Chapter 18 #2
“No, you were playing whisky pong,” I point out. “That’s not the same thing. At all.”
“True.” He considers this as we continue to walk. “I guess I should’ve pointed that out before I roped you into play, huh?”
“You’re fine,” I stress. “I don’t know what River told you, but I don’t blame you.”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
A smile breaks across his face. “Aw, you’re the nicest bestie ever.”
I resist an eye roll at his cheesiness.
“Um, hello to you, too,” Lily finally says loudly. “Jeez, Finn, it’s like I’m not even here.”
He turns his head toward Lily while pulling me closer to his side. “Hello, wonderful sister. How are you today?”
“Shitty,” Lily replies, slowing to a stop in front of the doors that lead to the cafeteria. “Thanks to River and his lying. And I’d appreciate it if you’d pass along that message.” With that, she reels around and stomps into the cafeteria.
Finn glances back at me with a frown on his face. “What the hell was that about?”
I so do not want to get into this brother and sister drama. “I think you should ask River or Lily.”
“You don’t want to get in the middle?” he guesses with a hint of shock. “That’s … new.”
I crinkle my nose. “Why?”
He lifts a shoulder. “That’s just not how it works around here. People love sticking their noses where they don’t belong.” He tugs on a strand of my hair. “I think I might have picked the best best friend a guy could ask for.”
I give him a bored sort of look. “Dude, we both know I’m not your best friend.”
“Why would you say that?” He juts out his lip. “That’s so mean.”
I can’t hold my laughter in as I playfully shove him back. “Oh my God, you’re ridiculous.”
“But cute and ridiculous.” He’s all cheery smiles and glittering eyes. “Come on; admit it.”
I put my hand on my hip. “Admit what?”
“That you think I’m cute.”
“Nah, I’m definitely not going there with you.”
He points a finger at me. “That doesn’t sound like you’re denying it.”
“I think you already know you’re good looking”—I step toward the cafeteria—“so stop fishing for compliments. I’m sure you get them all the time.”
He backs up in front of me. “Maybe, but I feel like you don’t give those out a lot, which makes them much more valuable.”
“They’re not.” But he’s correct about the first part.
A smirk spreads across his face. Who knows what words would’ve come out his mouth next—I’m sure ones that were both equally parts amusing and annoying—but a guy wearing a button-down white shirt, slacks, and shiny shoes strolls up to Finn.
If he weren’t here at the academy, I’d guess he was an accountant.
“Hey, I’ve been looking for you,” he tells Finn as he drags his fingers through his brown hair. “You need to come with me.”
Finn’s entire demeanor shifts, the muscles in his face hardening, his posture stiffening. “Why?”
“Because I said so,” the guy replies with arrogance ringing in his tone. Then his gaze skates to me, and his lips curl into a smirk. “I can see why you don’t want to go, though.” His gaze drags up and down me as he openly checks me out. “And who is this lovely thing?”
I’m getting creep vibes from this guy so badly it makes me shiver.
“This lovely thing is Maddy,” I introduce myself. “And I’m guessing you’re here to do Finn’s taxes.”
His brows tug together. “What? No.”
“Oh, sorry. My bad.” I gesture at his outfit. “So, you just choose to dress this way, then? Weird.”
Finn presses me with a warning look, a move that seems out of character for him.
“You’ll have to ignore Mads,” Finn intervenes, tossing me another pressing look. “She’s new.”
Accountant Guy is blasting me with a withering look. With his narrow face and small nose, he looks very snake-like. “Well, she needs to learn her place.”
My lips part to tell this guy to screw off, but Finn beats me to the punch.
“I’ll make sure she learns.” He totally ignores me as I glower at him. “But aren’t I supposed to be going with you somewhere?”
“Yes, you are,” Accountant Guy mutters, his gaze never wavering from me. “Come on.” Tearing his gaze off me, he snaps his fingers at Finn as he strides toward the exit.
I gape at Finn as he begrudgingly follows him. “Are you seriously going to let him boss you around like that?”
“I have to,” he whispers under his breath. “Now go find Lily and forget about this.” He walks away without waiting for me to respond and leaves me standing in the middle of the cafeteria with my jaw hanging to my knees.
I remain that way for about ten seconds with the sounds of clanking plates and conversation flowing around me.
I could find Lily—I should. I only came here so I could get ice cream with her.
But I also want to find out where Finn is going with Accountant Guy.
Sure, it might be none of my business, but the way Finn’s demeanor shifted was just plain odd.
Where would they even be going? Why did he let that guy boss him around?
Why do I even care?
“Why did Finn just go with Eli?” Lily materializes by my side with a bowl of strawberry ice cream in her hand.
“I don’t know, but he was acting weird about it.”
“That’s because Eli is a real piece of shit. Like put every cliché douchebag behavior into one person, and you’d have Eli.” She stares at the door as she absentmindedly stirs her ice cream. “I don’t know why he’d go with him. Not after what Eli did to me.”
I glance at her. “What did he do to you?”
She stiffly shrugs. “It’s a long story that I don’t want to talk about in the open, but it has to do with basically ruining my life in high school.” She has a miserable frown on her face that’s crammed with hurt. “Why would Finn go with him?”
I’m wondering the same thing. I may not know Finn well, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would betray his sister like that.
“Hmm …” I’m getting an idea. One that I probably should be getting, but … “Screw it. Let’s go.” I motion for Lily to follow me as I jog out of the cafeteria.
“Wait … Where are you going?” she asks as she rushes after me.
