Page 473 of Filthy Elites

All four men laugh as they walk away, pausing a few steps ahead to turn and wait for Adrian to follow. I expect him to argue, to fight, not that he deserves an ounce of leniency if what they said he did is true. But instead, he pushes up onto his hands and knees, lowers his head and moves forward, crawling along the floor like a dog behind his masters.

The congregation around me all watch in a state of utter shock as The Elite leave with Adrian following behind them. No one dares to say a word, the entire school has been stunned to silence.

“Oh my god, look at them,” Courtney whispers excitedly from beside me.

I jolt, unaware she was even there, consumed by the scene happening in front of us. “It’s barbaric.”

“They’re The Elite, he broke the rules.”

“What he did was illegal, they should turn him over to the police. They’re kids, not gods, they don’t get to allow people to break the law,” I blurt.

“They are gods, look at them, look at the power they have, the way everyone wants them, wants to be them,” she says, her voice breathy and reverent.

“It’s wrong.”

“Stop being such a little bitch, Starling, they’re the kings of the school and we’re their queens. We’re untouchable now, next year we’ll be Elite. Stop being such a brat and suck his dick, fuck him, let him do whatever the hell he wants to do. God, I’ve already sucked off Evan, I’ll do them all if that’s what they want. This is the dream.”

Wide eyed and appalled, I stare at the girl I thought I knew so well. I know she wants to be popular, but to condone this, to tell me to offer myself to these cruel boys for status is baffling to me.

“Starling,” Sebastian calls, snapping my attention off Courtney. “Let’s go get lunch.”

My feet feel frozen to the ground, and I know my eyes are wide and full of fear, shock and realization. My plan to embarrass Sebastian and force him to distance himself from me suddenly feels pathetic. It wouldn’t work, because Sebastian and The Elite are too powerful, too popular for anything I could say to have an impact. He wants me and until he stops wanting me there’s nothing I can do, other than hope I survive.

Hopelessness consumes me as I step forward and take Sebastian’s outstretched hand. “Don’t look at him,” he demands, tipping my chin up with his finger when my eyes go to Adrian. He’s still on the floor on his hands and knees, his head lowered, despite the fact that the whole convoy has stopped and is waiting for me.

Leaning into me, Sebastian presses his lips against my cheek, before sliding his mouth to my ear. “He gave drugs to an underage girl, then had sex with her when she was so high on coke she couldn’t say no. This, what we’re doing to him, is only the start of his punishment. The only reason he’s not in the hands of the cops is because the girl doesn’t want her name released to the media, which it would be if she were to press charges. His family has enough money to buy him off any charges they could make stick, but they’re not rich enough or powerful enough to defy us.”

I feel myself nod, but I’m not sure if I’m agreeing with him or just doing what I need to do. Either way, it seems to appease him, because he presses a kiss to my lips, then leads me to the front of the group as the guys all start to move again.

When we enter the cafeteria, Sebastian turns to lead me to the table Court and I sat at on the first day of term, but I tug on his hand and shake my head. “It’s okay, we can all sit together.”

His brow furrows in confusion. “Sitting atyourtable with Courtney was part of our deal.”

“Were you going to let me sit there alone with her?”

“No,” he smiles mischievously, all of his anger from the scene with Adrian gone.

“So there’s no point is there? Let’s just sit at your usual table,” I shrug, turning toward The Elites’ table in the prime location in the center of the room.

“Hey,” he says, grabbing my arm and turning me to face him.

“I’m hungry, can we just eat?”

His eyes narrow and he stares at me as if he’s trying to figure out what I’m thinking. “Kiss me.”

I should argue, but what’s the point? After what he just did to that boy and Court’s reaction to it, it’s even more obvious how powerless I am against him. Instead of fighting, I push up onto my tiptoes and press my lips to his.

* * *

The next twoand a half months are crazy. Sebastian has ingratiated himself into every aspect of my life and the only person who seems to think this is an issue, is me. My mom adores him. She’s even started asking me what Sebastian thinks every time she and I have an argument, and she’s even started hinting that it would be okay if I stayed overnight at his house as long as we slept in separate rooms. Courtney is so caught up in the world of The Elites, she’s strutting around school like she’s the queen bee, hanging off Evan and Clay’s arms every moment she gets the chance. The sweet girl who stayed friends with me even though I was poor is nowhere to be seen. Sebastian, The Elites and a shot at being the most powerful girl in school has stolen her from me.

Even in all the time I’ve been ignored by my peers and treated like I was beneath them, I’ve never felt as isolated and alone as I am now. Sebastian has somehow created a world where my life revolves around him. He’s taken my best friend and even my mom from me, and now all that’s left is him.

The hardest thing is that Sebastian isn’t treating me badly, he isn’t abusive per se, he isn’t forcing me to have sex with him, or being physically violent toward me. Honestly if we’d gotten together under different circumstances, I think I could actually like him. He’s beautiful, popular, powerful and rich. But the moment I start to soften toward him I remember that none of this is my choice. He didn’t ask me out and I chose to say yes, he told me I was his and forced me to go along with it.

In a matter of weeks, he’s taken over my life and stolen every ounce of control from me and I hate it. I hate that all of my choices have been taken from me and no matter how many times I tell him or my mom or my supposed best friend that this isn’t what I want no one cares. I’m impotent, silenced and ignored and instead of growing accustomed to the feelings there’s a simmering melancholic rage that’s building and festering inside of me, I’m as angry as I am hopeless and I don’t know what to do to make me feel normal again.

Everything that’s happening to me is his choice. He wants me to be his, so I am. He wants me to go places and do things, so he insists I do it and when I argue he manipulates my mom or my only friend to coerce me to do what he wants.

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