Lucas's text came half an hour before lunchtime.

'Demon only wants to eat at Gastromaquia for lunch. You better come to the parking lot at 11:50 STAT. Nobody can get out out school without him.'

Another text came shortly thereafter.

'*Desmond* damn typo.'

Cassie giggled. She knew for sure that the typo wasn't unplanned. But she never realized that the students of St. Pulkeria could get out of the school at lunchtime. A private school of this scale could provide any kind of meal that the kids ever needed; vegan, gluten-free, salt-free, sugar-free, NonGMO, and other dietary restrictions any rich kid might have.

In fact, the security of this place was top-notch. Kids would go in at 8 at most and then they could only get out of school at 2, after all of their classes had been concluded. Kids needed special slips if they wanted to get out early, but even then, the school infirmary was great enough to handle sick kids, since St. Pulkeria had its own doctor and the latest first-kit emergencies.

Long story short: nobody would be able to get out of the school before the intended time window. Unless they're dying or dead. The principal had made sure of it.

But of course the rule didn't apply for Desmond. His great-great grandparents were the reasons why this school had been built at the first place, after all. He wasn't just a legacy, he was a Royal Legacy.

Cassie texted Lucas. 'What should I order at Gastromaquia?'

'Are you kidding me? Of course mineral water!'

Cassie surreptitiously sucked on the last sweet taste of her sugar free gum. She'd been stockpiling on these live-saver for the last few weeks. Being 120 pounds wasn't something that she could get used to. She was used to being able to eat what she wanted, to be in a certain weight that she was slightly uncomfortable with so that she could chomp down food the way she liked it.

She closed her eyes and recited her mantra. Just four months. Just four months. Just four months.

Problem arose when at 11:45, Tristan still didn't get out of the Science lab.

Cassie had been waiting in front of the lab for him. The Elites that were the People who Mattered had already scurried past her, most of them giving her an acknowledging nod or urging her to come with them.

"If you're not with Desmond when you're going out, the guard won't let you go!"

Cassie only smiled in a chagrined way and waved them goodbye. How could she be of use if she only arrived at the cafe alone, without her supposedly Great Big Love that was Tristan?

Tyra had also been texting her.

'What are you doing? Parking lot. NOW!'

An exclamation point combined with all-capital letters from Tyra spelled trouble. Still, Cassie wouldn't dare going out there without Tristan. And he was still so busy observing the bacteria under his comically big google.

From the same exact class, Desmond emerged. It was 11:47. He saw Cassie, and she was reminded by the text that he had sent her earlier. 'What are you doing with him?' Cassie hadn't responded to his text. She hadn't once responded to any of his text. It took her a mountain of willpower to do that, because how satisfying it would be to have a textargument with him. To maybe slip a little bit of her resentment towards him and let him know how hurt she had been because of him.

But Tyra made her promise to not do it. To never respond to Desmond's text. To never give him any kind of attention that he demanded.

"You're coming for lunch?" he asked. A bystander might have deduced that it was a casual, friendly conversation between two people who circulated in the same friend-circle. But there was a certain ice on his voice, a little bit of edge that clip his tone.

"I'm just waiting for my boyfriend," Cassie said, trying not to enunciate the word 'boyfriend'.

Desmond smirked, then. "Then you're not coming."

She didn't have enough time to understand what he meant by that. Desmond had already sauntered off. He didn't give her a major heart-attack this time. He didn't even touch her or get close enough to her so that she could discern the golden specks of his eyes.

She called him before he was out of the earshot. She couldn't stop herself.

When Desmond stopped and turned his head just by the mere inches, Cassie immediately regretted her lack of self-control.

"Are you jealous? Is that why you've been texting me?"

She knew how wrong her move was. She knew how much this could topple all the careful plans that the four of them had laid. But she was still human, and she still wanted a flicker of Desmond's acknowledgement.

Desmond chuckled. It was dry, menacing. It was derision at its finest. "Oh, Cassie."

He walked away, then. Giving Cassie his full answer by not replying to her.

When Tristan was out of the class, it was already 11:55, just five minutes before the lunch bell rang.

"Damn that demon," so Lucas had been texting Tristan about his new nickname, too. "He messed up my project so I had to redo it when I was halfway done!"

A lot of things made sense now. But Cassie didn't have time for lengthy explanations. She grabbed Tristan's arm and pulled hard. "We need to go. I'm going to give you the details on the way. Are you riding your mom's car?"

"Yes."

Cassie didn't like the scraping leather on the passenger seat. "Then starting tomorrow, we're going to take my car."

They arrived at the parking lot just a few seconds late. Cassie saw a few cars taking off from the school grounds. Desmond's Porsche was the last one to drive away. He actually pulled down the car window to gave them a lingering look before his car sped away.

"Shit," Tristan cursed under his breath. "Shit, shit, shit. Now we missed our chance."

Cassie bit on her lower lip. For a moment, she considered not going to the cafe altogether. It was too much trouble, anyway. But she knew the reason why they had to gather at the parking lot 10 minutes before the actual break time commenced: Desmond only wanted the most influential people surrounding him. He would want the people worthy of his friendship only the ones able to make and bend the rules.

