Page 22 of Conquered (Highgate Preparatory Academ:y Compendium)
CHAPTER SIX
LILLY
A s we make our way to the dining hall, a sudden flare of apprehension comes over me, making me halt in the middle of the corridor, an empty feeling in my stomach.
Oh lord! Have I missed any classes? I panic, letting go of Loki’s hand and searching in my bag for my tablet to try and work out what I may have missed.
“Don’t worry, Pretty Girl,” Loki assures me. “I got passes for us and I’ve let your teachers know I was showing you round.”
“How?” I ask, frowning and stopping my frantic search, looking up at him.
“The teacher message app.” He rolls his eyes like it’s obvious.
Which it's not, not to me at least. I mean my mum and I were comfortable, we could buy nice things and afford the odd shopping splurge. But when I went to a state school, we didn’t have school issued iPads, or apps, or dining halls, or a hundred other things these rich kids take for granted.
I guess, considering my uncle gives me a more than generous allowance, I’m now one of them. I shudder .
Loki notes my confusion, a questioning look on his face.
“We didn’t have any of this at my old school,” I say, shaking my head and gesturing around me. “We had to carry round textbooks, write notes by hand, speak to teachers,” his brow pinches in a frown with every word I say.
“Huh,” he replies with a shrug, as if the concept of actually having to carry a textbook or write anything by hand is so foreign to him he can’t even compute it. “So, what brings you here, Pretty Girl?”
I can’t help it. A laugh bursts out from my lips, effectively dissipating the slight resentment I was starting to feel towards the wealthy elite of the school, Loki included. What a line!
“Really? That’s the line you chose to go with?” I chuckle, and he smiles ruefully, his cheeks colouring a little.
“I just want to know more about you is all,” he responds, slinging his arm across my shoulders, and we carry on walking.
“You want to know more about me …?” I question, one eyebrow raising, and my words trailing off when I see the serious look in his eyes.
“I want to know everything about you, Pretty Girl,” he encourages.
“Okay…” I begin, a tingling sensation starting up in my chest as I look round.
I don’t know why, but I’m hesitant to share too much of myself.
He has seen me naked at least twice now so I feel a little foolish, but there it is.
“Let’s see. To answer your earlier question, my uncle suggested I come here as this is where he went to school, and I wanted a bit of a fresh start so thought, fuck it, why not? ”
“Ah, so you're a legacy. Like us,” he informs me, a genuine interest in his tone.
“A what?” I enquire, looking up at him.
“A legacy, you know, our parents came here so now we do too. Is that not a thing back in England?” he asks me, and my heart skips a beat at the sight of those beautiful green eyes so close.
“Not really. Although, never having gone to a posh school like this one before, maybe it is?”
“Posh school or not, we now have at least two things in common,” he replies with a mischievous smile.
“What’s the other thing we have in common?” I query, almost dreading his answer if that look in his eye is anything to go by.
“Getting great satisfaction when you come,” he tells me, in complete seriousness that it’s ruined slightly by the smirk on his beautiful lips.
I roll my eyes and shake my head at him, but at the same time, I feel the heat in my cheeks at the mention of what this man can do to my body.
“Tell me more,” he orders after a moment.
I chuckle and take a deep breath.
“Well, my favourite colour is rainbow. I'm allergic to cats. I love dark chocolate. My favourite novels are reverse harem...”
“What the fuck is reverse harem?” Loki interrupts me, an eyebrow arched.
“You know, one girl, three or more guys?” I shoot back, looking at him then quickly glancing away, feeling my cheeks flame again and my palms go a little sweaty.
“Oh! Like a gangbang!” Loki grins, a salacious look in his green eyes.
“No!” I yell, stopping to glare at him and drawing the attention of a couple of students walking past who probably think I am into gangbangs now. Fucking great . “ Not like a gangbang,” I correct him, lowering my voice, looking ahead, and carrying on walking. “There's a story and everything.”
“But there's sex in the book. Between more than just one guy and the girl?” he asks, and when I glance at him he looks all too happy to see me squirm in embarrassment.
“Yes...but...I'm not getting into this with you!” I huff out as his shoulders start to shake with repressed laughter.
“Oh, Pretty Girl, don't be mad! I'd love to read one of your ‘not a gangbang’ books,” he teases, chuckling harder when I whack him in his hard as a fucking rock abs. Ow! Stupid man muscles!
