Chapter 3
Chapter Three
God, I hate him. I knew I’d run into him here eventually. I didn’t expect it to happen in my very first class. “Argh, asshole,” I grumble under my breath.
“Who’s the asshole?” A female voice has me lifting my face from my class schedule to a pair of emerald green eyes.
“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud,” I tell the girl who is looking at me expectantly.
“I’m not sorry you did. Although I am curious who pissed you off.” She smiles. “I’m Constance,” she says, holding out her hand.
I’ve been raised to be polite, which is why I return the gesture. Even though it’s a weird thing for a teenage girl to be doing. “I’m Zara.”
Constance gives me a look, like as if everyone doesn’t know who you are. Her dark hair is piled up in a messy bun on her head. Her face is completely free of makeup and her uniform appears as though she threw it on in a rush, unpressed and all out of place.
“Well, Zara, now that we’re friends, wanna tell me who the asshole is? You know, so I can avoid him and all?” She smirks.
“It could be a her,” I suggest, having no intention of telling a stranger in this school just how much I hate Ares De Bellis. Or want to hate him anyway. “You don’t happen to know where this room is, do you?” I show her my schedule.
“Sure do. It’s where I’m going. Come on. So, why are you here anyway? I’m sure I read somewhere that you attended some ritzy private school.”
I try not to visibly cringe. I don’t know this girl.
She could be really nice. But as much as I was raised with manners, I was also raised to be cautious of people’s intentions.
When you’re set to inherit a share of not one, but two of Australia’s wealthiest family fortunes, people become…
not as genuine. They either want something from you, or want to get close to you to get closer to that money.
It’s made me wary of everyone’s motives, not a great trait for making friends.
I wouldn’t say I didn’t have friends at my previous school. I did. Although, if I really think about it, they were more acquaintances than real friends. I’ve never let anyone close enough to be a real friend.
“I got expelled,” I tell Constance, and she stops in her tracks.
“You what now? For what?”
I lift a single shoulder. “Fighting.”
“You do not look like the type. Guess it’s true what they say. Never judge a book by its cover.” Constance starts walking again, and I follow her. The hall is empty, everyone already in their respective classes. “You know, I think we’re going to be great friends.”
I smile at her, not sure what to say. I can’t let anyone get too close. If I do, I risk them seeing the real me, and that’s not something anyone wants to see.
Turning a corner, I spot a lone figure leaning against the wall. I suppress my groan as we approach him. Is he seriously just going to be lingering around everywhere?
“Ares, did you get kicked out of class already? That has to be a record, even for you,” Constance says in a light tone.
Great… My so-called new friend is “friendly” with him too. Looks like we won’t be the best of friends after all.
“You’re late, P. Not a good look for your first day,” Ares says, ignoring Constance and looking right at me.
“Wait. You two know each other?” she asks.
“Nope,” I say at the same time Ares says, “Yes.”
I look up at the number above the door in front of us. This is my next class. Without another word, I push past Ares and walk in. The teacher stops and stares at me. “Miss McKinley, I assume? You’re late.”
“Sorry. I got lost,” I say.
“Find a seat.” She glares at me. Guess being late really isn’t a good first impression.
Searching the room, I find an empty desk in the middle. It’s between two guys. I sit down and drop my bag onto the floor, doing my best to not look up as both Ares and Constance enter the classroom.
“You’re right. He is an asshole,” Constance says as she passes me, moving towards the back.
Any hope that Ares was going to follow her goes out the window when he stops right next to me. I watch as he raises a single brow, his head tilted at one of the boys in the seat next to mine. He doesn’t even have to say anything for that boy to start collecting his things as he vacates the chair.
“We need to stop meeting like this, P,” Ares says, slumping down into his new seat.
I glare at him. I don’t know why he’s doing this.
Why go out of his way to annoy me? We’ve had a good thing going over the last couple of years, avoiding each other at any cost. My heart has a way of picking up speed when he’s around.
I hate it. I also need to contact pest control and see if they can do anything about the swarm of bees buzzing around in my stomach.
Again, only something that happens when Ares is paying attention to me.
Don’t even get me started on that stupid nickname he calls me.
P. I know what he means by it. Princess.
When we were younger, he’d say the whole thing.
He dropped it to just a single letter when we became teens and Ares became way too cool to say full words.
I hate the name. He knows I hate it, which is why he uses it.
“Why?” I ask him in a hushed tone.
“Why what?”
“Why are you pretending we’re friends? We are not friends, Ares.” I grit my teeth.
“Ouch, P, that’s harsh.” The idiot rubs a hand over his chest. “You’re wrong. We’re the best of friends. We go way back.”
“Our families being friends does not make us friends,” I tell him. As nice as it would be to have a friend here, it can’t be him. I’m not sure I could ever be just friends with Ares.
Turning my attention to the teacher, I refuse to acknowledge Ares again for the rest of the class.
It’s no easy feat. I can smell him. He smells like a mixture of weed and mint.
I can also feel his gaze on me. I know he’s looking at me.
That just means I have to work hard to not let my thoughts wander to the dark place they usually go when I’m bored in class.
At my last school, no one ever paid me too much mind, not the way Ares does.
And if he saw me go to that place, he’d know.
By the time lunch rolls around, I’m exhausted. I just want to find a spot and hide away where no one can see me. I’m on my way to where my map says the library is located when I’m stopped by Constance.
“Zara, I was looking for you. You ran off so fast after class I lost you.”
“Ah, yeah, sorry.” I have no idea what to say to the girl. I ran out to get away from Ares.
“It’s okay. I get it. If I had to sit and endure his attention that intensely, I’d run out too.” She sighs.
I can’t tell if she likes Ares or hates him. A surge of jealousy rushes through my veins at the thought of her liking him.
“He’s one of my brother’s best friends. I’ve known him forever, and you were totally right. Like I said, the guy really is an asshole.” She shakes her head. “And to put your mind at ease, I don’t like him. I prefer vaginas over dicks.”
“I wasn’t thinking… I mean, I don’t care if you did like him.” I try to sound unaffected.
“Sure, come on. You can sit with us.” She doesn’t give me an option to refuse her offer. Linking her arm through mine, Constance guides me out of the building and to a table with bench seats, already filled with people. I guess I’m not going to find a quiet place to be alone today.