I'd rather die.
I decide to skip lunch to keep practicing, and then finally my stomach drags me to the dining hall for dinner. The menu is very festive, and it takes me a second to realize it's Christmas Eve. I feel bad for the kitten staff who have to be there to feed me, a scholarship student, and then I remember Harley and the giant mountain of money his family would have paid to send him here, and I feel a bit better.
I fill my plate with such a feast I feel bad for the kids back home, and then I sit and tuck in.
Harley is in his usual seat, so I situate myself at the other end of the table again. Not long after I sit down, I hear him get up, and to my utter shock he sits down across from me. His plate is only half-empty, and he gets back to eating as soon as he's sat down.
“Rumor has it you're emancipated,” he says without looking up at me, so I have to do more than nod. My voice is barely more than a croak.
“Yeah.”
“How the fuck did you manage that?”
I can’t figure out his angle. Is he fishing for information to use against me, or is he just curious, bored, feeling the Christmas spirit?
“I was already in foster care and I proved I could provide for myself, so it was one less kid the state had to take care of. Took me a year, but I just kept trying.”
He grunts and leans back in his chair to study my face. I try desperately not to flush scarlet under his gorgeous stare.
“How the fuck can a Mounty provide for herself? You have a sugar daddy or some shit?” He doesn't speak like the other rich kids. It jars me, because he may look like the most heavenly being I've ever seen, but he speaks like a roughneck kid from the streets. He sounds like me. It’s comforting, even while he’s all smirks and asshole nature.
“I'm not selling myself to anything except my scholarship.”
He scoffs. “That's vague.”
“Why do you want to know? Mommy and Daddy pissing you off? Why aren't you home celebrating the holidays with them?”
His eyes narrow to a glare, and he clenches his teeth. I could apologize or change the subject, but he started it. He looks away from me and I can see his brain at work. I give him a minute of silence before I prod him again. “I answered you honestly. Is there no honor among rich kids?”
He gives me a dark look, and I tuck back into my dinner while I wait.
“My dad’s dead. My mom is locked up. I'm thinking about applying for emancipation too. My caseworker won't say a word to me about it, she just tells me it's not for me. So, I'm offering you a meal of peace for the information. I know you’re smart, you wouldn't be here if you weren't, so I'll take you at your word.”
Huh. He was an orphan like me. So why does he treat me so badly? And why does Avery protect him so fiercely?
“Are you on a scholarship too?”
“Fuck no.” Like it's something to be ashamed of, like I didn't spend half my life working to be here instead of paying my way in. I give him my own dark look, which he promptly ignores.
“Then you must have the means to provide for yourself. It should be an easy process for you.”
He stabbed around at his plate violently. I almost feel sorry for the beans.
“I don't have access to any of the money my dad left for me. Or… well, any of the money that’s rightfully mine. So, no, it won't be.”
I shrug at him. “If you have an estate that pays for you, then that will count too.”
“Don't have one of those either,” he grumbles.
I set my fork down and fold my arms over my chest. He watches me, and then mirrors my movement. Is he fucking with me? “Who pays for your school tuition, then?”
“Avery.”
Holy fuck. “Is she in love with you? I see her tongue down that dickhead Rory's neck all the time, so I wouldn't have guessed it.”
He snorts and looks at me incredulously. When I stare at him blankly, he shakes his head. “We’re cousins. Our moms were sisters. Avery takes that shit very seriously, so I'm here with her and Ash because she couldn’t bear the thought of me going to a public school back home.”
Cousins?!They look nothing alike. Harley is a golden god, and Ash is like a dark prince, with all that dark hair and brooding. I look at him closer and think maybe around the nose there's a hint of similarity, but nothing obvious.
