Almost Royalty

03

Chapter 3//
"Shit, sorry!" I squeal as Archer's eyes fly open groaning rubbing his head. I wince grabbing his head looking for bruises. Archer stares at me for a second with a weird look on his face. I stop and I realize what I was doing, my face heats up.
I quickly remove my hands from his face. "Can you get off of me?" He grumbles his voice raspy and hoarse. Biting my lip as my heart races I try to get off of him as quickly as I can but of course because life hates me my leg gets stuck in his blanket. We both fall onto the floor but luckily for Archer, I ended up breaking his fall.
Great. Just. Freaking. Great.
He lands on top of me his bare chest making contact with my mouth and I push him off trying not to stare too much at his very shirtless self. I sit up rubbing my temples my headache hurting more than it did when I woke up. "You know if you wanted to hook up you could've just asked." Archer jokes and I shoot him a glare.
He ignores me and stands up. Walking towards the closest on the other side of the room opening it. I take the time as his back was turned from me to admire his body and holy fucking shit was he ripped. He reaches into the closet and takes out a shirt putting it on.
"I'm going go and eat, you can take a shower or something while I do that" He offers I nod gratefully.
"There's some towels over there." He points and I nod. With that he walks out of his room without another word.
I shrug and walk into the already open bathroom. Looking into the mirror I cringe at the sight of my makeup smeared face and the dark circles underneath my eyes. I peel off my clothes leaving them on the floor and I get into the bath.
My body immediately relaxes as the hot water hits me and all of the memories of what happened last night comes back to me. The party, Never have I ever, the texts from Jay, and worst of all Montelsé.
I shudder at the thought of the cold look she gave me yesterday. I stay in the shower until red blotches stain my skin and then I turn off the water and step out of the warm shower onto the floor. I grab the towel, my clothes and I walk out of the bathroom. The cold air hits my skin and I hurry back to Archer's room which thanks the gods was empty.
There was sweatpants and a black tee that he must have left for me on the bed while I was taking a shower. Silently thanking him I close the door behind me and put on the clothes that Archer left me, the sweatpants were so big on me I had to roll them up twice. Groaning I look around the room for my shoes and my phone which I cannot find.
Once I spot then I place my clothes next to my shoes and I grab my phone from the nightstand that was next to his bed. Biting my lip while I walk out of Archer's room I open my phone. The little voice in the back of my head urging me to check the text messages that Jay sent me last night.
"You know you're about to hit a wall right?" A voice asks startling me. I jump and I look up and sure enough, I was an inch away from hitting a door. I turn around and glare at Archer who was laughing.
"I really hope you die, Moreno." I grumble walking right past him hopefully to where the kitchen was.
"Now that's not very nice sweetheart." He chortles.
His stupid long legs making it easy to catch up to me and lead me to where the kitchen is. I hop onto one of the stools behind the counter and set my phone down.
"Feed me," I demand a sweet smile on my face. Archer rolls his eyes, "Bullshit." He grumbles. I laugh but he still walks past me running a hand through his hair and opens the fridge. How is it that guys manage to have perfect hair even after getting up? My hair looks like an actual birds nest right now.
"I already ate while you took your hour-long shower, so what do you want?" He began. Motioning for me to look into the fridge. Ignoring his first comment, I point to a pizza box that was in there.
"Is there anything inside that?" I ask. He bends down and snatches the box out of the fridge quickly opening it. "Yeah cheese. You want to eat it now?" He questions with an astounded look on his face.
"Well of course if I didn't then I wouldn't be asking you," I replied rolling my eyes. He shrugs closing the fridge and grabbing a plate from the wooden cabinet above him putting two slices of pizza on it he shoves it into the microwave.
While he's distracted
with that, I take the time to glance back at my phone picking it up and unlocking it. I hesitate to press the iMessage icon but I do it anyway. Pressing his name which I had conveniently changed to 'asshole Jay' I quickly skim the five texts he sent me and my eyes widen.
ASSHOLE JAY: Listen B we need to talk.
ASSHOLE JAY: Fr answer its important
ASSHOLE JAY: i'm fucking sorry just answer
ASSHOLE JAY: fine don't answer i'm enrolling in RA , just wanted you to know in advance
ASSHOLE JAY: I made a mistake ok? and i'm sorry
My mouth drops open as I read the fourth text over and over again making sure that my eyes were not playing tricks on me. What the hell? He's coming to Richmond Academy after all of the beggings I had to do to persuade my parents to let me come here instead of another boarding school in L.A. He's the reason I wanted to move across the country and now he's coming here? I cannot believe it. I groan slamming my phone onto the counter which snaps Archer out of his daze as he was staring at the microwave.
"What?" He asks glancing at my phone. I push the phone towards his and I put my chin onto the cold counter. Why is this happening to me he could've gone to another school in America wait no the whole freaking world but he chooses to go here. He's Jay Anderson for Gods' sake any school would be more than happy to.
