"Never thought I'd live to see the day, where everybody's words got in the way!"

◘ ◘ ◘

When I returned to the ballroom, Emily visibly relaxed at the sight of me.

"Oh, thank god you're okay! When we came back from dancing and you were gone, I didn't know what to think!" Emily exclaimed, grabbing my shoulders tightly and looking at me up and down to check for any injuries. I raised an eyebrow and bubbled out a laughter.

"I'm seventeen, mom," I teased, flicking her button nose. Wrinkling her nose, she giggled softly. "I'm not your mom!"

"Yeah, sure you're not!" I exclaimed, rolling my eyes dramatically.

"Watch your tone, missy!" Emily waggled an offending finger at me, cocking her hip to a side.

"Whatcha gonna do, huh? Send me to my room?" I sneered. We maintained an unbreakable eye contact for a few seconds, both of us too stubborn to look away first.

"Could you both grow up?" Asher snapped, rolling his eyes.

"Mom, he's being a meanie!" I whined, smirking at Asher's annoyed expression. Emily and I broke into a fit of giggles, while Reiko and Yuko stood by with amused looks on their faces. Asher simply sighed and checked his watch. Logan and Flavia were nowhere to be found.

"Where's Logan?" I asked, and suddenly Reiko found a big interest in the marble tiles beneath her. She crossed her arms like a defiant child and had an awfully cute frown on her face.

"With Flavia," Emily answered awkwardly, scratching the back of her hand. I wrinkled my nose.

"Boys," Reiko and I muttered in unison, and grinned widely at each other afterwards.

"Jinx!" we both yelled, attracting several curious glances from the students around us.

"Double jinx!" I cried, fist pumping in victory. Reiko pouted and crossed her arms, "You got lucky this time, Alex."

Asher cleared his throat irritably, adjusting his tie. "It's late, shall we?" he asked Emily, though his tone suggested that there was no space for argument. Emily stole a glance at me, looking slightly reluctant.

"Okay," she murmured, and Asher smiled stiffly. He offered her his arm, and she hesitantly looped an arm through. His action didn't go unnoticed by the other students. Under everyone's watchful eye and to their surprise, Asher pulled Emily closer and leaned in to kiss her cheek lightly.

"Thanks for being my date tonight," he said loudly, and Emily blushed bright pink. At that, he walked her out of the ballroom together.

Asher Dane is dating Emily Park? No way!

I think they're pretty cute, don't you?

He deserves better.

I swirled around to glare at the girl behind me, who was dressed in an unbelievably short purple dress and six-inch heels.

"He deserves better? Like who? You?" I sneered, giving her the stink eye. She had the decency to look slightly embarrassed, but quickly recovered and flipped her hair.

"Yeah, of course," she stated matter-of-factly.

"I don't know Asher Dane well, but I'm certain that even he has more standards than to date a judgemental wrench like you," I snapped. The girl clenched her jaw, glancing around and taking note of the audience that had gathered around us.

"Whatever, freak. Why don't you go back to your...your pig sty!" she screeched, turning around and stalking off. The crowd dispersed quickly afterwards, and I stiffened when a hand hesitantly tapped my shoulder. I glanced to the side to see that the hand belonged to Yuko.

"I have to take Reiko back. You alright by yourself?" he muttered, raising an eyebrow and glancing at the back of the girl I had just unleashed my fury upon. I said yes, and he nodded stiffly before turning away and walking off without another word.

"See you around, Alex! You're pretty cool," Reiko said, shooting me a playful wink. With a wave, she turned around and hurried to catch up with her brother.

Guess it's time to leave, too.

Wordlessly, I began to walk back to my dorm. I winced when the back of my heels dug into my skin again, and was suddenly very aware of how my feet was aching badly.

Damn these beautiful heels, I cursed. Bending down, I carefully unbuckled them and held the pair in one hand. Slowly, I straightened up and took a step forward, only to bump into someone and fall onto my derrière.

"Goddamit! Why do I keep bumping into people?" I cried, rubbing my sore buttocks. A lighthearted chuckle made me look up.

"It's not funny," I muttered and he immediately sobered up, but the amused twinkle in his eyes remained.

