Page 6 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

“Right,” I answer. I’m a little on the defensive after meeting Finn and the kid in the leather jacket in quick succession, but the girl seems bubbly and warm. I sigh and make a mental note to loosen up. No need to make more enemies than the ones I already have.

“I see you’ve met Dallas.” She jerks her head in the direction of the boy with the devil on his jacket.

“He seemed a little…” I pause before finishing, “I dunno, on edge.”

Cora rolls her eyes. “He thinks he’s holier-than-thou because he’s in a biker gang. But don’t let the tough guy façade fool you. He’s just an errand boy for those Hell Prince shitheads.”

My mouth falls open. “He is really a biker?”

Cora’s red mouth pulls into a grimace. “With the obnoxiously loud crotch rocket to prove it.”

“This school is a lot to process,” I comment.

Cora laughs at that. “Girl, you don’t even know the half of it.” Then she catches me staring into the distance. “I see you’ve discovered the Golden Boys, too.”

I blush and avert my gaze. “Dallas was saying something about them.”

“Mhmm,” she says knowingly. She’s clearly not buying my ‘what’s-going-on?’ act at all. “It’s fine. You wouldn’t be the first to fall for Finn on sight. We’ve all been there.”

“I’m not even sure who Finn is.”

“The dark-haired angel sent to us by the heavens,” she said dramatically. “Unless you were looking at Viktor, the tall one; Caleb, the burly one; or J.C. or Noah. All together, they are the Golden Boys. The princes of Ravenlake Prep. At least, that’s what they’d tell you if you asked them. Anyways, which one caught your eye?”

I look down at my lap and shake my head. “I was just looking. No one in particular.”

“Liar.”

I think Cora is making fun of me, but when I look up, she is smiling, her nose wrinkled. She nudges her knee against my leg and giggles. “It’s fine. Like I said, we are all a little bit in love with Finn. Girls and boys alike.”

My face flushes and I smile. “Fine. I was staring a little bit. I met him earlier today and wasn’t sure if he was real or not.”

Cora throws her head back in a full-on cackle. “Oh, God, never let him hear you say that. It would make him even cockier than he already is.”

“Roger,” I mumble.

She reaches out and touches my hair. “You’re really pretty, you know. Oh!” Cora claps her hands. “What’re you doing tonight?”

I start to answer, but Cora cuts me off before I can get a single syllable out of my mouth. “Because you shoulddefinitelycome with me to Finn’s back-to-school party. It’s nuts. Annual Ravenlake tradition.”

I shake my head, but she rests a hand on my thigh and smiles again.

“I insist,” she says with the charm of someone who never gets told no. “It’s going to be badass. You’re coming. I won’t take no for an answer.”

Just then, as if she timed the whole thing perfectly, the bell rings to signal the end of lunch. All the students start shuffling inside. Cora grins brightly and takes to her feet, offering her hand back down to help me up.

“We’ll go over to my place after school to get ready and pregame,” she says confidently. She doesn’t wait for me to answer. Instead, she turns around and heads inside with the rest of the student body.

Leaving me all alone. Wondering just what the hell I’ve just gotten myself into.

4

Finn

Cora finds me after lunch ends.

Just like I told her to.

I let J.C. and Caleb go on without me, even though we all have fifth period together. You would have thought I’d told them to eat their own balls.

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