I struggled not to gasp when Cress opened the door to our dorm room. Every part of Weybridge Academy I’d seen so far was opulent and beautiful, and where we were expected to sleep was no different.
A large luxurious rug covered most of the floor, and the walls were papered with a subtle leaf design in the softest shade of blue. There were gossamer canopies over the two queen-sized beds, and the wispy material draped effortlessly over the crisp white bedspreads like something out of a dream.
We each had a desk and a dresser, and through the adjoining doors I could see our room had its own bathroom and walk-in closet. This wasn’t the kind of room I’d been expecting to sleep in. It would have been more suited to a boutique hotel than a student dorm.
I’d been doing a good job of keeping my reactions in check ever since I’d arrived at the school, but it was impossible not to gape when I caught sight of the view from the window. The room overlooked a massive lake at the rear of the building, and beyond the water, a thick forest extended into the distance. Every bit of the view was so perfect it hardly looked real.
“So, what do you think?” Cress asked.
“That I shouldn’t have complained about coming here.” I was unable to tear my gaze from the beauty of the lake. I would have expected such a large body of water to have a deep, dark color, but it was more a light shade of aqua, and the surface was so still it reflected the clouds passing overhead.
Cress let out a shocked laugh. “Really? You didn’t want to come?”
“Not really.” I would never have gotten on the bus here if I’d known what really waited for me in Weybridge. But now that I was here, I could see how strange it might seem to Cress that I’d had reservations about attending the academy. I could never have imagined a school like this existed, and I was yet to even have my first class.
“You weren’t at that school in Switzerland everyone raves about, were you? Because I probably wouldn’t want to come here either if I got to take the mornings off to go skiing in the winter.”
“Uh, no.” I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “I went to school back home,” I explained. “The decision to come here wasn’t really mine, and it all happened very last minute. I guess I’m still getting used to the idea.”
This school. My father. It was all a messy blur. And I was still angry with my mom for all of it. We’d never fought like this before. Then again, she’d never made plans for my life without consulting me either. It was slowly starting to make sense to me though. Mom wanted me to have a better future, and this school would no doubt hand it to me. I didn’t agree with her decision, but seeing this place helped me understand it a little better.
“Ah,” Cress said with a nod. “My parents do the same—make decisions without really checking with me. It drives me crazy.”
“My mom’s normally pretty good about discussing them with me,” I said, feeling like I needed to defend her. “But my father…” I shook my head. I did not want to talk about Matthew. He might be paying for my schooling, but that was going to be the extent of our relationship, as far as I was concerned.
Thankfully, I was saved from having to explain about Matthew because a knock sounded at the door and Cress danced across the room to open it. A tall girl with flawless dark skin and bright green eyes stood in the entrance. She was the kind of beautiful that stopped people in their tracks. Even her chocolate-colored hair had a shine that I didn’t realize was possible outside shampoo commercials.
Cress grabbed her hand to drag her inside. “Anna, finally, come meet my new roomie. This is Isobel.”
“Uh, hi,” I said, waving a hand in greeting.
Anna started to smile as she watched my awkward wave. “Well, it’s about time you showed up.” She strode toward me and planted a kiss on each cheek. As if being a total knock-out wasn’t enough, Anna also had a gorgeous English accent.
When she stepped back to get a better look at me, her smile widened. “The boys are going to be tripping over themselves when they get a look at you.”
My cheeks heated. Was she making fun of me? She had to be joking because Anna and Cress were both stunning, and I was practically a swamp rat in comparison—especially with how wild my hair was today. I could never manage to tame it.
“I’m sure they won’t,” I murmured.
Anna smirked as she leant back against the wall to assess me. “Oh, they definitely will,” she said. “You’re hot. Plus, you’re fresh meat. I’m surprised there’s not already a line of guys waiting outside the door to meet you.”
“There will be,” Cress said.
I found it hard to believe them. They both sounded genuine though, so at least I didn’t think they were making fun of me.
“Even Noah struggled to keep his eyes off her,” Cress added.
My stomach flipped at the mention of her cousin. Noah hadn’t seemed the least bit interested in me. Surely, Cress had read him wrong.
I shook my head. “You guys are crazy.”
“Oh, we’re totally crazy,” Cress agreed. “But not about this. The boys at Weybridge have complete one-track minds.”
“It can be a lot of fun.” Anna grinned.
Cress thumped her arm. “Yeah, because you’re a shameless flirt.”
Anna gave an accepting shrug before turning her attention back to me. “So, do you have a boyfriend back home?”
I swallowed, trying not to give the pain I felt about Levi a chance to surface. I quickly shook my head. “No, no boyfriend. How about you guys?”
Their reactions were strikingly different. Cress seemed to slouch her shoulders, and her eyes dropped to the floor, but Anna screwed up her nose.
“God, no,” Anna said. “The boys here aren’t exactly boyfriend material.”
