(unedited)
This photo of us,
It don't have a price.
Ready for those flashing lights,
'Cause you know that baby I,
I'm your biggest fan,
I'll follow you until you love me.
"Paparazzi" - Lady Gaga
By Wednesday, I had almost gotten used to the Elite.
They insisted that I sit with them at lunch, and Jacen was always at my locker to make sure I followed through. I saw them in a couple of my classes and sometimes we talked in the hall.
It threw the whole school into chaos as they tried to figure out why their royalty, was talking to a lowly subject like me. Rumors swirled, each one being more outrageous than the last. Skylar and I even had a competition going where we tried to find the most ridiculous reason as to why the Elite had taken an interest in me.
The Elite weren't awful.
Vanessa was nice and funny, though she definitely a lot of blonde moments. I wasn't sure if I could really call us ‘close’ after a week, but she was the closest to thing to a friend that I had at this school.
I got along pretty well with Skylar, since we had a similar sense of humor.
Nathan was nice, but pretty quiet. I didn't talk to him much, because he wasn't in any of my classes, nor did we have much in common.
Jacen and I had a weird sort of relationship. He was always cracking inappropriate jokes, which I replied to with not-so-nice comments, but we didn't hate each other.
It was just Keira and Ashton that I still couldn't figure out. Keira, their supposed queen, who usually spent the lunch of Nathan's lap, watching us with amused eyes. And Ashton, the guy I was supposed to make fall in love with me, who I had barely seen since Saturday.
But other than those two, it wasn't all that bad. I actually found myself almost enjoying their company.
A bucket of cold water came in the form of Jenna Tunclet. She wasn't just in my English class, she was in almost all of them, I just hadn't noticed because, like me, she was usually hidden away in a corner. But during the week, I had looked up more than once to see her watching me.
I had caught a lot of people staring at me since everything with the Elite happened, but there was something different in the way Jenna watched me. There wasn't confusion, as to why the Elite would be hanging out with me, of all people, or jealousy, or contempt. No, she just looked worried. And that unnerved me.
It wasn't until today that she did more than stare. "Elena, can I talk to you?" she asked I passed her desk. I bit the inside of my lip for a second, then slid into the desk next to her.
History and Biology were the only classes I had where you had a desk partner. Skylar was in my Biology class, so I usually sat with her. Last History class I had sat with a girl who tried to steal my phone. And while her expression when I had caught her had been hilarious, I would rather not go through a repeat of that.
Before I could even turn to Jenna to see what she wanted to talk to me about, Mrs. Gastern, our History teacher, started the lesson. She spent the entire period talking. There was no break where I could say anything to Jenna, or her to me.
Our class was unusually quiet this period. Most of the students didn't respect most of the teachers at Blaire Academy, but everyone was listening. I looked around. They were all watching Mrs. Gastern- and glancing at me every now and then.
Where they trying to be like me? Did they think being quiet would make the Elite notice them?
Two minutes before the bell rang, Jenna slid her textbook over to me. It was open, turned to the section we had done last month. There was also a lot of highlighting. I glanced at her as Mrs. Gastern finished her speech, but Jenna didn't reply, or even so much as to look at me.
I turned back to the book. I don't think what Jenna wanted to tell me was related to World History, so I started checking the words that she hadn't highlighted. I found the message there.
Beware of the, I looked past the chunk of highlighted text, royals or you will- I stopped. She had stopped highlighting on the next page. Only a couple dashes of bright colour littered the text. I traced those bits, drown in their- I flipped the page. There wasn't any highlighting on the next page. I scanned the text, she couldn't have ended it there, that wouldn't have made any sense. As I looked closer, I noticed letters had been scratched out. I erased the four patches of pencil to reveal the last word- lies.
Beware of the royals or you will drown in their lies.
Hands on the desk made me look up. "You know the bell rang ten minutes ago, right?" Jacen asked. I glanced around, the classroom was notably empty, except for Mrs. Gastern, who sat at her desk, acting as if we weren't in the room.
I shut Jenna's textbook, and grabbed my things. "I just lost track of time," I said. When Jacen took my books from me, I let him, my mind still whirling from Jenna's message. It wasn't hard to figure out what she meant, she was telling me to beware of the Elite. I could've dismissed it as a petty message, except the way she had worded it, and all the different ways of hiding it that she had used- it didn't add up.
"You know Jenna Tunclet?" Jacen asked.
It was like he had read my mind. "What?"
