TAP. TAP.

    Chloe's eyes slowly opened. It was 10 PM at night and she had fallen asleep on top of her homework that she laid out on the bed. She had focused almost obsessively on her school work to avoid thinking about the horrible treatment she'd endured that day.

   TAP. TAP.

    Chloe knew that sound. She turned her head quickly to her window. Prince was standing there, under the gleam of the night sky. No, he had avoided her in school that whole day, now he wanted to show up?

    She approached the window but didn't unlatch it. She breathed onto the glass until it fogged up and with her fingertip, she wrote out: GO AWAY.

    Prince's features looked determined. He shook his head. He wasn't going to budge unless she opened the doors for him. She wanted to tell him to stay out there and to freeze for all she cared, but the problem was she did care. That was her nature, she cared too much.

    She convinced herself that she'd just let him in for ten minutes and then make him leave.

    Chloe unlocked the window and Prince shivered his way into her room. She gently closed the door and kept her voice low. The walls were much thinner than she had realized, so she didn't want to risk any of the other girls who might still be awake hearing her.

    "You have ten minutes. Just ten, then you go," she said sternly.

    "I can work with that." Prince tugged at the thick wool scarf around his neck. "I know you think I was being cold towards you today, but I had to put on an act. If people knew that it was me you were with they'd have done a lot worse towards you than just talking about you behind your back."

    Chloe was tired of this. "But they did do worse, Prince. I got ice water dumped on me today. And I think you should have let people know and told them the truth. Because whoever took the picture felt kind enough to protect your image, they just wanted to hurt mine."

    "Me telling the truth would have been the worst thing to do. Right now, people are guessing on who you were speaking to, the interest will die down in a week. If they knew it was me, they'd look to destroy you for the rest of the school year." Prince explained his way of thinking, but to Chloe, it just sounded like a bunch of excuses.

    He continued with, "I know you don't like secrets, and I'm not trying to make more secrets for you. I just want you to be safe. Being seen with me, or Dominic doesn't keep you safe—"

    "Whoa, wait," Chloe said with her handheld up to stop him before he could say anything else. "Dominic is okay being seen with me. Dominic has helped me since the first day I arrived here. You don't get to speak for him."

    Prince was making that same expression he did before when she mentioned Dominic. "Chloe, he is my friend, but he comes from a troubled past. The past six months he's become obsessed with the idea that your step-mother is his biological mother. He's only getting close to you for information about her. That day he hung out with us in NYC, the reason he showed up was that he knew you were her new step-daughter."

    Chloe still felt defensive. "I believe him, Prince. You're his friend, you should believe him too. Is this what you talked to him about when you went to visit him?"

    Prince didn't say anything for two breaths. He then nodded once. "I also had something else to tell him. After the day we all hung out in New York, I had a talk with Dominic. I asked him what he thought about you, and he said you seemed sad, lonely, and not his type. He asked me the same question and I told him that if he was right and by some chance, you ended up here, I wanted to know you better because . . . I'm just going to go ahead and say it. I like you, Chloe."

    She watched him in silence after the confession. Did he expect some kind of reaction out of her with that confession? That's not the way she wanted to be confessed to. If Prince had said those same words to her in a different situation, she'd have felt something.

    A different sort of emotion took a hold of her—it was strength.

    "Something that's always bothered me about the Prince's in fairy-tales, is that they would look at the Princess and think she was pretty and helpless and they loved her for those two things. They thought just one kiss and everything was okay and they could just be together without problems. I don't want to be some pretty, helpless girl that you like because you're tired of your boringly safe, rich lifestyle, Prince."

    She opened the window again. "Your time is up. Please go. If you try this again, I'm leaving you outside and calling security."

    "Chloe . . ." Prince's voice was soft and a little pleading.

    She remembered the boy she met at dinner and the one with who she flew with in the Helicopter. She had enjoyed Prince's calm, sweet demeanor and his beautiful smile.

    He was charming, so charming, but he was also a coward.

    Chloe pointed out into the night. "Good night, Prince."

    He listened. Prince stepped out onto the balcony and she closed the window door behind him.

     The funny thing was, Chloe might have forgiven him if he'd just said one simple thing. . . an apology. She heard him give her a lot of excuses, but not one single apology.

Two weeks had passed and sure enough, no one was talking about Chloe's picture with the Elite anymore. It wasn't that people had forgotten or didn't still talk behind Chloe's back, it was that another student had committed a greater offense so for now she was off the radar. Prince had made attempts to text Chloe, but she deleted each one without reading it. She didn't feel ready to forgive him.

