Page 34 of Colton

“Your face is telling me everything you’re feeling, Ava,” she deadpans.

“Well, excuse me! I didn’t think you’d drop that name here! Seriously? Kenzo? The guy that you share mutual hatred with? That Kenzo?”

“Unfortunately,” a groan comes from Grace. “But not a word of this to anyone. I’m not ready for Sinners and Saints to be all over this.”

“Uh, right,” I wince.

Sinners and Saints, the source of all the headaches students of Saint Valley have had recently been subjected to. It’s a website that thrives in spreading gossip, rumors, and everything of the like. Is everything they post, and send via emails correct? No, but it’s enough to create buzz, and get people speculating, talking about it.

No one knows who is behind the site, and it’s becoming annoying to deal with it.

“Who do you think is behind it, Ava?”

I glance at Grace, then ponder. It’s been playing on my mind, but no matter who I might suspect, I never had any sort of concrete proof. Besides, in a school filled with the wealthy and influential, who would believe a scholarship student?

“No idea,” I shrug.

“For a moment, I did think it was Sophia,” Grace admits with a chuckle, and that makes me pause. “But it can’t be her. Not because she was the subject of the gossip multiple times, but because she doesn’t have the time. And given how much she fights for all of us, and how much she adores her friends, I doubt she’d do that.”

“Sophia knows everything about everyone, so it would be a rational thought, but yeah… I highly doubt it’s her.”

“What about Lila?”

I shake my head. “The girl is the definition of trying to lay low.”

Grace frowns. “I think she’s very contradictory. She wants to blend it, to keep her head down, and stay out of trouble, but then she dyes her hair blazing pink and it’s all people are talking about.”

“True, but personality wise, I don’t think she’d have it in her to do it.”

“I know. It’s not any of us four, but someone at the Academy is doing it. I’m very curious as to who has access to all the secrets, and who has eyes and ears everywhere.”

“It’s someone with a lot of power,” I murmur, looking out of the window.

The website, as entertaining as it can be at times, is making me uneasy. Whoever it is, they’ll get the wind of Grace and me coming here, sooner or later. And when it happens, I don’t think I’ll be able to hide anything about myself, including the little job on the side I have.

12

My sister is sitting across from me, sipping on her tea and occasionally taking small bites of her breakfast. She doesn’t eat much lately, and I’m getting a little worried. She’s lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw her and the fact that she seems unbothered by it, makes me more concerned.

“How was your trip?”

She looks up at me, and a beaming smile forms on her lips. Dahlia is my half-sister, and the age gap between us is rather significant. My bastard of a father had a mistress while my mother was dying, which resulted in having Dahlia. It’s not her fault, of course, and I love my sister with all my heart.

I can’t say the same for her mother and our father, though. As soon as I took over the family, I had both of them banished from here. I’m not sure if they’re still married, or where they are. I have no desire to know anything about them, either.

Dahlia keeps in touch with them from time to time, but their relationship is superficial.

Her mother, Kylie, thought that with my mother out of the picture, our father would proudly show her off to everyone in his circle. She thought that she’d suddenly become as respected as my mother once was. It didn’t happen, because on a rational level, my father was aware that she wouldn’t be welcome in our society.

All the other women of the other founding families were close to my mother, and none welcomed her. In fact, they made Kylie’s life a living hell, while doing the same to my father, Lucas.

It’s partially why they so easily agreed to place Dahlia in my care, and leave. They knew they had no place here, and that the power Lucas St. James once held… went down the drain the moment he tried introducing his mistress as Mrs. St. James.

“The trip was phenomenal!” She grins. “I’ve been to a bunch of places, and I have some pictures to show you later! How have you been, though? I know this time of the year is rather difficult for you.”

My jaw clenches, and unclenches when I see worry in her eyes. It’s my mother’s death anniversary, and it always takes a toll on me. Her death came too soon, and she suffered in her last moments. I can’t prove it, but judging by what Mrs. Elsher had told me, Kylie went to my mother’s hospital bed, and bragged that my father and her were having an affair.

My mother passed away shortly after.