BOOK ONE || the city lights series
Adina Ricci is the daughter of two of the most famous people on the planet. She grew up in the spotlight and she never once felt ungrateful for what she had been given. But, right before her fourteenth birthday, he...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
VAUGHN REELS HIS head, his eyebrows furrowing in what I can only assume is confusion, because what the fuck is this girl thinking? She must not be, or else she's officially lost it.
"Well! Are you gonna answer me?!" Mia questions, looking at Vaughn with an incredulous look in her eyes.
"I think it's pretty obvious what I'm doing here with her," Vaughn, almost amusedly, tells her, tauntingly lifting an eyebrow at her. He wraps his arms around my waist and I tuck my hand under his suit jacket, along his abdomen.
"What the fuck, V!" I cringe at her use of the nickname, "W– Wha– This wasn't supposed to happen." Mia looks from Vaughn to me, her once somber expression turning annoyed, her light eyebrows scowl back at me. "What's so good about her, huh? What? She's rich and skinny, big deal. So am I, and so is basically every girl who goes to Caldwell, you're nothing special." Mia spits out, rolling her eyes.
Her words bring me back to my first day at the Academy, how she came up behind V, wrapped her arms around his neck, and tried her best to whisper seductively to him as if no one was watching. And how once she saw me, without even a second thought, she decided that there was nothing to like.
you're nothing special.
Perhaps if she had treated me better, or everyone else in this school better, I wouldn't feel the need to take her down a peg, maybe even a few, but I do.
"You're right," I shrug, my face holding disinterest. "I'm not special, and if, according to you, everyone in this school is exactly like me, what does that make you?" I pause, taking a breath before continuing. "Yes, you're pretty. You have a nice body, I'll admit, but you're nothing but a bully. You go around thinking you can get what you want, but life doesn't always work out that way. You need to learn to live with that."
Mia scoffs, "I don't need to learn to live with anything. I always get what I want..." She trails off, her eyes going to the boy who stood beside me, heat twinkling in her eyes. "And what I want, is for you to do what you do best, run away."
I feel the anger rise in my chest and build in my throat, ready to burst out.
"We all know Vaughn deserves better than a piece of trash, like you."
I go for her but don't get far, as Vaughn's strong hands hold me back from making a scene.
"Ignore her," he whispers in my ear, the feeling of him beside me pulls me back to reality. Breathing in and out, I try and calm myself down, my jaw staying taught in a reminder of what I feel when I'm around this Queen Bee.
"Everything okay here?" My eyes go to the right of Mia, where Caspian is standing, his eyes searching Vaughn's face before they connect with mine, I nod my head once to silently tell him that we have everything handled.
"Oh, great. The sidekick to the rescue," Mia sarcastically smiles, rolling her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Mia, but what makes you think that I'd be with you when you act like that?" Vaughn points out, scoffing under his breath.
