Private School Kings

Storming the Castle

It was only 8:00 and I was already a little drunk. It had been two weeks since Tim' boxing night and I had started drinking more regularly. You sort of had to if you wanted to be around Heather, and I was around Heather. I was around her most of the time now. The other Ladies and I hung out in her room or went to parties. It felt good because I knew that every inch I got closer to her the closer I was to Tim's world, but it meant I had much less time to spend with Fletcher and Madeline. Which meant I hadn't had the time to talk to Fletcher about what we were going to be. If we were going to be anything... Our focus was back on the mission. Which was fine, but I couldn't help wanting something more.

So, it was 8:00 on a Friday and I was already a little drunk off of wine from Heather's in-room minibar. Most of the time I tried to limit my intake. The last thing I wanted was a repeat of the absinthe incident. I had actually gotten better at taking my alcohol too. I was developing a higher tolerance. Heather had noticed. I think she liked it, the feeling that she was corrupting me.

"You want some more Monroe?" She asked with a lilting tone to her voice. If I was a little drunk, then Heather was already nearing the point of no return. She spun around the room, bottle in hand, and Talia had to grab her elbow to keep her from tripping over. Heather always called me Monroe in groups now. It was only Murphy when we were alone, which was rarely. She didn't address any of the other girls like that, and I thought maybe it was her way of reminding me that even if she was letting me in, I was still an outsider.

I had to keep telling myself it didn't matter. Really, it didn't. We weren't supposed to be real friends, and I didn't even like her, but even so I hated the way it made me feel.

I took the bottle from Heather, making a small sip look bigger than it was and passed it to Maggie Fortworth when I was finished. Of all the Ladies Maggie was the least welcoming. Talia always eyed me was a careful suspicion, but Talia looked at everyone like that. Lexi Li had been almost overly kind, always working to include me in conversations. The other girls were all varying shades in between, but Maggie watched me with outright hatred. It might have been because we were both juniors, or because Heather seemed to favor me as her protege over Maggie, but whatever it was I couldn't seem to overcome it and win her over. She took the bottle with more force than was necessary, passing it without taking a drink.

"Wine makes you fat." She said, just loud enough that I could hear, but quietly enough that the buoyant Heather would remain blissfully unaware. I didn't respond. Maggie was almost as low on the Ladies social hierarchy as I was, and she wasn't worth my time. Looking back, it's easy to see how much life among the Pruitt elite was already affecting my thinking, but in the moment I felt I was just being practical.

One hour later I was still a little drunk and we were on our way into town. Talia had called a college student, her boyfriend maybe, to drive us. That was super against the rules, but I had long since come to understand that rules at Pruitt were only for certain people. Normally, I might have been one of those people, but not when I was with Heather.

We pulled up on a block in New Haven that I had never seen before. That wasn't surprising, I rarely ever left Pruitt, and I didn't know shit about the rest of Connecticut. It was still startling sometimes, seeing that there was a world outside of the school, and Fletcher, and the Lords. That realization scared me because it showed just how entrenched I was in the world of Pruitt. So much so that it had started to feel like my only world.

The club was loud even from the car. There were people standing in line on the curb, lit from above by the cool yellow light of the neon sign hanging atop the door. Music pulsed from the concrete walls of building, resonating deep inside my chest, and I leaned over Maggie Fortworth to get a better look.