Page 51 of Cruel Elite (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 3)

I’ll do what Tank asks to keep Delanie safe, and then once Noah is busy dealing with the Hell Princes, he’ll forget about whatever weird situation is going on between us right now.

Then, I’ll be free to coast through the last few weeks of the school year, graduate, and get the hell out of Ravenlake.

“Penelope?”

I look up, blinking as I try to remember where I am.

Who I am, even.

I was so lost in thought I forgot I was in the middle of class.

Mr. Thomas and the rest of our history class is looking at me expectantly.

“I’m sorry?”

He sighs. “I asked you which American president was in power during the ‘Black Thursday’ Wall Street crash?”

I know the answer.Herbert Hoover.

“I don’t know.”

He frowns, no doubt remembering the A+ quiz he’d handed back to me at the start of class.

But I cross my arms and slouch down in my seat like I couldn’t care less.

No one fantasizes about being with the nerdy girl from class. Keep your head down and play dumb. Guys like a dumb blonde.

Momma’s voice has been in my head for so long that I don’t even have to work to remember her rules. They come second nature now.

No matter how much I hate her methods, I have to admit she gets results.

After my dad died, I spent months mourning his absence.

I was only just getting to know him and then he was snatched away. I felt alone with my grief, especially since my mom started going out in the evenings.

At the beginning, she reveled in her many suitors.

I was only fifteen and still grieving the loss of my dad, but she would show me the endless string of texts in her phone from men who wanted to spend time with her.

She’d show me the flowers and notes they sent to our front door, remarking on their “memorable” or “unforgettable” nights together.

At the time, I was too naïve to understand exactly what that meant, but the horror hit me later.

My mom wasted absolutely no time hitting the dating scene after my dad died. If he hadn’t died of cancer, I would’ve assumed she killed him for the insurance money.

And the insurance money did begin to run out rather quickly.

That’s why she settled on Stepdad Steve.

I didn’t meet him for a long time. The only reason I knew he existed was because I’d see his car pull into the driveway to pick her up, and I’d see the gifts she came home with when he dropped her off.

At first, I was hopeful a new boyfriend would at least keep her focus off of me for a while. Anything that acted as a buffer between me and my mom would be a good thing, right?

Wrong.

Very, very wrong.

My phone vibrates in my back pocket. I lift my hips out of my chair to keep it from buzzing against the hard plastic of the chair.

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