Page 43 of Wicked Elites

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?” She advanced on me with her fists on her hips. “All those evening lectures. All those award ceremonies. All those bloody cultural events. What happened the night they died, Willow? Were they bringing you back from winning another pointless trophy?”

“I wasn’t even in the car.”

“You’re hiding something from me.”

“So are you.” I scratched my head. She had distracted me from her academic performance. Again.

Ashley sniffed as though bored with the subject of Mom and Dad’s death. “The Queens of Brittas have offered me a place in their group.”

“Why?”

She whirled on me, eyes flashing. “When I asked why Sebastian would be interested in you, sparks flew. Now you’re asking me the same?”

I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed. Was this how Cormac felt when his sister’s personality had changed? Ashley hadn’t been so erratic before Brittas Academy.

I couldn’t tell if Mom and Dad’s death had changed her or if she was suffering from withdrawal. Maybe DJ Bones and all those parties had been a lifeline. I really couldn’t work out my sister.

Ashley continued glowering at me, perhaps waiting for an apology.

Raising my shoulders, I said, “If Geraldine and Bianca are calling you a charity you-know-what, why would they invite you to join their gang? It just looks suspicious to me.”

“What a hypocrite!” Ashley stormed out of the room.

I stared at a framed photo of Mom and Dad on my bedside table. “Everything I say seems to either offend or upset her. And I keep taking offense to what she says. How did you cope with her?”

Mom and Dad smiled back, as though encouraging me to push forward with Ashley. I nodded. Maybe they were right. She was the last of the Evergreens. What good would bickering do us?

* * *

Perhaps it was due to Ashley’s decision to join the queens, but the taunts and pranks eased off in the following week.

Leopold made half-hearted attempts to talk to me, but he would always back off whenever I told him I wasn’t interested… At least until the next time.

Sebastian didn’t ask me out again, but Prakash used every opportunity in Advanced Calculus to suggest that I leave Brittas Academy.

Thanks to Miss Claymore, Ashley spent most evenings in our room. The deputy headmistress banned her from sitting with Bruce and the twins, and I helped my sister with prep and her homework.

Her grades rose to eighty-five percent within two weeks, proving that she was as elite as anyone else in the academy. While Ashley’s success was great, tutoring her meant that I had no time to decipher Corrine’s diary, and I still didn’t know anything about Sebastian’s relationship with the dead girl.

One morning, Sebastian walked up to the breakfast table and sat in the empty seat next to mine. “I can’t see you this weekend.”

“We didn’t have any plans.” I focussed on my scrambled eggs. If I stared into those green eyes, I might blurt out something silly.

Miss Claymore strode down from the head table and crossed the room. “Is this boy harassing you?”

I shrugged. “He’s just being confusing.”

The deputy head tapped Sebastian’s shoulder and pointed at the double doors. “Go elsewhere and confuse someone else.”

“We were only having a conversation,” muttered Sebastian.

Miss Claymore placed her hands on her hips and glared at Sebastian until he walked back to his table. Then she turned back to me and asked, “Are you alright?”

Warmth spread through my insides. Even though Sebastian hadn’t been bothering me, it was great to see a teacher so dedicated to stamping out bullying and harassment.

Geraldine and Bianca glared at us from the table they shared with the kings. It was a pity that they saved the worst of their actions for when the teachers weren’t around.