The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

I sigh, shaking my head and moving on with it. "Neumann told all of my classmates that they were all being shitty people, that they were jealous, and that they were kidding themselves if they thought that trying to knock me out of the running because I'm physically the smallest and weakest was ever going to do them any favors, because they're next on that list."

Rafe works hard to keep from bursting into laugher, so I do it for him. My brother and my cousin join in, even as I shake my head.

"I mean," I say with a shrug, "it was good to have him stand up for me - but it's all stuff I've been thinking this whole time, isn't it? That I don't belong here, that I'm too small, that I've literally only passed both the candidacy test and the examination because Jackson helped me with both. And it sucked to have my classmates say it out loud, to suggest that I shouldn't even be allowed to take the Chem final.” "They just knew you were going to kick their ass in that too," Jesse says, leaning forward to put a hand on my knee. "They are just jealous, Ari. This whole time they've been patting themselves on the back, telling themselves that they're tougher than you, sneering at you saying you'd be the first to go. And here you fucking are, thriving."

"I know," I sigh, looking between them. "But...I mean, I wouldn't be thriving without Jackson. Or you two. I'd be dead."

"Neumann's right," Rafe says, sitting down in his chair and considering it. "There's nothing in the rulebook that says you can't rely on your friends to help you. Everyone just assumes you have to muscle through it all alone. When in fact, the best plan is probably to gather a strong group of people with a lot of broad skills." He smirks at Jesse and me. "Which is...kind of what we did. Which is cool, I think.” "Oh yeah, I've been so helpful to you two," I say, sitting back with a sigh, still feeling kind of crap about it all.

leaning forward with a warm smile. "You are the reason we met Daphne, the love of my life, who is obsessed with

introduced

what else you can bring to the group, Ari," Rafe says,

through, moaning in the same way I was. "I'm dead," he mutters, shaking his head and leaving the door open behind him as he comes and slumps down on the

Ben and pats his knee too. "Your finals

to look at me, considering.

know, and my mom had to wound a broken wrist and a twisted

back on the couch. "Hey, do we have any more of that wine that knocks you out for twenty-four hours? I could really use some of that