no first person POV intro this time. But tell me who you want to see next, and I'll try to work it into the next chapter! 

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There's a dark knight in every shining kingdom, and that's what Tristan Arrington was in St. Pulkeria For the Gifted and the Scholarly.

It was an understatement to say that St. Pulkeria was full of rich bastards. It had nothing but filthy rich kids who had more privileges than what they should be allowed to. And Tristan also came from that affluent breeding. Here's the catch, though: his mother was not.

His mother, in fact, came from the other side of the city. The one filled with gangsters and criminals and other people who did demeaning jobs to support themselves. In fact, his mother was very much part of the group, and did one demeaning job that resulted in Tristan. And when she died due to an illness that happened because of that demeaning job, the Arrington Patriarch took in Tristan into his huge house and made Desmond share his future with him.

Safe to say, Desmond wasn't very happy about having Tristan as his brother.

It wasn't a big secret that the hatred was a two-way streets, though. And because right now Tristan was as much as an Arrington as Desmond was, it made things complicated.

It also important to note that Tristan was classically good-looking; what with his dark hair, chiseled jaw, and amazing tanned skin. Say what you want to say about the cheating father, but everybody knew that the woman's looks was worth it.

"Please," Cassie was ready to beg even harder than this. "Lucas is fine. Or anybody, really. Anyone aside from him."

Tyra cooed. She always cooed sweetly before she lashed a pretty good insult. "Don't worry baby, I don't think he's interested in inflicting his HPV to you."

The double meaning didn't escape Cassie. As controversial Tristan's background was, it didn't really diminish the long lines of girls waiting to get their share of him. Coupled with the fact that his mother had been a service-based worker, it didn't take long before the rumor of Tristan as a walking STD circulated around school. It had been a cruel, dark times for Tristan, and it showed; it also made him cruel and darkly sarcastic.

Cassie hadn't really interacted much with the dark haired boy, but she was as sure that she wouldn't want that happening very soon. She also didn't like the fact that she might be spending a lot of time cozying up to him if this crazy fake dating idea really took place.

"He's scary," she said. "I won't feel comfortable with him."

"Which will create tension between you two, which will make this whole thing more believable!" Tyra rolled her eyes. "Come on. Just three months before, you were basically a speck of a dust on everybody's eyes. You have to go big or would you just want to call the whole thing off?"

But Cassie couldn't. She didn't want to. It was just a taste that had lured her in; a glance from Desmond, a little bit of attention. But now she knew what made people so obsessed with being inside the circle, and now that she was in, she didn't know if she could be content with her previous status.

It was like an addiction, but it made her feel good and that was why she nodded her head yes.

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It was notoriously hard to find Tristan. He always maintained good grades, but he almost never went to school. The only time you could count on him attending was when there was a quiz that directly correlated to the report card.

Which was why it took them more than a week to finally locate Tristan down, right after chem quiz.

"Hey," Lucas immediately put a hand around Tristan's shoulder. Lucas was not small. He definitely wasn't a skinny kid since he played sports. But Tristan towered over him; pure muscles and the kind of height every guys wanted for themselves.

"I won't touch your ass like my brother did," Tristan said darkly.

"Touche, but what I'm asking is a little different than your homoerotic fantasy," Lucas said. Tyra appeared behind him and slung an arm around Tristan's arm, too.

Tristan didn't seem one bit intimidated by this. "Careful guys. I know that Desmond is busy fucking one of the younger teachers at this hour, but you won't want his sychopants seeing you walking around with me."

"We've secured the area," Tyra said. She didn't even flinch when he mentioned her boyfriend's name and his choice of activity. She motioned Cassie to come over, and she walked briskly to them.

His offhand comment, though, got into Cassie's head. "Is it true? Desmond's sleeping with a teacher, too?"

Tristan didn't even bother to look at her. He only kept his eyes forward and shrugged off both hands from Tyra and Lucas. "It's a win-win situation for them, so why not? You know, for a guy who despised a whore's son, he acts more like one."

Tyra rolled her eyes. "I kept slipping condoms into his bag, if that's what you're worried about."

"How very kind of you."

"I always aim to please."

Lucas and Tyra successfully guided Tristan back to the Ping Pong Room, which, to Cassie's knowledge, was always closed and never opened. It was as if the room was there only to serve function for their private group's activities. Cassie wondered how much Lucas paid the janitor to keep the room out of sight.

