Page 31 of Wicked Games (Fallen Royals 2)

Riley stares at me. “What?”

“What, what?”

“Margo, when did your relationship become about winning?” She crosses her arms over her chest.

Students stream around us, but we ignore them all.

I shake my head. “He’s been playing a game with me this whole time. I mean—”

“I get it.” she reaches out and laying her hand on my shoulder. “You’re still upset. You broke up with him, and he let you.”

“Riley…”

“I’m meeting Eli,” she says. “I forgot.”

I exhale. I guess I’ll go alone.

Riley leaves me at her locker, shoulders hunched as people continue to walk around her. I’m tempted to call out and apologize, but I stop myself. I don’t know why I would possibly apologize.

I’m in the right.

And just because I’m doing something scary… doesn’t mean I can’t do it alone.

Swallowing my nerves, I head toward the courtyard. Some students eat lunch out here in nicer weather, but the chill of November has driven everyone inside.

The greenhouse door is propped open. I slip in, trying not to recall when Caleb brought me in here. Light filters through the skylights. Contrary to popular belief, these walls are not made of glass. They’re plexiglass and canvas, letting in filtered light. Privacy, someone once told me.

Amelie leans on a raised box. It appears freshly planted, the soil dark and damp.

“About time,” she says.

“I was debating whether or not to come.”

“You made the right decision,” she says. “The whole class is whispering about how you snubbed Caleb this morning.”

“I was going to do it with or without your little pep talk.” I shrug, feigning indifference.

She flips her hair back. “Caleb’s been meddling in your life forever.”

“I know.” I move to lean on a box across from her. “This isn’t news.”

She squints at me. “What do you remember?”

“Of what?”

“When you up and left. We were ten. What do you remember?”

I shake my head.

—head snapping back—

I press my fingers to my temples. “I don’t want to discuss this.”

“The boys in this school,” she mutters. “They’re out to get us.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Caleb played us all, don’t you get it? He seduced us—”

---