Page 30 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

After class is over, I take my time in the locker room. Mom will be a bit finishing up her shift, so I’m in no rush. Besides, the rest of the girls change and take off quick. They’re in a hurry to get back to their luxurious homes and rich, happy lives. I don’t mind being alone in here.

I slip out of my cotton shorts and white T-shirt, and fold them into a neat pile on the bench. But when I turn around to open my locker, I scream.

Cora is standing directly behind me, less than a foot away, and I didn’t hear her approach.

I stumble backwards, my legs hitting the metal bench so I fall on my ass with a loud smack that echoes in the locker room.

“Shit,” I breathe, clutching my chest. “You scared me. What are you doing?”

Suddenly, two more girls appear on either end of the lockers. They wear expressions that mirror Cora’s—disgust.

I understand immediately: this is a setup.

I have to get out of here.

I know I could outrun any of these girls, especially since they are all back in their normal school clothes and impractical sandals, but I’m naked. Or, almost naked.

Just as I think about lunging for my pile of clothes, Cora picks them up and tosses them to the girl next to her.

“Lily doesn’t need these anymore. The way I hear it, she spends most of her time naked anyway.”

Tears well up in my eyes, but I force them away, blinking rapidly. “Cora, stop. Why are you—”

She spins on her heel and opens my locker. The hallway lockers have combinations, but the ones in the locker rooms require you buy your own lock. I’ve been a little too busy to go out and buy mine yet.

“Because,” Cora explains as she rips my clothes out of the locker, “you are probably riddled with diseases, and none of us want to catch any of your skanky germs.”

She throws my jeans to the dark-haired girl and my shirt to the other one. Immediately, they walk away in either direction, taking every article of clothing I have with them.

“I don’t have any diseases. I didn’t do anything to you.”

I stand up and try to face Cora, but I’m naked, and it all feels borderline hysterical. I take a deep breath and lower my voice, trying to appeal to the girl I thought was my friend.

“I borrowed your dress on Friday. I thought we were friends. I don’t know why—”

“Friends?” She snorts with disbelief. “You and I will never be friends. We aren’t even the same species.”

I hear the showers running in the back of the locker room, and the two girls are laughing. Whatever they are doing with my clothes must be hilarious. I’m too confused to even consider what I’m going to wear out of school today.

“Okay, but do we have to be enemies?” I cross my arms over my stomach, trying to cover myself. “Can’t we just … coexist?”

The showers are still running, but Cora’s friends reappear, flanking her on either side, smirking with obvious delight at my misfortune.

Cora tilts her head to the side, eyes narrowed. “Think about a bowl of fruit.”

“Fruit?”

“Yes,” she snaps. “Shut up and listen. When there is a rotten piece of fruit in the bowl, it infects the others. It makes them disgusting and unappetizing and inedible. You, Lily DeVry, are a rotten-ass piece of fruit, and our only chance of survival is to kick you out of the bowl. Got it?”

No. Not at all. Not even a little bit.

“Is it because I’m poor?” I ask, growing angry. My face is hot and flushed. “Is it because I wasn’t born with rich parents on the right side of town? Are you honestly that shallow that you will judge someone based on nothing more than their socioeconomic status? Because you could have just as easily been born in my place. You do realize that, right? The only thing you did to be standing there instead of where I am standing is come from a rich daddy. Big fucking deal.”

Just as I’m finished, Cora reels back and slaps me in the face.

My head snaps to the side, and I lose my balance on the tile floor, my socked feet slipping out from under me. My elbow cracks down on the metal bench before I crumple to the floor.

Cora squats down over me, her top lip pulled back in a sneer. She opens her mouth to say something.

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