Rules Of Royalty

Rule 15: The Queen Wins All Wars

The next day at school, Adamata walked in only to see Dominic and Yvonne walking down the hallway flanked on either side by other students. Wannabes, B-listers. They were the students close enough on the social ladder for elites to relate with and for other students to revere, but they weren't elites themselves.

She stood outside the school doors, watching in total confusion. The other students whispered to eachother as well. Since when did Dominic start hanging around those people, with Yvonne.

"What are you doing just standing here?" Darjani asked as she walked up to the other brunette.

Adamata flinched at the sound of her voice, "Hey, I didn't hear you approach."

Darjani kept looking at her, a single brow raised, waiting for the answer to her question.

"Oh right, yeah. It's just Dominic and Yvonne."

Darjani hastily turned away, "That's it. I don't want to hear about them."

Adamata rushed after her as the Somali walked down the hall, "You don't understand. It's not just them, it's the people they were with."

Darjani stopped and turned around, "And who were they with?"

"Um," Adamata struggled to remember the names of the students they were with, "The Giovanni boy and those Slavic ballerinas. And the boy that Miroslava did last term, you know, the one with the plane simulator room in his house."

"He's trying to form his own squad or something?" Darjani frowned as she walked down the hallway, pausing by her locker, with Adamata still by her side.

"I don't know. Maybe, but why, though? Doesn't that contradict what he said though."

"Dominic can fuck himself for all we care, Adamata. He is no longer one of us," She says as she closes her locker and walks to her first class, everyone stopping to glance at her, "And thus he is a B-lister, because there is nobody higher than us at this school."

Adamata nodded quickly and walked away to her own first period. Darjani got in and sat at the class, looking at her freshly done nails as Adonis walked into the class. He immediately walked to take the seat next to her.

"Hey," He said.

Darjani turned to look at him, "You don't normally sit here." She noticed.

"I wanted to sit with you today."

She raised a brow at him, "You don't have to treat me like some child-"

"Darjani, hey."

Darjani and Adonis turned to look at the girl who'd greeted Darjani.

Zorine Burakova and her twin sister, Karlene, were one of those annoying foreigners that made their heritage their entire personality. And they were unable to shut up about the fact that they did ballet.

Darjani was certain they were the Slavic ballerinas Adamata was talking about. The dark skinned girl scowled. She hoped that Zorine didn't assume that just because she'd been picked up as part of Dominic's ragtag crew, they were on the same level, they were equals.

Darjani was used to greetings from wannabes and B-listers and she just hoped that was what this was, an admirer vying for her attention, and not someone who thought them to be friends.

"Hello." Darjani greeted and immediately turned back to Adonis.

"I must say, I never would have suspected it. Dominic? Then again, he is quite attractive."

Darjani snapped her head back at an inhuman speed, "Excuse me?"

Zorine smiled, showcasing her pearly whites, the effect of an entire freshman year on braces, "Oh, everyone knows about how inlove with Dominic you are. That's why you hated Yvonne, isn't it? Why you threw yourself at Dominic at Adonis' party."

Her eye began to twitch, completely stunned, unable to reply. The teacher had just walked in, beginning the lesson. Adonis tried poking her arm, getting no response. Darjani seemed to have physically shut down at what she'd just heard.

She noticed, as she moved through the first half of the day, that people were looking at her weird. And she despised it. Class by class, her mood got worse, and chest tighter. Her last class before lunch was with Somadina and she was very obviously scared at Darjani's behaviour.

She kept stealing glances and finally, when she couldn't bear it anymore, she leaned in and whispered to her, "You've heard what Dominic said, right?"

Darjani gave her a slow smile, "Yes I have."

Somadina gave her an uneasy look, "I don't want to overstep any boundaries, but, you're okay, right?"

Darjani looked at her, really looked at her. She kind of liked the girl, "Do you like Adonis?"

Somadina looked taken aback, then she considered it, "I don't think so."

Darjani raised a brow, "Tell me now, Somadina. You've been closer to him than the rest of us."

She laughed and shook her head, "It's just, considering my new status, thanks to you, he was the only available boy on our level. You understand that, right? Dominic was taken, and of course, I don't really know anyone very high in status in other school's. I'm still new to this group."

Darjani laughed at her words. Somadina's eyes widened, she didn't remember when she had ever heard Darjani laugh so honestly.

"I like you, I wish I'd known you sooner. Anyways, I understand, but you're going to have to stay away from him now. Don't worry, you'll meet A-listers at other schools, I'll handle that."

Somadina nodded, and finally, the teacher ended the class. Darjani immediately stood up and walked out, marching all the way to the History classroom, Adonis' class.

The blonde rushed through packing his things as he saw her waiting by the door.

"Hey," He said as he met her outside his class.

"Walk with me." She said to him as they began their way to the cafeteria. She was standing very close to him and thus his hands were getting sweaty. "Be my boyfriend, Adonis."

He paused for a moment, before rushing to catch up to her, "Is this about the Dominic thing? You want us to fake date to disprove them?"

A smile touched her face and she stopped and stared up at him, "I'm asking you out Adonis, really asking you out. Yes, this stems from what Dominic did, but still, seeing you with Somadina yesterday was irritating, and so, I'm claiming you for myself. So no, we are not fake dating. I want you. You're mine, I'm yours."

His eyes still remained wide, causing unease to weave into her expression, "You're okay with this, right? I don't want to cockblock you or anything. You know what, just-"

"No!" He interrupted her and held her upper arm, "It's fine. I won't cheat on you either. Yes, I accept. I mean, yeah, yeah..."

She smiled and intertwined their fingers. They walked together to the cafeteria, garnering stares and looks as they held hands. Everyone at their table stared wide-eyed as they sat down next to each other.

Darjani's eye caught Dominic next to Yvonne a few tables away. There was a pull to their table, obviously not as much as hers, but it was still there. She wasn't interested in entertaining a war.

Adonis followed his new girlfriend's eyes and saw that she was looking at Dominic. More accurately, having some kind of glaring match with him. So he placed his hand on Darjani's thigh, making her snap her head in his direction.

"Don't look at him. You're mine, remember."

Darjani didn't think she could ever get sweaty palms, yet here she was. She hastily turned away from Adonis, scared of how she was beginning to feel around him.

"Don't say things like that in public, Adonis." She whispered.

"You've never been shy before." He leaned in towards her as his hand travelled upwards, "What's changed, darling?"

"Shut up," She turned away from him and faced her food.

Adonis smiled and squeezed her thigh. She never bothered to remove his hand.