“That’s true,” Cress agreed. “The good ones are all taken, and the ones with potential come with a host of other issues. I was dating someone last year, but he doesn’t go to school here, and it ended over the summer.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Cress.” I said.
“Thanks, but I’m okay.”
“You’re definitely ready for a rebound.” Anna nudged her playfully with her shoulder.
“Yeah, maybe.” Cress didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about the idea though. The sparkle that had shone in her eyes since the moment I met her seemed to have dimmed a little, and it felt like I was looking in a mirror. She was clearly still struggling with her breakup, and if her feelings toward boys were anything like mine right now, she probably wasn’t ready to move on from her ex.
“I vote that we find you someone hot at Luther’s party tonight,” Anna declared before turning to me to explain. “One of the boys throws a back-to-school party every year at his family’s property just outside town. His parents are never there, and the place is amazing. It can get pretty crazy.”
“And the school lets you do that?”
The two girls laughed.
“I’d like to see them try and stop Luther,” Anna replied.
“Plus, it’s not on school grounds, so even if they did find out about it, there’s not a whole lot they can do,” Cress added. “They sometimes dole out detentions for breaking curfew, but since school doesn’t technically start until tomorrow, it’s a kind of gray area.”
There was a knock at the door, and Cress went to answer it. “Isobel, it’s your bags,” she called over her shoulder. She ushered the man carrying them inside and directed him to the closet. “Just in there would be great.”
He silently moved through the room, placing the bags down in the cavernous closet before disappearing out the door once more. He moved so swiftly I barely had a chance to thank him.
“Do you need help unpacking?” Cress asked. She was already in the closet opening up one of the suitcases.
“Oh, ah, sure, that would be great.”
I’d barely responded when she gasped and pulled out the first item she laid her hands on. “Oh my gosh, you have the Alexander McQueen silk bustier I’ve been eyeing. Oh, and the Balmain ruffle dress.” She looked up at me with wide eyes. “Just so you know, I wanted to be your friend before I saw your closet. Not after.”
I laughed but didn’t say anything. I hadn’t selected a single item in that bag, but it felt like a strange thing to admit.
“You must have spent days shopping for your back-to-school outfits,” she continued. “Where did you find all of this?”
I felt my skin flush as Cress glanced up at me in expectation. I didn’t feel comfortable telling her I’d never seen these clothes before, but I didn’t want to lie to her either.
“It’s all from New York,” I said. That’s where Caldwell told me the stylist bought everything. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it felt like one, and I shifted awkwardly on my feet as I glanced away from Cress.
“You’ll have to show me where you shop sometime. It’s all amazing.” She continued to pull clothes from my suitcase, gasping louder each time she saw something else she liked.
“You’re welcome to borrow any of it,” I said. I didn’t have any siblings, so I’d never needed to share my clothes before. I liked the idea of sharing with Cress though. Plus, all those beautiful clothes didn’t really feel like mine.
Cress smiled. “Keep talking like that, and Anna’s going to lose her place as my best friend…”
“Hey!” Anna called out from the other room.
“I’m only joking,” Cress shouted back to her but then grinned at me. “I’m not,” she mouthed.
The girls spent the afternoon helping me unpack. I didn’t want to like them. I really didn’t. Just like my father, Cress and Anna lived in a world of mansions, butlers, and designer clothing. A world filled with things I could never afford, and a lifestyle I’d never grow accustomed to. I was a fish out of water, and I felt so self-conscious of my obvious ugly scales.
Back home, I hadn’t been nearly so out of place, and yet my so-called friends had happily thrown me aside. I wondered whether Cress and Anna would be so callous when they found out I wasn’t one of them. I realized I felt just as wary of new friendships as I did of romantic relationships.
Cress and Anna were hard to keep at arm’s length and almost impossible to dislike. Being around them was like getting caught up in a whirlwind; once you were sucked in, there was no fighting back. You had no choice but to get pulled along for the ride. They included me in all of their jokes and talked with me like we’d been friends for years.
I’d been dreading my return to school all summer and preparing myself for a hard senior year with nothing but my studies for company. I wouldn’t be alone here though. And I wouldn’t have to face the trauma of seeing Nina and Levi every day. Perhaps Weybridge could be a fresh start like Mom suggested. As the afternoon wore on, I was beginning to feel less anger toward her. Instead of feeling hurt, I found I mostly missed her.
Mom tried calling again just before dinner, and I walked into the corridor where it was quieter to answer the phone. “Hey, Mom.”
“Isobel, thank goodness you answered.” She let out a breath of relief. “I was worried you wouldn’t…”
My chest swelled with guilt. My mom and I rarely fought, and even when we did get angry at each other, we always talked it out. I shouldn’t have dodged her calls this morning no matter how annoyed I was with her.
“No, I’m here. Sorry I missed you earlier. It’s been a long day.”
