BLUE BLOOD

44 | [kalina jeong]

"Fine."

That day, Helen Lorani became my closest friend and that was why her betrayal hurt me the most. I wish I had noticed earlier, but I didn't. No one expected Helen and Blake our first year at Queens Erlington Academy.

It was never supposed to happen. It was always supposed to be Blake and me.

He was my first everything.

My first boyfriend, my first kiss, my first date, lots of firsts. Blake was always possessive about me and I never minded. Then the first of seven years of school at Queens Erlington Academy began.

"How could you do that to me?" I sobbed, lunging my body to sweep away all the stuff piled on his desk. "You promised me, Blake. You promised me."

His eyes were pained but distant. Cold, almost. "We were children when I made that promise."

Before I could control myself, I slapped him.

The sound filled his chambers. I stared in horror at the red creeping on his cheeks and the stinging in my palms.

"Oh my God-"

"Blake?" a softer voice interrupted, poking through the door. "I heard-"

Helen stopped and stared at me with wide eyes. I had not heard from her since I saw the news. My best friend. My best friend and my boyfriend.

The two closest people in my life did this to me.

Now, my mother didn't raise a bitch. I lunged with the full intent to knock her out. "You fucking-"

Blake restrained me with his arms, manhandling me so that I couldn't get near his precious fiancée. "Kalina. Kalina!"

After a few moments of struggling, my body gave in and I crumpled in heavy, heaving sobs.

I've cried before, of course I had, but this sort of crying stemmed from a heart that's been torn, ruined, and shred apart.

I whispered, raggedly, "You told me you would marry me. How could you be engaged to her? How could the two of you do this to me?"

"Kalina," Blake mumbled, wiping away my tears and holding me close to him. I wasn't sure if Helen was still there, but if she had been, she never spoke a single word. "I'm sorry, baby."

"What did I ever do to the both of you?" I cried, clutching myself. "What did I do, Blake?"

"I'm sorry, Kalina," he repeated. "This is how it has to be."

I know what they say about me. They used to call me names like "dumpling" but it all stopped with Blake's protection. Still, no one could ever fathom how their golden boy would ever love an Asian girl like me. Even my mother couldn't understand why we were together.

The only explanation I could offer was that love is blind.

Look how it blinded me.

x

On my birthday, Gabriella Jontas approached me with her bribe. That was exactly one month before her own birthday.

"Kalina," Ella had smiled with that glint in her eyes. "Could we speak privately for a moment?'

I had spent the entire night drinking, partying, and dancing away the jabs of pain I felt whenever I saw Helen with Blake. It had been quite a while since it happened but every time I saw them, it hurt.

"Sure," I shrugged, fed up with Helen drawing Blake in for a kiss. "I need some space as well."

Ella looked delighted and led me inside a room. We had celebrated on campus at the old mansion, not at blue blood island, but we would leave the next day. That was our tradition.