During the whole seven minutes walk, Tristan and Cassie never made an eye contact, much less talk to each other. Cassie never saw Tristan from up close; always from the distance. He shared the same aura with Desmond's; cold, unapproachable, and yet enticing. But his tumultuous background really intimidated Cassie, and she was always kind of afraid with his face. Sure, nobody in their right mind would call Tristan ugly, but he always had a scowl on his face, as if he would always find something to get angry about.

While Desmond's intimidation invited curiosity on Cassie's part, Tristan's just beseeched true terror.

"Is it another one of your ways to get me to your silly little group?" Tristan knew about The Secret Society Desmond's Haters Club. It was a mouthful to think about, and sounded even more foolish when said out loud. Cassie was glad that Tristan abbreviated it.

"Yes and no," Lucas took one of the chairs. He crossed his legs, the smile that was playing on his lips was mischievous and luring. "Is it just me or are you always growing whenever I see you?"

"Don't blame me for your lack of growth-spur, Montgomery," Tristan dead-panned. "Blame all of your alcohol and drugs and whatever you injected to your bodies at your parties."

"You don't hold back on the judgements, huh?" Tyra ran a finger on Tristan's arm, which he quickly pulled away from her. "How rude."

"I don't want trouble," Tristan claimed.

But Cassie begged to differ. Whenever Tristan went, there was always trouble. Always. He got involved in fights. He got involved with dangerous people. He got involved with fights that included knives, and that wasn't even in the school grounds. He got involved with anyone whom Cassie never ever imagined would cross paths with her, and she dearly hoped would never did in her lifetime. Tristan spelled trouble, and yet here he was, acting all innocent and saying things like he didn't want one.

"But you're always in one," she found herself blurting out before she could think.

Cassie immediately put a hand on her mouth. Shit, no.

And for the first time, she could feel the full force of intention on Tristan's black eyes.

Most people were surprised to find out that Tristan and Desmond were brothers. Half-brothers. Desmond had dark hair that was clearly between the color of brown and red, a rich chocolate that would make girls jealous. But Tristan's was pure black, as if the jet itself was within his hair. Desmond was pale with a pinkish undertone, while Tristan's skin was pure tan.

And their eyes. Tristan had the classic asian eyes, slanted and wide. His lips were full and a deep color of red, and his strong eyebrows almost lie straight on top of his eyes. Scrutinized individually, his featured didn't make sense, but they all made up a very beautiful, unique face that most people couldn't forget.

Cassie often heard that eurasian people were the best-looking people in the world, and if this wasn't proof of that sentence, then she didn't know where else to look.

"I've never seen you before," that lips finally opened to talk.

"She's our new project," Tyra introduced her after Cassie blanked out for a full minute. "A tragic story, she is."

Tristan folded his arms, as if gesturing her to continue.

"The girl never got involved in the whole scene. A true innocent who hadn't even sipped her first beer. But as you can see, she has potential, and that's why Desmond targeted her. After he was done, he left her just like that and here she is."

Tyra left out a lot of details that Cassie didn't want to spread; how she was also flattered with Desmond's attention. How she secretly hated her sheltered life, which was the only reason why she agreed with the borderline tortuous makeover. Cassie didn't mention any of this to Tristan, however. His stare was enough to make her forget how to English.

"Isn't that's how he is to most people? Give them a bit of attention and then fuck them over, literally and figuratively," Tristan's eyes never left her when he said it.

Cassie shrugged. "The last thing I want to do before graduating was seeing him cry."

"And you think that by dating me, he would be affected? What if he doesn't think you're worth all the effort?"

It was a question that even Cassie couldn't have answers to. But she squared her shoulders and showed him her phone.

"He texted this to me at the morning."

Her screen showed the text clearly, 'you're fooling nobody. Just give up.'

"Desmond doesn't text," Tyra gave context to the situation. "He received them, but he didn't give them out."

"I know." Tristan sounded annoyed.

"Which only means that he's definitely affected by her. As much as I hate to admit it, he's definitely affected by her."

Tristan considered Tyra's words. He looked at Cassie and he made it no secret that he was inspecting her every detail. His eyes traveled towards her face, her bosom, her legs, and then back to her hands, where she was holding her phone. If there was any confusion as to why someone like Desmond was giving someone like Cassie even a little bit of his mind, then Tristan didn't show it.

