“You’re tough. You can take ‘em.” He grinned again as he pulled a shirt over his head.

I groaned. The four girls who ran Fallen Crest Public were tough too, but Mason knew that. It was why he put up with them, or that’s what he said one time. However, the longer we dated, the more they hated me. I’d rather take the Academy Elite on anytime.

“Okay.” He dipped down for a quick kiss. “I’ll see you Wednesday?”

“Why not tonight?”

He turned around at the door and gave me a blank look. “Logan and I are having dinner with our mom. It’ll be late when we get back. We have to go into the city. You want to come?”

I laid back down. “Wednesday it is!”

I could hear his chuckle as he went down the stairs. The sound faded soon after that and I sighed when I pulled the blanket back up. I already missed him so I inhaled his scent. My eyes fluttered closed and I snuggled under the covers, pretending he was still there.

*

“You’re chipper this morning.”

I closed my locker with a slam.

Amelia White stared back at me with a hard smirk on her face. Her hair had been braided and woven in an intricate knot. She had a bag over her shoulder and pulled her uniform skirt down an inch. Her hipbones showed, but I didn’t think she cared.

“What do you want?” I sighed and made sure my uniform didn’t show my hipbones. It wasn’t a look I wanted.

“Mark told me last night that you’re having dinner at their house on Friday. I want you to tell her to invite me.”

“I can’t do that.” I started to move and she fell in step beside me.

“Why not?”

I was aware of the stares and how everyone parted for us. It was always like that when I walked beside an Academy Elite. The crowd parted for them like magic, but I knew it wasn’t. They were the top of the food chain and they had the incisors to prove it. Half of those that watched were scared of Amelia and, as a stab of pain pricked me, of me as well. I’d had my share of confrontations with this school.

“Hey! Back to this conversation!” Amelia snapped her fingers in front of me. She pulled me into an empty classroom and slapped a hand on the door. “Why won’t you have Malinda invite us?”

“Because it’s a family dinner.”

“He told me Becky was invited.”

“That was all Malinda. Becky was there when she came over last night. I didn’t do that.”

“So undo it. I don’t want you to go unless I’m there too.” Her chin jutted out and she crossed her arms over chest.

I glanced down and expected her foot to start tapping. When it didn’t, I groaned. “Oh, come on, Amelia. What is your problem?”

“You have a thing for stepbrothers.”

“I am dating Mason.”

She shrugged. “Who’s to say you won’t want two of them?”

“Do you really think I’m going to go after Mark? He’s your boyfriend.”

Her eyelids shuddered, and her head dipped down an inch. Her voice softened. “He doesn’t want to be exclusive.”

These Elite girls. I was going to kill them. I forced my voice to be calm. “Look, I promise you that I’ll never make a move on Mark. Now, I can’t promise he won’t, but I will never reciprocate. If I did, I will come to school with a tee shirt that says, ‘Slut who sleeps with stepbrothers.’ How’s that for a promise?”

“Really?” Hope shimmered in her depths.

I wanted to bang my head against the whiteboard.

“Well, okay.” Her shoulders loosened, and she dropped her arms to her side. “You would do that, wouldn’t you?”

“I hope you mean the tee shirt.”

She nodded and gave me a quick grin. “Thanks, Sam. Adam’s right. You are pretty cool. Cooler than Miranda right now.” She started for the door, but drew back. “Oh, hey. You might want to steer clear of Cass today.”

“Why?” Everything went tense inside of me.

“Just because.” She gave me a bright smile now. “She’s a bigger bitch than normal lately, and Adam might’ve said a few things about you this weekend.”

She started for the door, but I slammed a hand against it. “Like what?”

“Oh, um, how he was stupid to have lost your friendship, and he might’ve insinuated that you’d be a good candidate for the group…again.”

“You’re kidding me. Isn’t she dating Peter?”

“Yeah, but she’s still got a thing for Quinn. You know that. She’ll always have a thing for him, and we all know he’ll always have a thing for you.” Amelia beamed at me before she slipped through the door. It closed abruptly under my arm, and I frowned. How had she done that?

The morning passed without much drama. Becky was back to her bouncing self between classes and only looked down once between classes. I looked up and narrowed my eyes when I saw that Adam had passed us by. I fought the urge to slam her head in the locker. Instead, I sighed, “Are you really feeling guilty for being friends with me?”

She didn’t say anything. Her head was still down, but her shoulders shrugged up and down.

“Did you know that he’s going to try and be my friend again?”

Her head perked up and the corners of her mouth lifted. “Really?”

“It’s the word on the street.”

She frowned. “I haven’t heard that.”

“My source is higher than yours.”

“Oh.”

Then someone stopped by us, and Becky’s eyes rolled inwards. Her cheeks flushed, and I caught her shoulders as she fell against the locker. When I turned, I wasn’t surprised to see Amelia and Cassandra. Only they’d have that impact on her.

“What?” I fought back a snarl.

Amelia’s smile was easy, but Cassandra’s was strained. “We’re eating at The Parker for lunch. Do you want to come?”

Amelia held up two fingers twisted around each other. She made sure Cassandra didn’t see and wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

“If Becky comes too.”

“Of course.” Cassandra held out a hand. “This way. We’re splitting the cars. You two can come with me.”

As we started towards the parking lot, I jerked Becky behind me. She stumbled over her feet, but picked up her pace by the time we got to the cars. I glanced behind as I saw the rest of the Elite had fallen in step behind us. When Cassandra led the way to her Mercedes, I saw the hierarchy then. She was the new Queen. When I took a peek towards the back, I saw that there was no sign of Miranda in sight. We ducked into the backseat of Cassandra’s car. Amelia and Emily got into Mark’s brand new truck. Adam and Peter were with them. When I caught his gaze, Adam winked with a cocky grin. Becky inhaled next to me, and I knew she’d seen.