Page 22 of Deposed

“I’m not sure, sir.” She took a crystal water jug from an approaching server, laid it in the middle of the table, and scampered away.

The meal continued as normal. We started with a tuna Niçoise salad, followed by beef bourguignon. Coates, Wendy, and Patricia cast us knowing glances throughout the main course. I turned to Edward and asked, “Has anything happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“Those three are acting unusually triumphant,” I replied.

He gave me a minute shrug. “They’ve taken control of the head table. I suppose some people delight in petty victories.”

The twist in my gut told me they were planning something else that would turn the tide of their one-sided struggle for dominance over Elder House.

Just before the servers brought out dessert, a blonde figure sauntered through the doors. She wasn’t tall, but what she lacked in height, she made up with a voluptuous body. A hush fell across the dining room as she climbed up to the podium and took the seat next to Coates.

Henry squinted. “Is that—”

“Unfortunately,” replied Blake.

Edward sighed. “Another intolerable situation.”

I chewed the inside of my cheek. “What’s going on?”

“Take a closer look at that new girl,” muttered Blake.

There was something artificial about her face. Her nose was too straight, lips obviously filled, and the rest of her body seemed too thin to support the weight of those massive boobs. The only familiar things about her were the malevolent, hazel eyes that stared straight at me.

My stomach dropped, and I blurted out loud, “Charlotte?”

She grinned, revealing over-whitened teeth. “One and the same. And from this moment on, I’m the new Queen of Mercia Academy.”

The dining room erupted into cheers.

Chapter 8

So far, Charlotte’s self-styled reign consisted of greeting well-wishers from Edward’s usual seat at the head table, and it continued the next day at breakfast. She stood behind the table with her newly bleached hair styled in a bizarre side ponytail that accentuated the strangeness of her new features.

I sat at one of the tables in the middle of the dining room, between Edward and Henry, staring at her from the corner of my eye. “Has she had something done to her eyes? They look different.”

“She’s wearing mascara,” replied Blake. “Remember that time in our second year when she used Wendy’s?”

Henry huffed a laugh. “And her eyes swelled?”

Edward cut his kippers with the precision of a surgeon. “What I don’t understand is how she was able to return to the academy with her family in so much financial trouble.”

I narrowed my eyes at Charlotte. Hadn’t she boasted about having met an older man at the Valentine’s party? I hadn’t taken much notice of it until a fancy package had arrived for her last term. Maybe her bragging wasn’t just empty boasts, and she had found herself a sugar daddy.

Charlotte raised a crystal glass and ran her finger over its rim until it sang. When all eyes in the room focussed on her, she cleared her throat. “As the new Queen of Mercia Academy, I say that all students will be equal. There will be no bullying based on physical appearance and no exclusive social events.”

The dining room erupted into cheers. Coates, the rugby player, slammed his palm on the table, rattling the china cups in their saucers. He beamed up at her as though she was some kind of sun goddess. Maybe to someone who had recently made inroads with the doppelgängers, she was. A few of the rugby players in the back of the room stood and clapped.

“What the hell is she doing?” I whispered.

Edward’s lips tightened. “According to the staff, she arrived early with a few boys to move the chairs and tables into place and then laid the table herself.”

I eyed the delicate bone china teapot and matching cups on her table. “She must have gotten those from home.”

“I don’t get why everyone’s following her,” muttered Blake.

“Look at Coates,” I said. “I’ll bet he’s wanted Charlotte for ages.”