Page 26 of Depraved Boys

“Yes, Miss.”

Her piercing gaze dropped down to a manilla folder from which she pulled out a sheet of paper and pushed it across the table. “You’re operating at ninety-eight percent, which is formidable, but it would take six Willow Evergreens to compensate for Ashley Evergreen’s average of sixty percent.”

“Sixty per—” I choked on air. Ashley was capable of so much more.

Calculations whizzed through my brain. Miss Claymore was right. Based on those numbers, the academy would also pay out a hundred and twenty thousand pounds in scholarships to make up for Ashley’s underperformance.

A lead weight of dread settled in my stomach. Basic mathematical reasoning would suggest that the academy was better off without Ashley pulling down their averages, but I remembered Mom’s request for me to take care of my sister, and my heart overrode reason.

I swallowed hard. “With a bit of tutoring, I can—”

“The academy can’t afford her as a liability. Ashley is well below the requirements of the Elite Register, and if she doesn’t perform by the end of term, we’ll expel her.”

“Yes, Miss.”

“One more thing. Since you have caught up admirably, it’s time for you to commence swimming practice, another condition to Ashley’s attendance at this academy.” She raised her brow, and her lips twisted into a grimace that required no mathematical interpretation. If I didn’t fix the problem with Ashley’s grades, they might determine that we were both burdens.

“I expect you to maintain or improve on your current average.”

I shuddered at the amount of work it would take to achieve greater than ninety-eight percent. “Yes, Miss.”

She held my gaze for several heartbeats longer until my insides squirmed. “Are you coming to the same conclusion as me, Miss Evergreen?”

“That I’ll have to try harder?”

“Your sister is a liability,” Miss Claymore snapped. “And better off at Cummersdale Comprehensive where she can blend in with the rest of the mediocre population.”

“I’ll speak to her.” My hands curled into fists. “Please give me some time.”

“If her performance doesn’t rise to a meagre seventy percent by the end of next week, you and I will have words.”

I inclined my head and backed out of the room. How the hell could Ashley do so abysmally in an academy dedicated to academic excellence?

Ashley wasn’t at dinner, and she wasn’t in her room, so I walked along the attic hallway and peered through every door until I found the sixth-form common room. It was four-times the size of the scholars’ room with an assortment of vending machines along one side that distributed everything from cold drinks to freshly-squeezed orange juice, to hamburgers. I shook my head at the display and gazed around a room of ground of plush, leather sofas arranged around low tables.

There was no sign of the Kings of Brittas, but the self-styled queens held court in the corner to a group of admiring girls of different ages.

“Oh, look.” Geraldine stood. “It’s Pigsty.”

Bianca’s gaze flickered down my front. “Did they have to make that uniform with extra fabric for you?”

Whatever. The whole pull-a-pig thing was getting lame, and I wasn’t about to give those skanks more attention than they deserved. I continued surveying the room until I found Ashley sitting at the far end between Bruce and the auburn-haired twins. The twin on her right whispered something into her ear, making her turn her gaze to me and snort.

“Ashley.” I strode across the room.

She leaned over one twin to whisper something to his brother, who snickered.

“Ashley,” I snapped.

She scowled. “What?”

“You weren’t in classes this afternoon. Where were you?”

“Free period.”

“Bugger off, Pigsty,” muttered Bruce from where he nuzzled Ashley’s neck.

My nostrils flared. How much effort would it take for my twin to tell her new friend to stop insulting her sister? None. Yet she smiled as though she was the Queen of Sheba getting serviced by her harem of eunuchs.