Almost Royalty

02

Chapter 2// '
"Archer Moreno." He says his deep voice sending shivers down my spine and his voice definitely not lacking any confidence. I furrow my eyebrows his face looking vaguely familiar. He sets down his tray next to mine and sits down between me and Liam who finally looks up from his phone only to glare at Archer then continues to look back at his phone.
The tables fall into a comfortable silence everyone preoccupied with their own things. Taking my phone out I scroll through Instagram trying to look as busy as I can.
Sneaking a glance at Archer my eyes travel his face taking in every detail.
"See something you like?" Archer says startling me, I roll my eyes trying not to smile. I divert my attention to the rest of the people at the table.
"Isn't Riley having a party tonight? Who's going?" Hayley says after taking a sip of her Sprite.
"Can't my dad's making me fly out to New York for some stupid fucking dinner?" Says Liam speaking for the first time.
"I can't make it either, I'm meeting with my parents right after school," Chloe says groaning.
"How about you Brooklyn?" Hayley asks me. Her nose is scrunched up as though she hated the thought of asking me. I raise my eyebrows pushing the thought away.
"Um, yeah sure." I nod surprised that they included me in their plans at all. "Well I'm always up for a party, so you'll see me there." Archer jokes.
Hayley rolls her eyes but a wide smile is still on her face. "Cool, Brooklyn we can meet up before the party." she goes on.
"Oh Hayley I forgot to tell you that you guys live on the same floor," Beckett adds.
Hayley raises her eyebrows and Archer lets out a low whistle of appreciation. "What suite?" Chloe asks interested.
"Blue," Beck says before taking a bite of his food.
"Wait," Archer exclaims earning a couple of looks from other people that were near us, even Liam lifted his head up placing his phone on the table glancing at Archer.
"Holy shit how did I not put this together with your parent's own G-" He starts but Liam interrupts him.
"Gold Records, everyone knows that already dumbass," Liam says rolling his eyes but them still shining with amusement.
"Wait what? How did everyone know this but me?" He asks as if this was the most absurd thing in the world.
"Maybe if you weren't too busy fucking Montelsé over there and actually listened to what any of us were saying then you would have known," Beck says stepping in.
"Wait, people knew about me coming here?" I ask surprised.
"Of course you were all everyone has been talking about for the past couple of weeks," Hayley spoke. Her eyes rolling a little bit but a small smile still on her face.
"Practically almost royalty," Beckett says which earns a laugh from everyone at the table including me.
"Your parents own Gold Records, the whole school has been talking about you coming for weeks." Beckett chimes in.
"Plus you're the only person excluding Hayley who's lived on the top floor blue suite." Archer put in. I raise my eyebrows in surprise how much did my mom pay for the dorm room exactly? I need to get back to her on that.
"Is that good or bad?" I questioned. Lian snorted looking up from his phone for a quick second and Chloe laughed.
"Brooklyn that's great it means that your parents are loaded." Hayley scoffed. My eyes widen and I push away behind my ear a curl that has escaped from my two braids. Before anyone had a chance to say anything else the bell rang signaling everyone to get to their next class.
"Archer, I have to go ask Mr. Keller about something can you take Brooklyn to our seventh?" Beckett asks getting up but leaving his tray down on the table.
"Sure." He replies getting up leaving his tray and he shoots me a smirk. "Beckett, I feel like you're leaving me in the hands of a predator," I yell over my shoulder as Archer grabs my hand and pulls me towards the cafeteria doors laughing.
My shoes squeak as we walk down the hallways in comfortable silence Until we're stopped by the same girl with the ponytail that I saw earlier. Archer mumbles a few curse words under his breath when he sees her making her way down the hallway towards us. She stops in front of us her high heels clicking on the school's polished floors.
"Archer, who must this be?" She coaxes her voice raising at least two octaves as her eyes rake over me. Her nose scrunches up but then quickly turns her attention back to Archer.
I let out a breath of air resisting rolling my eyes in front of her because something tells me she definitely will not take that well.
"Taylore this is Brooklyn, Brooklyn this is Taylore." Archer grunted sounding like he would really rather be anywhere but here. Giving her a polite smile we continue walking down the hallway once more before stopping at a classroom door. Without waiting for me, he steps inside. It's like he has some sort of spell on everyone as he walks into the classroom. All thirty pairs of eyes were on me and Archer as we walk inside, I swear I hear fucking crickets.