“I can imagine.”
“And I’m sorry for being so angry with you about all of this. I know you only want what’s best for me.”
“You don’t need to apologize, Iz. I understand why you were upset.” The line went quiet for a moment before she continued. “I should have discussed the new school with you, and it wasn’t fair of me to send you away without a proper goodbye. I was just so scared that you wouldn’t agree to go, and I couldn’t bear it if you passed up this opportunity.”
“It should have been my choice, Mom.”
“I know,” she said. “But you can be just as stubborn as me sometimes, and I knew you would never agree to give Weybridge a go if you weren’t pushed a little.”
“A little?”
“Fine, a lot. But I wasn’t going to let you waste your life here because of me.”
“I wasn’t going to waste—”
“You were. You always talked about going to college, and that all stopped at the start of summer. Suddenly, all your plans for the future revolved around staying in Rapid Bay and helping me at the café. I had no choice but to accept your father’s offer.”
“Yeah, well, I would have kept up the college talk if it would have helped me avoid meeting him.”
“Don’t talk like that,” she said. “It’s time you two finally knew each other.”
I couldn’t bring myself to agree.
“He called me last night, you know?”
I struggled to contain my shock. “He did?”
“He did. He wanted me to know you had arrived safe.”
“I’m surprised he could spare the time,” I muttered.
“Isobel,” Mom pleaded. “He really does want to get to know you.”
I highly doubted that. He hadn’t even bothered to stay in town for one night with me. It was like he couldn’t get away from me fast enough.
The door cracked open behind me, and I turned to find Cress peeking her head through the gap. “You nearly ready for dinner?”
I placed a hand over the mouthpiece of my phone. “I’ll just be one sec.”
She gave me a nod before disappearing into the room again.
“I have to go, Mom. My roommate wants to go get dinner.”
“Oh, but you haven’t had a chance to tell me about the school…”
“Hmm, I think it’ll take a while. There’s a lot to tell. We can talk tomorrow.”
“Okay, we’ll talk tomorrow. Go, have fun.”
“I will.”
“And, Iz?”
“Yeah?”
“Please promise me you’ll give the school a chance? I think you can be happy there, and that’s all I want for you.”
I let out a sigh and nodded. “Yeah, Mom, I’ll give the school a chance.”
“Thanks, sweetie. You won’t regret it.”
I hoped she was right.
I walked with Cress and Anna back to the main building we’d entered through when I’d first arrived at Weybridge. The sun had fallen now, and the deeper hues of night had descended as we stepped outside. The courtyard that separated our dorm from the other buildings looked even more beautiful than it did in the daylight. Lights twinkled from the hedges that bordered the area, and the fountain in the center was lit up in a soft golden glow that made the sprays of water glitter against the dark backdrop.
The buildings also looked elegant under the night’s sky with shards of light shooting up their sandstone exteriors. The place was like something out of a fairy tale. All I needed to fit in was a glass shoe, a fairy godmother, and a prince. Unfortunately, even if I could conjure up the fairy godmother, I was clumsy enough that a glass slipper was a safety hazard, and I had lost all my trust in charming princes.
“Your mom must care about you a lot if she’s already checking in on you,” Cress said as we made our way inside Esher Hall.
“We’re really close.” I nodded. “I’ve lived at home my whole life, so this is a big change for the both of us.”
“Wow, really?” Anna asked. “I can’t imagine actually having to live with my parents during the school year.”
“I loved it,” I said. “My mom’s my best friend.
“That’s so nice.” Cress gave me a gentle smile as she looped her arm through mine. “Boarding school is definitely different. But you’re going to have such an amazing time here. I’ll make sure of that.”
I was really starting to like both of these girls, and I’d gotten so lucky to be paired with Cress as my roommate. I so easily could have been stuck living with some total witch. Someone like Nina who would backstab me when being my friend didn’t suit her anymore.
The two girls had accepted me so quickly, but as I looked at them, I again found myself wondering if they’d still be so welcoming if they knew the truth about how I ended up at Weybridge Academy. Would they still want to be friends with me if they knew I lived in a small apartment above my mom’s café? If they saw the clothes I normally wore and realized I had absolutely no money to my name?
They were both so nice I didn’t think they would care, but our friendship felt too new and fragile to test it with such a bombshell. I’d never hung out with anyone as wealthy as them before, and I didn’t feel confident they’d so easily accept me if they knew I wasn’t like them.
I hated being dishonest, but perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad if I simply omitted a few things here and there. It hadn’t been the worst thing in the world to act like I’d been the one to select my clothes, and I was sure I could easily skirt around the truth in a similar fashion when asked about my past.
It wasn’t a perfect solution, but for now, it would have to do. I already felt like an impostor in this place. The last thing I needed was for everyone else at school to see me as one too. It sucked, but a few white lies seemed the best way forward. I just hoped I wouldn’t regret it.
