They The Pretty Stars (Court High 1)

What I currently did was the epitome of lack thereof, and I put my phone down, noticing a familiar face. Birdie’s head hovered above about ninety percent of the lunchroom occupants, and I was surprised to see her. Outside of escorting me to my classes the first day, I hadn’t seen her with the exception of second period English. We had separate lunches, so basically I’d been huffing it on my own. Not alone, she came escorted with two other girls of a similar height, the three easily gliding through the crowded lunchroom. I waved and their party redirected in my direction, all three placing their lunch trays down at arrival.

“Mind if we sit with you?” Birdie asked, her big curly ponytail swaying. “My lunch just got switched, and Kiki and Shakira have this lunch too.”

Definitely not opposed to friendships on this lonely island, I scooted to appease long limbs. I’d ask what she and her friends were into, but considering all three of them wore basketball shoes and one of them even wore a pair of tiny basketballs as earrings, I figured to avoid what was no doubt a cliché question amongst the three.

“Thank God,” I chose instead. I moved my tray for more room. “I seriously was considering eating in the bathroom.” Day one and two of the new girl eating by herself? Completely okay, but doing so over three days in rocked a new kind of pathetic.

Birdie and her friends laughed at this, Kiki an Asian girl with a face full of freckles and Shakira a dark-skin beauty with her hair in tight twists. All three had a few questions about my full plate of Skittles, Pop-Tarts, apples, and tofu, which I easily explained. I had to get my snack and sugar fix here at school since Dad had basically shut that ship down.

“Vegan, huh?” Shakira questioned after I explained my lunch choices. “Couldn’t do it.”

“I love my meat too damn much.” Kiki chomped a large bite out of her burger, and Birdie did the same but apologized for the display of burgers and chicken fries before me. I told them that didn’t bother me, used to pretty much all my friends not being vegan back home. Also, since my choice for being vegan was just as much about the health factor as helping animals, I told them that and even made them laugh when I told them I still had an appreciation for the smell of bacon, Chick-fil-A, and anything with cheese but simply chose not to eat it. That made them ease up a bit about offending me, and we fell into easy conversation about my first week and how I was getting along. I had a couple pain-in-the-ass classes I knew I’d been strug

gling with just because of my track record at my old school, and they offered tips where they could since they’d had quite a few of my teachers over the years at the academy. Naturally, the conversation moved on to me and my sister, but I was happy it focused more on our background as siblings versus where she currently was. I didn’t know anything, and I think they picked up on that pretty quick, considering my lack of information and one- or two-word answers surrounding the subject.

“You know, I never heard anything about Paige Lindquist having a sister before you came,” Birdie concluded, making my chest squeeze a little that Paige kept me out of her life here just as much as she had the other way around. I always figured this town and the life she lived had been a sore spot, I supposed, considering her tumultuous relationship with our dad. Birdie dunked a chicken fry in barbecue sauce. “Are you half?”

“No,” I stated, our background a weird situation. “Our mom died of cancer when I was eight and she was nine.”

They frowned conjointly.

Birdie cringed. “I did know that. I’m sorry.”

I waved my hand, all that a long time ago. “Anyway, Dad got a job here not long after, and both Paige and I could have gone with him, but I chose to stay in LA. A lot of memories there, I guess. Didn’t want to leave.”

“Who did you stay with?” Birdie asked.

“My aunt Celeste. My mom’s sister. She works a lot but she was there for me.” And her doing so was something I couldn’t thank her more for. Single and kidless, she didn’t have to take her sister’s kid but she had, and even though I was pretty much raised on TV and the internet due to her work schedule as a hospital nurse, I managed to push through in the end.

I didn’t mention my metaphorical bumps and bruises along the way, but either way, Birdie and the others didn’t poke. Birdie offered me a French fry from her other basket, and after I took it, she brushed her hands.

“Well, I’m sure me not knowing about you had nothing to do with you but me. I wasn’t really a part of your sister’s ‘gang.’” Birdie paused, air quoting. “She didn’t actually talk to any of us.”

“She didn’t?”

Birdie shook her head. “We may be jocks, but our rung on the social hierarchy is far lower than hers, her and the Court.”

“The Court?”

She danced a finger in the direction of a table, the center table that always had the most people regardless of my few days here. Mostly guys, they sat both on the table as well as the benches, and where there wasn’t seating, some stood around, eating their sandwiches with their jackets off and ties loosened. The girls that were there were either under arms or in laps, like the girl who was pretty much all over the one guy who was always, always at the center of the centermost table.

Royal Prinze had hands on a leggy brunette, a firm hand cradling the girl’s ass to keep her there. Fingers to his lips, he sat in the full conversation around him. Though, I noticed he wasn’t generally part of it. He listened, an emperor on the throne, while he observed the goings-on of the kingdom around him.

“That’s the Court,” Birdie let me in on, her face a grimace. “The elite and exclusive boys’ club of Windsor Prep.”

“So it’s a clique?” I asked, and chuckles surrounded me.

“Hardly,” Birdie continued, facing forward. “It’s basically a fraternity but in high school. They do anything they want, have anything they want, and fuck anything they want.”

“Jesus.”

“It doesn’t stop there,” Kiki joined in, swinging a leg out to stare at the table. “One word from a former member, and you can basically get into any college you want.”

“And any job you want when you come back,” Shakira said over yogurt. She swallowed. “Or don’t. Either way, you’re set for life. Here or on the outside. The Court is very influential.”

“Yeah, they have a lot of clout.” Deadpan, Birdie transferred her attention from that table, her smile small on me. “Anyway, they don’t talk to our lot, and their group is totally official. They have a pledging process, social events, and even club rings.”

“The almighty king.” Kiki growled, making the group laugh when she bared teeth and put out fake claws. “They have it on their rings, and any guy around here would kill to have one.”