When he gestured to the pile of books in his hands, I realized that Jenna's textbook was on top, her name printed in neat letters at the bottom of the cover.
"Oh, I just forgot my textbook at home so she let me borrow hers." Not a complete lie. My textbook was currently sitting under an essay that was due next week, but we hadn't done any textbook work in class. Jacen wouldn't know that, though.
He was silent until we got to my locker. "Elena," he said, leaning against the locker next to mine.
"Yeah?" I glanced at him for a second before turning to shove my books in my locker.
"Don't talk to Jenna, okay?"
I turned to stare at him. "What? Why?" Now I definitely couldn't dismiss Jenna's message as a petty act. Not if the Elite was aware of her as much as she was aware of them.
"Word is, she went a little crazy after her sister disappeared," he said.
"She doesn't seem crazy," I replied, attempting a casual voice as I locked my locker.
"Just trust me on this." I'm not sure if I can trust any of you on anything now. Jenna's message had been like a cold, hard yank back into reality.
I might have known more about the Elite now, but I still didn't know them. Definitely not enough that I could let myself be sucked into their lifestyle.
"Hey Jacen," I said, hoping to distract him. "Why do you always get sent to get me?" Only half of me was focusing on our conversation. The other half was trying to build a lie. I wanted to find out what Jenna meant, which would probably mean tracking down Jenna during lunch. There was no way she would talk to me during English since Vanessa was there. And since I had been eating lunch with the Elite over the past week, I needed something to tell them.
"Who said I was sent?" Jacen asked as we walked down the hall leading to the cafeteria. "Maybe I volunteered."
Conversations stopped a bit when Jacen and I walked in. Nobody had accepted the fact that I was hanging out with the Elite. Me, the girl who had never spoken to anyone at this school. The talking resumed after a moment, but at a way lower volume.
The Elite sat at the far table by the windows. Nathan, Keira, Vanessa and Skylar were already there. Ashton rarely showed up for lunch, and the few times he did, he was usually late. If anyone knew where he was, they didn't voice it.
"You're secretly an FBI agent keeping us safe," Skylar said as Jacen and I stopped by their table.
"You guys hired me to be a stripper," I shot back. I quickly glanced around the cafeteria, before turning back to the Elite.
Jacen snorted. "I think being a stripper requires you taking off your clothes," he said, sitting down. When I didn't follow his action, like I usually did, he reached out to grab me.
I stepped back. "I actually have a project for English to finish, so I gotta go to the library." It was only a partial lie. I did have a project I needed to finish in English, but it wasn't due until next week. Vanessa was the only one hear that should've known this, but I don't think she had been paying attention when Mr. Sullivan had announced it.
Skylar raised an eyebrow. "You know Mr. Sullivan won't care." That was probably true, and I probably should've though of a better lie, but I couldn't back out of it now.
I shrugged. "I'll see you guys later," I said, turning around. I made the mistake of not watching where I was going and I ended crashing into someone. The person I crashed into was a lot bigger than me and distinctly make which meant I was the one who ended up falling over. The guy grabbed me before I could hit the ground. And the guy I had crashed into turned out to be Ashton.
Of course.
And on top of that, all the conversations had stopped again- everyone was looking at us.
The cafeteria was silent except for Jacen, who was clapping slowly. "You guys just had a total Bella and Edward moment."
"Congrats, Jace, you've read Twilight." I rolled my eyes and pushed past Ashton.
Before I could take more than a step, he grabbed my wrist. "Where are you going?"
"To finish a project," I replied.
For a couple moments, we stared at each other. He didn't respond, but he didn't let of of my wrist, either.
Jacen, once again, broke the silence. "And that, children, is eye sex."
I opened my mouth to respond, but Ashton beat me to it. "Shut up, Jace," he said. "I'll come with you. I have to check something anyway."
I wanted to protest, since there was only twenty minutes left of break and I didn't know how long it would take to lose Ashton, then how long it would take to find Jenna. But I didn't want to make a scene, so I just yanked my hand from Ashton's and headed for the cafeteria doors. Before we left, I heard the distinctive click of a camera going off.
"Bet you anything there'll be a Romeo and Juliet comparison in a magazine tomorrow," I muttered as the cafeteria doors swung shut behind us. The media loved news on the elite and they loved to play on the (fake) rivalry between Kaden and Ashton's dad, Sebastian Sinclair.
He glanced at me. "Easy win. I can pay them to not release the story until next week."
What? "That'd be a waste of money."
"You said anything."
