. But how in the FUCK did Leo get it?

“My grades are better than his,” I hiss, without meaning to say it aloud.

“I did just as well as him in marksmanship,” Bram says.

“Was it the professors? Who got final say?”

I have the squirming, impotent feeling that the professors recommended Leo over me. Because he’s charming and persuasive, and because his family name means more than mine.

Bram shrugs. “Maybe it came down to the class vote.”

“A fucking popularity contest?”

I’m burning, seething with rage. Fucking Leo Gallo, the golden boy, gets EVERYTHING he wants. The professors don’t seem to care that he’s lazy and conceited; they fawn all over him anyway.

Everywhere I go on this fucking campus people are calling out his name, trying to get him to sit with them or come talk to them. The girls would rip their own panties off if he’d just look at them.

And the one girl, the one person I give a fuck about, the one I wish could see through his bullshit . . . she likes him better than anyone. Much better than me. She’s his best friend. While I’m sitting here moping with Bram fucking Van Der Berg.

Leo has been ruining my life since before he was even born.

He has everything, and I have nothing.

Parents that love him. A beautiful, clean house. Friends and family—his cousins right here at the school. And the most beautiful, brilliant woman I’ve ever seen right by his side.

Why does he have it all? Why does he deserve that, and I don’t?

Hedoesn’tdeserve it.

He should lose everything, just like I did.

“I’m not helping him win,” Bram says sullenly. “I’ll fucking sabotage him.”

“If the Freshmen fail, we look stupid too.”

“I don’t care,” Bram rages. “Can you imagine how fucking unbearable he’ll be if he gets his name on the wall?”

“Freshmen never win.”

I brush off the suggestion of sabotage, but in actuality, Bram might not have a bad idea . . .

In the chaos of the competition, there could be plenty of opportunities to fuck over the would-be star of the school.

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