Rich Kid Prep: Book 1 Read online

  The two of them stay silent beside one another, not speaking the rest of the way to the football field. Nerves settle in my stomach as the field comes into view.

  I have only one chance to make a good first impression and I hope I don’t fail.

  Obligatory mean girl.

  When we get to the football field, I try to act calm.

  Just breathe.

  Everything will be fine.

  But despite my best efforts, my heart is racing so fast and my head is spinning.

  “Yo, Peter!” Somebody yells.

  Everybody turns to us, which makes me want to hide behind my escort. Instead, I keep my head high and pray I don’t trip over something and fall flat on my face.

  A brunette boy walks up to us. He’s got on a shirt that says, ‘Working on my six pack,’ which makes me smile. He’s wearing a pair of yellow shorts, showing off his tan. I’m guessing he spent a lot of time outdoors this summer.

  “Hey, Peter. Glad you’re back, man.” The boy knuckle bumps Peter.

  “I wish I could say I’m glad to be back,” Peter jokes.

  The boy looks at me. “Who’s the hottie?”

  The hottie?

  Never in my life have I been called hot.

  “I’m Hensley,” I say before Peter can call me Cinderella.

  “Hensley Lockwood,” Peter says.

  The boy grins. “Nice to meet you, Cinderella.”

  I groan.

  Peter laughs. “Told you.”

  I guess it’s just something I’m going to have to deal with for now. Maybe once they get to know me they’ll stop calling me the ridiculous nickname.

  “What’s your name?” I ask, hoping to change the subject.

  “Blaine Fletcher,” he answers, his lips turning up in the corners. “Want to be introduced to people?”

  I nod, turning to Peter.

  “See you later, Cinderella,” Peter says.

  I narrow my eyes. “I kind of hate you right now.”

  He grins. “Which means you like me.”

  Before I can respond, Blaine gently grabs onto my arm, pulling me away from Peter.

  “Peter seems nice,” I comment.

  Blaine nods. “Everybody likes Peter.”

  I can imagine so. If only I can get him to stop calling me Cinderella, I think we could be friends.

  “Yo, Dastian!” Blaine yells out.

  A boy turns and heads our way and my heart stops when I see him.

  He is quite literally the most attractive boy I’ve ever seen in my life.

  His brown hair is slightly curly and thick. I’d love to run my fingers through his hair, just to see if it’s as soft as it looks. His eyes are the darkest brown I have ever seen. And his jaw... it looks like it was sculpted by the best artist that ever lived. He’s not wearing anything special, just a black shirt and a pair of jeans, but he wears it well.

  And his smile...

  My stomach is in knots and I hope I can even say something because this boy has me all kinds of nervous.

  “Have you met Cinderella yet?” Blaine asks.

  My nerves are immediately turned to anger. Why did he have to introduce me to this guy as ‘Cinderella?’ But maybe I should thank him because I’m really not nervous anymore.

  “Cinderella?” the boy that Blaine called Dastian asks, raising an eyebrow.

  “I’m Hensley,” I say, before Blaine can tell him my last name. I’d like to make at least some friends that don’t know who my biological father is.

  “I’m Dastian Graham.”

  I recognize his last night right away. I live in ‘Graham Dorms.’ Which, I suppose it’s a common enough last name. Maybe they weren’t donated by somebody he’s related to.

  “She’s Hensley Lockwood,” Blaine says.

  I could punch Blaine right now, but that wouldn’t make the best first impression.

  Dastian turns to me, his eyes hardening. “Nice to meet you.”

  But from the tone of his voice and the look on his face, I’d say meeting me is anything but nice.

  I swallow hard, trying not to be hurt. I don’t even know this guy. Just because I’m ridiculously attracted to him doesn’t mean anything. He’s not obligated to treat me any sort of way.

  Before I can say anything else, Dastian turns and stomps off, leaving me standing beside Blaine with my mouth hanging open.

  “Don’t mind Dash.” Blaine nudges me with his elbow. “He’s always broody.”

  Somehow I doubt that, but I don’t argue on it.

