Chapters (61)
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ONE DANNI
- TWO ROSE
- THREE DANNI
- FOUR DANNI
- FIVE ROSE
- SIX ROSE
- SEVEN DANNI
- EIGHT ROSE
- NINE DANNI
- TEN ROSE
- ELEVEN ROSE
- TWELVE ROSE
- THIRTEEN ROSE
- FOURTEEN DANNI
- FIFTEEN DANNI
- SIXTEEN ROSE
- SEVENTEEN DANNI
- EIGHTEEN ROSE
- NINETEEN ROSE
- TWENTY DANNI
- TWENTY-ONE DANNI
- TWENTY-TWO DANNI
- TWENTY-THREE ROSE
- TWENTY-FOUR ROSE
- TWENTY-FIVE DANNI
- TWENTY-SIX ROSE
- TWENTY-SEVEN DANNI
- TWENTY-EIGHT ROSE
- TWENTY-NINE ROSE
- THIRTY DANNI
- THIRTY-ONE DANNI
- THIRTY-TWO ROSE
- THIRTY-THREE DANNI
- THIRTY-FOUR ROSE
- THIRTY-FIVE ROSE
- THIRTY-SIX DANNI
- THIRTY-SEVEN ROSE
- THIRTY-EIGHT DANNI
- THIRTY-NINE ROSE
- FORTY DANNI
- FORTY-ONE ROSE
- FORTY-TWO DANNI
- FORTY-THREE ROSE
- FORTY-FOUR DANNI
- FORTY-FIVE ROSE
- FORTY-SIX ROSE
- FORTY-SEVEN DANNI
- FORTY-EIGHT ROSE
- FORTY-NINE ROSE
- FIFTY ROSE
- FIFTY-ONE ROSE
- FIFTY-TWO DANNI
- EPILOGUE ROSE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Also by Sophie Gonzales
- Praise Page
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
I’m asleep before I even pull up the covers.
SIX ROSE
After ten or so minutes, I wake up to a thunderous banging. I open bleary eyes and stare at my dim surroundings in confusion, half convinced I’m still at home. Then I piece it together. I’m at Bramppath, in my new room, and Eleanor is screeching at me from outside my door.
“Inside voice!” I call back sluggishly as I attempt to sit up, groping for a shirt in the darkness. No luck. Why must waking up be so difficult?
Speaking of, why on earth is Eleanor trying to wake me up already? It can’t possibly be dinnertime, can it?
Eleanor makes no attempt to lower her volume. “I’ve been knocking for five minutes!”
My head is pounding, and my stomach is churning, and somehow I can hear my own eyes as I force them open. It feels like the hangover from hell, and I didn’t even get the pleasure of being drunk beforehand. At this point, if I weren’t a prefect, I’d simply skip dinner and go right back to sleep. Alas.
Sighing as loudly as I can, I somehow make it to the door and fling it open. Standing on the other side are Eleanor and Danni, with Molly lurking sulkily several feet behind them. They’re all dressed in their formal dining gowns—more or less black graduation robes, only they’re unsecured in the middle, so they drape like open curtains.
Officially, we’re expected to dress business casual at a minimum beneath them. Danni, new as she is, has made an attempt at this, wearing an extraordinarily frilly dress, a button-down cardigan, and a pair of scuffed pumps. Eleanor and Molly, on the other hand, are both in sweatpants and T-shirts as everyone else will be, and the juxtaposition between them makes Danni look somewhat ridiculous. Like a librarian on an important first date.
I’m sure I’m not helping the contrast, given I’m only wearing my bra and a pair of black stockings. Danni makes eye contact with me, then her eyes trail from my shoulders to my feet, before she becomes very interested in the doorframe.
“Good, you’re alive,” Eleanor chirps.
“Debatable.”
“Are you coming dressed like that?” she asks. “You should probably at least put your gown on.”
Danni looks at my chest again at that. I stare at her until she notices me looking, and then I raise a single eyebrow. She promptly returns to looking at the door, blushing furiously. One would think she’d never seen a shirtless girl before.
“Danni,” I say, stretching out her name until it thins. “You clearly have an excellent grasp on the dress code guidelines. Do you think I need to change?”
Her eyes grow so wide I can see the full circle of her iris. “I…” she tries.