If Cassie and Tristan were the only two people who didn't manage to get into the cafe, then they were obviously the two odd people out. The losers who couldn't even get early passes from the teachers.

"This is a sick game they're playing," Tristan was still pissed off. After all, he could have gotten out sooner, but Desmond rigged the game for him.

Cassie looked around for the guard who manned the gate. She came up to him.

Cassie realized, much to her chagrin, that she hadn't bothered to get acquainted with the staffs of this school. She had to peer stealthily to the guard's tag so that she could call him by name.

"Mr. Jones!" she started to snivel. "Mr. Jones, can you please open the gate for us? I promise we'll come back before lunchtime is over."

Mr. Jones was wearing the standard security guard uniform. Dark blue with neon green plastic vest. He didn't seem amused by Cassie's request.

"All students are required to eat their lunch inside the school grounds."

"You let those people go," Cassie put on her best desperate face. She needed it.

Tristan was coming up behind her. "What are you doing? Come on, just let it go."

"All students are required to eat their lunch inside the school grounds," Mr. Jones just repeated his statement like a broken robot. He stood straighter. His face was a little flushed, probably because he knew that he had done the wrong thing by letting Desmond and his friends out. But Desmond was an exception. For Cassie, though, he still could uphold the rule. Do his duty.

Cassie noticed the little of of pink paint splattered on Mr. Jones's otherwise pristine collar. If her memory served her right, her friend Tracy was having a little project for the school magazine that involved pink paint. Tracy had mentioned her surname but Cassie always forgot about it.

But she had to take the chance.

"You have a daughter who went to school here, aren't you?"

The little flicker on Mr. Jones's eyes gave him away.

"You helped her with her projects even though she's a high school student, because she's here on scholarship," Cassie said quietly. She observed Mr. Langdon. His expression didn't say much.

"I'm friends with Tracy."

He took a sharp breath. Bingo.

Now Cassie was talking faster, more confident than before. She had found his button, and she would press everything else until he would relent.

"It's true. Tracy is an amazing student. I know all about her struggles. She got bullied during her freshman and sophomore year, right? But she managed to stand up strong because she's an amazing girl," Cassie hated herself for doing this. Hated herself for capitalizing on a person whose entire family relied on his job like Mr. Jones.

But she would hate herself more if she lost her chance to wipe the smirk off Desmond's face. "You know those kids that you let out, they're the main perpetrators of the whole onslaught, right? I'm not friends with them. I'm never gonna be friends with them, because they broke me too. But now I have to pretend. Now, I need to endure."

Cassie felt like she was on a trance now. "The boy with the cold green-eye. I will make him sorry, Mr. Jones. But I will need your help. I need to be able to catch up to him. It's part of the plan."

The guard showed fear then. His face contorted with shame and Cassie almost thought that he was one second away from sobbing. "They tore off her skirt just because it's secondhand. They hid her only sneakers." He closed his eyes, as if saying this would be too painful. "I had to help with her projects because most of the time, she had to do it twice since some rich student would tear it apart whenever she did it at school."

"I know," Cassie braved herself to put a hand on Mr. Jones's forearm. "I know all about Tracy's struggle. It's hard for a scholarship student to be here, especially when the seniors's hivemind is led by someone like Desmond Arrington.

"But I have a plan, Mr. Jones. And I know how to carry it out. And once I'm done, Desmond will be very sorry for all the things he's done. Everyone will figure out how mean he really is. He won't get to pass over his legacy of cruelty to someone else. The other Tracies will be safe."

Cassie knew how corny she sounded. How cheesy. How full of shit. But she carried on, anyway.

After all, lying was something that she was eerily good at.

"I promise you."

-

Fifteen minutes later, Cassie and Tristan was in front of Gastromaquia. The whole ride had been silent, Cassie still trying to manage the beating of her heart. Tristan still glancing at her as if she was a freak. She knew she didn't like to lie in front of people. It was such a low moment for her, something dark that she had tried to keep hidden within her psyche.

But the secret waa out now. Tristan knew. That was why he hadn't been able to make a neutral expression during the whole ride: he had finally figured out how depraved she really was.

"I didn't know..." he began. "I didn't know that you had it in you."

"Lucas told you about Ms. Humblewood, didn't he?"

"Yes, but I never... saw you in action before."

Cassie smiled, but it only lasted a millisecond. "Well. Apparently, my knack for lying only applies to older people and those with the same gender with me. So you're safe."

"Still that's... that's so eerie. You're always so awkward and flustered around me and the boys, but I never thought that you'd be..." Tristan shook his head. "I'm just still processing."

"It's... um, well, I post on online forums a lot," Cassie confessed. "I don't have that many friends, so I often pose as other people and write in forums as my other personas. I will have the entire history of this fictional people in my head, and I will post problems and talk as if I were them. I've been doing this since I was young."

"Oh..." Tristan didn't add to that measly respond for a very long time, and Cassie had started to fear that he would be disgusted by her.

But just before she launched into another tirade of lies, he chuckled. "That's such a nerdy thing to do. A little creepy, but I can see how it's going to be a good fun."

