Page 336 of Hell Hath No Fury

Closing the book, I tucked my arms inside my school blazer and headed downstairs. The house was quiet, as it had been for years, but I knew my dad was home thanks to the scent of cinnamon toast and burnt coffee beans.

He was walking out the door, leaving toast for me cooling on the counter, when I reached the bottom of the stairs. “Hey, Dad.”

“Rose,” he said, grabbing his keys from the granite hall table. “I’ll be home for dinner, but I have a Skype meeting right after.”

As an investment banker, my dad’s schedule was often overloaded thanks to his many elite clients on the island.

“’Kay,” I said. Then I added as though it didn’t matter, “Oh, and I initiated.”

He froze in the doorway, a cold moment passing before he spoke. “I trust you’re okay?”

I would’ve snorted, but I tore off a chunk of toast instead. “I’m fine.”

After standing there for another moment, he then turned back to look me over.

I offered a smile, and he nodded. “Good. I’ll, ah, I’ll see you later.”

I waved even though his back had turned and then finished eating as his car roared down the drive.

He’d never done well with any kind of emotion. When Mom got sick, he’d holed up in his office for two weeks before finally coming home. That was the longest I’d seen him out of a business suit. He’d cared for her until her dying breath, which she’d taken here at home, and then he was gone again.

Mom used to say he had a hard shell and a soft interior. She would say that, being that she’d married him and all. Surely, she saw something other than classic good looks and a frosty demeanor.

The only thing my mother had given me was her smile. The rest of me was my father. Though I liked to think she and I had similar hearts.

School was already underway when I sped into the lot and shimmied my little Aston Martin between two giant trees. I was thankful for my lack of boobs as I slipped out the door, trying to ensure it didn’t meet the tree trunk while I pulled my bag out after me. My boots clomped over the soft earth and sodden leaves until I reached the circular drive of Peridot Academy.

Cooper and I used to call it the castle as kids, hardly able to believe we’d get to walk inside its walls and down every hall one day. The magic had died within the first day. It was beautiful, sure, all dark onyx and roaming vines, but inside, at least on the ground floors where most of the classes were held, it was the same as any other private school—gleaming, streaked floors, shining lockers, oversized dining room, and overflowing with drama.

One pretty cool thing was its boarders. Not only the wealthy kids on Peridot attended but also teenagers from all over the country, and they stayed here. The dorms were on the upper levels, and I’d heard they were haunted numerous times. But after staying in my friend Zoe’s room one weekend, I’d gone home glum and informed Cooper that was fake news.

Inside, the halls were rapidly emptying as the last bell rang and everyone rushed to class.

Cooper was nowhere to be seen, so I headed straight to first period, hoping I’d find him later.

I didn’t see him until lunch, and when I did, my chest inflated with tickling flutters. At over six feet tall with white blond hair that sprinkled down onto his face until he pushed it back, my boyfriend’s eyes, a blue so light they resembled ice, easily found mine.

He smiled, but although his teeth were now perfect, it didn’t touch those wintry eyes. He waded through his group of swim team friends to take a seat across from me. Stealing a fry, he dragged it through my barbecue sauce. “Rosie.”

“Coopy,” I said, grinning when his smile stretched and gave a gross glimpse of mushed potato in his mouth. “You didn’t wait for me this morning.”

“You were late, as per usual.” He stole another fry. “Besides, I had to swim, remember?”

Right. Both things were true, yet I couldn’t help but feel as if it wouldn’t matter if they weren’t.

My friend Rosetta bounded over with her tablet still in hand and dropped onto the seat beside me. “You’ve gotta watch this, Rose. He liked my comment, that model we were stalking in geome…” She trailed off when she realized Cooper was there. “Oh, hey Cooper.”

He smiled, but I knew it was forced, and then he slapped the table. “Later, ladies.”

I sighed and nabbed a fry, watching him leave the way he came and wondering where he was going.

“I scared him off, didn’t I?” Rosetta murmured and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“You?” Laughing, I pulled her tablet over. “No way. You’re too cute. Let me see.”

You could argue we should’ve spent our time in class—and maybe out of it—more wisely, but I didn’t care. We were almost halfway through senior year, and I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do once I graduated. College was a must, not only to appease my dad but also to give me more time to figure out what it was I wanted from this life of mine. So, until then, the only promise I’d made to myself was to explore and have fun as I tried to discover what that might be.

In history, I stared at Cooper. He’d arrived to class in the nick of time, and I’d saved him a seat beside me. He’d slipped into one of the few available seats up front, though.