“Then you end up like Ava B.” Wren is the one to answer. She scratches her wrist while peering around as if she’s nervous to speak about this aloud. “Her parents sent her here so she could hit it off with this specific prince, but she fell in love with another one. When her parents found out, all her money was taken away, and rumors say that she lives on the streets of northside now.”
“That could be a rumor,” Lily stresses as she fiddles with a heart-shaped pendant attached to her necklace. “No one knows for sure.”
“No, but I think we all know that if we don’t do what our parents say, even when we’re grown-ass adults, they’ll cut us off. And then what? We’ve been raised to be dependent on them.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Lily’s shoulders slump.
Wren sighs. “Sorry for bumming you out. I’m just having a bad morning,” Wren tells her then looks at me. “So, northside, I’ve always wondered if parents are better over there. I mean, I know it’s poverty-stricken and everything, but you guys don’t have arranged marriages, right?”
I laugh, but it’s humorless. “No, no arranged marriages. We have to worry more about our parents doing shit like getting in trouble with drug lords and us taking the fall.”
Her brow arches. “Are you speaking from experience?”
I shrug, wondering if I’ll scare them off. But Wren looks more curious than anything else, and Lily looks shocked, her eyes wide.
“Ladies.” An arm drapes over my shoulders at the same time one falls over Lily’s. A split-second later, Finn pushes his way between us with a cheeky grin. “Wren, how lovely to see your bright and cheery face this morning,” he teases.
With an unimpressed look, she lifts her hand and gives him the middle finger.
“You know, I’d take offense to that, but in Wren language, that basically means hello, sexy.” His smirk widens as Wren’s eyes narrow.
“Finn,” Lily warns, slipping out from under his arm and aiming a dirty look at him. “Don’t start with her.”
“What? I’m just teasing her. It’s our thing. Right, Wren?” he asks with a twinkle in his eyes.
Wren stares at him blankly, unamused.
Finn blows out a dramatic breath. “Fine, I’ll direct my lovely energy toward someone who can appreciate it.”
I expect him to walk off, but he turns to me and blinds me with his pearly whites.
“Maddison, so nice to see you again.”
Great, he’s learned my name.
“I think we established the first time we met that your pretty boy smile doesn’t work on me.”
“See? You think that’s an insult”—he wags his finger at me—“but all I hear is that you think I’m pretty.”
I target him with a hardy-har look, but I’ll admit, I almost laugh. He’s kind of funny, and maybe if I’d met him in middle school, I’d have tried to become friends with him. But I’m older now and know that’ll never work. Sure, I’m attending school here, but northside and southside don’t mix. We’re too different.
“Finn, what’re you doing?” a familiar voice floats from over my shoulder.
Finn twists around, and since his arm is still around my shoulders, I have to turn around with him.
Standing behind us is none other than River.
His dark gaze sweeps across me from head to toe, as if he’s checking me out. But I doubt it since he hastily narrows his eyes on his twin brother. He likely doesn’t approve of what I’m wearing.
“You’re supposed to be with your team,” he reminds Finn in a glacial tone.
Finn rolls his eyes but removes his arm from my shoulders. “Whatever.” He glances at me. “Sorry, Dad’s here to ruin our fun, but we’ll pick up on this later.” He winks at me then basically skips off through a doorway a few steps ahead of us where other people are wandering in.
River fixes his attention on me. “I see you decided to change. That’s probably a good idea.”
“And I see you decided to be the same grumpy asshole,” I quip with irritation. “It might be a good idea to change that.But what do I know? I’m just northside trash who doesn’t know how to dress.” With that, I swiftly walk toward the doorway Finn disappeared through, crossing my fingers it’s the room where orientation is happening. The moment I step foot in the room, though, I become painfully aware it isn’t.
The room consists of a long table with chairs, each occupied by a guy around my age. Standing in front of the table are three men, and I can tell right away they are coaches.
