Page 48 of Wicked Prince

By the time Monday morning rolls around, I've managed to get myself out of bed and dressed, so there's that. Now I just have to get through the next few months, or however long it takes me to save up enough money for a semi-decent car and a deposit on my new place somewhere as far from the city as possible.

I've managed to hype myself up enough to walk into class when I realize Lorenzo isn't there. Relief should be the first thing that washes over me, not disappointment.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I seriously don't know anymore.

I shake it off and ignore the glares I get from my other classmates, since that's nothing out of the ordinary, before I take my seat. I know better than to hope that Lorenzo is actually not going to show up rather than just being fashionably late, as he's such a fan of being.

When class has been going on for ten minutes and there's still no sign of him, though, I'm not so sure.

I shrug it off and tell myself to focus on class, not because I actually plan on using any of this stuff, but because it'll keep my mind occupied.

Easier said than done. By the time lunch rolls around, eating is the furthest thing from my mind, but I make myself eat something anyway.

I should've figured I wouldn't be able to get halfway through my lunch without some kind of drama. When I look up to see Kayleigh walking right toward me, I almost choke.

Like I need another reason to lose my appetite. She isn’t surrounded by her girl gang, at least.

Of course, Miss Couture is all done up like she's walking the runway, her uniform so heavily altered that I don't even know how it passes dress code. Then again, there are different rules at play for legitimate members of the Carillo family.

I brace myself for the incoming verbal missile as she comes over to my table and sits down, dropping her purse on top of the open notebook I was working on between bites. Just as well, I guess, since she won't see that my notes are calculations for the kind of budget I'll need to survive on my own for a few months, and how much I have to make in tips each night to accomplish that.

"Can I help you with something, Kayleigh?" I ask, forcing my most pleasant voice. Not because I feel like chumming around with her, but because I don't particularly feel like getting into a hair-pulling, eye-clawing fight in the middle of the lunchroom.

Not on a Monday, at least.

"Don't play innocent," she snaps.

Off to a great start, I see.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I reply.

And it's not a lie. I really don't know what she's on about now. And yeah, for once, she actually has a reason to resent me, but as far as I know,shedoesn't know that.

If she did, I'm pretty sure she would have sailed over the table like La Luchadora rather than sitting down to bitch at me from a reasonable distance.

She scoffs, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. I've been around her long enough to know it's a tic whenever she's disgusted, and I definitely ignite that reaction within her.

"Please. You might be trash, but you're not stupid," she says, each word dripping with venom.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I can kind of see what drew her and Lorenzo together in the first place. Viper and cobra, a match made in hell. "I saw the way you looked at him last night."

I resist the urge to roll my eyes back into my head so far I can't get them back out. "Who, the waiter? Sorry, but that steak was so overdone I could have chipped a tooth."

"Not him," she snaps impatiently, her pupils narrowing into slits as her glare intensifies, like she's trying to light me on fire with her brain. "Lorenzo. The way you were making lost puppy eyes at him all night is just pathetic, even for you."

I clench my jaw, trying to keep my rage in check even though it feels like a pot about to boil over. At least now I know she isn't half as perceptive as I feared, since she thinksthatwas me mooning over her boyfriend. More like wishing he'd spontaneously combust, while feeling my world crumble from the inside out.

"You're delusional. I'm not interested in your rich dick of a boyfriend, so chill."

It would have been a damn lie before, and it still is in part. No matter how many times I stamp on it, the flame that still burns for Lorenzo just won't go out, but with enough time, I can smother it. And I will. It doesn't burn half as bright as my hatred for him now, anyway.

Sure, a day ago, I was actually naïve enough to wish something would happen between us that lasted longer than one night. Now I know I was lucky to get out of that night with nothing lost but my virginity and a healthy chunk of my dignity. I camethis closeto giving him my heart, and that would've been all on me.

"Right. Is that why you were caught making out with him in the bathroom at a frat party?" she asks, arching an eyebrow triumphantly, like she knows she has me pinned.

I cringe internally. I guess it's a miracle it took this long for it to get around, really, and I should've known better.

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