Page 9 of A Knight’s Revenge: The Complete Series

CHAPTER SIX

“ S hh! He’s coming, he’s coming!”

“You’re being too loud, Zach!”

“No, you’re being too loud, Jojo!”

“You’re both loud!” Noah rolled his eyes at us before he crawled to the door of my mom’s giant closet, and he laid flat on the ground, trying to look through the tiny crack of light under the door to see if he could spot Bennett.

We hadn’t picked a very creative place to hide, but the penthouse was so big, it could take Bennett a long time to find us.

“Get off me Zach! You’re in my space,” I whined.

“Don’t be such a baby. I’m not even touching you.”

His socked foot poked me twice, and I shrieked at him, “Stop it, Zach!”

“He’s coming!” Noah whisper-yelled, scurrying back to where we were hiding behind rows of very expensive dresses and throwing himself in between us.

The closet door burst open, and the harsh light of the bathroom now beamed directly on our hiding spot.

“You guys are terrible at this,” Bennett grumbled, throwing the dresses wide and staring down at us like he was so much smarter than we were.

“Yeah, but you’re a sucker!” Zach yelled, then he barreled into Bennett’s legs, taking him to the ground.

“Argh!” Bennett shouted as they fell, and then Noah and I jumped onto the pile.

We shouted and laughed until Bennett finally managed to throw us off. Then my mom called for us, probably because lunch was ready, and I heard her come into the bathroom.

I rolled off Noah’s back, my eyes landing on where my mom stood at the entrance to the closet.

Her face was covered in blood, the thick red liquid dripping down her neck and onto her white sweater. A huge chunk of her skull was missing. She fell to her knees.

“Mom!” I screamed.

I jolted awake, my heart pounding out of my chest and my tank top soaked through with sweat.

“Fuck. Fuck ,” I panted, trying to catch my breath.

I hadn’t had a nightmare about my parents in years. They’d often started just as this one had—a very real memory that would then mutate into a horrifying scene involving my parents’ bleeding or dead bodies.

Being around the Heirs again was fucking with my head.

I dragged myself out of bed and took the world’s fastest shower to rid myself of my nightmare sweat.

I threw on cropped white jeans with a few rips in them, a dark-blue tank top, and my Vans.

My dark hair went into a high ponytail, and I smeared my tinted foundation on my face.

After a quick coat of mascara to darken my blonde lashes, I was out the door with my backpack that was always packed and ready to go.

I needed to haul ass to the dining hall to grab something to eat on the go or else I was going to be late to my first Leadership Seminar, a class students were required to take in either freshman or sophomore year.

Per the syllabus and a reminder email from last night, we were going to be writing an in-class essay first thing this morning that would be one-third of our grade.

With “Ruthless” by Something Corporate thrumming in my ears, I hustled over to Holywell Hall. I breezed through the doors of the dining hall, singularly focused on grabbing a bagel and a coffee when I was accosted in front of the coffee creamer.

“Good morning, Southside,” Chad purred at me, appearing like a gnat in my personal space.

“I’m just here to inquire as to whether you’ve wised up after having twenty-four hours to contemplate your insubordinate behavior.

The Heirs await you at the front of the hall, and the longer you refuse to kneel, the worse things are going to get for you. ”

I stirred my coffee and snapped the lid in place before turning toward the bagel station.

“Hey, slum trash, I’m talking to you,” Chad barked, following me.

I tossed a look over my shoulder like I’d only just noticed he was there.

“Oh, sorry, dickface!” I said loudly, motioning to my earbuds that were still firmly in my ears.

“I can’t hear you!” I grabbed my bagel and then gave him two middle fingers and a smile as I backed away from the table, then I turned and hightailed it back outside to check in with Dom.

Ten minutes later, I made it to the door of the large lecture hall where the Leadership Seminar was being held. I still had five minutes before class started, but I planned to hustle to my seat to get situated before test time.

Except when I turned the handle, the door was locked.

Chad’s stupid fucking face appeared in the thin pane of glass that was set into the door. A girl stood next to him, wearing an equally self-satisfied smirk, and I recognized her instantly.

Harper Jansen, freshman and daughter of a long line of Tier One bank owners very closely affiliated with Spencer. Her mother was also the fucking Dean of Holywell. Harper ran around with Lisa and Annie and the group of top girls who thought they were inner-circle material.

