“Please don’t do this,” I beg, but he ignores me, curling his arm around my shoulders and clamping me to his side.

The other guys surround us, and I swear the noise of kids and cars and life fades away and instead, everyone is silently staring at us.

“Smile, little bird, we’re kings and we just made you a queen.”

Closing my eyes, I force back the tears that are trying to break free. This isn’t the moment to be weak. “I hate you,” I whisper.

Strong arms turn me until I’m face to face with an angry-looking Sebastian. His fingers grab my chin and he forces my head back so I can’t look away. Then he leans down and kisses me, keeping me in place while he plunders my mouth, his free hand grabbing my ass and showing everyone who’s watching that I belong to him.

He keeps his hold on me when he pulls his lips from mine. “Hate me all you want, it won’t make you any less mine.”

This time my tears really do break free and his lips purse as the first one rolls down my cheek. Releasing my chin, he stops the tear with his finger, then sucks it into his mouth. “I don’t want your tears, but for now if that’s all you’ll give me, I’ll take them, because everything you are belongs to me.”

The next ten minutes are a blur. Sebastian takes my hand and forces me to stay by his side as he parades me through the hallways, smiling and speaking to every single curious student who worships at the stupid fucking Elites’ feet. He introduces me to everyone as his girlfriend and by the time I’m at the door to my homeroom, I doubt there’s a single person who doesn’t know we’re apparently a couple.

The only person I was hoping to see is Courtney and she’s concerningly absent. I don’t know what Sebastian said to her when he told her not to pick me up, but she’s the only person here who knows that he and I are not really a couple and I need her. I need someone who cares more about me than they do about status and hierarchy, I need my bestie.

By the end of first period, I’m ready to go home and hide beneath my comforter. The blissful anonymity I had here is officially gone. When Sebastian kissed me, he might as well have put a target on my back because it seems every kid in my class either witnessed him trying to eat me alive, or knows someone who witnessed it. There’s even a video of it on Instagram and TikTok. Great.

People I’ve never spoken to want to be my friend, and the kids who have refused to acknowledge my existence since middle school suddenly want to reminisce about all the good times we never had. I hate it and I hate Sebastian for causing it.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve told people he’s not my boyfriend, but they don’t want to hear it. What I have to say doesn’t matter when the mighty Elite have spoken. When lunchtime rolls around, I’m desperate to escape to a quiet corner with Court and hide from all the curious stares and jealous daggers.