Chloe dangled the massive, diamond-encrusted Cuban link chain inches from the new girl’s nose. The blinding sun caught the teardrop pendant, flashing aggressively against the newcomer’s ratty olive-green hoodie, ripped jeans, and scuffed Converse.
“Did you steal this?” Chloe sneered, her voice echoing across the concrete courtyard. A crowd of St. Jude’s elite paused to watch the impending slaughter. Chloe leaned in closer, her layered pearl necklaces clinking. “Trash like you doesn’t belong here.”
The girl in the hoodie didn’t flinch. She didn’t cry.
Instead, her hand shot out.
Before Chloe could even blink, the girl clamped onto her arm. With a sickeningly smooth, lightning-fast pivot, the newcomer hauled Chloe directly over her shoulder in a flawless judo throw.
*CRACK.*
Chloe slammed flat onto the unforgiving concrete. The breath exploded from her lungs. Her meticulously styled hair scattered in the dirt, her jaw unhinged in paralyzing, wide-eyed shock.
The courtyard went dead silent.
The hoodie girl stood at the bottom of the stairs, perfectly expressionless. Suddenly, four hulking men in matching black suits and aviator sunglasses descended the steps in perfect, terrifying unison. They stopped just behind the girl and bowed deeply.
“Miss,” the lead bodyguard announced, his icy baritone cutting through the breathless crowd. “Your father’s private jet is prepped for departure.”
The girl didn’t look at him. She looked down at the million-dollar diamond chain resting in her palm. With a deliberate, agonizingly casual motion, she wrapped the heavy, ostentatious diamonds around her wrist, snapping the clasp shut. She wore the king’s ransom like a cheap friendship bracelet.
“My father bought this academy yesterday, Chloe,” the girl said, adjusting her scuffed sleeve. “And you’re expelled.”
As the girl walked away, Chloe lay shattered in the dirt, a guttural, wailing scream of absolute devastation tearing from her throat as her gilded kingdom burned to the ground.