"You wanted to see me, Headmistress?" I walked into her office and took a seat in front of her desk.

"I sent for you twenty minutes ago, Leonardo," she sighs.

"I got lost, it's a big school," I shrug and lean back in my chair.

"You have always managed to find your way here before."

"Is there a reason I'm here, Sanderson?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Headmistress Sanderson to you, Leonardo. We show respect at Addington High, understood?"

"I don't understand why I'm here," I groan, "I haven't done anything all week."

"Are you denying any involvement with yesterday's incident?"

"That sad excuse for a fight? Yeah, I wasn't apart of that," I speak truthfully, "but it's not like you didn't already know that."

"I am not obliged to tell you what information I do or do not know, Mr. Rylin." I can sense she's getting frustrated with my responses.

"Face it, if you had anything on me, I'd be expelled already."

She huffs but keeps her composure as she walks to the door and opens it. "You can come in now, Heather," Headmistress smiles and invites her in. "Take a seat next to Leonardo."

Heather Blakely...high society trust fund baby.I have a class or two with her, I think. She was at the fight yesterday...on the ground but there, nonetheless. I spoke to her so she knows I wasn't fighting. For once, I'll be leaving Sanderson's office without a week of detention.

"You witnessed yesterday's events, am I right, Ms. Blakely?" Sanderson asks.

"Yes, I was there from the beginning until the end," Heather nods and looks a little nervous.

"Can you name anyone else you saw there as well?"

"Um— yes, Jace Kendal and Trevor Bailey," she says cautiously.

"Yes, Heather, I know that. However, they were not fighting each other. Did you see anyone other than them there?"

"I saw...him."

"Him as in..." Headmistress urges her to continue.

"...Leo." I quickly turn to her and furrow my eyebrows.

"Ah, so you were there, after all, Mr. Rylin," Sanderson smiles victoriously.

"Wha— I mean, yes, I was there. But I wasn't fighting, tell her Heather. I asked if you were okay, tell her the truth,"I look almost desperately at her. The one time I'm actually innocent, I get brought down by a fucking park avenue princess.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are your knuckles wrapped up?" Sanderson asks about the only honest incriminatingevidence they have on me.

"I got in a fight outside of school. I have a life that doesn't involve this place. Trust me, if I bashed some centrals' faces in, I would own it."

"And risk expulsion?" She looks as if she expects me to say 'no.'

"We don't want to be here just as much as you don't want us here," I respond.

"We? As in who?"

"All of your charity cases, Sanderson," I roll my eyes, "all the little street kids you let into your pretty school."

"Leonardo," she sighs, "believe it or not, I am not the enemy. No one thinks of you as charity, you're thought of as any other bright pupil here. You're someone whose chance of succeeding is limited by you and you only."

"Right now it's limited by some chick I hardly know," I motion toward Heather. "Money doesn't buy happiness, it just makes you a pathological liar."

"Leonardo-" Headmistress starts to say.

I stand up, "Can I go now? All these lies are giving me a false sense of reality, I'm starting to hallucinate. I just imagined the head of the school lecturing me about ruining my future while allowing a society superstar to ruin it for me."

"I'm not expelling you, Mr. Rylin."

"Wow, thank you for being charitable once again. Where the hell is Alfred Nobel? We need the goddamn peace prize!" I storm out of the office, slamming the door behind me.

Fuck Addington High, fuck centrals, and double fuck Heather Blakely.

"What are our plans for this weekend?" I ask.

Alison raises her eyebrows, "are there any parties?"

"Jace and Trevor are hosting something, but it will be filled with porn stars and status climbers, no doubt. We're better than that."

"Oh..." she sighs.

"Luckily, I'm here to save the weekend, as usual. How about a ladies' night at my place? Manicures and martinis and then breakfast with mimosas?" I suggest.

My father doesn't mind what I do as long as I don't interfere with business or give the family a bad name. He's the mayor and the only scandal we've ever had was when my mother publicly had an affair with his publicist. Someone took a photo and it was all over every news outlet, my father was more embarrassed than heartbroken...which is probably why she left.

"I'd love to, thanks, Audrey," Alison smiles at me.

"How about you, Heather?" I turn to her, but she doesn't respond. "Earth to Heather, hello!" I wave my hands in front of her face.

"Sorry, what'd you say?" Her voice sounds quieter than usual, signaling that something's bothering her.

"I asked if you wanted to stay over this weekend along with Alison," I narrow my eyes at her, "What's wrong?"

"Did you guys get called into the Headmistress's office this morning?"

Alison and I nod in response. "To discusses yesterday's ridiculous display of male testosterone? Yes, why?" I question.

"I did too...and I blamed Leo Rylin when I know he didn't do anything," she guiltily places her face in her hands.

"Who is Leo Rylin?" I raise an eyebrow and laugh. If this Leo was anyone important, I would know.

"He's just a boy...an innocent one, at that..."

"Well, I told her I didn't know anything," I shrug.

"Yeah, I didn't even see the fight until it was almost over," Alison adds.

"I feel so guilty. He was really upset, and I couldn't even look him in the eyes," Heather's conscience speaks for her.

