2. Carey
Carey
“So this is actually happening,” I mumbled to myself as I smoothed the fabric of my new tartan skirt, a mix of anticipation and fear coiling in the pit of my stomach.
The private driver that the Babylon Foundation had hired to transport me to the school had just maneuvered the car onto a winding coastal road, and the landscape of Babylon Prep was rapidly unfolding before me in a blur of rugged cliffs and crashing waves, each turn revealing glimpses of soaring pillars, imposing gray stone buildings, and spiked towers.
It looked nice in the brochure, but in person, Babylon Prep looked more like a Transylvanian vampire’s castle than a school for the well-heeled.
The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “Did you say something, Ms. Saracen?”
“Um… no. Just clearing my throat.” I swallowed hard and looked out the window again, taking in my new surroundings with wide eyes.
We passed an ornate sign that was partly obscured by creeping vines. BABYLON PREPARATORY ACADEMY. Beyond that, the open road narrowed into a private cobblestone drive flanked by towering trees, hedges, and manicured lawns leading up to the main building. As we drew closer, I spotted row after row of leering gargoyles staring down at me from the roof.
“Yup. Gotta be vampires living here,” I said under my breath as the driver pulled to a stop.
He grabbed my suitcase and bag from the back and escorted me to the administration office, where I was greeted by a friendly receptionist.
“Good morning,” she said, flashing me a cheerful smile. “How can I help you?”
“Morning.” I returned her smile. “I’m a new student here. I was told to come here before anything else.”
“Wonderful. Let me just check a few things…” She trailed off and bit her bottom lip as her fingertips clattered across the keyboard in front of her. She frowned at the screen briefly, then glanced back at me with another smile. “Sorry, I’m also quite new here,” she said. “It’s a bit of an adjustment, figuring out where to find everything on this computer system. By the way, what’s your name? I completely forgot to ask.”
“Carey Saracen. Sorry, I should have said that earlier.”
“Ah, yes, here we are.” She clicked on her mouse a couple of times, and a printer started whirring behind her. She turned to gather the documents, slid them into a folder, and handed them to me. “Here’s your class schedule, a campus map, and a welcome package that should answer any questions you might have. A school-issued laptop will be delivered to your dorm later today. Speaking of which…” She returned her attention to her computer. “I’ve put you in Dressler Hall, room 4. Your key should already be in the welcome package. If I remember correctly, Dressler is all the way over on the other side of campus, so it may take you a while to get there. I’ve made a note on the system that will allow you to miss homeroom this morning. That way you won’t receive any penalties for being absent.”
“Great. Thanks.”
“It might also give you a bit of extra time to settle into your dorm and unpack a few things. Do you need help finding your way?”
I shook my head. “No, thanks. I should be fine with the map.”
“I’ll take her,” the driver piped up. “I have her bags already, so I might as well.”
I turned to him with a grateful expression. “Thank you.”
So far, every Babylon-related staff member that I’d encountered had been unfailingly polite and helpful. I just hoped the students were the same.
“Thanks so much for this,” I said to the driver when we finally arrived at my dorm. “I wasn’t looking forward to lugging all this stuff on my own.”
“No problem.” He dipped his chin toward the lock. “Did you manage to find the key?”
“Yup.” I held it up and slid it in. “I can take it from here if you need to leave now.”
He glanced at his watch. “Yep, I should probably head off,” he said. “Anyway, good luck in this place, kid. I mean it.”
He left without another word, and I stared after him with wide eyes. What did he mean by that comment? Was he just aware of how poor scholarship kids were often treated at elite schools? Or did he know something else about this place? Something that might require a lot of luck to deal with?
I shook my head and brushed off the comment. The guy was just being nice and wishing me luck. My nerves were making me paranoid.
I lugged my case inside before returning to the threshold for the rest of my things. Then I took a proper look around my new room, scanning every inch of the place with wide eyes. God, it was huge. Bigger than the crummy old apartment I shared with my mom and occasionally my dad when he was around.
As well as being spacious, the dorm was beautiful to look at, with elegant furnishings and décor which exuded opulence and comfort. Two king-sized beds with lavish headboards sat on opposite walls, ends pointing toward the center of the room, which featured a carpet runner so soft that my shoes seemed to melt into it. Farther along sat chests of drawers, closets, and large desks with top-of-the-range leather computer chairs.