Chad tapped his watch, shrugging at me like he was confused as to why I was still standing outside the door. I knew that the professor, whoever it was, wasn’t going to “interfere in student business” either, so I was fucked.

I banged my fist up against the window in frustration before I tore away, stalking down the hall while dialing Max.

“What’s up, Jojo?”

“Hey, those assholes just locked me out of a class that I’ll fail if I’m not inside the room in less than five minutes to take a test. If I fail this class, I’ll flunk out of the Academy.”

“What the f?—”

“Do you have the blueprints of Holywell Hall handy? I need a way in.”

“Uh, yeah. Hang on. ”

I hurried around the corner and skidded to a stop on the other side of the back wall of the classroom, then Max said, “Got it up. What floor?”

“Second, west wing. Room 201.”

“Okay, head around the corner from the door toward the windows. There should be a storage closet along that wall.”

I spotted it a few doors away, and I rushed to open it.

“Fuck—locked.” I yanked my backpack to the floor, unzipped the middle pocket, and pulled out my lockpick kit. I reshouldered my backpack, then I got to work.

“Get it?”

“Yeah, I’m in.”

“Okay, see if you can climb up through the ceiling tiles. It’s a drop ceiling, so if you can get up there, shimmy over about ten feet and then jump down through the tiles and into the back of the room.

Try to grab at some piping or something while you’re up there so you’re not putting all of your weight on the tiles, or you’ll fall right through them. ”

“You’re a fucking king. Thanks, Max.”

“Someone’s gotta keep your ass out of trouble.”

I ended the call with a tap to my earbuds, and then I clambered up the shelves in the closet, which were cluttered with cleaning supplies, and I reached the top without issue. I pushed one of the large tiles upward before sliding it to the side, then I pulled myself up and into the opening.

Copper piping ran alongside the large silver cylinder of the air duct, and I grasped it first with my hands before pulling my legs up to do the same.

After shimmying down the pipe like an oversized monkey for what I guessed was enough distance, I reached below me, nudging at the tile, and peeked in.

The classroom below was large, holding maybe two hundred students in the auditorium-style seating that curved in a semicircle around the professor’s podium and whiteboard.

It looked like the right place, but I quickly confirmed it when I spotted Chad’s fat head still lurking near the classroom door to make sure no one allowed me in.

I pulled the tile back further and then swung myself down and onto the ledge of the high windowsill nearest to me on the side wall. I balanced there for a few seconds, then I jumped the rest of the way down to the floor, landing with an audible thud .

The entire class turned around.

I saluted Chad and Harper, who still stood at the front of the room and were now glaring absolute daggers at me, and then I tossed myself into the first available seat I came across.

None too early because the professor had just begun passing out the test, and he rapped his knuckles loudly on an unsuspecting student’s desk in the front row to refocus the class.

“That was impressive, Princess.”

I blew out an annoyed breath before turning around to face the row behind me, finding not only Zach sprawled out in his chair and smirking at me, but Noah and Bennett seated next to him.

Noah had a bemused smile on his face, while Bennett wore the same blank expression as always, though his green eyes studied me with an intensity that made me twitchy.

Fucking perfect.

“Seriously, I thought Hendrickson’s head was going to explode when you just fell out of the ceiling like that,” Zach went on. “They teach parkour at Southside High these days?”

“I’m resourceful,” I deadpanned before turning back to face the front, the test papers now making their way down my row.

“Stop looking so excited, man,” Noah muttered. “You’ll only encourage Chad, and he’ll take it too far.”

“I hope so,” Zach replied. “This is the most entertainment we’ve had in a while.”

Noah sighed. “Fine, but you’re on your own if something happens and they decide we’re on cleanup.”

“Nah, the Princess is tough. Aren’t you, Princess?”

I lifted my middle finger over my shoulder, willing them to shut the fuck up so I could focus on the essay prompt.

Zach chuckled. “See.”

“Don’t encourage her either,” Noah hissed at him. “She has no idea what she’s getting herself into.”

Then Bennett finally spoke, his chilly timber sending goosebumps up my arms. “I don’t think that’ s true, actually.”

By lunchtime, news of my antics had apparently already made the rounds. The incredulous look on Mari’s face when she collapsed into the chair across from me in the dining hall said it all, and I simply reminded her that it was either that or be expelled.

“I guess,” she said begrudgingly, taking a delicate bite of her salad. “I would miss you if you were gone. No one else has the lady balls to call Chad a dickhead to his face.”