"Then I'll add a spa day to the weekend festivities. No more stressing, you'll get wrinkles," I pat her on the back.

"That actually sounds so good right now," Alison sighs, "My classes have me feeling really under the weather lately," she leans her head on me.

"I didn't know that Ethan Carey was on your course list," I say slyly, I don't know who she thinks she's fooling. Her 'classes' are as strenuous as they usually are. Ethan, however, has been stringing her along like she's on a collar. It's a laughable crush, she's wasting her time.

"I hate him," she whines.

"You love him," I roll my eyes, "just like Heather loves being a good person and will come to school tomorrow looking like death in designer after her guilty conscience swallows her whole," I say jokingly, and Heather looks sadly at me through the hair that fell into her face.

"If you're feeling this horribly about it, just apologize to him and tell the Headmistress the truth," Alison stupidly suggests.

"You think I should?"

"Of course not. Do you know how much trouble you would get into? If that goes on your record, all the Ivy Leagues will look at you as some sort of con artist. Do you know what that means?"

"No..."

"You'll have to go to a commoners school— like...Stanford or something," my face twists in disgust. "Alison is an unreliable source whom you shouldn't seek advice from. If anyone should be telling anyone anything, it should be her telling Ethan that she would give him a blowjob just for a second glance. Desperate much?" I scoff and silence washes over us for a moment.

"...that was really mean, Audrey," Heather speaks up.

"Oh, relax. She knows I didn't mean it, right Alison?"

"Yeah...right," she stands and walks away.

I glare at her as she practically stomps through the doors and into the corridor, "See you in class...bitch."

"Want a smoke?" Danny offers me a cigarette out of his half-empty pack of Marlboros.

"Nah, I'm trying to quit."

"What's the point? It doesn't matter if they're bad for you, we're all gonna die anyway." Same old optimistic Danny, always seeing the bright side of things.

"Yeah, well, I kinda wanna see how far I'll get without fucking up my lungs, okay?" I sigh and lay down on one of the cold, metal bleachers and stare up at the sky. It's probably going to rain, so we don't have to worry about the gym class coming out and the coach sending us back inside.

"What's your deal, asshole?" Danny took another puff of his cigarette.

"Some stupid, rich bitch got me suspended," I huff, "my mom is going to kill me. She told me that if I don't stay out of trouble she's sending me to live with my dad."

I probably wouldn't mind that if his wife didn't hate me. They have a daughter together, and she wants that to be his only child. Whenever I used to visit him over the school vacations, she'd try to convince him to get rid of me somehow. Eventually, he threatened to get my mom to send me to some shithole religious camp for "troubled teens," and I haven't spoken to him since.

Danny chuckled, "Why? What'd you do?"

"For the first time ever, I didn't do anything. It's what you did," I glance over at him and see the confused look on his face.

"Me?" He says before exhaling the smoke from hischest. "For fighting?"

"Yeah...they think I started it or something," I shrugged.

"Why didn't they name me? I know that douche with the stiff hair saw me punch him in the face."

"No witnesses, Headmistress thinks she's doing us a favor by not expelling us automatically. And, I'm not going to snitch on you."

"Why you, though? Out of all of us...why'd they blame you?"Danny asks the question that's been on my mind all day.

"Because..." I start to think and try to come up with an answer. Why exactly am I being framed? Heather and I never talked, if she has a problem with me then she must've heard something from— of course, I'm so stupid..."Jace Kendal," I sit up. "The kid hates me and I almost forgot he's trying to make another generation of prep babies with Heather."

"Is he the one I stole this from?" Danny shows me a gold, diamond embezzled watch.

"Holy shit," I grab it from him to admire it in my own hands, "nah, this has got to be Trevor's. He's loaded...probably doesn't even know it's missing," I toss it back to him.

"I'm gonna sell it at the pawnshop down the block from Johnny's."

Johnny's is a cheap burger place we like to hang out at since you can't get anything but water for a good price here in the Upper East.

"What're you going to do with the money?" I ask though I know the answer.

"Buy some blow...maybe some hash. Sell it to the kids here for double what I paid for it." He smirks, "I'll share the wealth since you took the fall for me, my way of saying thanks."

"Don't speak too soon..." I sigh when I see the Headmistress and the Dean stepping through the low cut grass to get to Danny and me.

"What the hell are they doing out here?" Danny quickly tosses and stomps out his cigarette.

"They're probably coming to kick me off campus," I say lowly since they're almost here.

The Headmistress holds a big smile as she stands in front of us, the Dean extends his hand out and expects both of us to shake it. "Daniel," he shakes his hand, "Leonardo," he shakes mine.

"We've brought wonderful news," Sanderson sighs happily, "and I need to personally apologize to you, Mr. Rylin." ...I'm intrigued. "A student has come forward about your involvement in yesterday's chaos. You're free of all accusations and your suspension has been appealed. I will call your mother and apologize for what has begun to look like authorized bullying."

"Really?" My eyes narrow at them while I wait to find out whether or not this is a joke or a ploy to get me into more trouble.

"Yes, I am sorry for wasting your time...though, it doesn't seem like you're using it wisely. Please get to class, Mr. Rylin and Mr. Cole."

