The Princess and the Bully (Goldsworthy University Book 1) Read online

This has to be his brother.

  “Why were you looking for me, Callan?” Heath asks, crossing his arms. The smile he had on his face is long gone.

  “You skipped lunch for this? So you could show her around,” Callan’s eyes move toward me and the anger in them grows.

  “Dad told me–“

  “Fuck Dad. And fuck her, she didn’t need a guide. She has eyes and a mouth to ask people for directions. Don’t you remember what she said about us? Fuckboys and spoiled bitches. Yet here she is, joining the lot of us.”

  I can’t stop the eye roll that happens. “So he didn’t eat lunch with you. What’s the big deal? And I’m pretty sure you’ve said rude things while you’ve been drunk too.”

  “Just mind your own fucking business,” he retorts.

  “You know, it’s crazy. You look an awful lot like Heath but all of the asshole gene was put into your DNA.”

  His blue eyes grow dark at that, and I almost regret saying it.

  “That so?” He glances behind me, sarcastically looking around. “Where’s Mary Catherine? Oh wait, she didn’t embarrass her country every day and get shipped off to the United States. That’s a real princess if I ever knew one.”

  Anger explodes from my chest. “Fuck you!” I shout and get off the bench.

  “Fuck you, too, princess” he responds. Towering over me, he glares down like I’m the gum on his shoe, so I scowl back. Up close, I can see even better just how gorgeous he is, with his perfectly proportioned face and thick eyelashes.

  And then the strangest thing happens, I see a cloud of rain above his head, messing up his perfect hair and making it drip to his face. It startles me, I back up slightly, blink, and it’s gone.

  “Callan.” Heath sighs and stands up. “I’ll let you know if I need to miss lunch again. See you later.”

  He grabs my arm and leads me away with my bag on his shoulder.

  I follow without resistance and eventually, he lets go. He doesn’t say a word the rest of the way to my door.

  “If he ever bothers you, just let me know, okay?” he says quietly.

  It’s a nice gesture, but I won’t walk the other way if I see him coming. From what I’ve seen so far, he’d probably be overjoyed if I ran off like a scared puppy. “Sure. Thanks for everything, Heath. I really need a fresh start and I feel like that’s what I’m getting.”

  Heath stares at me for a minute and opens his mouth like he wants to say something, but he doesn’t. With a slight nod in my direction, he sets my huge bag of supplies at my feet and heads back for the elevator.

  In one go, I swipe the card and grab the bag with my other arm, hauling it in.

  A gasp makes me turn my head to the bed on the left, and a girl with auburn hair claps excitedly. “Finally, I get to meet my first roommate! I’m Scarlett.”

  I sit the bag on the floor next to my bed and meet her halfway in between our beds. “Nice to meet you, Scarlett. I’m Mera.”

  She chuckles and her warm hazel eyes light up. “Can I hug you? I thought I should ask first since you're, you know, a princess.”

  “Sure!” Bewildered, I open my arms, and sure enough, she grabs me in a quick hug.

  “Need help unpacking? I already did mine yesterday.”

  Is she kidding? Why would she take on extra work? Oh well, I can’t say no to help. “Yeah, I mean. Sure.”

  She smiles and goes over to the other side of the bed and starts with my biggest suitcase. An hour and a half later, we’ve made quick work and I’m all settled with my bag packed for class tomorrow.

  “You have a ton, girl. I’m so jelly of those designer clothes.”

  “Lots of designers give them to me for free. Free advertising. Though I guess for my remaining time here, I’ll be stuck with out-of-fashion clothes.”

  She winks. “It’s not so bad, trust me. I’m here on scholarship so I have to save every penny.”

  The door suddenly clicks and we both turn and watch it open. I expect to see another pretty girl like Scarlett. Instead, my mouth drops open as a person as tall as Heath in a black hoodie dragging two roller suitcases behind them. They lift their head up and my eyes widen as I see it’s a gorgeous guy. Almost as gorgeous as Heath. Is this a California thing?

