They don't play to win. They play to hurt.
Sterling Academy's irresistible reputation all came crashing down last year when a list of the 'top thirty girls too...' had been anonymously published.
Now recovering from the pits of hell the media dragge...
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I SHIFT WITH a groan, feeling a kink in my neck. I peel my eyes open, adjusting to the darkness of the room, I look around bewildered as to where I am.
Everything comes back to me in increments; Nadia calling me some-time yesterday when I'd been with Ari, the drive to Luca and Nadia's secret cabin, Cassie DuVall, me yelling at Luca and Caleb's standing in the kitchen as he unpacks up his duffel bag,.
"Morning," I greet, getting up from where I'd slept on the two—person sofa. I twist to both the right and left to crack my back. I sigh in relief after I hear the satisfying crackles.
Nadia's still fast asleep from her position. Her pink lips are parted but no sound comes from them. She's usually a snorer, no matter how much she argues she isn't.
Caleb's sitting upright in a white boucle armchair. The three-person sofa he'd originally been seated at lays empty. He's flipping through a book that I'm way too sleep-deprived to catch the title of.
Everyone else is scattered in the remaining space across the secret cabin.
Sage took to the bathroom and set up base in the bathtub. Luca's still in his room, passed out and Atlas and Cassie took Nadia's bedroom. I'd almost lost the plot yesterday night when they got the bed until Nadia said she'd rather they have the room, and not be out in the open.
I couldn't disagree with her there. There is no way I could wake up to get an eyeful of Cassie DuVall and be anything but in a bad mood for the rest of the day.
"You should go back to sleep, I wasn't planning on waking you guys up for another..." his eyes flicker down to the watch strapped to his wrist, "half an hour."
"I can't," I sigh, standing up and shedding the thin blanket that's sourced from one of the linen cabinets. "Once I'm awake, I'm awake."
Caleb's eyes stray from my eyes. I stand up straighter as I feel his gaze burn its way through my body. His eyes aren't shameful as they track the bare skin that's my stomach. They then focus on my bare legs.
"So, what are you doing?" I ask, doing my best to ignore the blatant ogling. "Up this early," I elaborate in case he doesn't get it.
"I'm always up by now," He shuts the book and places its cover first on the coffee table that currently separates us. Nadia and Sage's unfinished game of Uno is sporadically scattered on the glass table.
I turn until my eyes fall onto the large clock that's hung up on the wall. "It's four am. What do you mean you wake up this early normally?" I get up at six thirty, but even that's a partial lie. I don't leave my bed until a whole half an hour later. But that's only when I'm washing my hair in the morning, when I'm not I wake up at seven-thirty.
"I wake up at four, head to the gym for two hours, eat breakfast, finish my school work and by then everyone else has started to wake up so I start my day."
