Page 20 of Framed

This room was small compared to the penthouse suite I’d spent the night in, but it was large in comparison to my cell. Dr. Masters mentioned that some bottom floors had balconies and we passed a few on our walk over. They looked exuberant, much like the rest of the campus and the students we passed.

Everyone here screamed wealth, from the Valentino bags I saw a few women carrying to the Tom Ford sneakers I spotted on the feet of a few men.

“And here I was thinking Raven was just kidding.” A deep feminine voice from behind startled me. Her voice had the hint of a southern drawl but it wasn’t Georgian. Maybe it was a country thing, but it wasn’t hard to decipher the origin of her accent. It sounded Texan, smooth like whiskey. “You must be my new roommate.”

I turned to find a fiery redhead with bright green eyes. Her hair was curled so tight I was sure it bounced with every step she took. Her makeup was perfect and similar to Dr. Masters’. She too appeared as if she’d just stepped out of a magazine or just gotten done walking the runway. I was starting to wonder if that was a requirement of enrollment here.

“Winter St. James.”

Her short but sleek skirt matched her short sleeve sheer blouse. It was the complete opposite of my oversized black hoodie and leggings. I didn’t know how much money was left in the trust my mother had left me, but I was sure I had enough to afford the same luxuries most of the students here splurged on.

The only thing was, outside of the necessities, I had zero plans to touch it. Though I never had to want for anything and I’d always been well provided for, I planned to make my own money and forge my own path. Speaking of which, I think we passed a bulletin board in the quad. Maybe there were job postings listed somewhere on it.

I made a quick mental note to stop by and see if there were any ads for jobs. I needed to make money if I wanted to survive here.

“Scarlett,” I offered, purposely leaving out my last name as I turned away from the girl to set my backpack down on the bare bed. Turning my back on someone was normally something I didn’t do, especially during my time in Juvenile Detention. It left you vulnerable to attack.

But this wasn’t the detention center, and I was no longer incarcerated. I was free. It was time to start acting like it.

“I didn’t see the campus movers outside,” Winter said.

I faced her again, only this time she was eyeing my bag like a mystical being was going to crawl out of it. “What are campus movers?” I asked and the look on her face almost made me regret the question.

She stared at me as if I had just grown three heads. If I didn’t already know I, in fact, possessed only had one head, I would’ve turned to greet the other two myself. If the plan was blending in, I wasalreadyoff to a shit start.

“You’re normally assigned a campus mover upon acceptance into the University. They are flown out to your house to pack up the items you plan to bring with you here.”

Okay,what? They had people whose sole job it was to pack and move things across the country? I had to admit, it sounded really helpful. Especially if you were moving from somewhere far away—I doubted getting all your possessions across the country was an easy task. I could remember times when I’d overheard Suzanne complain about her luggage getting lost in baggage claim. But that was something that definitely qualified as some rich people shit.

“I don’t think I was assigned a campus mover,” I said, acutely aware of how weird this must sound to her. I needed to get off of this topic without raising any red flags.

“Hmm.” She studied me, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Well, do you need help with getting the rest of your stuff?”

“Nope,” I said, gesturing toward my backpack. “This is it.”

“Thisis all you brought?” Appalled at the idea, as if she couldn’t believe that I came here with just a single bag, she gaped at me for a moment. “Sorry. I just assumed…” Her sheepish voice trailed off. “I don’t know what I assumed. I shouldn’t have, though. My mama taught me better than to be a Nosey Nelly.”

“It’s fine.” I waved her off as I took a seat on the bed next to my bag. I still hadn’t found a place to stash the box with the notes and heirloom yet. Until I could do that, I’d continue to feel protective of it.

“Where did you say you were from?” she asked after a moment.

I tensed and alarm shot through my body. I struggled to keep my face expressionless. The question caught me off guard. I expected it would have to come up eventually, but not this early. Dr. Masters wouldn’t have told her, right? She ensured me that no one knew my true identity outside of the registration building.

“I didn’t say.”Be cool, Scarlett. There’s no way possible she could know anything.You have your story, just stick to it.

“How did you get in?” Her eyebrows furrowed deeper and I could see the wheels turning in her head as she took in what felt like every square inch of my face. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”

“No, I think I would’ve remembered meeting you before.” I didn’t mention the fact that I’d been locked up for the past four years. Also, it was safe to say Winter wasn’t someone you could forget easily.

“Are you sure?” Her lips tinned into a tight light. “I feel like I’ve seen you before. Are you a legacy?”

“Legacy?”

“Did either one of your parents attend school here?”

I contemplated my answer for a second. Dr. Masters told me that I was enrolled under my mother’s maiden name, but most people knew her by Tiana Rose, not Tiana Camilio.

“Nope, not a legacy.” I faced her head-on, my words coming out a lot more confident than I felt. I was resisting the urge to pick at the nubs of my fingers. The last thing I needed was to start bleeding again, all over my new bed. “I applied and got accepted just like everyone else.”

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