Page 32 of Brutal Prince

Indi

It starts when I hear the first giggle. I glance over my shoulder and stare at the pair of girls walking behind me. They make brief eye contact before staring down at their phones again.

Weirdos.

The giggles persist as I get to the ground floor. Here, several kids have stopped in their tracks — in the middle of the hall or beside their lockers — phones out and heads bent.

Guess something just went viral.

I’m suddenly glad I’m not on Lavish Prep’s universal mailing list.

My phone vibrates with a new message.

I resist the urge to read it. Instead, I take my time shoving all my things back in my locker. I’m in two minds about whether I want to dare head into the cafeteria, or just hit up one of the vending machines in the hall and go have lunch somewhere quiet.

Like my car.

“Don’t look.”

I stop in my tracks, and turn my head a little to the side. “At what?” I ask.

“At your phone.” Addison materializes in front of me with a scowl on her face. “It’ll die down. It always does.”

Now I’m burning to know. I reach into my pocket, but Addison snags my wrist and jerks my hand out again. “Don’t do it.”

“What’s going on?”

“Someone took a video of you and Briar.”

My heart stops beating. A cold, dreadful certainty fills me like cement.

“Of us in the woods?” I manage in a too-tight voice.

“The woods?” Addison waves away the suggestion with an annoyed flick of her hand. “You on your knees,” she snaps. Then she lifts her chin, moves in beside me, and urges me forward with an arm around my waist. She snaps a large, pink bubble of gum and then throws a finger to the girls who were giggling behind me.

“Fuck them all,” she states in a loud voice.

In the overwhelming relief flooding me, I let Addy sweep me down the hall. I even manage a sickly smile, purely because the horrifying thought that Briar’s assault had been videotaped and aired to Gen Pop had almost given me a heart attack.

If Briar was pissed about me trying to tell a teacher this morning about what had happened…I can only imagine his fury if it was broadcast to the entire school.

I don’t think I’d survive the fallout.

“Let’s get something to eat,” Addy says.

“Yeah. Let’s.”

* * *

We each graba plate of roast turkey sandwiches and French fries and take a seat close to the windows. Chuckles and the word virgin puppy follow me, but Addison makes as if she doesn’t notice.

I don’t get it. What makes me so interesting to Briar? I mean, I’m a nobody. He’s obviously a somebody — by the time we get to our seats and I hazard a glance around, I see his Majesty taking a seat in the middle of the goddamn cafeteria.

Two benches have been pushed together to accommodate his subjects, who are all currently transfixed by whatever tall tales he’s lathering them with. Surprisingly, there aren’t any girls at his tables, just a bunch of jocks and wannabes.

Leaning on my elbow, I point at Briar’s table. “Him?”

Addy glances at Briar’s table and then back at me so fast I’m surprised she doesn’t get whiplash.

---