  He rubs a hand down the back of his head and his cheeks turn a bright pink. “Um, hey, I’m Peyton. A mistake was made with housing.”

  “I’ll say,” Scarlett says with a grin. “I’m Scarlett and this is Mera.”

  “Nice to meet you guys. I know the last thing you want to do is share your space with me. I barely got in on a scholarship and I can’t afford to live off campus either, can we just keep this between the three of us?”

  Scarlett laughs. “Sure, our RA won’t notice the tall guy coming out of the elevator every morning.”

  “She said she’s cool as long as there’s no funny business. And there won’t be.”

  Scarlett and I turn to look at each other. I shrug and she nods, turning back to him. “We’re good with that.”

  A grateful smile spreads across his face. “Thanks.”

  “Why don’t we get dinner together once Peyton’s done unpacking? I may be poor as shit but I have a raggedy Honda Civic in the parking lot. Let’s go get dinner somewhere off campus.”

  “Sounds good,” Peyton replies.

  They both turn in my direction and I slowly note how their eyes and expressions tell me the both of them really do want me to come. Like how real friends would act. Is this how it feels to have people who actually want your company and not your money? They didn’t ask me to pay for it or even pay for the ride there.

  “Yeah!” I say excitedly with a small smile.

  “Awesome.”

  “Nice, this won’t take long.”

  Maybe, this year won’t be so bad after all.

  Chapter Two

  Callan

  Four seats. There are only four seats at our table for lunch today. I pull out the only empty one, next to my sister and eye my parents.

  “Where’s Heath?” I ask.

  “He’s busy, as he should be,” Dad replies as he straightens his tie. His dark brown hair is swept to the side with gel. His blue eyes, exactly the color of my own, avoid mine, instead choosing to land upon Mom sitting beside him.

  I never feel like I have his full attention. He’d always rather be looking fucking elsewhere.

  “Busy doing what?” I ask, leaning back in the chair and crossing my fingers together.

  A flash of annoyance appears on his face and stares me down with a look that says how dare I even ask another question about it. “He’s showing our newest special student around.”

  Of all days for him to assign that job to Heath, it had to be today. Every Sunday we have lunch as a family and it’s always like this. Dad reminds us exactly what our purposes are, and when it comes to my siblings and I, I’m on the lowest rung. Not to mention that he has to interact with someone as spoiled and entitled as she is. Everyone has seen her interview from a few months ago about this college. No one wants to have her here. “Fucking really? All she has to do is go to the Admin office and one of them could show her around. That’s part of the job that we pay them to do.”

  “That I pay them,” he says, tipping his thumb in his direction. “Heath is going to make sure that we get more international students enrolled at this college. We’ve never had many and this is our opportunity. If Clarise’s daughter has a great time, she’s bound to recommend this place to everyone she knows. You know they pay triple the regular tuition. Heath has never–”

  “Failed before,” I interject. “I know.” Like I haven’t heard that millions of times.

  He smirks, waving a passing waitress over and I grit my teeth. The waitress takes our orders for our drinks and meals. The minute she’s gone, he starts in again.

  “Son, this is your freshman year. This sets the tone for the next three years. Look at Heath. Honors classes, football, fraternity president, the president of three clubs, and he d
oes volunteer work at the library and student union.”

  Yes, because Heath can never stop being perfect for one second in his life. And I hate him for it.

  “Mom, you’ve heard Callan is going to join Alpha Alpha Alpha, right?” Collette pops in. She flashes a smile in my direction, communicating with her eyes that I shouldn’t say anything more and to let her handle this. She’s aware that she's Mom’s favorite as Heath is Dad’s favorite.

  Mom nods. “Yes.” She massages Dad’s shoulder. “Isn’t that amazing, dear?”

  “That’s fine, but why can’t he become the president of another fraternity. Why settle for simply being a member? You are a Goldsworthy and you are destined to be more than that.”

  My blood starts to boil with every word and I clench my fists on the armrests. He never stops.

  “I mean look at your sister, she’s going to be president of Zeta Delta Beta. You’re really just going to let the two of them leave you in the dust?” He scoffs and shakes his head.

