Bow Down To Your King

Chapter 8

JULIA POV

"Thanks for coming," I said, staring at the group of girls that signed up to help me overthrow Zeke.

We wanted to keep our plan quiet, and small, but once word got out, thanks to Katie, I was hosting ten girls in our dorm room.

"Zeke has too much power," I stood in front of them, telling them something they already knew, "Someone has to beat him."

The girls glanced at each other, then Rapunzel said, "But no one even comes close in points."

I nodded, "But why is that?"

Katie raised her hand from her corner of the room, "Because he's a slut?

The girls snickered.

"I think it's because we let him." Suddenly, I wished I had a laser pointer and a whiteboard.

"So what's the plan, celibacy?" They laughed again.

"No," I said, "We have to beat him, not stall him. There are enough girls on campus for him to win even with a sex boycott. We have to think bigger."

"Like?" One of the girls asked from Katie's beanbag. I recognized her from the hallways between classes; her skirt was always rolled up three inches higher than the rest of us.

I had seen her with a green dress code slip in her hand on more than one occasion.

"We run against him," I said. Katie and I had thought it all out, down to the very last point. We had even found a way to keep my identity anonymous, until the crowning ceremony.

Then, Zeke would have no choice but to give up his title and kneel to the new reigning king, me.

"We've tried that, we never even make it through the cut-off," another girl piped up. Her blue hair and 'fuck the patriarchy' shirt said everything I needed to know about her motivation for joining our coup.

"Individually, maybe, but what if we worked together?" We didn't stand a chance alone, that much was true, but we were going to use the fucked-up game rules to our benefit.

"Teams aren't allowed," Rapunzel said, raising an eyebrow.

"Not technically," I smiled, "But here's what I'm thinking..."

***

After an hour of convincing, and half a pizza, everyone was on board. The plan, while hypothetical, actually stood a chance at working.

For a moment, I almost felt bad, then I remembered Zeke's arrogance; how he was so sure that he'd get to fuck and discard me. His every word seemed designed to assert himself in my life, leaving no room for my autonomy.

Typical.

But thanks to Katie walking me through the rules of the game, I was ready to take on Zeke.

Still, there was a lot to learn.

"So banging Zeke is worth five thousand points alone," I said, staring at the computer screen. I had read the list fifteen times over and each time, I pieced together a new way to bring Zeke to his knees.

"Yeah, but there's no way you can fuck him and he won't know it," Rapunzel leaned her head against the wall.

Apparently, she was one of the unlucky few that were stuck taking Chemistry at eight in the morning. Every once and a while, I caught her drifting off, only to chime into the conversation just when I thought she was dead to the world.

"And nothing under the influence counts," Lauren said, finishing her last slice of Hawaiian pizza.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, "It just seems like a lot of points to give up."

Especially when I'd be cutting it close with the plan we worked out. Why leave easy points up for grabs?

Not that I wanted to fuck him. "Damn shame," I said, more to myself than anyone else.

"And that's just for plain ol'missionary," Katie sighed while laying on her bed, flipping through a Cosmo magazine.

"What else is there?" I assumed that the extent of sex at St. Anne's was the basic, lovemaking that left women high and dry.

Rapunzel smiled, "The kinkier you are, the more points you can tack on to the total."

Points are stackable?

"I still don't recommend going after Zeke," Lauren said, "He'd immediately know what you were up to. The whole thing would blow up in our faces."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes, "And so what? We'd have to forfeit our steak lunches?"

Rapunzel stared at me, her soft brown eyes scanning my expression. Then, she nodded, "Julia has a point. We're already the campus freaks. Might as well risk it all."

I smiled, knowing that he didn't stand a chance.

***

By midnight, we were singing Love Story at the top of our lungs and jumping from bed to bed. It was like the slumber party I was never allowed to have as a kid.

My father prohibited other children from coming to our house; he was worried about the legalities.

So, despite my resting bitch face and icy personality, I was singing into a hairbrush in the middle of the night with a group of women that I had known for less than a week.

Finally, after bouncing around the room, Katie and I bumped into each other, laughing.

"Thanks," she said as I caught my breath.

If I'm going to beat Zeke, I really have to start doing more cardio.

"For what?" I asked over the music, knowing that we were going to get a noise complaint sooner rather than later.

"Doing this," Katie gestured to the other girls, still spinning and dancing around the room, "It's usually so doom and gloom when the games start. It's nice to not crawl under our beds and ride it out."

Ride It Out would be an excellent title for one of my aunt's dirty romance novels that she carries everywhere.

"Anything to teach him a lesson," I said, already tired of his arrogance; I couldn't imagine how they felt.

Katie raised an eyebrow, ignoring the goat-screeching imitations when I Knew You Were Trouble came on, and leaned in, "Anything?"

I stared at her, watching the gears turn in her head, "What do you have in mind?"

She smiled, "How are you at acting?"