~ {|} The Royal Charm Academy {|} ~ A Novel ~ {|} On Going

❦ Chapter Twenty-One ❦

Thea walked out of her last class, and made her way towards her locker, Mia at her heels. "Mia, you remember that one gossip reporter, Raquelle? Raquelle Aprilson?"

Mia wracked her brain to see if the name sounded vaguely familiar. "Which gossip magazine does she have?" She asked, hoping to gain more insight.

Thea frowned, mentally face palming at Mia's cluelessness. "Teen Charisma? The gossip magazine that is all about teens of rich, powerful, famous, royal, and noble families? She's pretty popular and even sung your praises."

Mia still wracked her brain to see if that was familiar. She shook her head. "No, I don't remember." She flatly replied, causing Thea to groan. "Have I met her before?" She added, realizing she easily forgets people.

Thea shook her head, realizing Mia had no clue who she was talking about. "No, Mia, you haven't met her. She doesn't meet anyone." She pulled her phone out of her locker and typed up her name, pulling up a picture. "That's Raquelle Aprilson," 

Mia looked at the short, evenly cut black-haired girl with striking blue eyes against her olive skin. "Oh, that's Raquelle? Yeah. I don't think I've seen her before. I don't read gossip magazines. You know that." She replied straightforwardly as her eyes moved up from the phone to Thea.

"Well, I've been thinking, Dree has been attacking the scholarship winners physically. I was thinking about attacking them mentally." Thea suggested, waving her phone around as she spoke. "I could feed Raquelle information to which she would twist the words to make lots of drama, which in turn could get rid of each of them."

Mia could see how that could work, plus Thea would remain scott-free of any slack Raquelle got. "Are you sure you want to cross the Rubicon? Once you do, there is no going back." She warned Thea, making it clear how serious this was.

Thea could see Mia genuinely cared about her well-being and the consequences she'd face if anyone found out. "I'm sure, Mia. I have to ensure Dree doesn't do anything else to them and the best way is to spread rumors, harmless rumors." She replied calmly, slipping her phone into her pocket.

Mia didn't exactly buy the whole harmless rumors considering gossip reporters were never harmless twisting and turning the truth into something it wasn't. "Can you trust her? Gossip reporters aren't exactly the most trustworthy. Remember the whole Count Bartholomew fiasco?"

Thea flinched at the memory. 'She has a point. Gossip reporters made it seem like we had done something intimate when really I was being hospitable, not to mention it was his little sister's room, not his.' She recalled the memory, rubbing her chin. "Point taken, Mia, but I trust Raquelle with this job since she has reached a large audience. Plus she doesn't care if she gets slack or is hated, she finds it thrilling."

Mia couldn't persuade Thea to not go this route, she was stubborn like that. "Be careful," She warned, genuinely caring about her friend even if she didn't express it.

Thea nodded as she put one hand on her hip. "I will Mia," She flashed her a smile, hoping it would rest all worry. "If you excuse me, I should find some information about scholarship winners to use."

Mia knew Thea wouldn't do any stalking, so she was curious to know what she had planned. "I'm going to go find a snack." She pivoted on her heels and walked away.

Thea turned her attention towards the dormitory. 'A little snooping in their rooms may aid my quest.' She thought to herself as she walked down the hall, pulling out her phone and auto-dialing a number. 

"Thea, what could you possibly want at this time?" Katherine's annoyed voice asked from the other side of the phone. "I'm busy helping Devona, not that I wanted to, she guilted me into it."