  I clear my throat, hating how I’m letting Dastian affect me so much. Tears should not be pressing against the back of my eyes right now.

  “Introduce me to more people,” I say, not wanting to talk about Dastian.

  Blaine puts his hand on the small of my back, leading me forward. He walks up to another boy with brown hair.

  His hair is on the verge of being long, but I imagine he keeps it that way on purpose. It’s messy but in an intentional way. His eyes are dark brown, framed by thick, long lashes. And when he smiles he reveals dimples in his cheeks. He’s attractive but not as attractive as Dastian.

  Am I going to compare every boy at this school to Dastian?

  “Have you met Cinderella yet?” Blaine asks the boy.

  He grins, his eyes lighting up. “I haven’t yet.”

  “It’s Hensley Lockwood,” I say, pushing a piece of hair behind my ear. “Please, don’t call me Cinderella.”

  “I promise I won’t,” he says. “I’m Drew Olsen.”

  I like Drew already, though maybe just because he promised not to call me Cinderella. It’s too soon to be declaring anybody as my friend yet.

  I spot a blonde girl walking our way. She has her hands on her hips and she looks like she’s on a mission. When she walks up, she stands on the tips of her toes and kisses Drew on the lips.

  “Hey, babe,” she says, her eyes glancing toward me.

  The girl is beautiful with a heart shaped face and porcelain skin. She’s barely taller than me, maybe an inch taller. Her hair is platinum blonde, but her eyebrows are brown, making me think she’s died it that color. Her blue eyes are so big, and her makeup is flawless. I know she came over to stake her claim on Drew, she wanted to make sure I knew he was her boyfriend. I can’t decide yet if I like her or not. Truthfully, I can’t blame her for wanting to make sure I knew that Drew was her boyfriend.

  “Who are you?” She wrinkles her nose as she looks at me.

  I grin at her, trying to make a good first impression. “I’m Hensley Lockwood. It’s nice to meet you.”

  She turns her head to look at Drew, poking out her bottom lip. “Drew, I haven’t seen you all week. You promised to spend time with me today.”

  Drew seems annoyed, but he puts his arm around the girl. “I’ll see you around, Hensley.”

  I wave a hand at him as he leads the girl away. She looks over her shoulder at me, glaring.

  Blaine snorts. “That was Braelynn Cruz, the school’s obligatory mean girl.”

  “Obviously.” I roll my eyes. “Did she think I wanted to steal her boyfriend or something?”

  “She’s jealous of everybody, not just you,” Blaine explains. “She won’t even let her best friends talk to him. I don’t know why he puts up with it.”

  “I guess he loves her.” I could never put up with somebody being that jealous in a relationship. It would be too annoying. I need somebody who can trust me or else what would be the point?

  “She’s hot, but not that hot. But I don’t do relationships.” He looks down at me. “Sorry to break your heart.”

  I laugh. “Don’t worry, Blaine. I’m not interested.”

  He puts his hands dramatically against his chest. “Wow. You’re breaking my heart here, Cinderella.”

  I smack his arm. “Don’t call me Cinderella.”

  He puts his arm around my shoulder, pulling me toward another group of people. “I’ve already decided that I like you. We’re going to b
e good friends.”

  I like the sound of that.

  Chapter Two

  Right now?

  After he introduced me to people, Blaine invited me to a party later that night. He told me that behind the football field, there is a trail through the woods that leads to a clearing. It’s supposedly well hidden at night, so they never get caught. I guess they hang out there after curfew every weekend.

  Part of me wants to stay home, like the ‘good girl’ I am. Hensley Smith would never sneak out after curfew. But I’m not Hensley Smith anymore. I’m Hensley Lockwood. And what is the worst that can happen? If I get caught, would I even get in trouble? I want to push the boundaries and see what I can get away with, so that is what I do.

  Climbing out a window is harder than it sounds. I open my window, pulling out the screen. When I look down, I see it’s a longer way down than I thought it would be. I figured sneaking out from the first floor would be a whole lot easier than this.

  I’m not going to back out now.