Cassie couldn't believe it. She tried to laugh along with Tristan, but it was forced. "It's not good fun. It's just sad."

"Still, I think you're the first person ever to get out of the school grounds without Desmond's influence."

Cassie allowed herself a little smile. "Thanks?"

"Now I know why you're the one who carried out this whole bonanza," Tristan looked excited. His dimple was showing again. Cassie was staring, no, gawking. There was a boy as beautiful as him, and he looked genuinely excited because of something she could do.

Still, she remembered his anger from before. "Are you okay, though? This morning.."

Tristan only waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine. Desmond says those shits all the time to me."

"I can only imagine how hard it is for you."

"Well, then let's make it hard for him, huh?" Tristan looked at her square in the eyes, his gaze strong and full of intent. Once again, Cassie dissolved into water.

"Ugh. I don't know if you notice, but I'm-"

"I know, I'm making you nervous right now," he still held the gaze, and right now, his hand snaked up to hers. "For all the lies that you could do, Cassie, you are bad when it comes to boys. You seem like you're one second away from fainting."

That was exactly what she was thinking. Cassie had to hold her breath and calm the butterflies that were starting to fly inside her stomach. Gone was the bravado and trickeries that aided her for their great escape. Now, Cassie was just a bundle of awkwardness and nerves. "Tristan..."

"Take a deep breath, square your shoulder, and then say something stupid," Tristan cut her off. "That's what I'd do if a girl makes me nervous."

"Huh?"

"Go on, do it. Take a deep breath," Tristan waited until Cassie really did it. "Now straighten your shoulder. Okay, now you can say something stupid to me."

"Your eyebrows are really straight."

Tristan laughed. It felt like music. Cassie couldn't help but start to laugh, too, because she just realized the silliness of her previous statement. Straight eyebrows?

"See? Melts the situation right away, and you get to make the boy laugh, which will always work in your favor," Tristan grinned, and fortunately, his face was a good distance away from her.

"Now, we're going inside the cafe. Have you been here before?"

Cassie shook her head. "The Elites are known to have lunch here now and then, though. It's like a mini rite of passage for new members of the Circle. Those who manage to get in within school time gets accepted."

"Ugh," Tristan's face showed nothing but revulsion. "I hate my half-brother."

"Likewise."

"So, since we're probably the only two people in the history who can get here without Desmond's help, we need to make an extra entrance, right?"

"Yeah."

"Show me your neck," Tristan suddenly demanded.

Cassie was taken aback. "What?"

But Tristan had already leant towards her again. "I'm going to give you a hickey."

What.

What.

What?!

"We've parked here for a good ten minutes already. They must be wondering what the hell we've been doing," Tristan explained. "And anyway, I just want to see Desmond's face when he realizes the girl's he's been targeting has my mark."

"Really? Mark? Can't you find a less sexist word?" Cassie tried to snarl, but she was still blushing to her boot.

"Fine. Does 'love bite' sounds better?" Tristan didn't seem the very bit bothered by the idea of kissing and sucking up her skin until it bruised blue. "What, don't you think it's a good idea?"

"Well, yeah, but," Cassie sputtered a series of protest, but she clamped her mouth shut as Tristan's face neared her. She closed her eyes, then, waiting for the impending clashing of his mouth against her neck.

But it never happened.

Because Tristan only pinched her.

She didn't realize it at first, but before long, she started to feel the smarting pain. "Ouch! Ouch ouch, is that supposed to hurt this bad?" she squealed.

"You're seriously have never been kissed before, huh?" Tristan said with a mischievous smile. "That's sad. Maybe you can find a boyfriend after this whole thing blow over."

Cassie checked her neck on the mirror. It was slightly red, contrast with her pale skin.

"Now put down your hair," Tristan instructed.

"But why?"

"Because, Cassie, my sweet virginal fake-girlfriend," Tristan was teasing her now. He pulled the hair-tie away from Cassie's hair, slowly and gently. "A girl who looks good with a ponytail only puts her hair down when she wants to hide something. Trust me, he will look for your neck."

He put the hair-tie into the dashboard. "Plus, this was my mom's favorite tie. So I want to take it back before I forget."

-

When both of them entered the cafe, most of the Elites looked at them in amazement. Cassie tried to keep her peripheral vision on the lookout for Desmond. Tristan's arm was around her, and she leant onto him for support, her hair swishing left and right with her every move.

Sure enough, Desmond was looking for her.

Tristan lowered his head down and whispered something to her.

"Put your hair behind your ear, and giggle as if I'm whispering something naughty to you."

Cassie did.

As if on cue, Desmond's eyes narrowed.

He saw the fake-hickey.

And he was truly jealous.

-

-

-

Phew. That's a lot to write! those who read maid for hire will know that i wrote 'that' scene before ;)

Thank you for the support for this story! See you in the next update! Things will get hotter <3 <3 I have a few questions for you:

Do you like Cassie more or less after this chapter?

Are you more interested in Tristan or Desmond?

And what is your predictions about what's going to happen?

Which person do you want to see in First person POV intro next chapter?

-Best predictions and comments will get a dedication from me next chapter.

Don't forget to tap the love button before you left! Thank you very much!

Cat