"Who does what to you?" Camilla comes into Mariya's bedroom where we're getting ready, "What did I miss?"
"Nothing!" I said.
"Lucca, and doing anything he wants," Mariya chirps happily.
"Details,s'il vous plaît?"Camilla urges, lounging on the bed. She's wearing an elegant combination of sleek black trousers and a blue silk top that's going to freeze her half to death in the November weather.
"Nothing," I repeat, exhausted with their endless questions about Lucca. "There's nothing to tell other than he's really helping me enough that there's the possibility that I might pass Zimmerman's test next week." They share a skeptical glance and it makes me cranky. "How are you two finding the time to socialize? How is this schedule not crushing you?"
"You get used to it," Camilla promises, "it does get harder though when they start the challenges."
"The what?" I croak, "It gets harder?"
"Don't scare her!" Mariya scolds her roommate, who shrugs. Even her shrug is elegant because the woman is quintessentially French. They haul me out of the building before I can ask any more questions.
There are other students winding through the boulders and small groves of trees on school grounds that lead to the lighthouse. The trees are stunted by the winds that tear across the flat island, but they're stubbornly clinging to the rocky soil. The memory of the towering pines that surround our estate in Vancouver makes me acutely homesick. Will I ever be able to go home again?
Mariya must sense my misery because she links her arm with mine, giving me a big grin. "Lighten up, you're going to have fun tonight."
To be fair, the Fournier brothers have done a spectacular job. Blue, yellow, and green lights blaze out from the cracks in the tower and if I didn't know I was partying in a fifty-foot-high deathtrap, it could be considered a proper rave. We hand over our money to go inside, and the glow from a huge bonfire competes with the cleverly arranged club-style lighting.
"Ladies," Marcel manages to leer equally at all of us, which is oddly gracious because I know he follows Camilla around like a lovesick puppy, "can I offer you anything special tonight?"
"Where's the bar?" Camilla is looking over his shoulder and I feel a twinge of sympathy at his obvious disappointment.
"Over by the stairs," he says, turning to meet the next group and take their money.
Other than a bottle or two of wine that I'd saved for my crying binges, I haven't had anything to drink here at the Academy. Navigating all the little dangerous currents I swim through every day is hard enough sober. Still... When Mariya hands me a cup of something purple, I take it.
It's just one night.
"Here are the hottest women on this island!" Aleks drapes his arms over my and Mariya's shoulders. He's clearly ahead of us in drink consumption.
"Thank you for your beer goggles assessment," I say dryly, but give him a squeeze anyway. Aleks may be one of the best students in the Leaders division, but he's still kind in a way most of the First-Born students are not.
"We are dancing!" Mariya shouts, draining her cup in three gulps. Knowing I'll likely regret this, I finish mine and let Aleks drag me into the writhing mass of bodies.
There are a lot of girls looking our way, and I laugh as he spins me around. "You have quite the fan base, my friend."
He glances over to a gawking cluster of Juniors and shakes his head. "I met someone in Europe last summer."
"She must really like you if she's willing to wait another ten months to see you," I said, "is she someone you could marry? I mean, your father hasn't arranged a marriage for you yet, so... possibly?"
His warm brown eyes are bleak as he looks down at me. "No. My father would never agree to the match. But... you never know, right?"
"Exactly!" I nod firmly, "Nothing's set in stone."
He looks down at me with an expression I can't identify, and his arms wrap around me in a crushing hug. Touched, I squeeze him back. "Guess I shouldn't have done that," he says with a grin, "he really looks pissed off."
"Who?" I turn to look over my shoulder and see Lucca standing by the bar, glaring right at us. "What's he upset about?"
Aleks squeezes me again. "Tell me you're really not that blind, Tati. I'm going to go get a drink before Lucca stabs me."
Watching him walk away from me, I wonder what it's going to take to prove to my friends that Lucca Toscano feels nothing for me.
Hands wrap around my hips in a tight grip and I wince as fingers dig into my skin, yanking me backward. Before I can pull away, someone licks my neck and I yelp, clumsily shoving them away.
"I'm going to let you apologize for all your disrespect with a blowjob," Mateo makes a sleazy flicking gesture with his tongue.
