Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Ace blinks several times, working to adjust his vision to the change from darkness to candlelight, but I can tell the instant everything comes into focus.
“Mom?” he questions, his eyes wide and pointed directly at the female chair I’ve known for most of my life.
Cassie Kelly is a Dickson alum and secret chair of Double C. She’s the whole reason I put up with Ace’s bullshit all last year of inviting new people to our secret society without permission. She was, after all, one of the chairs who initiated both Connor and me into Double C.
Trust me, it was a shock, but it was also a pleasant surprise.
“Hi, Acer,” Cassie says, and even though I can’t see her face, I can hear the smile in her voice.
“What are you doing here?” Ace questions, looking around the room.
“Surprise, motherfucker,” she says without hesitation. “Your clearly very cool mom is one of the secret chairs of Double C.”
Ace’s eyes are so big, they look like they could consume his entire face.
The male chair nods toward Connor and me, and we both move forward, dropping the hoods of our cloaks to reveal our faces and stepping up to where Ace still sits in shock.
“Tonight, we are gathered here for the ceremony of your initiation,” I state, and Ace searches my eyes. His gaze is silently questioning if I knew about his mom’s secret society secret, and I just offer him a brief, knowing smile.
“Tonight, you will be initiated as the current sitting president of Computare Caterva,” Connor instructs. “Are you ready to take the oath, Ace Tobias Kelly?”
Ace looks at me and then looks at his mom, and then the biggest smile forms on his face. “I’m ready.”
“Julia won’t be mad?” Cassie hedges, making Ace’s smile fall for the briefest of moments before he picks it up again.
He shakes his head. “She will. But that’s why we have the fifteen-minute rule. It’s saved my ass more than once, and it’ll save it again. I’m ready.”
I raise my eyebrows with interest. A fifteen-minute rule?
I guess that’s a question for another time because, right now, we’ve got a ceremony to perform.
Look out, world. There’s a new Double C president in town, and his name is Ace Kelly.
PART 3
Saturday, September 7th
Blake
This afternoon, the Dickson Dragons beat Pennington, one of our biggest rivals, keeping our winning streak going with a blazing win of thirty-two to fourteen.
And right now, I’m out celebrating with my closest friends in the middle of a dusty basement in the psychology building. The only thing that would make this better is if my girl Lexi were here, but she was adamant that I didn’t want to miss tonight’s first official Double C event of the year.
I don’t know much, but from what little Lexi revealed to me last night in bed after we had celebration sex over her big contract with Medivanta, since she’s officially done with college, the torch has been passed to someone else. And while she is still considered a chair within the society, her role no longer includes attending the actual events.
Not to mention, Ace has sent exactly one thousand text messages today, even while I was in the middle of a fucking football game, telling me I had to be there tonight.
I have no idea what is on the agenda for tonight, but I know my friends haven’t stopped smiling since the moment we walked inside these doors.
Ace, well, I think he’s just fucking pumped to be back on campus and getting all the attention he loves so much from Dickson’s social scene. And Julia is most likely just vibing off him.
But Finn and Scottie are happy for a completely different reason. Yesterday, Lexi’s dad, Dr. Raines, confirmed that Scottie has the official green light for the surgery and treatment plan he believes will make her walk again.
And she’s going to do it. Her surgery is set for the end of this month.
“It’s kind of weird not seeing Lexi here, running the show,” Scottie says, looking up at me with a smile. “Though, I guess it’s not that weird for you now, huh, Blake? You see your girl all the time.”
“Damn straight,” I say with a big smile. “I see my girl all the time.”
Finn laughs. “Man, I still can’t believe, over a year ago, I thought you had lost your fucking marbles when you said you were going to marry the girl who didn’t give you the time of day. And now, look at you.”
“When you know, you know.” I give his shoulder a hearty pat. “Right, Finn?”
He looks down at Scottie and gently squeezes her shoulder. “Right.”
“I wonder what tonight’s big event is going to be,” Julia muses, but before she can say anything else, Ace squeezes her shoulders playfully and looks at all of us.
“I’ll be right back, okay?”