I was obviously sharing with another student, but I didn’t mind one bit. The room was enormous, and my dormmate seemed neat.
Scratch that.A pair of scrunched-up panties lay on the floor near the bed on the left side, so she wasn’t so neat after all. I didn’t care if she was a bit messy, though. My own life was such a damn mess that it would be hypocritical of me to care about a bit of dirty clothing dropped on the floor.
I checked out the shared bathroom—gorgeous, with a rain shower and premium toiletries—and then headed back into the main space to unpack a couple of things. Then I returned to the bathroom for a quick nervous pee. While I was washing my hands, I looked in the mirror and mentally psyched myself up.
I could do this. I had to do this.
With a deep breath, I grabbed my bag and found my way to the main building, where my English class was due to start in ten minutes. As I arrived in the first hall, the bell went off, signaling the end of homeroom. I was just in time, as long as I managed to find my classroom quickly enough.
Students poured out of the doors on either side of the hall, some milling around with friends while others rushed away. No one seemed to notice my unfamiliar face, which I saw as a good thing, because being gawked at like a zoo animal totally sucked.
I turned a corner and promptly shrank backward, my heart beating like a hummingbird’s wings. He was here, standing by a drinking fountain with some friends. Hudson Calloway—the asshole who was responsible for my legal woes and threats of prison time.
God, of course. He was from one of the wealthiest families on the West Coast. It made sense that his family would send him here.
Nausea bubbled up in my system, and I whirled around, legs feeling wobbly. In my haste to get away before the rich prick spotted me, I accidentally bumped right into another person’s chest.
“Shit, sorry,” I muttered, lifting a palm as I pulled back. My timetable and map had fallen to the polished floor during the collision, so I knelt to pick them up.
“No worries. Let me help.” The other student knelt beside me and picked up half of my paperwork. “Here you go.”
“Thanks. I—” My words dried up as I caught a proper look at him. Dark, floppy hair framed a handsome face with gorgeous green eyes that held a certain intensity, filling my stomach with butterflies. A playful smile tugged at his lips as he waited for me to finish speaking. “I… uh… thanks for the help,” I stupidly repeated.
I rose to my feet, wishing my whole body wasn’t trembling. The hot guy rose to his full height too, towering over me by at least ten inches. The air around us seemed to crackle with an unspoken promise of excitement, and my earlier terror from around the corner was all but forgotten.
“Are you new here?” Hot Guy asked, tilting his head. “I haven’t seen you before.”
“Yeah, brand new. Just arrived half an hour ago.” I forced a nervous smile and stuck out my free hand. “I’m Carey Saracen.”
The twinkle in his eyes immediately vanished, and his face settled into a cold, stony expression. His smile was gone too, replaced with a furious twist to the lips. Without another word, he stalked away, radiating fury all the way down the hall.
“What the hell?” I muttered to myself. I’d never met the guy before, so as far as I knew, he had no reason to respond so negatively to my name.
Perhaps he was a total snob and he’d heard a new scholarship kid named Carey was due to arrive at school soon. I doubted the school made announcements about new kids, though, so that theory didn’t seem likely to be true.
Whatever.
I lifted my chin and stepped back around the corner. The guys from earlier were gone, thankfully, so I strode down the hall until I reached the doorway to Room 12.
The classroom was only half full when I arrived. A bespectacled man in his forties sat at the front, looking down at a notebook. When he heard me step inside, he looked up at me and offered me a pleasant smile. “You’re Carey, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “Yes. How did you know?”
“I recognize all my students, but I didn’t recognize you, so I put two and two together. I’m Professor Garrick.”
“Nice to meet you.”
He smiled again and gestured to the array of desks in the room. “Sit anywhere you like.”
I scanned the room to assess my options. Some students looked up at me, but from the dirty looks they shot me, I could tell that I wasn’t welcome to take the empty seats beside them. A couple of guys raised their brows, signaling that I could sit with them, but the smarmy looks in their eyes gave them major douchebag vibes.
