Page 31 of Take My Place

“I won’t let you down,” I promise.

“I am entirely indifferent whether you do or don’t,” says Mr Robson. “The only person you’ll be letting down is yourself. But that would be hardly surprising given your bloodline. The Archaics aren’t exactly known for their high standards.”With that he turned and stalked out of the room, leaving me gaping after him, practically picking my jaw off the floor.

I wanted to yell after him that I’d tell Mr Pilkington what he’d said, but it wouldn’t make any difference. It would be his word against mine, and I knew all too well how that dance goes. When I was growing up in foster care, it didn’t matter how many times I told the truth about who’d started a fight; it was always me who got the blame. Now I knew when to pick my battles. This one isn’t worth it.

But I am going to have to work doubly hard to keep my place in Robson’s class. I am under no illusion now that he’d take great delight in chucking me out if I give him the slightest excuse.

Romy is waiting for me by the entrance to the Academy, he smiles when he sees me.“How was your day?”

“Okay.” I shrug. I thought I’d feel guilty when I saw him after what happened with Declan, but I’m surprised to discover I didn’t care. After all, it isn’t like Romy didn’t play the field himself. There is no way he is going to stay faithful to me for the rest of his life. I am just taking something for myself for once.

Yeah, right, Ivy. You keep telling yourself that. That justifies cheating on someone who’s been nothing but nice to you the entire time you’ve known him.

“What about the assessments? Do you have to repeat a year?”

“Not at the moment. But I’ve got to keep my grades up and have extra tutoring in politics and business studies.” I sigh. “That’s just what I need. Wasting more time in the two subjects I detest. But on the bright side, Mr Metcalf told me I’m one of his best students and he’s really happy to have me back in his class. That’s nice to hear.”

“I’m unsurprised. My fiancée is so talented.” Romy beams with pride, and I smile weakly. Would I still be his fiancée if he knew what I’d done?

“Isn’t that our driver?” I point at a car edging up the drive, a black limo in a sea of identical black limos. I have no idea if it really is our car, but it gives me an excuse to change the subject.

“No. But the car behind it is.” Romy reaches out and takes my hand, and we descend the steps together to meet the car.

“What do you want to do tonight?” Romy asks when we are settled in the back seat.

“I really ought to study.” I think about all the catching up I have to do and sigh. It is a mammoth task, but all my teachers have told me I have the intellectual ability to get the grades, I’m simply not motivated enough about most of my subjects to want to do the work.

“So why do I hear a ‘but’ in there?” asked Romy.

“Because I’ve been back at the Academy five minutes and already I want to leave again. If it wasn’t for my music class, there’s no way you’d be able to get me to finish my A levels.”

“Have any of your teachers set you homework to do yet?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Other than Mr Metcalf telling me I need to write a song with Declan for the fundraiser, but I can’t really do that by myself.”

I feel my cheeks turning red at the mention of Declan’s name, but Romy doesn’t seem to notice.

“Which means you can take tonight off,” says Romy. “Some guys are having a race and I thought you might like to ride pillion. It’s not as intense as the Bomber Derby and something tells me having you riding behind me will bring me luck.”

“Don’t I get to compete as well?”

“What? And make me look bad?” Romy jokes, but I get the sense there is more than a little truth mixed in with the sentiment. “No, I don’t think that would be a good idea, Ivy.”

“Why not? Is it because I’m female?”

“No.” Romy looked awkward. “Well, yes, but not for the reasons you think. I know you’re incredible on a bike. I’ve seen you ride and I don’t doubt for a second you’d win most of the races round here. But you’re the only Archaic heir and the mother of my children one day. My father made it very clear that he doesn’t want you competing. It took all my powers of persuasion to convince him to let you have your own bike to go for a buzz around town, so you can take it to the race if you like, but there’s no way you can actually compete.”

“But we don’t have to tell your father,” I point out. “How’s he going to know what we do when we’re out?”

“You know better than that, Ivy.” Romy sighed. “He’s got eyes and ears everywhere. That doesn’t mean we can’t bend the rules a little, but if we finds out you did something as dangerous as race, we’ll both be in serious trouble and you wouldn’t like my father when he’s angry. Think Jack Nicholson fromThe Shiningcrossed with Sonny Corleone fromThe Godfather.”

“I’d rather not.”Great. Just what I need in my life. Another psychopathic father figure.

“But riding pillion’s almost as good as competing, isn’t it?” says Romy, a pleading tone to his voice that needs me to agree with him. “You’ll be my lucky charm and imagine the look on Archer and Declan’s faces when we cross the finish line and they’re eating our dirt. Wouldn’t that be more fun than staying home sulking because you’ve got a ton of homework?”

“I guess.” The way I’m feeling right now, I’d rather lock myself in my apartment with my guitar, but I feel guilty for letting Declan get so close to me, so I end up agreeing to ride with Declan.

For a girl who prided herself on being independent, I seem to be doing an awful lot of bending over backwards to make the men in my life happy–and not in a good way.

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