"Here," he said, offering me a hand. Cautiously, I took his hand and allowed him to pull me up.

"Sorry," I muttered, straightening my dress.

"It's fine, I wasn't looking where I was going anyway," he answered, offering me a wolfish grin. At that, a reluctant smile graced my features.

"Well, I'd better get going now," I declared, and sidestepped him.

"Wait!"

A slow grin appeared on my face, and I looked over my shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Do you...do you want to hang out sometime? I can buy you a non-fat soy latte," he offered and I raised an eyebrow. Turning around to face him, I crossed my arms.

"Non-fat soy latte?" I asked incredulously. A slight blush tinged his cheeks, and he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Okay, maybe forget about the latte. But do you want to hang out sometime?" he asked, grinning slightly.

"Are you asking me out?" I asked, smirking as the blush on his cheeks deepened.

"No! Wait, I mean, y-yeah. I'm Jake, Jake Lindon."

"I'm Alexandra Knight," I said, and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"Alexandra Knight? The new girl?" he asked, his jaw dropping. I frowned slightly and nodded.

"How did you know?" I asked curiously.

"Are you kidding? You're pretty much a legend here already, for talking back to Asher Dane. Damn, you got him and his friends so pissed. And not to forget, you're all BFFs with Emily Park, heiress to the big-shot banking businesses," he chuckled, eyeing me in a new light. I didn't miss the way his eyes hardened at the mention of the oh-so-famous Royals.

"Oh," I muttered lamely. He grinned.

"You're totally cool though," he added, and I smiled. "Anyways, I'll get going since it's quite obvious I'm out of your league."

I raised my eyebrows, him? Cute blondie with the surfer boy vibe? Out of my league? I wasn't even aware I had a league in the first place!

"Hey, Jake!" I called, and he turned around, surprised.

"Yeah?"

"Tomorrow, six p.m. at The Bean. I'll take up that offer for a non-fat soy latte," I said, before turning around and walking back to my dorm with a large smile on my face.

◘  ◘  ◘

"I can't believe this," Emily cried, in a state of distress. I frowned slightly, "What's wrong?"

It was the day after the Winter Ball, and Emily and I were studying in the library during our Free Study period.

"Check your Twitter," she groaned, burying her head in her hands. Curiously, I fished for my phone in my backpack. I took out my iPhone 4s, a gadget I spent months saving up for back in my hometown. I had it for about a year and a half now, and the screen was all scratched and the sides were slightly dented from the times I was clumsy enough to let it slip through my fingers.

Connecting my phone to the school's wifi, I entered the Twitter app, impatiently waiting for the app to load.

Immediately, my news feed was flooded with a certain picture of a couple at the Winter Ball. Despite the bad lighting and blurriness of the picture, there was no doubt that it was Asher and Emily.

@LatestMeilleur: #nowtrending Asher Dane seen at the Winter Semi-formal ball with his date, Emily Park.

"What's wrong? Isn't this the publicity you guys intended to get?" I asked softly, glancing at my friend with concern.

"Yes, but it's kind of too much, you know? Not to mention that everyone and their mother has something to say about this," she grumbled, thumping her head on the hard wooden table.

"Don't do that, Em," I said, patting her shoulder. She let out a frustrated sigh. I read the mentions on Twitter, most of which were nothing but snark comments.

One particular comment from a familiar blonde got me fuming in rage.

@OfficialQueenB: @LatestMeilleur Who knew plain and simple was the trend now?

The tweet got over a hundred retweets and mention-backs, all of which were rude, snarky remarks on how 'OfficialQueenB' was right.

"You read the one by Bianca, huh?" Emily murmured, sighing softly. "Just forget about her. She never has anything nice to say."

Filled with anger and curiosity, I entered Bianca's profile and started scrolling down on her tweets.

@OfficialQueenB: I don't know about you, but two sizes larger is definitely not in style. #fashionadvice

Attached to the tweet was a blur photo of me in my oversized uniform. I clenched my jaw in anger, fighting back the urge to comment back on how being an OfficialQueenBitch is also definitely not in style.