"Will do, Headmistress," Danny salutes her and she nods before turning away, placing her hand on the Dean's mid-back as they start to walk off.

"Hey, Headmistress!" I loudly call out for her to stop. Once she hears me and turns around, I get off of the bleachers and run up to her. "Can you tell me who came clean...or is that like classified or something?"

"Uh— sure," she says hesitantly, "Heather Blakely felt awful about everything and returned to my office to tell me the full story. After careful contemplation, I've decided to let the entire situation go. No parents have complained and as long as it doesn't happen again, I don't see why we need to dwell on this."

In other words, someone has paid you off.

"Thanks," I nod and head back to get my bag off of the bleachers.

"Welcome back, glad to see you're all here," My favorite teacher, Ms. Carter, smiles at us. Our club only meets once every two weeks, but I actually like coming here. Not only will this look good on a college application, but it's also a lot more fun and simpler than debate club, everyone's first choice for a pro-college club"Let's start today with a free-write. No prompts, no direction, show me your creativity. I'll take a few volunteers to share what they have with everyone, okay?" She asks and a majority of us nod while the rest mumble an "okay" or "yes."

I must be the worst writer ever. I don't like prompts, but I can't think of anything without them. The last time she asked us to come up with something, I gave her two pages worth of ramblings titled Kurt Cobain's Death: Suicide or Set-Up?

I should apologize to her for that...

I reach into my bag to grab a pen to use instead of the two pencils Ms. Carter provided. I haven't voluntarily used pencils since elementary school, to me, pens represent maturity for some reason.

"Ten more minutes everyone," Ms. Carter announces, and I sigh before returning to my paper, clicking my pen over and over while looking around the room in hopes of finding inspiration. I meet Leo Rylin's gaze, instead, as he walks past the classroom.

"What's he doing here after hours?" I think to myself. I doubt he's joined any clubs. Before I look away, he comes back to the open door. My breath hitches and I quickly advert my eyes, pretending to have completely fallen into the story I'm supposed to be writing.

He knocks on the door...as if he couldn't have just walked in.

"Yes, may I help you?" Ms. Carter asks.

"Um— I was wondering if I'd be able to speak with Heather for a second," he points toward me.

"Sure, you can take a seat next to her. Or, if it's private, you two can step out."

She's one of my favorite teachers because she's so sweet...but at this moment, I really wish she wasn't.

Leo sits next to me and I can feel him staring. I choose not to look at him, though his entire body is turned toward me.

"Hey," he says casually.

"...hi," I respond, still focused on the paper in front of me.

"So— uh, thanks for getting me out of the trouble you got me in," he half-heartedly shows gratitude.

"You're here to thank me?"

"I mean— yeah, I guess," Leo shrugs, "you went behind your boyfriends back to help fix what you messed up." On impulse, I face him at the very mention of Jace. "Can I ask you something, though?" I don't grant him a response. "What is it about me that makes him feel so threatened?" Leo smirks, "what have I done that made him want to get his pretty, perfect little girlfriend to take a few risks for him?"

My voice goes shallow, "...you tell me."

With that he gives me another smirk before standing up,"I'm gonna go, have fun in your baby authors club. I'll catch you around, butterfly."

...butterfly?

I scoff, "my name is Heather."

"I know your name, butterfly," he says arrogantly as he walks out of the door.

You and your weird friends...smug despite being disliked...smug because you're disliked. I don't understand it.

"Is everyone almost done?" Ms. Carter clasps her hands together.

"Um— can I have a few more minutes? I just settled on a topic."

"Sure, you can present last, okay?"

"Thank you," I sigh.

It took a week for the kingdom to divide, but no one but the queen is at fault. Sure, there was already tension between us as people because of the unspoken rule that "People with money and people without money aren't to mix." But the queen had been saying for days that the peasants were poison and shouldn't be able to breathe the same air as we noble people, let alone live amongst us. I, a simple lady in waiting, blocked out all her noise, but I could tell she was getting through to the others. They nodded their heads and laughed at the dining table...but I didn't think anyone would do anything about what we considered "poison."

The queen and her ladies were in her bedchambers, preparing for another day when everyone got word of what the queen had done. She acquired a few banners and a group of knights to help with her plans.

We walked through the doors the next day and our mouths fell agape at the sight before us. The banners were covered in red paint and harsh words.

All throughout the kingdom, incredibly hateful things were said about people who hadn't done anything to us. The banners hung in every hall for everyone to bask in the glory of.

And, oh, we did.

If systematic bullying needed a detailed example. The kingdom of Addington would be perfect.

However, we nobles did not anticipate their retaliation. They came at us with swords, daggers, and plenty of fireThey showed us that they were our equals, and unlike us, all of them stood together. We had met our match and they took pride in what they did. The peasants let it be known that they weren't going to stand for it...but we only took that as a challenge.

"This is our kingdom" became justification for the tormenting, and everyone thought it was absolutely hilarious to pick on the less fortunate because they were "beneath us."

Full-on war storms the halls of the castle. A civil war no one cares to end. Fire with fire leaves our kingdom in flames.

Now we're all poison.