"Mr. Morento, how nice of you to join us. May I ask what's your excuse now?" The young-looking teacher says. She was tall with her brown hair tied back into a ponytail she raises an eyebrow when she sees me step next to Archer.
"You must be Brooklyn our new student." She says her mood changing quickly. I can probably see why though, I've only known Archer for a couple of minutes and I can already feel the urge to slap him growing immensely.
"You see Ms. Laure I have a legitimate reason, I was showing the new girl to the classroom." He grins showing off his perfect teeth. Me and Ms. Laure share a look to which we both roll our eyes at Archer.
"Why don't you both have a seat over there." She instructs us, pointing to a table that was empty. Me and Archer nod absentmindedly and head over to the table. Seconds later Beckett comes bursting into the room.
"Sorry Ms. Laure I had to do some--- Hey Archer! You actually brought Brooklyn here." He yells. I groan at his loudness and bury my face in my hands.
"Beckett just sit down." Ms. Laure sighs. The whole class silently chuckles as Beckett makes his way towards our table. He pulls up a chair and Archer scoots closer to me to which I move my chair away from him, wrinkling my nose. He turns to me his permanent smirk present and he leans into me. His hot breath sending involuntary shivers down my spine.
"I'm not going to bite." He comments amusement laced in his voice. "That is unless you ask me too." He adds not bothering to conceal his laughter. Heat rises to my cheeks.
"Shut up!" I hiss at him trying to look as calm as I can when a few people turn their heads around giving us weird looks actually giving me weird looks. We sat through the class fairly silent every once in a while Archer would lean in and say something sexual and I would shoot him one of my deadly glares but he would shake them off as if he was amused at my uncomfortableness.
When the bell finally rings after what feels like forever and I jump out of my seat. "What's the rush?" Beckett asks to grin.
"I can't sit next to Archer ever again, my fucking ears need to be bathed in holy water," I complain sneaking a side glare at Archer who just laughs. Again.
"How do you think it is living with him." Beckett groans agreeing with me as we walk out of the classroom.
"The party starts at nine what are you going to do in a meantime?" Beckett asks all of us heading out the door towards the parking lot to the dormitories.
"I'm going to meet up with that blond girl from English,"Archer adds a grin on his face sharing a look with Beckett.
"Pre-party sex, good for you. How about you Brooklyn?" Beckett asks. I try to hold in a laugh as I shrug.
"I don't know, I'm probably going over to Hayley's to start getting ready," I admit.
We pass by a bunch of people most of them stopping and greeting Beckett and Archer or shoot us glares. I squirm at all of the eyes looking at us and try my best to hide behind them.
After thanking both of them for walking me back to the building I walk into the elevator and press the red button. The only other button that was on the top floor and the one that I hope leads to Hayley's room. As soon as I enter the room I was marveled, it was the exact same size as my suite but that was where the similarities end. Before I had time to take a good look around her suite I hear Hayley shout from another room.
"Brooklyn!? Is that you?" She yells from what I assume is her room. I follow her voice to a huge room. The walls were painted a dark purple and white and in the middle of the room was a king sized bed with what looked like hundreds of pillows on it. I never got a chance to see what my room looked like in my suite, but if it looked like anything like Hayley's room..... "Brooklyn?" Hayley calls snapping me back into reality. I walk over to where I hear her voice coming from and I see her. Her hair was tied up in a sloppy ponytail and she sat cross-legged on a chair surrounded by clothes. "Hey, I just thought I would come by." I greet smiling at her.
She smiles back, stands up, and groans. "I can't find anything to wear, you wouldn't mind going shopping with me to find a dress right?" She asks hopefully. I shrug, it's not like I have anything else to do. "Sure. I don't have anything else to do." I admit. She claps her hands together and grins. " Yes, I know exactly where I want to go, give me a second to change." She went on as she walks back into the closet closing the door behind her. Letting out a sigh I take a step back and I sit down on the gray sofa. Taking out my phone I see a couple of texts from my parents reminding me to call them later. Just as I was hitting send replying to my parents Hayley comes emerging out of the closet.
"Ready to go?" She asks grabbing her bag. "Yeah let's go," I say. Following her as we walk out of her room out of the door.