When I walk out of the cafeteria, I look left and right, and spot Finn and Eli just as they’re rounding the corner.
“Come on. Hurry.” I take off in that direction, disregarding the wide-eyed stares.
It’s like people have never seen a girl running down the hallway like a lunatic.
They’d be in for a real shock if they went to Northside High, where it’s an anomaly not to see someone acting like a psycho.
“Maddy,” Lily calls out breathlessly. “What the heck are we doing?”
I skid to a stop as I reach the corner I saw Finn and Eli disappear around. “We’re finding out why your brother is doing with the prince of douchebaggery.” I slowly peer around the corner.
“We look like crazy people,” she whispers as she stands behind me.
“In northside, we’d look like normal people,” I whisper back as I scan the hallway.
I spot a halo of blond hair that belongs to Finn right before he veers into a room.
I hurry toward the room with Lily trailing at my heels. She doesn’t even bother asking me questions anymore, which is the first step of acceptance that we are officially spying on her brother.
The doorway Finn walked through is the arched entrance to the Royal Academy library, so says an engraved sign carved into the pillar above the archway. The place is quiet, but that’s not surprising—it’s a library after all.
The librarian, who’s perched behind the counter, is around forty or so with chin-length black hair. She scrutinizes me as I rush by her.
“Can I help you?” she calls after me.
“Don’t worry, Miss Mapltefied,” Lily tells her. “She attends the school.”
Ignoring the exchange, I powerwalk to the center of the room where a cluster of long, wooden tables are located. The ceiling is high-arched and layered with crisscrossing beams, the lights are woven with metal and glittery crystals, and encircling the entire room are towering bookshelves.
“Wow,” I breathe out as I take the area in. “This is seriously like straight out of Beauty and the Beast or something. This place is crazy.”
“You run way too fast for me,” Lily sputters as she shuffles up to me. She’s out of breath, and her face is red.
“Sorry,” I apologize as I scan the tables for Finn.
“Don’t be sorry. I’m the one who’s out of shape.” She’s still holding her bowl of ice cream, and it’s starting to melt.
“Do you see him anywhere?” I ask. “Finn, I mean?”
Lily’s gaze sweeps across the room. “No. Are you sure he came in here? Hanging out in the library isn’t really Finn’s thing.”
“No, he for sure came in here.” I start toward the row of books and begin peering down each aisle, looking for Finn and Eli.
Lily trudges after me, grimacing at her melted ice cream. When I reach the final aisle and still don’t spot Finn, confusion webs through me.
“I know he came in here,” I mumble while scratching my head.
“It’s okay if we don’t find him. The next time I see him, I can just ask him why he’s hanging out with Eli. Not that he’ll for sure tell me the truth, but I can attempt to get it out of him.” Lily stuffs a spoonful of melted ice cream into her mouth then pulls face. “And I’m done with that.”
I’m half-listening to her. This makes no sense unless another exit exists somewhere.
“Hold on,” I murmur as I wander off toward the back of the room. I look around, searching for another door, but nope. Nothing.
“You’re really stuck on this, aren’t you?” Lily remarks as she steps up beside me.
“Not stuck. I just … I don’t get where they went.”
“Maybe you miscalculated the room they went into. Or maybe you didn’t see them, but someone else.”
“Maybe.” I don’t believe it, though. I know what I saw.
The only other alternative I can think of is that the library has a secret room.
My overactive imagination starts conjuring up all sorts of ideas, the biggest one being that if I pulled on the right book, one of the shelves would move and reveal a hidden room. But that’s crazy, right?
I don’t know because this world, this life, this building is all foreign to me.
After Lily and I leave the library, Lily has to head to a class, leaving me alone in the dorm. I should take a nap—that was my main goal today—but I can’t get over how Finn seemingly vanished into thin air.
As my curiosity gets the best of me, I dig my laptop out of my bag, get situated on my bed, and start searching around online about the history of Royal Academy, particularly the building itself. But I can’t access the website the info is on due to the fact that it’s password encrypted.
I’m in no way, shape, or form a computer expert, so hacking into it isn’t happening.
As I’m attempting to figure out a solution to this, an article in the search engine snags my attention.
Hazing Rituals? Secret Societies? Cover-Ups? Learn the Dark Side of The Royal Academy, a School Known for Its High Academics Also has the Highest Injury and Disappearance Rate Among Its Students.
“What the actual hell?” I click on the article and read through it.
It basically talks about how the academy is dusting stuff under the rug due to the fact that the students who attend the academy are from wealthy families.
What really snags my attention is that the reporter who wrote the article interviewed someone who wanted to remain anonymous.
And they were quoted talking about how a secret society hazed them, and it started with someone writing a message on their door.
They don’t quote what the message said, but reading this sends a chill through me.
Perhaps if I can get a hold of the reporter, I can persuade them to tell me what the message was—if they know, anyway. But the reporter who wrote the article is labeled as anonymous, too. However, the online journal that published it is listed there—The Golden Crown Royalty News.
“I wonder if Wren knows anyone who works there.” Do I feel comfortable enough to ask her?
I’m not sure.
And I’m not even positive the message on my door was for me. It could’ve been for Lily. Either way, I want to know the truth. Because if I’ve learned anything from northside, it’s that the more facts you know, the safer you are.
I lie down on my bed and hug my pillow against my chest. When I decided to accept my scholarship to the academy, I thought I’d be safe here. But I don’t know now. And that makes me question if I’ll ever feel safe.