"Three months," he said. "I'm not going to prom with her."

"Good enough for me," Cassie said quickly, before she lost face.

Tristan lifted his eyebrows. "Why don't you two gruesome twosome go out while we're discussing the terms?"

Lucas and Tyra made a face. "Hey, we're part of this."

"There are some things that are meant to be private to us," he walked to Cassie's side and then casually slung an arm around her waist, freezing her up. "After all, if we're about to pretend to be a couple, we should have a secret for ourselves anyway."

Groaning and mumbling, they finally acquiesced and closed the door of the Ping Pong room after them.

And now there were just the two of them. Cassie had never been in the same room with Tristan before; his presence was just too intimidating. She was afraid that he might try something funny with her, but that would be overexagerrating her level of attractiveness. Even if Tristan was prone to aggressive behavior, it wouldn't be for girls who looked like her.

"You're really agreeing with this?" Tristan asked her. "Because now I'm getting the idea of who you were before all of this." He gestured to her new look; the skinnier legs, the slightly revealing clothes, and the makeup. "You're the girl who always sat on the back, obsessively reading from your phone."

"I'm not backing away now, if that's what you're afraid of."

"You just don't seem like the type who could handle hurt."

"I'm doing fine," she said, even though she wasn't quite sure inside.

"Are you? Because you look like you're ready to pee inside your pants."

Cassie gasped, because there was a little bit of truth in Tristan's harsh statement.

"You're not exactly... what I had in mind... when Tyra mentioned the fake-dating scheme."

"Why? Because I'm not a true highborn like you guys?" there was a little bit of harshness on his question, although there was something else dripping from his words. A vulnerability.

Cassie didn't dare nodding, even though that was the exact reason why. All of her life, she had been sheltered and only surround herself with people who didn't need to struggle with life. The closest she had ever been to 'normal' people, as her father put it, was her maids and employees. The concept of normal people actually scared her. The only way she could get any idea on how other people who weren't born rich behaved was from TV and it wasn't showing a very good examples. Lots of unwanted pregnancies, lots of inhumane jobs, lots of unnecessary rudeness.

And Tristan here, even though right now he's laden with the expensive clothes and great future, came from that kind of background. It both fascinated and scared her, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to dip her foot into that well.

"You're one of those people, huh? You judge and you think you're better than most people because you're... how do I say it. Pure?" Tristan smirked. " You don't drink and you don't date, and now that your peace is disturbed, you want to take down the very person who has tainted you."

"That's quite a psychobabble from someone who claimed he didn't know me five minutes ago," Cassie said quietly.

"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You're basically a different person. Will I say prettier? Yes, you are traditionally pretty now. But there's that gleam in your eyes. Cruelty. Now you're the same as Desmond and every single person in that silly group of yours."

"You can just say no and be done with it."

"None of my words ever implied that I disagreed to your 'project'."

"Then please don't do that. Don't try to analyze me. Because I'm doing you the same courtesy."

Tristan grinned. This time, his whole face lit up. And Cassie finally had a glimpse of what the girls noticed when they decided they wanted Tristan. He had such an open smiling face, as if there was lightning radiating from him.

"So we're good? Can we do this?"

"We're going to need to set some ground rules," Cassie met his hand and shook it firmly. Tristan's palm felt rough and warm, and she held on to it a second longer than what was necessary.

"I'm fine as long as you don't turn out to be one of those clingy girls who cry when you get no text after one romantic night," Tristan also didn't let her hand go. "Because we're sure as hell going to have quite a few of those."

"Why?"

"Well, Carrie-"

"Cassie. If we're going to do this, you'll have to call me correctly."

The smirk appeared again. "Cassie. It's all fun and games, but if you really intend to set my brother off, we're going to need some real chemistry. At least, in front of him."

His jet black eyes found her, and she couldn't look away. For a second there, she regretted this. She much rather had Lucas. Fun, non-threatening Lucas to be the one who'd help her with this. Not this ticking bomb. This Tristan who was both very different and yet very similar to the first person who ever broke her heart.

"And I'm willing to try," Tristan said, before he quickly kissed her cheek.

Cassie forgot what happened next, but the next time she fully regained her wits, Tristan had already been gone, and there was a little crumpled note inside her fist.

It was his number. 

end of chapter