The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0740

"Oh my goddd," Ella breathes, picking up magazine with the picture of Luca splashed on the cover. "Oh, he is...he is spinning out, isn't he?"

"He is," Cora says, nodding eagerly and grabbing the next in the pile, one with the headline "The Playboy is Back!" emblazoned over the front. "Apparently he's spent the last two nights partying - there are doubts about whether or not he's even slept -"

"So, my girl is crying," Ella murmurs, a snarl in her voice as she explores the paparazzi photos inside the magazine, "and this jackass is out until three in the morning with girls on each arm?"

"Scum," Daphne growls, shaking her head. She grabs a pen from the center of the table and begins to black out a few of Luca's teeth in one of the photos before adding horns and stink lines radiating from his body.

Ella laughs and then reaches for another pen, starting to do the same.

"No, but you guys have to see this," Cora says eagerly, flipping to a dog-eared page. "It's insane -" "What is?"

All three women go still and then slowly, as one, turn towards the pretty blonde girl in white pajamas standing a few feet away.

"Nothing!" Ella says, far too cheerfully, snatching up all of the magazines on the table and pressing them to her chest. "It's...Mark! He was being so dumb! And the tabloids...got pictures!"

"The tabloids don't care about Mark, all he does is play sports and try to feed peanuts to squirrels," Ariel scowls, striding forward. "Just show me."

her head. "It's - you

wavering frown. "It's obviously about Luca and I can't be the only one completely in

but then hesitates. "Do they say anything bad

"There are speculations about why he's out at the clubs and acting like a free man

looking down at the images on

me get you a coffee, baby," Ella says, leaning forward to give

stand quietly while Ariel lets her eyes travel over the images. She grows visibly pale, her lip starting to tremble even though she tries

sees Luca with

on @bar singing and spraying champagne over other club-attendees, Luca

he's handsome and carefree and - bizarrely enough - wearing sunglasses, even at night. And his clothes and hair are always...damp? But beyond these strange details, Ariel can see right through his determined coolness, can see the desperation with which he tries to pretend that everything's fine. She can see it, in the strain on his face, that he's in a great deal of pain too. He's just... being a real jackass in his refusal to address it, to pretend that everything's

a mess," Ariel sighs, shaking her head at the man who broke her heart. "Just determined to cover his

closest magazine

friend a small smile,

for one magazine that shows Luca on a rooftop somewhere, his shirt

the hell is that?" she murmurs, leaning

bringing Ariel's cup of coffee over

red mark there. "That's...I mean, that