***
"You're lying!" I laugh almost spilling my drink. After Hayley found her perfect outfit we decided to window shop because the party doesn't start until nine so we had some time to kill. "I kid you not, Archer was actually spooning the guy. I have the pictures to prove it." Hayley says laughing. I laugh until my stomach starts aching at the hilarious stories that Hayley's told me about Archer.
"I'm never letting him live that down." I declare as I stand up and throw away the remainder of my tea. "Don't, Just don't tell him that I told you he'll kill me." She sniggers as she stands up following me.
"We should probably get back to campus following her she directs and starts walking out of the mall towards the parking lot. Her shopping bags swinging in her hands and her heels clicking on the tiles.
"So what are you going to wear?" She asks as she unlocks her black Beemer and slipping inside. I think for a moment trying to remember what's in my closet. "I don't know, probably what I'm wearing right now." I shrug. Hayley snorts but keeps on driving, The mall wasn't that far from the school so the ride mainly consisted of me trying to mentally picture all of my clothes to try and find something to wear and Hayley trying to sing along to Ariana Grande,
"Let's go, let's go!" Hayley urges unloading the car and rushes towards the building. I sigh and mentally roll my eyes at her uneasiness because the party starts in three hours. "Come on Brooklyn we've got to find you something to wear." She yells. I walk up the stairs taking my time groaning at Hayley as she rushes up the stairs to her dorm.
After quickly taking a shower in my dorm, I grab some clothes that were the easiest to find in my stack of suitcases that I have yet to unpack. Throwing on a black off-the-shoulder crop top, some ripped jeans and faux suede ankle-strap heels. Then take the rest of the time on my hair leaving it out in my natural curls. I grab my phone and head out the door to Hayley's dorm room.
To be honest I'm actually excited for this party, just as I was about to knock on the door it swings open revealing Hayley in a really cute black crisscross v- neck bodycon dress paired with black heels.
"We look hot." Hayley comments laughing closing the door behind her. I laugh along with her agreeing as we walk towards the elevator Hayley's head down and staring at her phone.
"Oh Archer's picking us up." She adds looking up from her phone. Butterflies appear in my stomach probably from the nerves as the elevator doors open. We walk silently towards the parking lot my head down scrolling through Twitter.
"Brooklyn." Someone calls. I look up from my phone startled and I see Archer sporting all black in front of a black Maserati. I roll my eyes at him, his smirk present on his face. I glance at his car Hayley had already seated herself in the back next to someone else that I couldn't make out. I groan when I realize that I have to sit next to Archer.
"Please dial down the sexual remarks," I beg as I open the car door sliding into the comfortable seats.
"Sure thing sweetheart." He remarks once he gets into the already running car and backs out of the parking lot. I turn around and smile once I see Beckett in the backseat with Hayley. "Hey, Beckett." I greet grinning.
"Hey Brooklyn, You can just call me Beck by the way." He chirps grinning back at me. I nod and turn back around and I look out the window watching the trees pass by. Taking out my phone I click on the Instagram icon and I scroll through the pictures, my thumb stops on one and I bite my lip when I see who's in the picture.
"That your boyfriend?" A voice asks I look up and I see Archer stare at the screen. I snort looking at the screen once more old memories coming back to me.
"No, he's my ex," I admit. My mind unintentionally wanders back to the last time that I saw Jay. I bite my lip trying to prevent tears from gathering up in my eyes. "Did you guys end badly?" Archer asks actually sounding concerned.
"Yeah, he was just using to try and get a record deal with my parents." I sigh. Wrinkling my nose I turn my phone off, trying to forget any thoughts about Jay.
"We're here," Archer announces as we pull up to the already packed driveway of a huge house. Music was booming and people were scattered on the lawn. They're bouncers at the front of the house letting people in and just like that Hayley and Beckett rush out of the car towards the house.
"Are you just going to stare or are you going to actually go inside?" Archer asks laughing a little. I turn around from the window and glare at Archer who just laughs even more.
"Come on, let's go." He laughs. Opening the door and letting himself out. Taking a deep breath I open the door and step out of the car. Maybe this party will be good for me, I mean the only reason I actually agreed to come to Richmond is that I wanted to get away from everything and meet new people. This party will be good for me I try to convince myself.
