Page 9 of Cruel Elite (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 3)

“Penny!” Anika waves her arm in the air, flagging me down. “Where have you been? Come drink with us!”

Anika was on the hunt for some poor male to feel her up in the trees when I left, but now she has secured a sacrifice.

He’s an underclassmen with spotty facial hair and eager hands. Jordan or George or something like that—I can’t quite remember.

Whatever his name, he keeps an arm wrapped awkwardly around Anika like he’s afraid she might slip away.

“Actually, I think I might go.”

Anika gawks at me. “What? Why? We haven’t even lit the official bonfire yet.”

My mom’s ever-present lectures ring in my head like they always do. One of her favorites:Stay in the public eye. If you disappear, you’re as good as dead.

Unconsciously, I rub a tiny scar on my cheek. She slapped me one time when I came home from a party early with a stomach bug. She had a ring on, too, so it cut my face open.

But did she apologize? No.

Actually, make thathell no.

Instead, she applied some more foundation and sent me right back to the party.I’m not raising a loser,she’d hissed to me.Get your act together.

The lesson stuck.

So I can’t just waltz away from the party tonight.

But I also can’t stay.

Because, after seeing Noah, I can’t stomach a few more hours of pretending.

Pretending I’m happy.

Pretending I have it all together.

Pretending I’m not the broken daughter of a broken woman.

If you can’t have it, pretend it’s beneath you.Another lesson from Momma.

“Who gives a shit about a pile of burning sticks?” I ask Anika with a sharp laugh. “Cavemen invented fire, like, thousands of years ago. I doubt anything groundbreaking in that department will happen here tonight.”

Anika seems confused by my response, especially after how hard I rode her for paying more attention to her outfit than party prep.

But she begins to laugh along with me, anyway. Her barely legal date joins in, too.

“Maybe we can start a separate party?” Anika suggests.

I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”

“Come on, Penn, it could be fun. VIP only.” She bumps her suitor’s hip with her own. “We can round up the best guests. Meet back at your house? Your mom is always game for houseguests. She even lets us drink, which is ridiculously cool.”

Your friends are supposed to be the people you confide in, the people you tell everything to. Anika and Jennifer should be those people for me.

But they’re too busy cashing in all the social currency I provide to give a single fuck about my personal life.

The only person who knew what it was really like to live with Momma is long gone. And he’s not coming back… ever.

I’m on my own.

I should never forget that.

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