At the back, a blonde girl lifted her hand and waved at me. Sit here, she mouthed. I nodded and headed over to her, grateful for the friendly face and the offer of a place to sit without feeling like an intruder.
The girl smiled as I sat down. “Hey,” she said. “You looked a little lost, so I figured I’d invite you over here.”
“Thanks. I’m Carey. I’m new here, in case that wasn’t completely obvious,” I said with a wry grin.
“It’s totally obvious. Sorry.” She grinned back at me. “I’m April Garrick.”
“Any relation to the teacher?” I asked, glancing at the front of the classroom.
“Yup. He’s my dad. That’s why no one ever wants to sit with me in here. They think I’ll act like a snitch or something.”
“I thought it would be the opposite,” I remarked. “I’d assume your desk-mate might get the occasional special attention because of their close association with you.”
April nodded. “That’s exactly what I think! But nope. Always alone in English class,” she said. “You’re new here and didn’t know any better, so I successfully lured you into my trap.”
I laughed. “Well, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel for you, because I’ll take all the help I can get around here.” I paused and looked back at Professor Garrick. “You must get discounted tuition as the child of a faculty member, right?”
An oddly confused expression crossed April’s pale face. “Um… well, it’s true that faculty members can get cheaper tuition for their kids if they want.”
“Don’t worry, I’m here on a scholarship. No judgement from me for not being one of the Richie Riches.”
April still looked confused. Then she laughed. “You really don’t know who I am, do you?”
It was my turn to be confused. “Uh… what?”
“Sorry, that made me sound like such a dick.” She shook her head and went on. “I just meant that people usually recognize my surname immediately.”
I whipped out my phone. “Guess I should Google it?”
“Go ahead. But I can explain too. My family owns Garrick-Graystone. As in the aerospace and defense conglomerate.”
“Oh, right. I’veheard of that before. I just didn’t make the connection,” I said, glancing down at the search results on my phone. The Garrick family’s net worth was in the billions.
“My dad teaches here because he loves literature and didn’t want to go into the usual family business. But anyway, we don’t take the staff discount because we don’t need it. It feels… unfair.”
“That makes sense.” I could feel my cheeks flushing with heat, and I knew they were probably bright pink. “Sorry, I hope I didn’t offend you with my Richie Rich comment.”
“Of course not. It’s totally fine.”
“I guess I should’ve known that almost everyone at this school is the child of millionaires or billionaires.”
An amused expression flickered in April’s eyes, and I was immediately certain that I’d just said something stupid again. “Want to know a secret?” she asked.
“Sure.”
“I guess it’s not actuallya secret. But I’m always surprised that hardly anyone seems to have heard about this.” She leaned closer, voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “Okay, so… quite a few of the so-called billionaires in this world aren’t actually billionaires at all. Especially those who send their kids to places like this.”
My forehead wrinkled. “They’re just pretending to have tons of money?”
“Nope. The opposite. But they pay to have their names kept off the rich lists.”
“Because they don’t want to brag?”
April shook her head. “It’s for protection.”
“Oh, that makes sense. People might go after them if they knew just how much money they have. Ransom their kids, or whatever. Right?”
“Exactly.” April’s brows rose. “So, there are quite a few families around here with a net worth in the trillions because they own and control so much stuff. Not just millions or billions.”
“Wow. That’s crazy.”
I felt like I was in way over my head now. Some of the kids at this school had access to so much money and power that I couldn’t even wrap my head around it. I couldn’t even remember how many zeroes a trillion had.
“But don’t worry,” April said. “There are quite a lot of scholarship kids here too.” She paused and pointed to a girl with auburn hair in the second row. “See her? Total math genius. Free tuition in return for repping Babylon at mathlete events.”
“Cool.”
“So what’s your talent?” April asked, tilting her head slightly.
I gnawed on the inside of my cheek, wondering exactly how honest I should be at a time like this. Should I say my talent was grand theft auto? Or being in the wrong place at the wrong time which miraculously turned into the right place at the right place?
I settled on a half-truth. “I got decent grades at my old school, and I’m also really good at coding.”
April’s face brightened. “Oh, awesome! You mean like, building apps and other stuff like that, right?”