"I hate her," I muttered angrily. Emily gave me a small, sad smile, "That's the way it is in Meilleur. Girls like Bianca Harding will always get their way here. The rest of us just struggle to graduate hoping to not get noticed by her and her cronies," Emily said quietly, twirling her pen with her fingers.

"Did Asher say anything about this?" I asked, in which Emily only shook her head with a sigh.

"He doesn't have a Twitter. The only one that has a Twitter account is Logan," Emily said.

"You should tell him. He'll do something about it," I advised but she only gave me a halfhearted laugh.

"He won't, Lexi. He doesn't care," she muttered. Emily quietly began to work on her math homework again, while I continued to scroll through my new notifications. I got a few new followers, some of which were complete strangers. A small smile made a way onto my face as a familiar name popped up onto the screen.

@lanigan followed you.

I clicked on the profile, pausing to laugh at Siobhan Lanigan's newest tweet.

@lanigan: @OfficialQueenB two sizes down is also a no-no. You've outgrown your ten year old sister's uniform, it's time to buy one that fits.

Emily looked over my shoulder and read the tweet displayed on my screen, letting out a small giggle.

"Siobhan Lanigan is hilarious! Remind me to never get on her bad side," I chuckled. Emily nodded, "Did you hear that she planted a goat in Mr. Sylvester's classroom because he gave her an A- for History?"

"What? Oh my god, a goat? How did she even get a goat?" I spluttered in disbelief. Emily shrugged before smiling slyly, "Bleats me."

I stared at her in shock, before descending into a heap of snorts and giggles.

"Oh my god, Emily! That was horrible!" I whispered loudly.

"Shh! I couldn't help it, okay? It was too punny!" Emily defended, giggling cheerfully. After we calmed down, Emily shot me a small smile.

"It's nice that she stood up for you. She doesn't do that often," Emily said, glancing at me curiously. "Do you know her?"

"I met her in the toilet after Bianca tried to hit me. Siobhan stepped in and basically got rid of her," I explained. Emily's jaws dropped.

"Bianca tried to hit you?" Emily exclaimed.

"Shhhh!" I scolded quickly, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"Yeah, she did. She's crazy," I muttered. Emily frowned. "It's alright though, I'm over it."

"Still, she crossed a line," Emily mumbled.

"Hey, don't worry about it. She didn't get to hit me anyway. And I got to make friends with Siobhan," I cheered.

"Yeah, that's good I guess," Emily agreed.

"By the way...is Siobhan friends with the Royals?" I asked curiously, recalling the conversation I had with her the night before.

Emily bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah, they used to be really close, they stopped hanging out after last year. 'Royals' is actually the first letter of all their names put together, and the 'S' in 'Royals' stood for 'Siobhan'," Emily explained and my eyes widened in surprise.

When Siobhan said they used to be friends, I had no idea they were that close.

"What about the 'O' in Royals? Is there another missing member I'm unaware of?" I asked. Emily giggled and shook her head.

"The 'O' stands for Oswald, Robin's middle name," Emily explained. Robin Oswald Clair.

"Oswald?" I repeated, snorting. "Sounds like an old man's name."

"You're lucky Robin's not here," Asher's voice boomed. I groaned and banged my head against the table.

"Great, it's you again," I grumbled, and Asher simply sneered.

"Deal with it, Alexandra," Asher snapped, before turning to look at Emily. Refusing to meet his eye, she fidgeted nervously in her seat.

"Emily, we're going for shopping," Asher declared and Emily's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

"W-what? Why?" she blurted out, flabbergasted. Asher sighed heavily.

"Mother insists I take you out for shopping," he stated, spitting out the word 'shopping' as if it was a dirty word. Emily glanced at me, "I can't just leave Lexi here."

"Then take her with you. Come on," Asher said snappily, turning around and walking away without waiting for us. "Front entrance, five minutes."

Emily shot me an apologetic glance, packing her things shakily. I followed suit.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked, as I stood up with her and shot her a grin.

"I won't let you suffer alone. Besides, I'm starving," I said, hooking my arm through hers. Emily heaved a sigh of relief and nodded with a grateful smile on her face, and we made our way to our doom, I mean, to Asher's car.

◘  ◘  ◘

Song of the Chapter: Everybody Talks // Neon Trees