“Right. So anyway, the school is run by the Devils. Three guys all the girls want and all the guys want to be.”
“I thought there were four?” I ask, thinking back to the gossip I’d heard when I lived here before.
She scowls and thinks for a moment. “Oh! You’re probably thinking of Aaron. Hmm…” Tapping her finger against her chin she thinks for a moment. “I guess he was a Devil. Before I arrived at least.” A shrug. “He’s not really one now. The guys kind of had a falling out. But they’re working it out”—she doesn’t bother hiding a mischievous grin that makes me think she plays some part in their working it out—“but no one really considers Aaron a Devil. He’s too nice for all that.”
“That’s…good?” I say, not really sure how to respond to that. “Are the Devils all assholes or something?”
She chuckles. “I’m sorry. They’re not all bad. The Devils, I mean. Roman, Dominique, and Emilio are great guys. They just take some getting used to. They’re not really trusting, which can make them come off as standoffish. But once you get to know them, they’re the sweetest guys. Aaron, too. And his outer shell, thankfully, isn’t as hard to crack. You’d like him.”
I raise a single brow and she laughs. “I’m not trying to play matchmaker or anything. Promise.”
That’s a relief. “So, if they’re standoffish and you’re a new girl too, how do you know them so well?”
Her cheeks turn a soft shade of pink. “I’m dating one.”
“Not the one screwing the piranha, right? That’s what you called her?”
Allie laughs, a deep chuckle that has the librarian shushing us from across the room. We both hunch down lower in our seats, effectively chastised. Allie’s next words come out softer. “No. Not that one. I’m dating Roman Valdez. The one Kasey was talking about is Emilio Chavez and the piranha is Sarah Draven. She’s a junior and a complete bitch. New girl to new girl, I would avoid her.”
“Noted. Thanks for the heads up.”
She nods.
“Do you speak Portuguese,” I ask.
Brows furrowed, she shakes her head. “No, I’m Mexican, so Spanish.”
I frown. “So, why call her a piranha, then?”
She shrugs. “She’s like the fish. She hunts down men, has a pack of vicious girls with her at all times, and her mouth cuts like a blade when she opens it.”
Ah. That does make sense. “Good description.”
“Does it mean something else in Portuguese?” she asks, and I nod.
“Yeah. Slut.”
Her lips smash together, and I can tell she’s fighting to remain quiet as her shoulders shake with silent laughter. “I think I like your version better,” she whisper-shouts when she finally gets control of herself.
Me too, I think to myself, though out loud I ask, “Anyone else I should steer clear of?”
Her features tighten and she nods. “Yeah. Silvia Parrish. She’s a senior like us so you might have classes with her. She and some friends jumped me in the bathroom earlier this year. I wouldn’t mess with her. I think the guys have effectively put her in the doghouse but still…I’d be careful.”
“Oh, my god. You were jumped?”
“Shhhh…. Not so loud.”
I cringe. “Sorry. But seriously? Why were you jumped?” That sort of thing would never fly at the academy. There are rules and consequences. No one there can afford to be suspended let alone expelled which is what would happen if you got into a physical altercation with another student.
She huffs out a breath. “It’s another long story. But the Cliff Notes version is that she wanted my boyfriend. It’s not really worth going into but seriously, steer clear. You can’t trust her.”
I swallow hard. What sort of school did I walk into this morning? Brawls in bathrooms is not something I signed up for.
“Don’t worry, though. She won’t try anything with you. At least I don’t think she will. She hates me because I have the guy she wants, but unless you start dating a Devil, I think you’re in the clear.”
Relief washes through me. “No worries there. Not really one for dating guys right now.”
“Girls?” she asks, and I choke on my cracker, coughing hard as I smack myself in the chest.