  I sit down on the ledge, swinging my legs over the side. I chew on my lip, second guessing myself once again.

  “Need help?” A voice asks.

  My heart races as I look up to see who spoke. I see a boy with dirty blond hair making his way over toward me.

  “I’ve never done this before,” I admit. “It’s harder than it looks.”

  He chuckles. “Jump. I’ll catch you.”

  I look between him and the ground. “Are you sure? I’m heavier than I look.”

  His eyes sparkle with humor. “Just trust me.”

  “Trust you? I don’t even know your name,” I object.

  “I’ll tell you after you jump.”

  Well, I suppose that is incentive enough.

  Closing my eyes, I jump. And sure enough, he catches me, spinning us around to slow the momentum.

  “You lied,” the boy says.

  I open my eyes, wondering what he’s talking about.

  “You’re not heavier than you look,” he says.

  I laugh. “You promised to tell me your name.”

  From here, I can see that his eyes are light blue. They’re truly beautiful. Actually, he is beautiful. Maybe not as attractive as Dastian, but Dastian was a jerk. He’s not worth thinking about anymore.

  “I’m Logan Griffin,” he says.

  “Hi, Logan,” I say. “I am Hensley.”

  “Hensley...” his voice trails off.

  Why does everybody here always insist on last names?

  I clear my throat. “Uh, Lockwood.”

  His eyes sparkle. “Everybody has been talking about you.”

  Together, we head off toward the football field.

  I frown. “That hardly seems fair.”

  He shrugs. “Life rarely is, but don’t worry. Everybody was saying good things. The guys all think you’re hot.”

  My cheeks grow warm. “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.”

  “They were telling the truth.”

  It takes me a few seconds to realize what he’s saying.

  Logan thinks I’m hot.

  Butterflies fill my stomach.

  “Do you have a boyfriend?” he asks before I get a chance to say anything.

  I push a piece of hair behind my ear. “Uh, no. Definitely not.”

  “Definitely not?” He raises an eyebrow.

  “Boys at my old school definitely didn’t think I was hot,” I explain. “I’ve never had a boyfriend, not even close.”

  He smiles. “Not even close? What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know.” I chew on the side of my lip. “Like, you know. I’ve never had a crush that I’ve texted a lot with. And I’ve never flirted with a guy. And I’ve never been kissed.”

  He comes to an abrupt stop.

  I turn to him.

  “You’ve seriously never been kissed?” he asks.

  I nod, my cheeks once again growing warm.

  Why did I tell him that?

  “I’m going to change that,” he says.

  My eyes widen. “Right now?”

  He grins, putting his arm around my shoulder as he leads me forward. “Hensley, you are way too sweet for a guy like me.”

  Logan is a very good looking guy. I wouldn’t mind for him to be my first kiss. But I don’t say that out loud.

  “You called me Hensley.” I glance up at him.

  “Do you prefer Cinderella?” He raises an eyebrow.

  I shake my head. “No. Hensley is nice. Please call me that. I don’t like being called Cinderella.”

  He grins and my heart races.

  Logan is way too hot for me.

  “To answer your earlier question, I’m not going to kiss you right now. But soon,” he promises.

  Soon?

  Did he say that to drive me insane? Because now I need to know when soon is.

  “Who said I wanted you to kiss me?” I pull away from him, jutting my chin up. “For all you know, I’m not even attracted to you.”

  He smirks. “I can tell you’re attracted to me. Why else would you be flirting with me?”

  Okay, he has a good point, but I’m not going to admit that out loud.

  “You’re kind of adorable when you blush.” He winks at me.

  Nobody has ever winked at me before and his wink has my stomach in knots.

  Logan is a charmer, I’ll give him that.

  I’ve never really had a guy pursue me before. The fact that somebody as attractive as Logan is showing interest in me is kind of blowing my mind. I try to play it cool, but I am absolutely freaking out. I’m glad when we reach the path by the football field so it’s too dark for him to see my face. Now he can’t see me blushing.

