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My unifornity—are in tatters

My eyes scan the gathered crowd, but there are three faces in particular that catch ly sort of beautiful, I think as I es of a smirk Tristan Vanderbilt thinks he’s beaten me; they all do But what they don’t understand is that I’er little charity case I hen I first started at Burberry Prep

Lifting an ar through the torn remnants of my white blouse, and it’s the pretty red one I wore just for Zayd Hemy eyes in his direction, I can see quite clearly now that he doesn’t He isn’t sreen eyes is clear: you don’t belong here

“Had enough yet?” Harper du Pont purrs fro to look at her Instead, I let gest , like this whole confrontation is a necessary evil Get rid of the lower-class trash, clean up the school

The wind picks up, the ragged red pleats ofin a salty breeze In the distance, I can hear the sea It crashes against the rocks in ti

Tristan race, his expensive loafers picking up droplets of dew as he comes to stand toe-to-toe with me, as close as he was that first day when he insulteddo you think you’ll last? Well It’s the final day of fresh here, aren’t I? Tristan, though, he thinks that while I’ve won the battle, he’s going to win the war

I stay stone-still as he lifts his fingers and tangles strands of old locks a light tug Red paint sray eyes of his with a defiant glimmer in my own

“I take it you won’t be co back next year, will you, Marnye?” he whispers, his voice like whiskey over ice Tristan thinks he’s the od The other boys think of themselves like that, too I’d like to be a fly on the hen a confrontation finally comes They think their money will buy them the world Maybe, in a way, it will

But it won’t buy them true friendship, and it won’t buy them love It definitely won’t buy them me

I glance past Tristan to Zayd and Creed, and then I refocus my attention back on the asshole that started it all Fro hell He succeeded And Zayd and Creed, they loved every horrible, filthy second of it

“Just go home, Marnye, and it’ll all be over,” Tristan says, the softness in his voice edged with cruelty He’s like a predator who’s too cute to be afraid of I et too close, and now I’ shattered “You don’t belong here”

Zayd listens to the whole conversation, and then slides his tattooed ar the final nail in my coffin He’s chosen her over hter overcrescents into my palms

I hty, self-assured stare There are tears on ers fro it to his lips for a lick It’s a derisive, awful move, like a knife in the back I can feel the blade beside my heart, but it’s just missed I’m not broken yet

“I’ve already enrolled in oes silent Nobody is expecting this, the poor girl, the la up for herself What they don’t know is that the hardest hearts are forged in fire With their cruelty and their jokes and their laughter, they’ve forgedspectacular “Come September, I’ll be the first in line for orientation”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Tristan says, still cold as ice, still full of wicked triumph for what he thinks he’s done His dark hair flutters in the breeze, softening soh I know that now, and I won’thell”