“Tell me something else,” he demands, still smiling like the arsehole he is. “What about your parents?”
The blood drains from my face, and I hear a wind begin to whistle in my ears.
“I never knew my father, and, well, my mother died in February this year.” I say in a rush, swallowing, as my eyes start to fill, the wound of her death still fresh and bleeding. The guilt from that day still claws at me, and I’m left breathless for a moment.
“I had a sort of stepfather, well, Mum’s long term boyfriend Ryan, but he kinda bailed after she passed away,” I add sadly, the pain of his disappearing act adding to the hurt I feel in the centre of my being.
I realise that we’ve come to a standstill in the middle of the hallway, and Loki pulls me into him, surrounding me with his warm, comforting body and rubbing circles on my back.
I breathe in his vanilla cookie scent and relax in his arms. He smells like.
.. home . I feel so safe in his strong arms and wish that I could stay here forever.
“I know it’s not worth a damn, and won’t change anything, but I’m so sorry she died, Pretty Girl,” he says gently and kisses me on the head.
I take another deep lungful of air and look up, his image wavering a little with the unshed tears marring my vision. One slips free, and he catches it on his finger, bringing it to his lips and tasting my sorrow.
“Thank you, Loki,” I whisper hoarsely, clearing my throat, and falling into those stunning emerald depths of his as we stand there.
“Anytime, baby,” he whispers back huskily, his own eyes glistening with what looks like a pain similar to my own.
“LOKI!!!”
A screech like a female fox in heat interrupts us, assaulting my ears and I feel Loki’s arms tightening round me, a soft curse sounding under his breath. I cringe at the sound, and turn to look behind me, keeping his strength wrapped round me.
A girl is hurrying down the corridor, her artfully tousled, blonde wavy hair flying behind her.
She’s wearing a faded pink ‘save the turtles’ baggy cropped t-shirt, a shell necklace, light blue cropped denim jeans, and white trainers.
In her hand, she carries a metal water bottle covered in stickers and has a backpack slung over one shoulder.
Oh, my giddy aunt! Is this...is she…a VSCO girl?!
Don’t know what a VSCO girl is? Basically, a teenage girl who spends twenty minutes making her messy bun look just so, and spends a small fortune on her casual outfit, all while spouting about ‘saving the whales,’ yet buying plastic stickers to stick on her reusable water bottle. Yeah, that kind of girl.
She comes right up to us, totally ignoring my presence, and is flanked by two girls dressed very similarly, both carrying the same metal water bottles. One has dark brown hair, the other black, but basically, they are all clones of each other.
“How was your summer, Loki?” she purrs, fluttering her eyelash extensions and twiddling her hair.
I didn’t know girls actually did that. And how fucking rude is this eco warrior cumbubble to just ignore me? Are we in some fucked up teen romance movie?
I roll my eyes and chuckle at my own joke, turning round in Loki’s arms so that I can face the she-wolf head on.
“Oh, hey, Amber,” Loki replies in a bored tone, keeping his eyes on me and not even looking at her before stepping to my side and tucking me under his arm once again. “Have you met, Lilly?” he adds, gesturing to me with his other hand.
Her blue gaze flits over to me, her upper lip curling slightly, ruining her pretty features as she takes me in. Cue the Mean Girl cliché.
“Oh. You must be the Brit,” she sneers, looking at me like I’ve just offered her turtle soup. “Charmed, isn’t that what you British say?” she asks with a titter as her flunkies laugh behind her. Yep. I officially hate the bitchtits.
“You must be one of those VSCO girls I’ve heard about,” I reply sweetly, flashing her a cold smile. “Tell me, how are the turtles doing here in the mountains?” Silly cumdumpster! Teach her to be rude!
She scowls even more, and I just can't resist poking the hornet's nest again.
“I hear the best eyelash extensions are made from mink, who suffer greatly on breeding farms and are ultimately killed for their fur. Did you go for the best, or did you get cheap plastic ones?” I blink innocently as Loki roars with laughter beside me, and Amber’s eyes narrow, setting said extensions quivering.
“And on that note…” Loki chuckles once more as he leads me away from the scowling trio, towards what I assume is the dining hall.
A s we enter through the double doors, I halt in my tracks, my eyes widening and my mouth becoming slack as Loki’s arm drags across my shoulders when he keeps walking a few steps. He pauses and turns to look at me, a questioning red brow raised.
Holy shit.