Page 11 of Take My Crown

“I don’t think so.” I shake my head and push up my sleeves, ready for action. I see a Head Girl badge on her jumper, right under the House name Archaic.

“I think you’ll find that belongs to me,” I say, pointing to the badge.

The girl is beautiful in a plastic, oh-so-not-real-under-her-skin way. The sneer she gives me makes her look ugly though. Dammit, I don’t want the badge, but I want them to leave Milly alone. “Oh yeah? Come take it, bitch.”

“Fine.” I shrug my shoulders then launch myself at the girl before she can brace herself. There is an audible gasp from everyone else in the room as I punch her straight in the face, knocking her to the floor. I jump on top of her, giving her no chance to get up as I slap her hard and wrap my hand around her throat.

“Don’t. Be. A. Bully,” I lean down and warn her, she struggles to push me off her. “And if you need me to teach you another lesson, I’ll be right here.”

“That’s enough, Ivy.” Milly tentatively reaches down and grabs hold of my shoulder. “I think she got the message.”

“Not quite.” Reaching down, I pull the Head Girl badge off the bully’s chest, not caring that I have ripped her jumper in the process.

It is only then I get up and let the other girl go free. There is a stunned silence, but then someone starts clapping. Another pupil joins in, then another and another and soon the whole room is cheering me. Well, that’s one way to make sure the entire school knows I’m here.

Crap.

The former Head Girl of Archaic is helped to her feet by her two cronies and the three of them storm out of the common room. The head girl looks back once at me, and when her eyes meet mine, I know I have a new enemy. When I’m not looking, she is going to stab me in the back and dig the knife in.

“You’re amazing!” squeals Milly, giving me a huge hug and distracting me from the head girl.

“I hate bullies,” I shrug, trying to break free with no luck.

“You certainly know how to make an entrance, Archaic,” says Nikki. Is it my imagination or is there a look of respect in her eyes?

“What’s all the noise?”

I nearly jump at the familiar voice. I kinda hoped I wouldn’t hear his voice again and then the part of me that doesn’t lie to myself knows I wanted to hear him. Milly squeals again and runs across the room to throw herself into the arms of the boy who’d just walk in.

“Oh, my god! You have to meet my new best friend, Ivy. She saved me from Ally!”

I look into the clear blue eyes I have only just seen the day before. Now I know why Milly looks so familiar.

“We’ve already met,” Archer says with a condescending smirk. Damn my heart for beating quicker from just the sound of his voice.

I’m so screwed.

Chapter Four

Ivy Archaic

“Really?” Milly is positively skipping with excitement. “Then you know how cool she is!”

“Oh yeah. Ivy’s cool all right,” smirks my kidnapper. “Ireallyenjoyed hanging out with her yesterday.”

“I bet you did.” My eyes narrow, fingers itching to slap the smile off his face. I’m not usually so violent, but there is something about being kidnapped and having people dictate how to run my life that changes me.

Milly looks from me to her brother and back again, a confused frown wrinkling her forehead.

“Is something wrong?” she asks.

“Nothing’s wrong, little sister,” Archer says with a cheeky grin. “Ivy’s just a little tired after all the excitement yesterday. Only an Archaic would have the energy to come to school the day after they are reunited with their long-lost father.”

“That must have been so exciting for you,” Milly gushed. “I bet you are so happy to meet your dad after all that time apart.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” I say, deciding now isn’t the time to go into the details of my abduction. “But look at you two. I should have guessed you are related. You’ve got the same eyes. Are you twins or something?”

“Irish twins,” Milly corrects me. “Archer’s ten months older than me, which is why we’re in the same year at school. We’ve also got another brother in the year below and a sister the year below that. And our step mum’s pregnant now, so there’s another Knight coming into the world in a few months.”

---