I’m totally cocking up this paper on the best vintage wines.

Thinking about the night spent with Colton, and what I walked in on shortly before we’d humped in his car.

I’m no stranger to adultery, I spent my teenage years in a universe where the act was second nature. Parents I knew, my own friends messing around behind their designated partners’ backs. I’d never done it, but I just turned a blind eye … just like everyone else who pretended that it was just par for the course.

But something about Ciara’s betrayal felt more personal, more severe. Gretchen certainly didn’t know, because it was clear she was not the type of woman who would excuse her boyfriend sticking his cock in another girl as just something that happened in a relationship. She would slice a bird, even her best one. Power and intimidation were her game, and there one of her closest friends was, stabbing her multiple times in the back while she didn’t even know the knife had even been pulled. And secretly, I had a feeling that our fearless leader would be gutted and heartbroken.

I stop writing, when my phone begins to play “God Save the Queen.”

“How is my favorite princess?”

“Eloise, it’s so good to hear from you.” Nora’s voice is genuinely happy, and I wonder again how she ever made it in the world of the elite that we came from. “Have you begun to say y’all and drive on the right side of the road yet?”

Ah, that’s how. Because just when you count her out, she surprises you. It’s why I liked her instantly when she began to put Asher Frederick in his place.

“Har, har, you’re hilarious. I’m in Vermont, not a trailer park. This place is about as southern as Scotland in the winter. I did, however, order my first Domino’s pizza pie, and ate half of it myself. No wonder America has an obesity problem. I’ve also met tall, dark and handsome … emphasis on the tall. This guy is like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, and I can’t say I wouldn’t like to see his beanstalk.”

Her laugh tinkles through the phone. “I should have known you’d already have your eye on someone. And perhaps you should buy a thirty rack of Keystone, and shotgun them.”

“Oh, honey, I’m not going to actually pursue him, but he is fun to look at. I’ll jot your idea down onto my America bucket list, although I think I have about as much college party-girl in my blood as you do royalty.”

While Nora was part of the elite crowd now, and her stepfather was in line to be king, she had no claim to the throne. And I’m deflecting anyway, using my sharp wit to distract her from the fact that I’d mentioned Colton … or well, a man. See, I wanted to talk about him with someone, and Nora was the closest thing I had to a best friend.

Still, I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I was having way more fun doing more than just looking at him. Talking to him, fraternizing, spending a very romantic holiday—even if by accident—with him, fantasizing about falling back into bed with him.

The night we’d spent together was … it sounded completely cliché, but it had been magical. We’d laughed, snogged, traced each other’s bodies with our tongues. And I’d seen his beanstalk … and if this were a fairy tale, I would have hit the prince charming jackpot.

I was scared that I fancied him, more than fancied. These were dangerous preoccupations, and I needed to slap myself back into reality a little. So denying that there was anything going on eased my turmoil a little, even if Nora had no clue what I was lying about.

“And you know that I want neither, so we’re all good.” She’d gotten better at brushing off my sarcasm, and I was impressed.

“So how is Philadelphia? And Asher? Tell that wanker I miss him.” Truthfully, there were days I missed the old gang, and the trouble we would get into.

But it had been years since our time at Winston Prep, and I didn’t keep in touch well enough to really be close with Speri, Drake, Katherine or Ed. We saw each other if any of them ever happened to want a night out in Paris, or if we happened to attend the same party here and there, but that was about it.

Nora sighs. “Everything here is really good, actually. We moved into our own apartment last semester, Asher is really excelling in the business program, I’m on track to start in the medical graduate program next semester, and my mom is about to pop any day now.”

Rachel and Bennett, Nora’s parents, had announced the royal pregnancy just three months ago, and she was due in just about a week. I knew that my friend was over the moon to be a big sister, not that we knew what they were having as they wanted to keep it a surprise.

“When you win your first Nobel Prize, remember to thank me in your speech,” I joked.

“I will. ‘To my beautiful, foul-mouthed friend, Eloise … thank you for making me blush and getting me drunk in high school,’” Nora teases.

“Hey, those were good times, you can’t deny it. But in all seriousness, you’re going to kick arse at this sibling thing. Not that I’d know, I’m too selfish to not be an only child, but that little boy or girl is very lucky.”

“See, Ellie, I know you have that sweet side underneath all that sarcasm.”

“Sod off,” I bite out, still joking but wanting to preserve my reputation. “And you know I hate it when you call me Ellie.”

“Which is why I do it. Anyway, I have to run, class in twenty minutes. We’re dissecting cadavers today.” She sounds way too excited about touching dead bodies.

I shudder. “That sounds terrible. I’m off to taste some priceless champagne in class.”

“Is your life even real? No, don’t answer that … we both know it isn’t.”

“Says the princess. All right, big hugs and kisses, love. Say hi to Asher for me.”

Nora is ruffling papers in the background. “Love you, talk to you later.”

We click off, and I look around my dorm room. It’s freezing outside, February bringing temperatures like I’ve never experienced. Of course London was cold, and so was Paris for that matter, but winter in Vermont was another beast. I was almost bowled over by the snowdrifts every time I walked outside.

Reaching for my laptop, I decide to do something that I normally never do. Clicking onto Netflix, I select a show that I’ve heard people on campus buzzing about, some program called Narcos. I’m not usually one for TV, much less staying in bed all day and watching it, but this is part of my exposure to normal college life.

So I’ll try it.

Five hours later and half a pound of Swedish Fish in my stomach, I lift my head when Jane comes in the room.

Pausing the episode out of courtesy, I wait to see what she’s going to do.

Her lip tilts, and I think that qualifies as a smile. “Narcos? Cool.”

Never in my life have I felt so posh as when my roommate, who never seems to take joy in anything, compliments me on my choice of binge. I’m acing this normal college life thing.