    She felt like she was living the same day over and over again. Her days started with classes and being the teacher's assistant. Studying with Sanford, Diana, and Solara. Physical Education with Charlotte, Fynn, and Luca. More studying, lots more studying, and then going to sleep. She hated to admit it, but life at Darkwood was becoming more and more routine.

    Though there was one ray of hope at Darkwood—the weekend activities.

    "I cannot wait to go off campus! This bonfire is exactly what we need to get our minds off all this school stress." Solara spoke excitedly while applying lip stain to her lower lip.

    It was a Friday night and Solara had insisted that all the girls get ready together for the bonfire at 8 pm.

    Diana helped to flat iron Chloe's hair, while Charlotte decided between a pair of silver star earrings or a pair of black crescent earrings.

    "Who goes to the bonfires?" Chloe asked while studying her reflection in the mirror. Diana had finished one half of her hair, the other side still was a mess.

    "Oh, mostly Scholarship kids and Money Misfits. Climbers and Elites tend to go by private charter to go skiing and snowboarding over the weekends," Charlotte answered.

    "I'm so jealous, I would love to be snowboarding." Solara sighed wistfully.

    Diana side-smiled, which for Diana was the most emotion she'd show. "I wouldn't mind a good bit of snow myself."

    "I'd go for the cute snowboarding instructors; they're always cute," Charlotte added in.

    "No envy here! They can have all the snow they want. If I never see snow again, it would be too soon." Chloe still hadn't told any of them how her mother died and she wasn't sure if she ever would.

    Solara laughed. "For someone who dislikes snow so much, you certainly look amazing in white."

    "It wasn't my choice to wear white tonight." Chloe reminded her. It had actually been Diana's suggestion and then Solara's insistence that made her wear the white dress Charlotte offered. It did actually look pretty amazing on her though. With her hair fixed, her makeup done and the dress on she barely even recognized her own reflection.

    "True, but you could have said no. You didn't say no to the dress, meaning you must have someone at the bonfire you're hoping to impress," Diana said in a matter-of-fact way.

    Chloe reddened deeply while Solara and Charlotte giggled. She couldn't deny Diana's assessment. As much as she had tried to forget about it, she couldn't stop thinking about how kind and supportive Dominic was towards her on the day when she needed someone the most. The last text she received from him said he would be at the bonfire, after she received that text she said yes to the dress.

    Solara took out her phone and angled it to try and get all of them into a candid shot, "Smile girls! Remember we only get one night of fun before returning back to intense study, let's make it count!"

Under the light of the moon, off in the thick of the woods laid an open field at the end of a walking trail. On any other cold winters night this field would have been silent and empty, but today this field was filled with lights, laughter, dancing, and magic.

    There was an outdoor concert stage with blue flashing lights, inhabited by a teen rock band. A large, blazing bonfire at the center of the event provided heat for all the students of Darkwood.

    Chloe looked at all this with wonder and excitement. She hadn't seen anyone in their casual clothes before, and that alone was exciting. She now knew that Solara dressed in bright yellows and liked knee-high boots. Diana liked to wear elegant black against her long, slender figure and have her hair pulled back into a single, sleek ponytail. Charlotte liked to wear trendy styles in violets with silver accessories. Suddenly they all looked unique and different. Their personalities and characters were free to shine.

    The four of them danced by the burning embers with their hands high above their heads and their bodies swaying.

    It felt so good to finally let go.

    Charlotte tossed her head back and suddenly stopped dancing. She was instead staring at something back towards the trail where the security team was.

    Charlotte reached for Chloe's arm to grab her attention. "Hey, stop dancing and look."

    Chloe followed the direction of Charlotte's gaze to see several new students arriving at the bonfire. Some she could recognize from class, others she couldn't.

    "Climbers?" Diana spoke with perplexity. "They never come to the bonfires, I wonder why they bothered to come here when they could have popped off to Switzerland for the weekend with Elites."

    "Maybe they're tired of always doing the same thing and wanted to switch it up." Chloe reasoned.

    "Not likely. My guess is that an Alpha Climber decided to show up to the bonfire and then that suddenly made the bonfire seem trendy to the other Climbers," Charlotte explained.

    Chloe still struggled with the social system of the school, it felt like she was learning more and more about it and how stupid it was with each passing day.

    "Alpha Climber? Who or what is an alpha climber?" Chloe asked.

    Charlotte and Diana both in unison stretched out their hands and pointed while saying, "Him!"

    The Climbers were standing near a single boy who was holding a messenger bag, each trying to talk to him. He wore a cable knit dark-gray crew sweater that showed the start of his collarbone and dangling down from it he wore a necklace with a silver origami crane at the end of it. The way he moved, the way he laughed and the way he held the attention of the other Climbers without even trying made it even more apparent that he was influential over them. He ran his fingers through his hair and turned his head to see Chloe. Recognition made his eyes light up and her waved towards her.

