Page 113 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

“Can you turn off the show for a minute?” she asks.

I shake my head. “David and Rebecca are about to serve the owners of the yacht steak without any steak knives, and Mary-Beth and Georgia are supposed to be making beds while everyone is eating, but they’re making out in the linen closet. It’s kind of a bad time to stop the—”

Mom closes my laptop screen with a definitive click and sits on the edge of my bed, ignoring my groans of protest.

“What’s up with you, kid? You’ve been acting strange for a while, but now you seem really sad, and I just want to help.”

I cross my arms and lower my chin to my chest, pouting.

“Is it about moving schools?” she prods. “Is someone being mean to you? Is that why you had that bruise on your face? Did you get in a fight at school?”

I’ve never been able to remain stoic during my mom’s fact-finding missions. As a kid, I’d swear on my life I wouldn’t tell her about the nail polish I spilled on the bathroom rug, but the minute she asked me about it and gave me a lowering of her brows, I’d crack like an egg.

I can do a lot of things, but I can’t lie to my mom.

Still, I try.

“I didn’t get in a fight at school.”

Technically true.

“You hit a branch on a run, then?” My silence is deafening, and my mom sighs. “Come on, Haley. Moving here and getting away from your old school was supposed to be a new start, but you’re being secretive and moody, and your dad and I are worried about you.”

“Dad is, too?”

As far as my personal life goes, my dad likes to stay out of it. Once I turned thirteen, he decided I was well beyond his limited scope of expertise and defaulted on all matters to my mother.

She nods. “We both are. All we want is for you to be happy and safe—it’s all we’ve ever wanted for you—but we can’t help you if you shut us out.”

All at once, it hits me that I’m doing exactly what I accused Caleb of doing with his friends. I’ve been keeping my parents at arm’s length, lying to them and keeping secrets from them because I was afraid they’d be disappointed in me. I didn’t even give them the chance to help me. I pushed them away before they could do the same to me.

I’m a coward.

I don’t realize I’m crying until my mom leans in and wraps her arm around my shoulders. She smells like cinnamon, and I press my snotty face into her sleeve.

“I’ve messed everything up.”

She strokes a hand down my hair. “I’m sure that isn’t true.”

I wipe my nose on my sleeve and sit up. “I’ve been lying to you because I didn’t want to disappoint you, but I can’t lie anymore.”

“What is it?” she whispers, grabbing my hand. “Tell me.”

And I do.

I start at the beginning, telling her about John and the Hell Princes. I can see the disbelief and fear swirling in her eyes as I tell her about the drugs and the underground fights, but she stays quiet and listens.

“He was mean to me,” I say. “Well, abusive. He was abusive. When we moved, I thought it would be my chance to start over, so I ended things with him.”

“Good, good,” she says, nodding. “So, you’re still broken up? You aren’t with him?”

I shake my head. “No, I’m not, but …”

My mom’s dark brows knit together, and she urges me on, squeezing my fingers.

“When we broke up, I went into his apartment, trashed the place, and took a bunch of his drugs.”

Her eyes widen, and she glances around my room as though she is suddenly going to see a pile of heroin syringes lying on my dresser she didn’t notice before.

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