Archer puts his arm around my shoulder as we walk up the sidewalk past the people who were waiting in line to the front of the line where the bouncer or bodyguard whoever he is was. He lets us in after looking up for a quick second and recognizing Archer. I try to shrug off his arm but he keeps it on there ignoring my protests.
We enter the house that was full of even more people, music was booming throughout the house and curious glances were thrown at me and Archer.
"Get your arm off of me, people will think we're together." I hissed glancing at a group of girls who were staring at me throwing glares. He ignores me and keeps walking us around groups of people most of them greeting Archer not even bothering to acknowledge me. He leads us down another one of the many halls in the house.
"Where are we going?" I ask suspiciously. He ignores me as we make our way around people. We stop in front of a guarded door. The guard of course recognizes Archer because apparently everyone does consider how many glares I've been getting from people.
We enter the room and I immediately recognize Beckett and Hayley on the other side of this humongous room sitting together on a couch surrounded by a bunch of other people that I don't know. I and Archer walk slowly towards them. My heart starts beating faster and I bite the inside of my cheek. Archer's hand slips off of my shoulder, he grabs my hand and gives me an encouraging squeeze as we make our way over to them.
"You'll be fine." He whispers in my ear as we near them. "ARCHER, BROOKLYN!" Beckett shouts greeting us already drunk. There were only maybe fifteen or twenty people here, most of them by the bar in the back. I shoot a smile at Hayley who quickly returns it then goes back to talking to a blonde guy next to her. "I'll be right back," Archer murmurs into my ear letting go of my hand and walking towards the bar. I sit down on one of the couches next to Beckett. I look around the room and my eyes widen when I see Taylore and a really pretty tall redhead walk in together laughing. Quickly diverting my head I listen in to what Beckett was telling the group of people on the couch across from us with a drink in his hand.
"This is boring let's do something that's really fun." Beckett groans taking another long sip from whatever was in his dark cup. Hayley rolls her eyes but continues to listen to what he's saying.
"Strip poker?" One guy asks a hopeful look on his face. "Shut up Brian." A voice behind us says I turn around along with everyone else and I see Taylore and that redhead behind us. The redhead rolled her eyes at him and she directed her eyes to me. She raises an eyebrow and a slow smile spreads across her face.
"I'm Montelsé, you must be new I've never seen you before." She began. I nod taking all of her in she had a knowing smirk on her face reminding me of Archer. I glance at the bar and I see Archer heading this way with two drinks in his hands. Turning my attention back to Montelsé I smile at her she seems harmless enough.
"Yeah, I'm Brooklyn." I introduce just as Archer walks up to us with the drinks. "Thanks," I say taking the drink from his hand just as he sits down next to me. Montelsé sits down too next to Taylor. She locks her eyes with Archer and grins but he doesn't return the favor. Beckett said something about them hooking up maybe it ended on bad terms? Turning my attention to Montelsé who was talking to Taylore I lean in closer to Archer. "What happened with you and her?" I ask. He stiffens but the lazy grin still remained on his face.
"We used to date." He replies downing his drink before turning his attention to Beckett who was slurring random words.
"Never Have I Ever?" Someone calls silencing everyone. Great a drinking game just what I need. "Sweetheart just go with it, who knows you might have fun." Archers mummers into my ear his lips close enough that I could feel his hot breath. Groaning I shift my attention to everyone else who had already agreed to play. tapping my foot on the carpet I wait for everyone else who had to get a drink.
"I'm sure everyone knows how to play so let's get started. I'll start." Taylore announces raising her cup.
"Never have I ever cheated or been cheated on." She smirked her eyes locking straight onto Archer. I raise my eyebrows when Archer brings his cup to his lips. My heart skips a beat when everyone's eyes went onto me while I took a sip. The rest of the game went somewhat like that most of the questions were about sex, money, or dares and surprisingly Hayley ended up winning.
Towards the end of the game, I sat back and just watched as people got drunk off their asses and most of them went back to the main party to go and dance leaving only me, Archer, Taylore, and Montelsé. I watch as Archer and Montelsé talk next to the bar, she has her hand on his arm and a grin on her face as Archer just rolls her eyes. Tearing my eyes away from them I take out my phone feeling a buzz and I see two missed calls and five texts from none other than Jay. I roll my eyes not even bothering to look at his text and I shove my phone back into my pocket.