    "White!" He called out.

    Chloe looked at him in disbelief.

    Dominic was the Alpha?

    Solara pressed a hand against Chloe's back to give her a gentle push. "Go on have fun! Don't worry about us, we will go find Sanford and the twins."

    Chloe tried to control just how embarrassed that push made her feel. "Okay, but if you need me for any reason, text me."

    She gave her friends a final wave and then inhaled deeply.

    Why was she so nervous?

     She used to feel absolutely nothing when she was around Dominic before. Now just the idea of facing him made her lungs feel like she wasn't getting enough air.

    She approached him and he met her halfway.

    They stood perfectly still looking at one another while everyone else was busy dancing and singing aloud.

    "Do you always bring a crowd with you?" Chloe asked over the noise.

    Dominic shrugged about the matter like it was no big deal. "It can happen from time to time."

    "All along I thought you were this loner and it turns out you have a lot of friends," she said with a smile.

    "I am a loner. Just because I'm surrounded by people doesn't mean they're surrounding me for the right reasons. That's why I'd rather be around you, White." His eyes were on her.

    Before if Dominic had made a comment like this, she'd have dismissed it as him trying to stir a reaction out of her, but today it made her blush.

    Had his eyes always looked so intense? Had he always smelled this good up close?

    A large part of her wished he hadn't been so nice to her that day so she could stop feeling so. . . aware of him.

    With little warning, Dominic reached out and grasped ahold of Chloe's hand. "Come on then, I want to show you something. . ."

    Chloe let herself be led by Dominic. He took her past the roaring fire and away from the stage. They continued until they were far enough into the woods to not easily be seen, but close enough to still see the fire and the band in the distance.

     Dominic released her hand and started looking between the tree trunks for something. She hugged her arms. It was much colder away from the fire. She tried her best not to think about that.

    "What are you looking for?" She asked him curiously.

    Dominic gestured for her to wait a minute. "You'll see in a moment if it's still here."

    He found a hole below a knot on one of the trees. Before she could warn him not to stick his hand into it, he dug inside until a soft 'ting' could be heard. His hand withdrew from the tree with a small metal box in his grasp.

    "Found it!"

    Chloe stood beside him and examined the box with only her eyes. It wasn't much bigger than a tin gift cardholder.

    Dominic handed the box to her and instructed, "Don't open it yet." He flipped open his messenger bag and drew out a fuzzy blanket. He took a seat on the ground and put one side of the blanket over himself and held his arm out to offer to share the blanket with her.

    She joined him on the grass at his side, taking the other side of the blanket and huddling closer to him for warmth.

    "Now you can open it," he said with a nod.

    Chloe lifted the lid from the box and looked at the contents. There was a picture at the top, it was of a woman holding an adorable 3-year-old with bright eyes. The woman's head wasn't visible in the shot, just the child she held against her chest. Her heart started to burn as she recognized the child.

    Her fingers traced the picture. "This is you, isn't it?"

    "Yes, it's a picture of me with my mum—well—when she still was trying to be my mum I suppose. I was told that when I was put up for adoption I was left with these items in my pockets. I cried when they tried to take them, so they let me keep them. I lived in an orphanage for four years before I was adopted. When I was seven and my birth mother heard I was going to be adopted she came to see me, just the one time. She wanted to find these items and take them because somewhere in this box is evidence that links me to her."

    "Dominic . . ." Chloe felt sympathy pour through her. She placed a hand on top of his to comfort him. "How do you know that she's your mother?"

    "They say children can't remember that young, but I remember her face. I was going to be turning four, and she had an early birthday party for me. I remember the bright blue cake and the red wax candles. I was so small I couldn't blow them out. When I was seven, she pretended to be someone interested in adopting me, but I knew it was her. I was excited because I thought she came back for me, but she didn't. She got frustrated with me when I told her I didn't have the picture. I was scared that somehow she'd find a way to get it, so on my final field trip here with my orphanage I hid this box away."

    He reached out with his free hand to press the box more firmly into Chloe's grasp. "I want you to keep it for a week or two, look at it and see if you get any clues from it."

   "Of course, I'll do my best." Chloe felt simply warm all over.

    He was entrusting her with his most important possession. She tucked the box into her coat pocket.

    However . . . a part of her did wonder about what Prince had told her.

    Was Dominic really trying to get close to her just because of wanting information about his mother?

    No, she would put that thought out of her mind. She would trust Dominic.