  “Now dear, Callan will do his best to make us proud I’m sure.” She throws a careful smile in my direction. And she sickens me for how compliant she is, bending to his every whim. If he divorced her, she would be lost without him.

  “He needs to do better though, especially with that Silverstone boy going there. God knows we need to keep our family above them.”

  Of course, he’d bring up the Silverstones. Our families are forever locked in some sort of unspoken competition. Their son, who I fucking hate, applied and Dad was forced to accept. They’re responsible for the software system our school uses for tracking attendance, grades, and online classes. How could he tell them that their son couldn’t go to SGU?

  I can’t fucking deal with this anymore. I need to get as far away from the both of them as soon as possible. He’s a lot more harsh without Heath. Seeing his shiny trophy in the flesh puts him in a better mood. Collette places her hand on Dad’s. “We won’t disappoint you.”

  He nods at Coll, while Mom beams at her. She’s forever wrapped around her finger. Fucking sickening how neither of them have ever shown me a modicum of support they give them. I can’t help but despise Collette for it too. The moment I’m ready to jump up and leave, our food comes. I shovel it down and race out of there without a goodbye to any of them.

  It takes hours for me to track Heath down. Literally trekking all over campus in the fucking heat. The only place I haven’t checked is the admin building area. All this time and he’s still hanging out with her. How fun could it really be showing someone around who thinks you’re nothing more than an elitist fuckboy?

  I stop in front and see only a few people inside, none of them being Heath, so I round the corner, walking all the way to the end of the path to the financial aid building. Immediately I spot his familiar head of brown hair on the lone bench, and next to him a platinum blonde one.

  Whether they’re done talking or not, I need to talk to him. Now.

  “Well, well, look who I’ve finally found.”

  Heath’s head turns in my direction and so does hers. My brother squints his eyes against the afternoon sun so I move in front of them. The bench is pretty small so they’re not sitting that far apart.

  “Why were you looking for me, Callan?” Heath asks, with a twitch of annoyance on his lips.

  This is rich. Am I cockblocking him? Is that the reason why he’s still showing her around? And the fact that he doesn’t know why I’m looking for him pisses me the fuck off. He knows how Dad is.

  “You skipped lunch for this? So you could show her around.” I study her face. Her pink lips purse and her crystal blue eyes fill with judgement as she looks me up and down. Suddenly, I see a weird flash of pink in my head. I shake it away.

  “Dad told me–” Heath starts.

  “Fuck Dad. And fuck her, she didn’t need a guide. She has eyes and a mouth to ask people for directions. Don’t you remember what she said about us? Fuckboys and spoiled bitches. Yet here she is, joining the lot of us.” Heath’s expression remains unmoved by my outburst.

  She rolls her eyes at me. “So he didn’t eat lunch with you. What’s the big deal? And I’m pretty sure you’ve said rude things while you’ve been drunk too.”

  Holy fuck, can she just shut up for a minute? “Just mind your own fucking business.”

  But of course she doesn’t. “You know, it’s crazy. You look an awful lot like Heath but all of the asshole gene was put into you.”

  Ha. So she’s no different than everyone else. This might be the fastest I’ve hated anyone. She’s been here less than a day and thinks she knows everything. I’m so fucking glad it’s Heath and not me, because I couldn’t deal with her and right now, I just want to leave. I don’t even fucking care about talking to Heath and he can go back to trying to get his dick wet, but not before I can hit her right where it hurts.

  “That so?” I look around the whole area. “Where’s Mary Catherine? Oh wait, she didn’t embarrass her country every day and get shipped off to the United States. That’s a real princess if I ever knew one.”

  That pretty face of hers changes in an instant. “Fuck you!” she yells getting off the bench.

  “Fuck you, too, princess.” She glowers at me like an angry little chipmunk. I know by her unwillingness to back down that I hit the right button. Every guy in America wants to meet Mary Catherine. Not just because of her beauty but because of how she carries herself. It’s hot honestly. But Wilhelmera? No. She’s spoiled, entitled, and I can easily tell she’s going to be a problem.

