Page 37 of Sweet Temptation

“Probably Tiffany,” Anna replied, nodding at a girl whose cheeks were bright red with embarrassment. “Her boyfriend practically lives in her room.”

Lisa cleared her throat and raised her voice as she tried to regain everyone’s attention. “If this rule is broken again, I will assign every single one of you to cleaning the bathrooms in the boys’ dormitory for a week.” The laughter quickly died. “AndI meaneach and every one of you, whether you broke the rules or not. I can’t imagine you’ll be very interested in sneaking boys into your rooms after that.” A small smile curved Lisa’s lips like she knew exactly how cruel and effective her threat was.

“So, that’s all I wanted to talk about this morning,” Lisa continued, her voice suddenly bright like she hadn’t just been threatening us. “Please enjoy your coffees and croissants. I look forward to seeing you all together again for family night on Tuesday.”

The room broke out into chatter the moment Lisa stopped speaking.

“That’s evil, especially for Lisa,” Cress murmured. “She’s normally so nice.”

“Evil but effective,” Anna added. “I’ll happily chase away any boys who so much as glance at our dorms at the wrong time of night. I am not cleaning the boys’ toilets.”

“Me neither,” I agreed with a shudder. “I think I’d be traumatized for life.”

One of the girls standing next to me scoffed, and she rolled her eyes as she caught my gaze. She’d clearly taken issue with something I’d said.

“What?” I asked her as she went to turn away.

“Oh, nothing,” she replied, but given the slight smile on her lips and the tone in her voice, it was clear she was hiding something

“Obviously, it’s not nothing.”

She lifted one eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest as she faced me. “I think we all know there’s no wayyouwould have to clean the boys’ toilets.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that we can’t all be a LaFleur, can we?” She turned and walked off before I could respond, and I stood there gaping after her.

“Did you guys hear that?” I turned to Cress and Anna. They were both glaring at the girl’s retreating figure.

“Don’t listen to Nat,” Anna said. “She’s always snarky like that.”

“What does that even mean? We can’t all be a LaFleur? It’s not like I get special treatment...”

“No…” Cress started. “But I’d say that’s only because you don’t ask for it. Nat’s probably right. With your dad being who he is, I’m sure they wouldn’t make you clean the boys’ toilets if you kicked up a fuss about it.”

I frowned at my friends, but Anna was nodding alongside Cress. “Yeah, we all know the rules are different for certain people in this school.”

“Really? Because nothing’s changed for me since people found out who my dad is.”

“Hasn’t it?” Anna asked.

“I mean, I’ve had a few people try to talk to me who would probably have ignored me completely a week ago, but it’s not like I’ve been treated any differently by the teachers. I definitely haven’t had a different set of rules than everyone else.”

“I guess we won’t know until a teacher tries to make you clean a boy’s bathroom,” Cress said.

I grimaced at the thought. “Here’s hoping that never happens.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Anna said. She downed the rest of her coffee and placed the cup in the bin. We each took another croissant before we started back up the stairs to our rooms.

I wondered how much truth there was to what the girls said. Were the rules here different for me because now people knew who my father was? I didn’t want any special treatment, and I hoped they were wrong.

“I’m going straight back to bed,” Anna said, munching on the end of her croissant as she spoke.

“Same,” Cress agreed. “Lisa could have simply threatened another early Sunday morning wake up, and I would have complied.”

“I’ll say.” Anna nodded. “Not that any of us are sneaking boys into our rooms.I wishmy dating life was that exciting.”

Cress snorted. “Can you imagine Kat’s reaction if you tried to bring a boy into your room? She’d avoid you even more than she already does.”

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