I stared at him. "I wasn't being serious."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I was thinking five dollars, what were you thinking?"
He shrugged. "You said anything."
"I don't do nudes or stripping," I told him flatly.
His lips twisted and he shot me an amused look. "I'm not Jacen."
"Tell me what it is first." Dangerous ground, Elena. You don't know Ashton. At all. He even said himself you can't trust him and now you're joking with him.
"Go out with me Sunday," he said.
It took me a couple minutes to register what he had said. Then I couldn't help it, I started laughing. It was kind of ridiculous, that I was supposed to be making him fall in love with me, according to the Elite and he was the one asking me out. When this was only our second legitimate conversation. I stopped when he continued to watch me, with no sign that he would take back his words. "Oh. You're serious."
He nodded.
"Like a date?" I asked after a moment.
He paused. "If you want to call it that."
"Shouldn't this be the other way around?"
Ashton didn't have to ask what I meant, his expression said it all.
"Aren't I supposed to seduce you or something?"
His eyebrows shot up. "Am I seducing you, Elena?"
Despite me willing myself to stay calm. "No," I told him, glaring when he snickered at my blush. "With the game."
He raised an eyebrow. "Be happy. I usually don't start showing interest until the second month."
I froze. "You've done this before?" I didn't know what I had expected, but while the thought had crossed my mind, I hadn't seriously considered whether or not they had done this with someone else. Simply because there hadn't been anyone who had 'joined' their group before, even temporarily. If there had been other girls before me, though, what had happened to them?
He stopped as well. "Dinner on Sunday. Yes or no." He didn't answer my question, but his tone was a lot harsher than before.
For a moment, we ended up in another stare-down.
I gave in first. "Fancy or casual?"
He grinned slightly. "Wear a dress, but not a ball gown."
I rolled my eyes.
"See you Sunday, Elle," he said as he backed away from me. His tone and expression were both a lot lighter than they had been two minutes ago.
Elle? "I didn't agree to that nickname," I called after him.
"I don't care," he said, stopped a little bit down the hall and turning to face me.
I raised an eyebrow. "You know 'Elle' means 'she' in French, right?"
"Yeah, I know. A lot of songs written about a 'she'. You can pretend that's what it means." He smirked, then turned to walk down the hall. I let my light expression drop once he turned the corner.
What the hell had that been about? One second he had seemed to be in a good mood, then he had been pretty harsh after I had asked whether or not they had played this... Game before, then back to happy in a split second. It was like he was bipolar. Or he had been faking it, like me. But that didn't make any sense.
I rubbed my temples. The Elite, and all the mysteries that came along with them, was seriously starting to give me a headache. There had only been one time in my life where there had been just as much confusion and that hadn't ended well.
There was only one person who might be able to give me answers, if she didn't just end up confusing me more. I had no idea where to find Jenna, though, she hadn't been in the cafeteria, I had checked. I headed down the hall, only to be grabbed and pulled into a dark closet.
What was up with people today?
I struggled, panicking when whoever it was covered my mouth to stop me from screaming. I stopped when I realized I knew who had grabbed me. Or at least, I think I did. They let go of my mouth when I stopped squirming. "Didn't I just talk to you?"
"You left before I could." Whoops. Awkward. Yeah, he wasn't who I thought he was.
"Jacen?" The surprise in my voice was a little more obvious that I wanted it to be. He turned me around to face him, but I could only see his vague silhouette as my eyes adjusted to the dark.
"Did you think I was Ashton?" There was a darkly mocking tone to his voice that didn't make sense.
"What the h-" Before I could finish, his mouth slammed down on mine. For a moment I stood there, eyes wide and completely frozen. Then common sense kicked in and I shoved him away from me. It was easy, probably because he didn't resist. Jacen leaned back, wiping his mouth.
I narrowed my eyes. "What kind of game are you playing?"
"Who said I was playing a game?" he asked, mouth curling up into something that wasn't quite a smile.
"Aren't I supposed to be making Ashton like me?"
"Yeah."
"Why'd you just kiss me, then?"
He shrugged. "Because I wanted to."
"Why is this a game to all of you?"
He took a step closer to me a step closer to me. I automatically stepped back, causing the briefest smile to flit across his face. He continued advancing until my back hit the wall and he stood inches away from me. His next words sent a chill down my spine.
"Don't treat it like a game, Elena. You'll lose."
-- ♡ --
Jacen on the side --->
Teaser: "Get in," he ordered, his tone pure steel. "We're going to the hospital."