  She gets a startled look on her face for a second and backs up. Now she wants to fucking back down a little?

  “Callan.” Heath sighs and his mouth forms a thin line. “I’ll let you know if I need to miss lunch again. See you later.”

  I watch him grab her arm, leading her away from me.

  Whatever.

  As I take the first step on the Alpha Alpha Alpha stairs, someone steps in my way. I’m ready to push them back to the side where they came from, until I see Noel’s wide eyes and hands in the air.

  “Hey, I come in peace. You look like you’re going to kill someone.”

  Behind him, two others step out. Tyrell and Vincent.

  Vincent claps me on the shoulder. “Lunch was a bitch wasn’t it. Just ignore it, man.”

  “We’re going to have the time of our lives. Let’s enjoy it,” Noel urges, his brown eyes heating up with excitement.

  Tyrell stays quiet, but he nods in agreement.

  Noel and Vincent have been my friends since childhood. Tyrell only since freshman year of high school. He never says much, and sometimes I wonder about what lurks behind his blue eyes, but I know these guys are the only people who will ever fully understand me.

  “And hey, you got to move in early. You didn’t even have to bother with the guys’ freshman dorm,” Vincent says.

  I can’t deny I have it easier than the three of them. Nodding, I walk between them and step inside. Turning around, I eye the three of them. “You guys get dinner without me. I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning. Professor Harper’s an ass and I have to be ready for him to call me out.”

  “History blows,” Noel adds and then they’re gone.

  I raid the refrigerator to the upset of some of the AAA guys, but what can they say when I practically own this house. They stay out of my way as I go upstairs to my room on the second floor right near the stairs. Coincidentally, the furthest room from Heath’s at the end of the third floor.

  Heath’s see you later echoes in my head as I flop down on the bed and pull out my drawing pad and pencil from the nightstand. I end up drawing a shoddy version of the bench they were sitting on. Why this of all things?

  If I could just relax a little bit…but I can’t. I can’t afford to relax anymore.

  With five hard tears, the drawing is in pieces and I throw them to the floor along with the drawing pad and pencil.

  Thank God there’s no one else sharing this room with me because I t
hink about now I’d tell them to get the fuck out and find another room to stay in.

  Bright and early, I make it to the dining hall to grab some French toast and coffee. Everyone else seems to have had the same idea because it’s packed and every line is long.

  “We’ll go and get breakfast. You find us a table.”

  “Thanks,” I reply and start to search for an empty table. Near the end of the dining hall, I spot four empty spots at the end of the table and lucky me, it happens to be right next to Collette and her three friends. It’s not really a surprise at all. Lots of girls run the other way when they see Collette.

  She might seem nice at first, but underneath there’s a monster. She can be as ruthless as I can. We’re twins after all. Anyone who crosses her is shit out of luck.

  I’m not sure how Vincent is going to take this since he doesn’t want to be anywhere near Ashlynn. Oh well, I don’t fucking feel like going up to the second floor.

  I pull the one out next to her and sit. “These seats better be free.”

  Coll jumps a little and turns with a scowl on her face that softens when she sees it’s me. “Oh. Callan. You can sit.” She turns her head to the right, presumably to look at Ashlynn and whispers something I can’t make out.

  “So that’s her, huh?” The girl sitting across from Coll asks.

  What was her name? Geri? Galleria?

  Collette giggles behind her mouth and nods. “Gemma dear, we must not give her the attention that she’s so desperately seeking. Here, she’s a nobody.”

  I straighten in the chair and instantly notice the shiny head of platinum blonde hair. A girl with curly blonde locks flanks one side of her and on the other is what I believe to be a guy in a hoodie. Ugh, I need to get away from here. The second floor it is.

  I slide my chair back and Collette gives me a questioning look. “See you later,” I mutter.

  I’m several feet away when all of a sudden I hear a chorus of gasps. The fuck?

  Turning back, my mouth drops open at the sight and a laugh bubbles in my throat, but I quickly swallow it.