Page 46 of Cruel Prep (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 1)

So I’ve settled on getting my lunch from the cafeteria and taking it to the main lobby of the school.

There is a bench just across from the front office where I’m in full view of the secretaries and within screaming distance of the principal’s office.

I know it makes me a wimp, but I feel perfectly fine about using the administration for my own protection against the enemies I’ve accidentally made.

Mexican pizza with mixed vegetables is on the menu, but I opt for a plastic-wrapped peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a bag of chips, and an apple.

Just as I’m about to leave the cafeteria, however, someone steps into my path.

I don’t need to look up to know who it is. I recognize the frosty smell of him and the zing of electricity I feel at being in his presence.

Finn doesn’t usually come into this part of the school. Despite it being against the rules for anyone to leave campus during the day, Finn and the other Golden Boys always grab something from a nearby restaurant for lunch.

Today, however, is my unlucky day.

“Hungry?” he sneers.

I meet his eyes for a second, and it is hard to imagine this cold, cruel boy is the same person who was cursing in ecstasy while he erupted in my mouth less than twenty-four hours earlier.

When Finn and I are alone, he seems different.

Not kinder, exactly. I don’t think Finn is capable of being kind. But … he’s different. More approachable. By himself, he seems like a real person. A fucked-up person. But a person, nonetheless.

Whereas with the other Golden Boys flanking him like they are right now, he seems like a cartoon villain.

“That’s usually why people come to this room,” I say with a shrug. “It being a cafeteria, you know.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t full,” he says, eyes narrowed as they slide down my face and body. “After everything you swallowed yesterday.”

His friends chuckle, and I feel my face flame with embarrassment.

I felt powerful yesterday, bringing someone like Finn to release like that. For the first time, I felt in control and capable.

But Finn is trying to reclaim the reins.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as big a meal as I expected,” I say innocently, lifting my thumb and forefinger up only a few inches apart.

It isn’t true. Finn’s size was daunting—larger than I expected, if anything—but his ego is big enough without me saying so.

Still, hurt flashes in his eyes. He apparently isn’t used to taking what he dishes out.

One of his friends—Viktor, I think—slaps a hand over his mouth and stifles his laugh, earning him a warning glare from Finn. I don’t give a shit what Finn or his friends think of me, but I still have to bite back a smile, pleased with myself.

Before I can react, Finn snatches the apple from where it sits on top of my books, hands it back to the football team’s new quarterback, Caleb, and Caleb launches it towards where a group of teachers are standing under the clock.

Instinctively, I lunge out to try and grab the apple before they can do anything with it, but my reflexes are far too slow. My arm is still extended when the fruit connects with the right butt cheek of a middle-aged teacher.

She yelps, grabs her backside, and spins around looking for the culprit.

Her eyes land almost immediately on me and my outstretched hand.

I yank my hand back as fast as I can, tucking it behind my back, but it doesn’t matter. Finn and the Golden Boys have gone wide-eyed and serious, looking from me to the teacher.

If I didn’t know them, I’d believe their handsome, innocent faces, too.

And that’s demerit number three.

At Ravenlake Prep, three demerits result in immediate after-school detention and a call to your parents. Since my parent works at the school, I have the pleasure of my mom meeting me outside of my fourth-period class in her Ravenlake Prep uniform, nostrils flared.

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