“Sort of, yeah. Programming in general. I got into it because my old school had computers that anyone could use during school hours, and there’s tons of free courses online. Plus, it turned out I was pretty good at it.”
“That’s so cool. Do you have Snap or Insta?”
“Yup. I have practically every social media thing. I just don’t use them much,” I said.
“I’ll follow you. What’s your handle?”
I told her, and she grabbed her phone and tapped at the screen a few times. “There. Request sent.”
I accepted the Instagram request and followed her back before briefly scrolling through her top photos. “Cute dog,” I said, looking at a photo of a panting black labrador.
“His name is Fido. It’s a running joke in my family that we always give our pets the most clichéd names ever,” April said with a grin. “He was even cuter as a puppy. Scroll down further. There’s some older pics of him on there, so you can see.”
I scrolled all the way down and finally spotted a puppy pic from a couple of years ago. “Aww, he’s adorable!” I said, smiling at the screen. My eyes were quickly drawn to the photo on the left, featuring April with another blonde girl who looked very similar to her. “Is this your sister?”
“Yeah, that’s Abby.”
“She’s so pretty. Is she older or younger than you?”
“She was a year younger than me.”
My gaze shot up to meet April’s. “Did you say… was?”
“Yeah.” She looked down, lips tightening. “She died.”
“Oh my god. I’m so sorry,” I said, heart lurching.
She waved a hand. “No need to apologize. You had no way of knowing.”
“I know, but still, I’m really sorry you went through that. It must’ve been so hard,” I said.
I didn’t ask her what happened, but there must’ve been a question flickering in my eyes, because April swallowed hard and supplied the answer. “She was a real party girl from a young age. Got into some bad stuff. She overdosed last year.”
“God, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry. And… I’m sorry for even bringing her up.”
“You don’t need to keep apologizing. It’s okay. I like talking about her. It helps me feel better when I’m really missing her.” April paused and smiled. “She would’ve liked you.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked, brows lifting.
“Your whole coding skills thing.”
“Oh, was she good at that too?”
“No. Not at all. But she and her friends were obsessed with that Gossip Girl show. Remember it?”
I nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“They wanted to start a Babylon version of GG with an app. But none of them knew how to do that. So I bet Abby totally would’ve roped you into building the app for her,” April said. She laughed softly and shook her head. “An app like that would never have worked at a place like this, though.”
“How come?” I asked.
“Gossip spreads here like wildfire. No app necessary. You could drop a pen on the fourth floor and everyone on the first floor would probably know about it within five minutes.”
“Oh, wow.” I swallowed hard. “So, um… speaking of the social scene here, what’s it like apart from the gossip? Is it hard to make friends?”
April grimaced slightly. “You should be fine. But some advice—be careful about who you trust. Like, really, really careful. People will pretend to be nice to your face and then totally stab you in the back as soon as it suits them.”
“Should I be wary of you, then?” I said in a joking tone.
April grinned and pretended to swipe at me like a cat. “Yeah, totally,” she said. Her smile suddenly faded. “Seriously, though, be careful. Some people here will act like your friend, and then you’ll find out that they secretly hate you and just want to mess with you. Or they’re just trying to use you for something. See her over there in the third row? Brown ponytail.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“That’s Regina Barnett. We used to be friends. Or so I thought.” She grimaced again. “One day I accidentally saw a text on her phone to one of her other friends. It said, ‘Did you convince April to get it yet?’”
“Get what?” I asked, raising a brow.
April sighed glumly. “Turns out she was only hanging out with me and having sleepovers at my house so she could try to sneak into Dad’s study and steal English exams. That way she and her real friends could cheat.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Yup.”
I wrinkled my forehead. “Why would anyone here even want to cheat at tests? Can’t rich kids just buy their way into most colleges?”
“Yeah, you’re right, but it’s a status thing, I guess. Attending an elite school like Babylon is one thing, but being able to say that you were the top student at Babylon is another thing entirely.”
“Ah. That makes sense.” I smiled wryly. “At least that’s one good thing about not coming from money. Who would ever try to use me for anything?”
April laughed. I laughed softly alongside her until a flash of movement caught my eye. Instinctively, I turned my head slightly to the right to glance at the door and spotted a newcomer to the class. My heart instantly sank.
