Page 3 of Make Her Break

She gets up and starts digging through her closet, pulling things out, tossing half of them onto my bed without even looking, and holding the occasional top up against me and making a face before throwing it back. I let her, mostly because arguing seems pointless and a small part of me is kind of enjoying it. No one’s ever fussed over me like this before.

She glances back at me with a teasing look on her face. “Oh, and one rule for tonight. Don’t let the Blackerville’s secret society pick you.”

I frown at her. “The what?”

“Blackerville Secret Society.” She wiggles her fingers at me, lowering her voice. “You really haven’t heard about it?”

“No.”

“It’s this whole thing on campus.” She tosses a dress on top of the growing pile and turns to face me. “Supposedly, there’s this secret society, super exclusive, and they go around picking people out and recruiting them. And once you’re in, you’re in for life. Connections, money, doors opening for you everywhere... The whole deal. That’s the rumor, anyway.”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “And people actually believe that?”

“Some of them do.” She shrugs. “But honestly, it’s mostly just whispers and rumors. No one’s ever actually proven any of it. It’s probably just a story people like to pass around so the college feels more interesting than it really is.”

“Huh.” It would be kind of fun to have a real secret society on campus, but it doesn’t matter to me either way. The last thing I’d ever want is to be a member of something like that. I came here for a degree and a future, not for some creepy club that thinks it secretly runs the world. “Yeah, I think I’ll survive without a secret society.”

“That’s the spirit.” She throws a top at me and I barely catch it. “Now go try this on. We’ve got about two hours, and I refuse to be late to my own social life.”

After I get dressed, I step in front of a mirror and run my hands down my top. Huh. It actually fits. It’s tight over my chest, but not too much. Aniyah appears behind me, grinning, and she gives my hair a quick fluff before I can stop her.

“See?” she says. “You look amazing.”

I spread my lips into a smile as I meet her gaze in the mirror. Yeah, okay. Let’s go party!

ONCE WE REACH THE HOUSE, Aniyah grabs my hand and pulls me up the steps. The place is full of people, and we have to squeeze through the drunk, dancing crowd.

“I’ll go hunt down some drinks!” Aniyah shouts into my ear, and then the crowd swallows her up, leaving me to fend for myself near the wall.

I look around while I wait. Some people I recognize, but most I don’t. A couple is making out by the stairs as if no one else exists. There’s a beer pong table in the next room, and a cheer spreads through the room.

Some guy stumbles over to me, swaying to the music, his eyes half shut, his cup tilting at a dangerous angle. He grins at me and starts dancing way too close, so I pull away to put a little space between us.

“Hey,” he slurs, leaning in to fill the gap I just made. “You go here? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“Yeah, I’m new.” I head away from him, and thankfully, he doesn’t follow, already distracted by another girl, so I let out a breath and look around for Aniyah.

When I finally spot her, she’s empty-handed, her lips pressed into a tight line. “The kitchen’s a disaster, and way too many pe—” Her eyes focus on something right behind me as her mouth twitches up. “Look who’s there!”

I turn around. There’s a group of guys near the doorway, surrounded by girls. Whoever they are, everyone seems to know them.

“Who are they?” I ask.

“Second-years. Pretty much the most popular guys on the whole campus.” Aniyah crosses her arms. “They’re on the soccer team.”

I glance at her. “Soccer? Really?”

“What?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug at her. “I just figured it’d be football or basketball or something.” Back in my high school, the football guys were practically royalty. “Soccer’s the big thing here?”

“Yep,” she says, nodding as if it’s the most obvious fact in the world. “Like, the biggest. It’s the team that actually matters at this school. They only take the absolute best players, and a bunch of them have gone on to do huge things after they graduate, like pro contracts and the whole career. So basically everyone wants a spot on the team.”

One of the guys with messy black hair turns his head and looks right at me, and my breath catches. Tall, lean, fucking hot... His eyes are trained on me for a moment, his lips curving into a smile, before he turns back to his friends.

“Whoa,” I say. “Okay, who is that? The one with the dark hair.”

She follows my gaze and lets out a little laugh. “Oh, you’ve got good taste. That’s Jayden Burgess. Team captain.”