And the current fool could go back to being twentieth, and all of this would be over. Whatever Asher had planned, it wouldn’t work.
“Hey! I’m talking to you. Don’t ignore me, you daughter of a whore!” the girl spat after her.
Violet halted abruptly, her neutral expression cracking. Any semblance of restraint vanished at that moment. There was nothing that set her off quite like that insult. Suddenly, her priorities shifted. Perhaps, this girl needed to be taught a lesson after all.
The girl must have sensed her mistake from the way Violet turned on her with a powerful stride, approaching like a storm. In a heartbeat, Violet was standing before her, the girl already bracing herself in a fighting stance.
Violet raised an eyebrow at the gesture. So, she knew how to fight? Was that why she had the confidence to provoke her, thinking she’d win?
Violet chuckled inwardly. Good thing these privileged brats didn’t know how gutter rats fought.
Instead of immediately engaging, Violet asked, “What’s your name?”
The girl blinked, caught off guard by the question. “Sharon…” she trailed off, realization dawning on her. “Wait, you don’t even know my name, and you took my spot?!”
At that moment, everyone around them fell silent, not a single person – not even the staff – daring to intervene.
Violet stoked the fire by saying, “Sorry, I tend not to care about people beneath me.”
“You-!” Sharon’s eyes widened with fury. She pulled her arm back, preparing to strike, but Violet saw it coming. She dodged and swiftly grabbed Sharon’s arm, twisting it behind her, making Sharon yelp in pain.
“How dare you?! Do you even know who I am?” Sharon shrieked, struggling against her grip, trying to free herself.
But Violet didn’t care. She grabbed Sharon’s hair and forced her to face the crowd.
“Listen up, everyone,” Violet began, her voice carrying over the crowd. “I don’t care who you are or where you come from. I don’t give a fuck about your hierarchy or the privileges you enjoy at this school,” Violet declared, her gaze pointedly meeting Elsie’s, the silver-haired she-wolf whose attention she now had.
“I came here to study, and that’s exactly what I plan to do. I know my place, and I’m not here to change it. So I’ll stay in my lane, and I expect you to stay in yours. No trouble, no altercation. You just leave me alone, and we’ll be fine.”
Violet added, her voice hardened. “Oh, and a quick note, no name-calling, especially the word ‘whore.’” She flashed a smile full of teeth. “That one pisses me off the most.”
But Sharon didn’t get the message, spitting out, “You’re nothing but a whore, bitch! You think we don’t know that?”
Enough was enough. Violet dragged Sharon over to the spilled food, shoving her face into the mess she caused. Sharon sputtered and struggled, but it was futile. Violet could hear gasps of shock all around her. They probably hadn’t seen that coming.
Violet spoke again, tauntingly, as she held Sharon down. “Where I’m from, we don’t waste food. And if it falls, we pick it up, like you’re doing now.”
Sharon finally gave up struggling, and Violet let go. The girl was reduced to sobs, her face and hair smeared with food.
Violet straightened, her gaze scanning the room, meeting the eyes of every student, daring them to challenge her. Her stare lingered on the elites, each one of them watching intently.
Suddenly, one of the girls in the elite section stood up, clapping slowly. She was soon joined by another, then the entire section of elite students, followed by the rest of the students on the floor. Within moments, a cacophony of applause filled the room.
Violet should have been satisfied, even victorious, but all she felt was dread. This wasn’t an ordinary applause, not with that proud look on their faces. The elites were accepting her. Whatever just happened, it was like a twisted rite of passage, one that she had somehow passed.
No. Violet’s blood ran cold. This was not what she wanted. She didn’t want to be one of them.
With her heart pounding, Violet forced her legs to move. She had to get out of there. She needed to find Principal Jameson and drop out of this hell hole today.
As she made her way out, she caught a glimpse of the students descending on Sharon like vultures, recording her humiliation. Violet felt a pang of pity for her. Almost.
But Sharon had brought this upon herself, dragging her background into it. And Violet had bigger problems now than some petty former top twenty elite.
Violet did not not waste even a second more as she headed to the administrative floor. She had ignored Lila who questioned her where she was going. But the girl didn’t need to know, not when she might try to stop her.
The receptionist looked up briefly, then barely acknowledged Violet’s presence, her eyes shifting back to the phone screen in front of her. Violet could hear gunfire blaring from the movie she was engrossed in, the volume turned high enough that it drowned out the faint sounds of the office. Voliet couldn’t tell whether her lack of response was a cue for her to go in or fuck off. Violet chose the former.
She approached the office door, lifting her hand, and knocked firmly. There was no response.
Violet knocked for a second time, wondering if Principal Jameson was even in the office. It wasn’t yet eight o’clock, after all.
She had left the dining hall intending to get her issues sorted before the first lesson and hopefully leave the academy once her dismissal had been processed. Everything was planned perfectly.
When there was no response again, Violet frowned. Maybe that was why the receptionist had barely acknowledged her. A heads up would have been nice. What a bitch!
Frustrated, Violet turned to leave when she unmistakably heard the words, “Come in.”
Her heart began to race. This was it. The moment she had been waiting for. She would walk into that office, demand her scholarship be revoked, and Principal Jameson would do just that. Violet had made up her mind.
Violet pushed the door open and walked in, her heart pounding with every step. Her eyes fell on Principal Jameson, who was seated in her executive chair with her back turned to her.
For a moment, Violet thought there was something different about the way she looked, like her form was broader or something. But she shook it off, deciding that it was just a trick of the eye. After all, who would be in the principal’s seat, if not Mrs. Jameson herself.
Ignoring the strange feeling, Violet straightened up, steeling herself. She cleared her throat, forcing herself to gather the courage. “Mrs. Jameson, I have something to discuss with you.”
There was no response from Mrs. Jameson for over a minute, an awkward silence falling between them. Deciding there was no need to beat around the bush anymore if the woman wouldn’t even acknowledge her, Violet decided to let the cat out of the bag.
“I don’t want to study here anymore, Mrs. Jameson. Please revoke my scholarship and have it handed to someone else.”
There it was. Violet felt lighter as soon as she let out the issues that had been eating her up. Now, there was no way the principal could ignore such a direct and sensitive demand anymore.
She noticed the slight movement as the principal’s chair swiveled, signaling a turn, and she held her breath in anticipation. But when the chair finally completed its rotation, the face that came into view made the blood drain from her face.
You have got to be kidding me.
There was no Principal Jameson sitting there from the start. It was Asher fucking Nightshade, posing in her place.
Violet didn’t know how to process the whirlwind of emotions that hit her. Shock gave way to disbelief, then anger, then dread, and then even more dread as her survival instincts kicked in. This was Asher she was dealing with, and he wasn’t even wearing his shades.
Her striking amber eyes locked onto his magnetic, slitted gray gaze-haunting and reptilian, and entirely too focused on her.
Violet swallowed.
“Do tell me, Violet,” Asher Nightshade finally spoke, his voice disturbingly calm, a mask over the storm that was clearly building beneath. “What is this I hear about you wanting to reject the scholarship?”
The question echoed across the room, heavy as a judge’s gavel, and Violet swallowed hard. This was the first time Asher had addressed her without a nickname. Yep. She’d just royally screwed up.
Before Asher could even blink, Violet had already made up her mind to run, adrenaline kicking in. She had to get out of there.
But before she could take a single step, his voice cut through her thoughts like a blade, commanding, “Don’t move.”
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