Annie’s POV

I stare at the fancy school gate with the name Rose Hill Academy engraved on it, as a cold, plunging sensation rests in my stomach.

This is the homecoming week and I’m a senior. Normally, there should be nothing for me to fear, since my “fresh meat” year is behind me and now I’m an old bird.

But this year is different.

“Miss Patterson. This is you,” my driver says.

“Yeah…” I murmur. “But is it too late for a transfer?”

Yet apparently, he can’t understand a teenager’s worry. “It can’t be this bad.”

I snap, “If your dad slept with the school doctor, IT IS THIS BAD!”

Among all women in the world, my dad just had to have his affair with our school doctor. Everyone has been talking about it the whole summer. Teenagers at our age feed on scandals, like mosquitos on blood. I can already picture myself as the entire school’s target.

I sign before getting off car, covering my face with my hoodie, and merge into the crowd.

The register office is clogged with students. I hesitate around the corner, thinking if it’s a wiser idea to wait for the crowd to disperses. Then I notice that there’s an elated look on everyone’s face, especially girls.

“Have you heard? There’s a new senior transfer student!” I overheard two girls in front me talking.

Senior transfer? That’s weird. Normally, they don’t allow senior transfers because of the community unity crap. There must be something special about that kid.

Then they answered my question, “He is a hockey star player, super cute, super hot. And rumors say—”

She drags her last word dramatically, building up to the final climax.

“—his last name is Godrick!”

Wow. I gasp in astonishment.

Everyone knows about the Godrick family, which has a long line of famous hockey players and is the owner of the best hockey team in the National league. Charlie Godrick, possibly the kid’s father, even made the Forbes’ Rank by being a legendary athlete.

If he is indeed that Godrick, that’d put him on the top of our food chain.

“Here he comes!”

The hallway erupts into a buzzing chattering as a tall and muscular figure makes his way to us. I tip-toe to see, but a crazy fan besides me stomps down on me foot. I whine at the pain and miss the chance to catch a glimpse of this transfer. When I look up again, he is gone already.

“He’s perfect…” a girl beside me murmurs dreamily.

“Get over it.” Her friend snorts. “Have you seen the way Stephanie clung to him? That meat is taken.”

The crowd scatters still discussing our new transfer. I take this chance and sneak into the register office before anyone notices.

The class spent the entire morning gossiping about the Godrick kid. By noon, rumors have gone wild saying Godrick is making out with Stephanie in the locker’s room.

But I want this fever to continue. At least no one cares about my family drama anymore.

With the bell calling the morning class to an end, students move to the café in herds. I quickly grab a tray of food and scan around for empty table. Luckily, I have spotted my friends.

“Patricia! Branda!” I call out to them, waving my hand enthusiastically in midair.

But to my dismay, both of them keep their heads down, as if they’ve suddenly found great interest in their Greek yogurt and Cesar salad.

No, they can’t be.

My body freezes as panic seizes my heart. Our little group has formed since the first day of school! Brenda even comforted me during summer over the phone. They can’t alienate me out!

I push through the crowd moving closer to them. But the next second, someone bumps into me, knocking me down to the floor along with my tray of food. Cold crawls all over me as I find my dress drenched by milkshake with strawberry syrup and chocolate chips sitting on my chest.

There’s a short silence. Then the café burst into booming laughter. Then a cocky voice rings on my head:

“Oops, my bad. Should have smelt your skunky scent.”

I look up, breathing heavily.

There she is, Stephanie, standing in high heels and uniform skit tailored to her upper thigh, snickering at me with her arms folded.

If we have to divide students into groups, there’s the bottom-tier students living on financial aids, and the second-tier students like me working on good grades trying everything they could to fulfill expectations, and there’s the first-tier students, the Predators. They don’t need to do anything; their trust fund will make sure they live comfortably for the rest of their lives. They are just here to kill time before getting an internship in their family business.

Stephanie, the cheerleader, is no doubt the Queen of all.

I quickly pull myself up trying to ignore all those teasing laughers around me and prepare to flee the scene. But Stephanie never lets her prey off the hook easily. She blocks my away and mocks, “Hey where are you going? Maybe having your eyes on a certain faculty as well? Say…our janitor Mr. Hughes? Because like-father like-daughter?”

Her words won another round of applause from the crowd.

Suck it up. I say to myself. There’s no use fighting back.

Yet just then, a stern voice comes from the door, silencing the café immediately:

“What are you doing?!”

I snap my head back with everyone else and find a blonde female standing by the door, dressed in her white coat.

Rachel, our school doctor, AKA my dad’s affair, AKA my stepmom.

What the hell is she doing here?!

“Annie,” she raises her voice. “Come with me.”

I bite down my lips rushing down to her side. Right after we step out, tumultuous boos break behind us, with Stephanie’s signature high-pitched voice saying:

“…bitch.”

Don’t know which one of us she’s referring to.

I glance at Rachel, whose face seems surprisingly calm.

“To the hospital wing,” she says to me. “Your clothes are drenched.”

I don’t know how to face her. I should hate her, but she just rescued me from bullying and I’m not very fond of confrontation, so I remain silent.

There’s another student lying on the bed when we arrive. I give a quick glance at the hockey equipment on the floor. I recognize him as Olaf, from my AP bio.

“Can I leave?” he whines when we come in. “I’m bored as hell here.”

“No. It takes at least a week for a sprained ankle to recover. And your new captain will come to check on you later,” Rachel settles me on another bed and says to me, “Wait here. I’ll get you something to wear.”

She leaves the room. Olaf steals a glance at me and whistles, “Hey cool dress.”

I can tell by his tone that he didn’t mean that as a compliment. Looking down, I find my shirt to be transparent, revealing every detail of my laced bra.

Embarrassed, I hastily cover my chest and stretch an arm to close the curtain.

“Hey nice boobs,” he grabs the curtain from the other end and grins. “Maybe you and I can have a little talk in the locker room after my practice? You know, since sleeping around is in your family blood?”

Seriously? I glare at him, prepared to shoot back. But the door flies open the next second and a tall figure marches in. Before I get a good look at him, a huge jacket is thrown on top of me, covering my body and vision.

Then I hear a voice growling to Olaf, “That’s your fucking reason to skip training? To harass girls?”