  We walk a ways on the path before I can see light up ahead. I realize they’ve found the perfect place to hang out after curfew because you can’t see or hear it from the school. Well... as long as Peter keeps his fireworks away.

  As we walk into the clearing, I wonder if I will see Dastian again tonight. Maybe it’s wrong to be thinking about him when I’m standing next to Logan, but I can’t help. I need to know if Dastian really is a jerk or if he was just having a bad day.

  A boy calls for Logan, so he says a quick goodbye to me and leaves me standing there all alone. If I wasn’t nervous enough, I just got ten times more nervous standing on my own.

  I’m not good at the whole charming people thing. I would never just walk up to somebody and start talking, I’m too anxious for that. Thankfully, I don’t have to. Almost as soon as Logan walks off, a girl approaches me.

  The girl is tall—intimidatingly so. She’s got to be at least five nine and she’s wearing flats. I feel short next to her. She has long brown hair, so dark it almost looks black. Her skin is pale and her blue eyes are so big. She’s wearing a black dress that shows off her slim but curvy figure.

  “Hey. You’re the new girl, right?”

  I grin. “Hensley Lockwood. And thank you for not calling me Cinderella.”

  She laughs. “The kids in this school are ridiculous. Just ignore them.”

  “What’s your name?” I ask, liking her already.

  “Missy Davis.” She crosses her arms across her chest. “I heard you already had a run in with Braelynn.”

  “Blaine introduced me to Drew,” I explain.

  She shrugs. “Drew and I are friends, so she hates me too. I have a boyfriend, so I’m not competition to her.”

  “Who is your boyfriend?” I ask, wondering if I’ve met him.

  “Dastian Graham.” She grins as she answers. “I’ll introduce you later.”

  Dastian.

  My stomach feels as though a rock has been dropped into it.

  I want to hate Missy just because she’s dating Dastian, but that would be dumb. She’s so nice and I really think she and I could be friends. So what if I’m insanely attracted to her boyfriend?

  “I saw you walking here with Logan,” she says.

  My cheeks grow warm at the menti
on of Logan. “Uh, yeah, he saved me from falling on my face when I snuck out my window.”

  She smirks. “You too, huh?”

  “Me too?” I ask.

  “All the girls here adore him.” She looks toward the side, where Logan is standing, talking to some boy I don’t recognize. “But I feel like I should warn you, Logan Griffin isn’t boyfriend material.”

  “I just got here. I’m not looking for a boyfriend.” But my heart is a little crushed at her words.

  She puts a hand on my arm. “I wanted to make sure you knew. I don’t want you to get your heart broken.”

  “Why isn’t he boyfriend material?” I ask.

  “He’s a player,” she answers. “He’s never had a girlfriend before, only because he can’t commit. I had a crush on him my freshman year and he broke my heart. I found him making out with my then best friend.”

  I frown. “I’m sorry.”

  She shrugs. “It’s okay. Dastian healed my broken heart.”

  At the mention of Dastian, I feel sick to my stomach.

  Why does he have to have a girlfriend?

  Almost as if he knows we’re talking about him, Dastian walks up, putting his arm around Missy. My chest aches with jealousy.

  I will not have a crush on Dastian Graham. He has a girlfriend for crying out loud. And she’s standing right in front of me!

  “I was just talking about you.” Missy grins, looking at Dastian. “Logan was trying to put the moves on Hensley, so I told her about freshman year.”

  Dastian looks at me, this time without glaring. “Yeah, I can’t believe Logan and I used to be friends. He’s not ready for a relationship.”

  “I wasn’t interested anyway.” I shrug. “I just got here. I don’t know anybody yet. He just walked with me on the way here.”

  It’s such a lie.

  I’d very much like to kiss Logan Griffin, even if it’s only to get my mind off of Dastian.

  “He didn’t really try to put the moves on me anyway.” That is the biggest lie I’ve told.

  Dastian raises an eyebrow at me, calling me on my bluff. “Now I know you’re lying. Logan always flirts with pretty girls.”

  I look at Missy, wondering what her reaction will be to her boyfriend calling me pretty. She just nods her head. “It’s true.”