“I will fucking—” he started, stepping towards me in a threatening way.
“Don’t,” Blake warned, moving her arm out to block him. “That’s how she wins. You take a swing at her, and she has all the license she needs to let out her psycho side.”
I smirked at her. “I repeatedly told you to stay down. That wasn’t me being a psycho, Blake, but you being so fucked in the head and full of pride you couldn’t accept I would beat you.”
She shrugged. “You didn’t. I’m here. I will always be here, no matter how many rounds it takes us.”
Ahhh, so she wasn’t updated on the rule changes, so she hadn’t been to pick up her keys or the dorm yet. So they’d portaled over when they got word I came to campus. I couldn’t even hold back a smile at how pathetic that was, and they didn’t even get it.
I chuckled. “Things change, Blake. You don’t have as much power as you think.” I waved off what she was going to say next. “How does your family like being blacklisted forever from so many desired companies?”
She sneered at me and I knew I’d hit a sensitive spot. “There are always ways around your petty blacklists.”
I snorted. “You’re bluffing to save face. There’s no way around hobgoblin magic like that. I’ve seen it live and in color when someone tried to swipe goods from the bakery I own with them.” I nodded when they glanced between themselves. “The goods turn to ash if touched by someone blacklisted from their business. So no, you haven’t been getting around their ban for being horrible people.”
“My family is a respected elder family,” she snarled. “We have all the respect, and you have none, trash. My grandfather is council and—”
“And yet he apologized to me for your behavior,” I reminded her. “I honestly respected him and Councilman Thane until they were part of that decision that let those rapists and more off with nothing but a slap. And it’s his power, not yours, Blake.”
“It’s our family’s,” she snapped. “It could easily be me as elder one day, instead of my brother, but it won’t ever be you because you’re—”
“No one,” I finished for her, smirking when they all gave me shocked looks. I shrugged, not afraid of the truth. “I’m no one. The problem with this society is I behave better than the ‘elites’ who are supposed to earn their privilege and positions, not abuse them, not hurt people with them. You are meant to deserve what you have, and you don’t. I’ve earned what I’ve inherited and helped people.”
“So you say but—”
I rolled my eyes at her. “So they say, Blake. They say it. You are the one who screams she’s powerful and important. I say I’m no one, and others say I’ve helped them, given them a chance, and saved them from what they were suffering through. Who would ever say that about you? No one. So I might be no one, but no one would stand with you if it wasn’t for the power of your grandfather.”
She growled when I turned to leave, knowing the four men I’d also avoided had moved closer to have my back. “I look forward to seeing you in training, Vale. Someone needs to knock you off your pedestal.”
I paused, glancing at her with a raised eyebrow. “You got into Power Training I?”
Her eyes went wide. “How the fuck did you get into that. We all should be in Physical Training II as sophomores!”
I chuckled. “I’m just better than you, Blake. I was pushed up to Physical Training III from the very beginning, and I aced the class, winning the contests and all of it. Why the fuck would I have to go back down to Physical Training II? I know you’re stupid, but I didn’t think you were that stupid.”
“I’m not stupid at all,” she hissed. “I’m here, aren’t I? It was nothing to get around being expelled. A year of tutors, some bullshit community service, and here I am again. The councils always fall for the act and red stamp as many chances, as the elites want. You wouldn’t get that.”
“I wouldn’t con for it; I’d actually earn my second chances, and I have,” I threw right back. “But it’s not a second chance if you’re not even sorry, Blake, and clearly you’re not.”
She snorted. “I’m sorry I didn’t get you kicked out of here like I wanted, because you wouldn’t be back. I’m sorry you weren’t gang raped by these guys. And I’m sorry I didn’t out you to the Underground, and they killed you before you got a clue and guards. I’m not sorry that I’m going to make your year fucking hell and make you run screaming from this place.”
I snickered, letting out a long, amused breath. “You make it so easy, yet I cannot be sorry how easy it is to pull one over on you.” I held up my finger to hold her off as I pulled out my phone. “And I’m not sorry I recorded this whole conversation while my attorney was on the line so she could send it to your grandfather and council.”
She cracked and launched at me, bouncing off the barrier I still had up.
“And you said it all right in front of a professor and still didn’t respect me enough to care, Ms. Ward,” Professor Craftsman said, his voice ice cold. “None