Montelsé and Archer who both have very pissed looks on their faces walk towards me and Taylore, Taylore who was staring at her phone viciously typing away. " No means no Montelsé now fuck off," Arche growls trying to keep his voice down. Maybe we can go now literally all I want to do is go back to my dorm, put on my pajamas and sleep.
"Brooklyn are you ready to go?" Archer asks ignoring whatever Montelsé was trying to make his do. Before I time to answer Montelsé interrupts. "Oh, so you'd rather be with her than me?" She yells.
"What are you dating her or something have your standards dropped that low?" She yells. Taylore looks up from her phone abruptly and sniggers but then stops at the glare that Archer throws at her. I stand up next to Archer, Montelsé glares at me the smile that was on her face when I met her is now gone. I roll my eyes at the triumphant smirk on her face. Archer throws his arm around my shoulder a grin plastered on his face.
"Montelsé if you must know me and Brooklyn here are dating." Archer boasts. My eyes widen and I quickly look at him. He shoots me a desperate look asking me to go with it. I look back at Montelsé who's smirk has fallen. Maybe that'll be fun, a grin spreads across my face. "Yeah we wanted to keep it a secret, It's true." I grin.
"B-But how? This is your first day here?" She stammers. My grin drops and I try and think of a lie but Archer beats me to it.
"We met last summer in Australia," Archer confirms. Montelsé's smirk returns to her face. "So you cheated on her with me?" She asks raising her eyebrows. Archer stiffens but I quickly cut in what the harm in having a little fun messing with her?
"It was an open relationship but when we ran into each other last week we realized how much we liked each other so we made it official," I replied praying that she wouldn't see right through my lie.
"Prove it." She says simply, me and Archer I both freeze up. Fuck. What am I supposed to do to prove that me and Archer are dating? Montelsé smirks a look of triumph on her face and I roll my eyes and try and resist the urge to slap the smirk right off her face.
"We don't have to prove anything Montelsé believe what you want." Archer shrugs and with that, we walk hand in hand out of the room. After we out of sight and back to the main place where most of the people were I turn to Archer.
"What the fuck was that about?" I hiss needing some answers. Everything that just happened made no sense, although the look on Montelsé's face for those few seconds made me feel the tiniest bit proud. Archer shakes his head, "Let's talk about this in the car." I shake my head as he leads us out of the party out hands still interlocked. I bite the inside of my cheek trying to ignore the stares from other people. Once we get outside I let out a breath of air that I didn't realize I was holding. To his car both of us lost in our own thoughts, my mind kept wandering back to Jay's missed calls and text messages. As much as I don't want to admit it I still have feelings for Jay. He was there for me when most weren't and you can't just forget about that kind of stuff in a couple of weeks.
Before I know it we were entering the car, I look expectantly at Archer waiting for some answers. He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair looking like he's trying to yank out his roots. "I'm sorry I put you in this situation, I just---." He takes another deep breath of air.
"I just didn't know what to do." He admits. I shake my head taking in everything that has happened. He starts the car and I sit there and think until it hits me in the face. How couldn't I have realized?
"Beck said something about you and Montelsé hooking up, you still have feelings for her don't you?" I ask tearing my eyes away from the window I look at him. We stop at and red light and he turns and looks at me.
"It's stupid, I know." He breaths confirming my suspicion. I avert my eyes away from him my mind going back to Jay. "It's not stupid, I know how you feel," I whisper. The rest of the ride was silent and I found myself falling asleep, my eyes fluttering close. Falling into a deep sleep.
***
I breathe in sighing at the smell of the warm sheets. My eyes open and I squint at the bright sunlight that is threatening to blind me. I throw the black blanket over my face and I turn onto my back--- wait black blanket? I quickly sit up rubbing my eyes ignoring the sunlight. My sheets were blue, Whose bed am I in? I take a look around the room, it was pretty clean only a few clothes scattered onto the floor. I finally look on the couch that was right under a window where Archer was sleeping. So this is Archer's room.
I remove the blanket off of me and I step onto the cold floor ignoring the shivers. I walk towards him slowly my head pounding. I tap his bare shoulder once, then twice but he still doesn't budge groaning I tap him harder which only got him to groan. Rolling my eyes I hit his arm, hard and before I can even blink his arms shoot out of the blanket grabbing me, and before I know what's happening I fall on top of him my head colliding with his. Hard.