"He's your ex-boyfriend right? and he's coming to Richmond? Wow." He comments looking up for a second to meet eyes with me and he gives me a sympathetic smile.
He turns around for a quick second grabbing the plate out of the microwave and he sets it in front of me. Sighing I sit up grabbing a slice of the pizza that was slightly cold but I didn't care and I stuffed my face.
Archer who still has my phone looks but down at it and his eyebrows raise with a surprised look on his face. Confused I look down at my phone and realize that I still had his contact phone on it. "Wait the Jay Anderson is the douche ex-boyfriend?" He asks.
"It all makes sense now." He comments more to himself than me walking away. His face looking like he had finally pieced together a puzzle that he has been trying to solve for hours. I push my plate forward once I was finally full. I seriously hope I never see him at school.
"Archer?" I say standing up wandering to the room across from the kitchen where Archer was sitting on a grey couch flipping through channels on a flat-screen.
"Yeah?" He calls as I walk near him sitting down next to him. "Aren't we supposed to be at school?" I ask facing him.
He shrugs, "No one's really going everyone's hungover from Riley's party." He replies looking back at the Television once more before deciding that there's nothing interesting to watch and turns it off. He faces me his dark brown eyes staring at me for a second.
"Hey, do you want to go out and do something?" He asks. I think about it for a second I mean I barely know the guy. Well, I know him well enough to sleep in his bed and wear his clothes pushing all thoughts aside I nod.
"Sure, Do you want to go to the mall or something?" I grin. "Why not." He answers.
***
"You know I don't really know anything about you Moreno," I say throwing a French fry into my mouth looking at him. He looks up from his burger and shoots me a curious look.
"What do you want to know?" He asks. My gaze flickering around the fairly crowded cafe. I glance around taking in the black and white theme and then finally focus my attention back on my cup of coffee.
"Um, Chocolate or Vanilla?" I ask spitting out the first thing to come into my mind. I grab my coffee and he looks at me his eyebrows furrowed and he laughs.
"Out of all of the questions you could ask me, this is the one you come up with?" He grins. I roll my eyes looking up from my coffee mug and glare at him.
"It's a very important question, this can determine whether we can be friends or not," I argue trying to keep a straight face. Archer shakes his head and smiles. I blink and stare for a second realizing this is the first time I've seen Archer smile and not have his stupid smirk plastered on his face. Butterflies swarm in my stomach as I fight the urge to go over and poke one of his dimples.
"Probably chocolate." He replies shrugging. I make a horrified face.
"What?!" I shriek. "No way, Vanilla is way better," I confirm slapping the table for emphasis.
He scoffs, "Yeah sure for boring people." He resorts. I place a hand to my chest over my heart fibbing being in pain.
"How dare you disrespect vanilla? It's the best flavor there is!" I gasp. Ignoring his protests we continue talking about one another.
Over the next fifteen minutes, I learned
One, he is a disgusting chocolate-loving enthusiast, He was born in Los Angeles. Second, much to my dismay and his childhood nannies he also speaks Spanish and French which he was more than happy to prove. Third, Hayley, Chloe, Beckett, Liam, and him practically grew up together knowing each other since before grade school. Fourth, Archer's family is insane as in his father is Richard Moreno- yes the Richard Moreno CEO/ founder of Moreno Enterprises/productions, inc aka the multi trillion-dollar company that basically owns half of the world, and of course his mother Rachel Moreno model and actress who's Hollywood royalty.
That's exactly why I thought he looked familiar, Archer Moreno infamous playboy son of Hollywood royalty. He can occasionally be seen online or on the cover of a magazine almost always a new girl on his arm the title screaming 'Maybe Archer Moreno has finally found the one' of course that is never the case.
"Hi! Do you guys need anything else?" A waiter interrupts her eyes directly on Archer. He shoots her a panty-dropping grin and replies with a no.
"Actually I would like a vanilla milkshake please," I ask her cutting of Archer who glares at me. I shoot him a smug smile biting the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
"Make that one vanilla and one chocolate please." He says shooting daggers at me.
"Right away." She quickly says rushing away.
"So now that we've settled that vanilla is the best flavor-" I start,
"I never agreed to that," Archer interrupts me. I roll my eyes and groan my eyes trained on the waitress who was already carrying me and Archer's milkshakes back here to our table.
"Thanks," I say once she reaches our table and sets our milkshakes down. Scoffing at Archer who was undoubtedly checking her out I grab my milkshake taking a long sip as Archer flirts with the waitress.
I take my phone out of my pocket checking the time and I groan when I see two more text messages from Jay. I shut my phone off placing it on the table without checking whatever bullshit lie he has to say now.
My mind unintentionally wanders to the last time I saw him. I twirl my straw between my fingers, glancing at Archer who has finally stopped talking to the waiter and now was ferociously typing away on his phone. Sighing I take back out my phone Jay's texts on my mind. I press my thumb on the home button unlocking it and Jay's texts appear on the screen. My eyes quickly scan over the two text messages and I raise my eyebrows.