    Their eyes met again and the silence came in. His eyes felt so intense. Half of her wanted to keep staring into them and the other half of her felt like her heart would stop working unless she looked away.

    Finally, the second option won and she looked away.

    Dominic noticed her pull back. "You don't have to be all stressed about me having a crush on you, I've already started to get it out of my system."

   "Oh." Her 'oh' sounded way more disappointed than she meant for it to be.

    Somewhere inside Chloe, she could feel that courage rising like a glimmering bubble from the depths of the ocean towards the surface. Her fingers lapsed over Dominic's gently and then she was the one watching him with seriousness. "What if I don't want you to get it out of your system?"

    Dominic looked genuinely surprised and that was an expression Chloe had never seen on him before. He always seemed and behaved like he knew everything there was to know.

    After a breath, the shock faded from his features, and instead, he was leaning towards her to rest his forehead against hers. Chloe closed her eyes with the contact. He was so close his breath smelled like mint. Her stomach felt like it was twisting and she could feel tingles running over her skin.

   Their index fingers hooked together.

   "I made a promise to Prince that I wouldn't try anything with you," Dominic admitted. "The last girl Prince was interested in, liked me—I was never interested in her—and it caused a fight between Prince and me. So, when he told me that he liked you, he made me promise."

    Chloe held on to the physical contact. She didn't want to pull back or have him pull back from her. "He had a lot of chances, he basically betrayed my trust. If anyone should get over their crush, he needs to get over me."

   She couldn't see Dominic smile, she still had her eyes closed, but she could tell that he was smiling. "If you'd asked me last week, I would have said that you'd never be interested in me. Especially not with Prince around. Isn't that what every girl wants? A prince?"

    Chloe snorted. "Maybe shallow girls want a prince, but every other girl just wants someone she can trust. I'd pick a hunter over a prince any day."

   Two of their fingers linked. His voice became low, soft, and more attractive. "See. . . and when you're being extra adorable like this it makes it even harder to let go of my crush on you. . ."

   She didn't want him to stop liking her. Even with her past crushes—which never amounted to anything—she never felt as intensely about someone as she felt towards Dominic in this moment.

    "Then don't let go," Chloe mumbled to him.

    He gave her fingers a squeeze. "Five more minutes, stay like this with me for five more minutes and then we'll return to the bonfire and just be friends again."

    Dominic was loyal. That was his nature. Loyal to finding a mother that abandoned him. He was loyal to her and stood by her even at the risk of the school's social system. She knew that he'd be just as loyal to Prince, so loyal he even kept their friendship a secret for so long. It was obvious that she wouldn't be able to convince him tonight.

   She mentally decided that today even though Dominic would try to stop his crush on her, tonight marked the start of her crush on him.

    With her eyes still shut softly she tilted her head and pressed her lips gently against his right cheek to place a tiny, timid kiss there.

    This was her first time ever initiating any affection towards a boy.

    "I promise you, Chloe. I'm going to get you back home, away from all this madness, and Elizabeth will get what she deserves."

    He didn't call her White.  He actually said her name. The way he said it made her chest feel warm. . .

    She didn't even want to go home anymore. Even if it meant having ice water dumped on her head a thousand times, as long as she could be close to Dominic it was worth it. But she couldn't tell him that, so all she did was nod.

    Five minutes felt like a blink. They stood and their fingers slowly unlatched. Dominic folded up the blanket and stuffed it into his bag.

    They headed back towards the bonfire. Sanford and Fynn flagged Chloe down by waving their hands frantically in the air.

    "I guess my friends are waiting for me. . ." Her voice trailed.

    The Climbers at the bonfire remained in a close group and at the sight of Dominic's return, they started to call out his name.

    "Looks like I'm wanted as well," he said.

    She smiled at him, but it felt bittersweet.

    "Good night, Huntsman."

    He returned the same kind of smile.

    "Good night, White."

    She rejoined The Seven by the crackling flames. They danced and tossed their heads back like they didn't have a care in the world. Everyone was laughing and smiling and having such a great time. Chloe pretended that she was equally enjoying the bonfire. She really wanted to lose herself to the atmosphere again.

    But deep inside her heart, she couldn't help feeling like she'd just lost something really important. . .

_______________

Author's Note: At this point I have my doubts about if I'll be able to make it to 50k words in 30 days. XD But I will finish out the story even if I don't make it.

Do you think Dominic's feelings are genuine, or is he really just using her for information?

Was Prince really just trying to keep Chloe safe?

Should Chloe forgive Prince?

As always, thoughts, comments, reads and votes are appreciated! THANK YOU GUYS! You are gold stars!