Private School Kings

A Right Hand Woman

She gave a growl, but she didn't refute it. "Watch yourself, Fletcher."

He gave a good natured smile, and the corners of his eyes crinkled. I realized he had dimples I hadn't noticed before. "Hey, at least you're not the pariah." He told Madeline.

"I saw that in the cafeteria." She smiled. "With Heather." As she said the name the smile left her lips and her eyes turned stormy. "She really went after you."

"Yeah, well," He nodded, tossing his dark hair. "You can't really expect anything else from her."

I thought of the way Heather had looked at me on the lacrosse field, the way she fired the ball at my head with obvious intent, and then helped me up like she couldn't be sorrier. She was ruthless.

The two seniors went silent. Both of them had the same intense look like they were off in their own worlds. Fletcher looked angry, his face was pinched with rage, but Madeline just looked sad. So sad I had to say something. "Well, that's why we're gonna bring her down, right?"

Fletcher smiled, but the fire didn't leave his eyes. "That's why we're gonna bring all of them down."

"Right," Madeline shook her head like she was getting rid of all the bad thoughts. She pulled a computer from her bag, one that told me she was as rich as everyone else at this school. She set it on her lap. "Let's talk about Tim."

Tim Watson was Pruitt's golden boy. He was tall, strong, and blond, with clear blue eyes. He had a Kennedy jaw, the kind you usually saw only on movie stars, and a wide kind smile. One that almost managed to make me like him. Almost. He was top of his class, and more importantly, captain of the Boys Varsity Lacrosse team. He was revered by most of the school, and he looked like the kind of boy who would show up in a poster on somebody's wall. Not in a school hallway. That's why I hadn't even blinked when Fletcher told me he was the current King of the Pruitt Lords. What was confusing was how Fletcher possibly expected me to win him over.

"This is where Madeline comes in. She's our romance expert." He said, leaning over her computer. She had Tim's Instagram up. It all seemed a little too dramatic.

Madeline seemed to agree. She rolled her eyes. "I dated Tim for two weeks during our freshman year. Before I came out."

"Oh," I said. "But I thought you said you weren't popular." It was hard to imagine Tim dating anyone who wasn't at the very top of the social ladder.

"I'm not popular." She answered. "That doesn't mean I never was." Fletcher laughed at that. I nodded. I was beginning to understand that everyone at Pruitt had a few too many layers to them.

"So," Fletcher said. "Heather is Tim's obvious choice for the queen. That means we need to find a way to make you stand out."

"Uh huh." I said. He was right of course, but even though I'd agreed to it, all this Tim talk was starting to make me uncomfortable. There was no way someone like him would ever end up with me.

"And," Madeline added, "We have to do it without turning all the other girls against you. You'll need them as allies."

I sighed and resigned myself to the dramatics. "How?"

After a long strategy session with Madeline and Fletcher, I trudged back to my room. It had left me feeling more than drained. It was like I'd been given extra homework, and they were so intense about it. Especially Fletcher. He went from poking fun to pacing and muttering so quickly. I was really wondering what I was getting myself into.

I'd learned that Tim would pick "his girl" at The Lord's Ball. The society's first big event, one that had just as stupid a name as they did. I had one month until then. One month to convince Tim to choose me, but it still felt impossible. I'd never even said a word to him. I only knew who he was because it was impossible not to know at Pruitt. He was basically a legend.

Luckily for me, lacrosse practice had been canceled because of lightning storms. That meant that I didn't have to see Heather or the other girls. It was funny, I had loved lacrosse so much before coming to Pruitt, but the other girls had made practice so horrible for me that I started to dread it. Maybe now that I'd put Fletcher's plan into action they'd stop beating up on me, but I would still have to be on at all times, trying to stay in their good graces. It would be exhausting.

I flopped face first down onto my bed. The mattress morphed to my body, cradling me in a long awaited embrace. I breathed in the fabric of my pillow, pushing away the thought that I still had a mountain of homework to do, and rolled, looking up at the ceiling.

My room was nice. It had an ornate carpeted floor and big wooden chests to put our clothes in. The beds were comfier than the one I had at home. I was on a floor with the other junior girls, and I had a roommate. Juliet. She was a quiet girl who was out most of the time. She usually kept to herself. I was fine with that. Not because I didn't want her to talk to me, just because it was nice to have a place where I could get some peace and quiet.

There was some time though, where I had hoped we would become friends. If just so I could have someone to talk to. It never happened. Juliet was nicer than a lot of Pruitt kids, but she still regarded me with that same disdain I had learned to recognize. She was strange, but she wasn't an outsider. Not like me.

As I stared at the ceiling I realized something. Now, I had someone to talk to. Two people. Madeline and Fletcher, who made plenty of sarcastic remarks, but hadn't really looked at me with that same kind of disdain.

As I closed my eyes I gave the smallest of smiles. Maybe I would have friends at Pruitt after all.