The Academy

Chapter Seven || fine line

"Don't listen to her. I love her, but she and Xavier have had this 'rivalry' since they've arrived here," Eris tells me quietly. "Every day it's something new with them."

"I think she secretly likes him," Beatrice adds in, to which Eris laughs.

"As if. I'm sorry but I know the difference between a love-hate and hate-hate relationship, sweetie." She says, making me giggle. Bea rolls her eyes playfully.

"Well, I've read too many books not to know that love and hate is a very fine line," Bea cocks an eyebrow at her friend, to which we both shrug in possibility.

I turn to everyone else, finding some new faces have joined us, including the mysterious guy from Principal Davis's office. And just like last time, we both can't seem to look away from each other.

"Who's this?" He asks everyone, still looking directly at me.

Does he not remember me?

"Oh, this is our new roommate, Adina. Adina, this is Vaughn." Summer tells us before I cross my arms.

"Ah, so you're Vaughn," I say, trying to be as confident as possible. But I don't think it's working.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asks, sounding slightly offended but still, he looks amused.

"Oh, nothing. Just heard a lot about you from your friends actually." I tell him, smirking as I look towards Caspian and Chase.

After the boys explain to him what they told me, he turns back to me and puts out his hand for me to shake.

"Vaughn King." He says confidently to me as I look down at his hand, with a smirk etched across his face. Causing me to cockily raise my eyebrow questioningly.

Where have I heard that name before?

"Adina Ricci," I say, but instead of accepting the handshake, I gently move his hand down, being careful to not break eye contact.

Letting me see the small amount of shock he has towards my actions, his eyes widen slightly before returning to a neutral expression.

"Oh yeah, you're Vincent Ricci's daughter," Xavier says as I sit back in my seat.

"Yeah, but I prefer Adina," I say, making sure I don't seem too aggressive.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offe–"

"No, no. It's fine, I just get that all the time. With my Mom as well."

"Dude! I love your Mom's movies." Chase enthusiastically tells me, making me laugh. "'The Date' is probably my favorite movie ever." At this, we all look at him weirdly, but to be honest I'm not surprised. "What? I love Rom-Com's." He pouts, looking down at the table.

Teagan reaches over and quickly pecks his bottom lip, which some of the boys, in turn, make fake gagging noises.

"Hang on a fucking sec. Your Mom's Anastasia James?" Caspian asks in disbelief and I slowly nod, nervously biting my lip.