The Blackmail Bride

Prologue

The Start

"Isla Euodia Porter, I swear you are the most boring person I've ever met!"

I threw a split-second glance at the girl in front of my desk. My best friend had her hands on her hips, huffing out an annoyed breath. "Anyna, just a sec... Almost done..." I furiously scribbled into my notebook resulting to the unintelligible penmanship that would be of no use later when I review it. But still... I had to finish at least this much before I went for lunch.

"Know why it's called homework? Do it when you get home. Come on!" she pulled me by the right elbow causing my pen to slip.

"Alright, I'm up! I'm up!" I flipped my notebook closed and neatly returned it inside my Hermes backpack. I stood up, looking at her in defeat.

"I've been hungry for the last two hours and you insist on studying," Anyna grumbled in disgust. She looked down on the Cartier La Dona gold watch on her wrist and turned her glare on me. "See? We've already wasted twenty minutes of our precious break!"

She picked up her Louis Vuitton shoulder bag and stormed out of our classroom leaving me to scramble after her. With the pace she walked in the middle of the corridor, my best friend almost ran into another student.

"Watch where you're going!" she hissed at the freshman-looking boy. The poor guy looked scared out of his wits as he moved out of the way. I and Anyna were graduating from high school in two months, but I doubt it was our seniority that made him scram.

It would be very strange for anyone not to know who Anyna was.

Ludum Caeruleo Academy may be the school for the rich but even the students weren't saved from its own Caste System. Anyna Clarrisse Ruiz's father was an infrastructure genius. Both an engineer and an architect and the head of the billion-dollar SHR Builders Inc.

"Stupid commoner! This is why the board should have abolished that useless scholarship program!"

Oh, no. She's starting again. With a nervous laugh, I slipped to her side, "You wanted that lunch, right? We have a class in an hour." Anyna was already getting second glances and people were stopping in the hallway to watch the unfolding drama.

"Oh stop being so nice, Isla! This is why you always get preyed on by those vultures!"

With an apologetic glance to the people around, I took hold of my best friend's expensive bag and started dragging her out of there. Anyna may not care for the attention, but I did. and when she started, there was no stopping the things coming out of her mouth. My best friend may be both rich and beautiful but she needed an obvious filter.

In a way though, I couldn't blame her. During our first year, I had a friend. A product of the CSR program of our school. She was kind, well-mannered, and intelligent- the very reason she passed the difficult screening of LCA. It was always just the two of us and we tended to stay in the library for studying. But for some reason, whenever we were together, I tended to mysteriously lose my things.

Anyna was just my classmate then and she was the one who caught the scholar stealing from me. She even persuaded me to report it to the Student Affairs of our academy for proper action.

To say I was shocked was an understatement. And instead of reporting the incidents, I confronted that friend. her answer was something that I, in all my time, would never forget.

"That shouldn't be a big deal! Aren't you rich? I needed the money more than you did!"

Words failed me and I was frozen on the stop, staring at her. But Anyna who was there was quick to react. Her hand reached up to pull the other girl's hair. Of course that girl fought back. They fell on the grass as Anyna went on top of the other girl, not letting go of her hair.