RubyAlthough the growing number of comments is horrible and traumatizing, I just can’t bring myself to tear my eyes away from my phone screen. My surroundings fade into the distance, and it feels as though I’m nothing but a floating pair of eyeballs in a void staring at a screen.“Is this really Ruby Jones? The new girl?”“omg, these pics are so slutty!!”“who goes 2 a buffet and steals the food like that?”“LOL, look at her stuffing her face! she’s such a pig”“there’s no way this pariah is an aristocrat. #expelrubyjones”“Hahahah, it’s her third day here and someone already hates her enough to post these! I think that might be a world record.”“should i retweet this? i think i should retweet this. lol #whorethief”I can feel a pounding headache suddenly coming on as the bile rises in my throat. Is no one going to say anything about this slander? It’s nothing but cruelty. I was clearly drugged and taken advantage of, although I don’t remember much more than flashes of dark figures l
RubyStudents watch and whisper as the professor ushers me down the hallway and up the massive staircase leading to the headmaster’s office.“No, please,” I beg, but she won’t listen. I just know that I’m going to be expelled, or worse if what Nancy said about the headmaster was true.The professor climbs the stairway, not caring for the fact that I’m stumbling and tripping behind her. Once we reach the top, she pushes me ahead of her toward a large wooden door at the end of a long corridor.“It wasn’t me!” I cry. “Donna started it!”“You can tell that to the headmaster,” the professor says with a grimace. “See if he’ll believe your lies.”The professor presses a button next to the large door. Inside, I can hear a doorbell chime followed by the sound of a man cursing and crashing about.The headmaster swings the door open.His hair is a bit disheveled and his jacket has been removed to show a white button down and a red vest that looks somewhat comical stretched over his round belly.
AtwoodWatching my mate cry makes it feel as though my heart is being ripped from my chest. I never wanted to hurt her, never wanted to make her cry. I never wanted to make her feel so unheard that she would need to resort to this to get me to listen.The power of the mate bond feels stronger now than ever.“Ruby,” I mutter, stepping toward her and wrapping my arms around her. She feels tiny and fragile. Her body shivers with a mixture of anger and distress, but I only hug her more tightly until she relaxes into my arms.I pick her up now and carry her over to my chair, sitting down with her on my lap. She leans heavily against my shoulder as she continues to sob. I say nothing, simply stroking her hair until she calms.“Just breathe,” I murmur into her ear repeatedly.When Ruby has calmed, she sits up and rubs her red eyes. I reach up with my handkerchief to wipe away the tears and snot from her sobbing.I look into her eyes when I’m done cleaning her face and cup her round little ch
Atwood“Sir?” Kayne asks, puzzled at my request.Wordlessly, I motion for my beta to follow as I make my way toward the garage, which is located on the lower level of the castle. Much to my neurotic mother’s dismay, I’ve collected quite a few vehicles over the years. My father always had a love of foreign sports cars; when he died just before my nineteenth birthday, all of them were passed on to me, and I’ve added even more to that collection since then so that I now have fifteen entirely unique cars.On my twentieth birthday, I bought myself a motorcycle. My mother was furious at this purchase, stating over and over again until she was practically blue in the face that I was going to kill myself on that thing, but I never listened.She wasn’t entirely wrong, however.Not even six months after I bought my motorcycle, I was in an accident. It was all my fault, really. I was going too fast around the winding roads near the castle, when I overshot a tight turn and wound up flying off the
RubyAfter my fight with Donna on Monday, I’m suspended from school for three days. It doesn’t feel much like a punishment, since I would rather be anywhere than inside that school after those photos were posted of me. The only thing that particularly burns about not being in school is that I have to wait to try and talk to Nancy.I wake on Wednesday morning to Alice’s lovely voice.“Rise and shine, princess,” Alice says annoyedly. It seems as though I’m not moving fast enough for her, because she stomps over to my side of the bed and yanks the covers down, then tosses a bundle of plain clothes into my lap: a pair of black jeans and a gray wool cardigan with toggle buttons and a hood.I must look confused, because Alice rolls her eyes and tosses the clothes down onto the bed.“Despite your misbehavior in school and your three-day suspension, the King has decided to take you on a da-” she stops herself mid-sentence, then continues: “an outing.” It’s clear that she meant to call it a da
RubyAt the end of my last class for the day, I run to my locker to get ready. Nancy shows up a few minutes later as I’m hurriedly fixing my hair and primping my uniform.“Wow, got a hot date or something?” she says. She’s wearing her cheer uniform and opens her locker to braid her long red hair in the mirror.“I’m… I’m auditioning for the school play,” I say. I can’t explain why, but I’m both excited and nervous at the same time.Nancy spins around to look at me and bounces excitedly on the balls of her feet, clapping her hands together.“Oh my gosh, really?!” she says, loud enough for the surrounding students to look at us.“Shh,” I mutter, feeling my face flush with embarrassment.“I have to come with you to your audition. Are you going right now?” Nancy says, this time much more quietly.I look at my watch. “It’s in fifteen minutes.”“Okay,” she says, grabbing her bag and slamming her locker shut. “I’ll meet you there. I have to, um, meet with someone really quick.”Smirking, I lo
AtwoodAfter my encounter with Ruby in the main entryway of the school, two things become abundantly clear to me: for starters, she definitely has a hunch about my involvement with Ethan’s injury, which means that I need to either come clean or find a way to diffuse the situation more properly if she brings it up again. I’m leaning toward the latter.Second, and more importantly, Ruby’s plan to join the drama club comes as a surprise to me. I didn’t know that she had an interest in acting; in fact, now that I think about it, I don’t really know what her interests involve at all.Truthfully, I’ve barely spent any real quality time with Ruby aside from our one outing to Greenwood the other day. Perhaps that could explain her aloof nature with me as well as some of her misbehavior lately. How can I honestly expect her to want to marry a man who hasn’t taken even five minutes to discover her interests? I feel like a terrible mate.That’s why tonight, I decide to join Ruby and her sister f
RubyI don’t waste any time taking advantage of the library. First thing Saturday morning, I pop out of bed and hastily brush my teeth before throwing on my robe and slippers and running off to the library.The library smells like mahogany and old books. It’s quiet and peaceful, and without Alice or anyone else here, I finally feel like myself for the first time since I’ve come to this castle.I easily spend an hour scouring just one bookshelf and come away with a stack of novels to read. With a smile on my face and my arms heavy with books, I waddle over to the seating area beneath the large window with the stained glass rose at the top and plop myself down to read.The first novel I pick up is the first in a series about a young female detective who is working on a murder case. It’s a page-turner, and within half an hour I’m already several chapters in and completely enthralled.Unfortunately, my peace is broken by the sound of the library door opening. I poke my head up over the ba