Page 33 of Depraved Boys

CHAPTER EIGHT

When I walked to the dining room the next morning, all three of the kings’ heads turned to track my movement across the room and fixed me with furious glowers. Even Prakash, who hadn’t even been present in the swimming block gave me a withering look.

I tried to distract myself by looking out for Ashley, but she hadn’t turned up, and neither had Bruce or the twins who accompanied him everywhere. With a shrug, I picked up a cooked breakfast of beans on toast with two sausages on the side and walked to the table I shared with Cormac and Michelle.

Michelle beamed, and Cormac raised his brows in silent question. I smiled back, letting him know I was okay. After last night, I wasn’t in the mood to rehash the event in public. Cormac nodded and returned to his kippers and toast.

As I started on my breakfast, Geraldine and Bianca strode over to my table.

“What are you eating?” asked Bianca.

“Breakfast.” I popped a piece of sausage in my mouth and chewed. “You should try it sometime.”

Geraldine smirked. “Now that you’re on the swimming team, you should watch what you eat. Sausages are so fattening.”

“And cannibalistic,” added Bianca.

The two girls exchanged high-fives, as though they’d devised a joke that would revolutionize the entertainment industry. I shook my head and continued my breakfast. Were these really the offspring of a senior lawyer and an official in the World Bank? They wasted an excessive amount of time on pranks and taunting.

Cormac raised his hand. “Miss Claymore?”

The deputy headmistress strolled down from the head table, robes billowing. She pinned the girls with a glower that told them not to move unless they wanted to be chased.

“What’s going on here?” she asked.

“We’re giving Miss Evergreen nutritional advice.”

“Really?” Miss Claymore folded her arms across her chest. “Enlighten me.”

The two girls exchanged stricken looks. Even if they lied, Cormac and Michelle could tell Miss Claymore precisely what they had said and how they had delivered the insult.

“Allow me.” Cormac stood. “Apparently, the pull-a-pig game is back in full force. Miss Hill has declared a ten-thousand-pound bounty to any boy willing to take Miss Evergreen’s virginity and record the evidence. In addition to that, these young ladies made slurs about Miss Evergreen’s consumption of sausages.”

Miss Claymore’s face twisted with rage. “Is that true?”

Bianca shrugged. “It was only a joke.”

“Come with me,” the deputy head snarled. “I will not tolerate bullying in this academy.”

I gave Cormac a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

He inclined his head. “Excuse me for a moment while I accompany these ladies. I expect they’re making a trip to Mrs. Benazir’s office.”

Michelle leaned across the table, dark eyes glowing with excitement. “Cormac has a soft spot for you.”

“No.” Heat rushed to my cheeks. “He just misses his twin.”

Her brows drew together. “When you put it like that, it makes sense. Poor Cormac is compensating for what happened to Corrine.”

Before I could press for details, Michelle rose. “I forgot my Human Biology textbook. Dr. Forrester will kill me if I enter his class empty-handed.”

I stared at her retreating back. Had she really left her textbook behind, or did she just want to avoid talking about Cormac’s dead twin?

The first class of the day was English Language, one of the few compulsory courses in the academy and taught by Miss Claymore. She stood at the front of the lecture theater, going through the salient points of Winston Churchill’s ‘We Shall Fight on the Beaches’ speech as a demonstration of persuasive and argumentative writing.

Sebastian, Leopold, and Prakash sat a seat away from me on my row and glared at me throughout the lecture. I kept my gaze on my notebook and scribbled the word ‘anaphora’ while listening to Miss Claymore’s examples.

“Willow,” whispered Sebastian.