Page 29 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

For right now, we can pretend that things are okay.

14

Lily

When Monday comes and I have to go back to school, I keep on pretending.

Even as I wake up, pull on my ripped high-waisted jeans, and grab an oversized white T-shirt I cut into a crop top that shows off just the barest hint of midriff, I pretend.

I pretend the party on Friday never happened.

I pretend that Finn never slid his fingers inside of me, that he didn’t spill himself across my chest.

I pretend that I never walked out of his room, down the hall, and into a living nightmare.

I pretend … until I can’t.

“I heard she does anal.”

“Finn Foster tapped that? No fucking way.”

“Apparently, she did it to pay for drugs.”

People are still talking about me, but for very different reasons now. When I first arrived, it was all about me being the girl who got Nico Barber sent away.

Now, I’m the school slut.

I honestly can’t decide if it’s an improvement or not.

I see Cora in the hallway after my art class. I watch her walk towards me, waiting for her to acknowledge me. To do or say something to let me know where I stand.

Does she know about Dallas Martin? I never got the chance to tell her explicitly at the party. Was she in on it?

I hug my sketchbook to my chest, my fingers worrying the edge of the pages.

Clearly, she knows Finn, and from what I could tell on Friday night, they don’t like one another.

Maybe Cora can help me.

Maybe she will know what to do about Finn and Dallas and … all of it.

We are about to pass one another, and Cora still hasn’t looked over at me. I don’t want to miss this opportunity to reach out to someone, so, I veer towards her slightly.

As soon as I move into her path, Cora snaps her attention to me.

I’ve never been on the receiving end of so much malice before. Her red hair is curled around her pale face in large waves like flames, and her eyes are a deadly, nuclear green. She looks like an angry siren ready to devour an unsuspecting sailor whole, bones and all.

Before I can say anything, she shoves me hard with her shoulder. “Get the fuck out of my way, slut.”

A few passing students scurry away from the scene, and I don’t blame them. I wish I could do the same. I wish I could burrow into the wall like a rat and live my days in the ductwork. That would be far better than being me right now. Than going to this school, with these people. These horrible, monstrous people.

I avoid eating my lunch on the grass behind the school because I’m afraid I’ll run into Finn or Cora. But also because I’m afraid of being confronted with Dallas’s absence.

I feel like as long as I avoid seeing him—ornotseeing him—then I can avoid confirming that he is really dead.

It’s denial in its purest form.

By the time I’m in my last class of the day, PE, I’m convinced I can make it out of the school without seeing Finn. The girls’ locker room has a back exit through the gym, and from there, I can walk straight out to the trash cans where I normally meet my mom. It’s perfect.

---