ASSHOLEJAY: Listen B I'm going to be in dc in a couple of days
ASSHOLEJAY: We should meet up and talk
I roll my eyes at his attempt to try and patch things up between us.
"Are you ready to go?" Archer asks startling me and making me look up. He has finally stopped whatever he was doing on his phone and he was looking at me with a uninterested look on his face.
"Yeah, let's go." I reply with a small smile. Grabbing my bag and my phone I wait while Archer tosses two twenties on the wooden table and we walk out. We walk side by side making our way around the people in the crowded mall.
With my mind elsewhere I didn't even notice when someone bumps into me almost knocking me down but before anything embarrassing happens Archer quickly grabs my arm steadying me and we make our way out of the mall. Archer's hand sliding down my arm to my hand guiding me out of the mall and towards his car.
He lets go of my hand as we near his Maserati and we both silently slip into it. I awkwardly tap my fingers along the armrest as he starts the car and we drive in a comfortable silence. I was still thinking about Jay and how I'm going to avoid him the rest of the year I have at Richmond, then Archer thinking about whatever things he thinks about.
I hear a slight buzzing that slaps me back into reality and I glance at Archer's phone that was resting in the cupholder between us. He curses as he fumbles and pressing the Bluetooth button on the steering wheel. A loud voice speaks and it takes me a couple of seconds to realize that it's Liam.
"I need to get out of this hellhole can you pick me up at my Georgetown house?" Liam complains speaking loudly over the voices me and Archer can hear in the background.
"Me and Brooklyn are on our way," I hear Liam groan in approval. The loud buzzing of multiple voices making it hard for us to hear him. "What kind of thing did your parents throw this time?" Archer asks raising his voice.
"I don't know some sort of charity thing with William Pratt." He replies his voice sounding like he would rather be anywhere but there.
"Why would they do that?" Archer asks to sound only mildly interested. "Publicity," Liam says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. This is actually the first time I've heard Liam have an actual conversation. When I met him yesterday he was attached to his phone only glancing up a couple of times to glare at Archer or Beckett.
I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, "Why do they need publicity?" I ask out loud.
"My father is running for governor." He replies simply annoyance laced in his tone, my mouth forms an 'o' shape and I nod but then realize that he can't see me.
"Cool" I comment. Archer presses the end call button on the steering wheel just as he is about to make a U-turn. We spent the rest of the car ride in a comfortable silence both of us still wrapped up in our own thoughts. I look out the window as we pull up to a huge gated house with Liam already standing out in front of it waiting for us. He grins when he sees us and he swiftly walks up to it pulling the car door open and sits behind us.
"Hey," He greets shutting the door behind him and sighing. "I thought I would never be able to get out of there." He mutters pulling out his phone. I turn my head to look at Archer and we lock eyes chuckling as he speeds off down the long road.
"You're starting your first actual day tomorrow?" Liam asks. I could hear the faint tapping of his fingers onto his phone so I knew he was doing whatever he does on his phone but I grin anyway happy that he was at least talking to me.
"Yeah," I answer.
"Hopefully I don't have any classes with Montelsé though," I say. Liam sniggers,
"You've met Montelsé, I'm so sorry." He laughs. Archer snorts before him and Liam slide into their own conversation and I glance out the window surprised that we were already pulling up into the school's front gates.
I watch as Archer's window slides down as we pass through the gates and into the parking lot. I look at the couple hundred students lingering around the front of the school most of them carrying their books with them as they talk with one another or they walk towards the dormitories.
As soon as the car turns off I step out of the car and as if we were in some sort of cliche movie it feels like the whole campus falls silent. I nervously smooth down the top of my head checking if my ponytail was still intact. It feels like there are hundreds of eyes on me, Archer, and Liam as we all step out of the car.
I stand there frozen not knowing what to do until I feel a tugging on my hand and I turn my head sharply around gaining back my senses and I see Archer he had already grabbing my hand. Silently thanking him I let go of his had and quicken my pace to I could match his.
"You froze there." He comments just as Liam catches up to us.
"Is it just me or are people looking?" I ask nervously. I mean it wasn't like I was not used to the staring it comes with the whole famous parent's package but it still freaks me out a little.
"They are," Liam replies bluntly which earns a playful glare from me. To which he just laughed and swung an arm around my shoulder.
"Trust me you're going to get used to it, it's just what happens." He says as we walk towards the main doors to the dormitories.
"Why though?" I urge confused.
"Because in case you haven't noticed Moreno over here has fucked about a third of the female population and you, your special the new girl who's hanging out with us." Liam shrugs summing it up.
I glance at Archer who was walking in front of us shooting grins at girls as we pass by and I roll my eyes.
Oh gods this is going to be a long year.