It was the angry asshole from earlier, and he was looking right at me with the same scowl on his face; a face that I had now decided wasn’t just handsome but annoyingly handsome.
April noticed the sour look on his face and frowned. “Um… do you know him?” she asked. “He’s totally glaring at you.”
I shrugged. “Not really. I sort of bumped into him earlier in the hall, and I guess he has a problem with me now.”
“Weird.”
“Who is he?”
“Maverick Reinhart.”
My eyes widened. “His name is Maverick?
“Yeah, why?”
“I’ve never heard a name like that in real life. Just in movies. It’s a bit like an AO3 name.”
April’s brows rose. “AO3?”
“Like… fanfic.”
April started giggling. “Oh my god. I would literally pay you to say that right to his face. It would be so funny.” Her laughter promptly ceased, and a more serious expression appeared on her face. “Actually, no. He’s not someone you want to mess with too much.”
“Why?”
She rolled her eyes. “He’s one of the most popular guys here. No one messes with him. You know the type, right?”
“Yeah. I think there are guys like him at every school.”
“Totally.” April lowered her voice. “It’s weird that he keeps glaring at you. Are you sure you haven’t met him before?”
I considered it for a second, chewing on my bottom lip. “Wait… did you say his last name is Reinhart?”
“Uh-huh.”
With an internal groan, I realized why Maverick knew my name. He was the guy whose car I crashed into last year. He wasn’t in the vehicle at the time—he was standing at a nearby lookout with some girl, apparently—but I’d completely fucked it up to the point where it needed to be written off.
I’d never actually met Maverick in person after the incident, because his parents were the ones who dealt with all the legal stuff, but he must’ve heard my name from them.
April looked at me expectantly. “So do you know him or what?”
I hesitated again. There was no way I could tell her everything about that night. She wouldn’t believe me. No one ever did.
I decided to give her a brief account of the story instead, leaving out ninety percent of the details. “I was on my way home a while ago and accidentally crashed into his car. I totally ruined it.”
April’s eyes widened. “Was he in it?”
“No. Parked.”
“So why would he care so much? He’s rich enough to get a new car easily. Besides, insurance exists.”
I swallowed thickly. “Well… there’s a bit more to it than that.” I took a deep breath and filled her in on the scholarship. “I was going to get in a ton of trouble, but instead I ended up here. The Reinhart family actually helped to sponsor the scholarship, among others. They were very forgiving.”
April nodded. “Ah. So Maverick is probably pissed as hell because not only did you wreck his car, you’re now benefiting from the accident in a financial sense.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I murmured. My face was burning with embarrassment now.
“Thanks for telling me about it. It’s rare for people to be so honest at a place like this,” she said. “But you should know something.”
“What?”
“If Mav recognizes you, then the whole school will know what you did by lunchtime.”
I sighed. “So even if I didn’t tell you, you would’ve found out anyway.”
April nodded. “Yes. But now I know you’re a decent person, because you admitted it to me before any of that gossipy shit started going around. Seriously, that’s super rare here. Takes guts.” She paused and gave me a small smile. “Other people will eventually notice that about you too. So I think you’ll be fine here.”
“I hope so,” I said, stomach twisting.
“If anyone is nasty to you, let me know. I’m the child of a faculty member, so I could possibly arrange for them to wind up with a few detentions. Or perhaps thrown off one of those nearby cliffs,” she said with a playful smirk.
I laughed, already feeling a little calmer. “Thanks.”
The bell finally rang, and our class started. The lesson ended up being fine for me, because we were at the very beginning of the school year, which meant everyone else in the room was in the exact same boat as me—unsure and a little lost, but ready to jump in and figure things out.
The bell rang, and April offered to show me where my next class was. I walked past Maverick’s desk with my eyes stalwartly forward, because I was afraid he might say something if he saw me looking at him. I could feel his gaze on me as I passed, practically burning a hole in my new blazer with the fury held within them, but thankfully he stayed silent.
I stepped out into the hall and didn’t look back, but when April decided to open her phone camera and take a selfie to commemorate the end of the first class on the first day back, I spotted Maverick on the screen, standing a few feet behind us.
Watching me.