Chapter 5

“I... I can't accept this.”

The butler felt a headache coming on. He remembered what Julian had told him before they left and hurried to reassure her.

“Please don't worry, Miss Elise. Everyone in the family has one. Miss Vivian has one too. It's yours to use as you please.”

He couldn't say for certain whether the other young masters had black cards, but he knew perfectly well that Vivian didn't. He hadn't understood why Julian wanted him to say otherwise. His employer had simply told him that Elise wouldn't take the card if he didn't.

“Vivian has one too?” Elise asked.

“Yes.” The butler nodded with complete conviction.

In her previous life, Julian had never given her a black card. She wouldn't have used it even if he had. But if Vivian had one, perhaps it was like their allowance, something every member of the family received.

She slipped the card back into its envelope and accepted it. The butler relaxed.

“I'll wait here and drive you home when you're finished,” he said.

“Oh, no, you don't have to. If you have things to do, go ahead. I can take the bus back.”

“But...”

He tried again, and Elise continued to insist. In the end, he had no choice but to get back in the car and leave.

Half an hour later, Elise stepped into a rather shabby shop. The books on the shelves weren't wrapped in pristine plastic. Their covers were worn, and many of the pages showed signs of having been turned over and over.

It was a used bookstore.

Elise could afford new textbooks. Saving money wasn't the reason she had chosen this place.

She picked up a math textbook for the fall of junior year and opened it at random. Untidy notes filled the margins. Someone had worked through the exercises at the end of each unit, often leaving more than one way to solve a problem. Important points had been circled, and there were marks beside topics that might appear on unit tests, midterms, or finals.

Students short of money sometimes sold textbooks they no longer needed. A book might pass through several owners, each adding notes of their own. Between them, those owners had left a collection of useful observations for the next reader.

Elise examined the books carefully and selected several. She was the only customer in the shop.

Outside, two girls who looked to be about high school age happened to glance through the window. Both stopped.

“Look, it's Elise Whitmore!”

“That's so embarrassing. She's buying secondhand books.”

The girls, Brooke Carter and Kayla Morris, were students at Northbridge High.

“Oh my God,” Brooke said. “Do you think her clothes are secondhand too? I almost want to transfer schools if I'm going to have someone like that in my class.”

“Take a picture. Put it on the school board.”

Brooke brightened and pulled out her phone. A few minutes later, a new post appeared on the school discussion board with a photo attached.

Elise stood in profile in the dim little shop, head bowed as she studied the book in her hands. A strand of hair had slipped from behind her ear, and the line of her jaw curved gracefully into her neck. At the edge of the picture were the store's sign and a display advertising discounts on used books.

Replies came in at once.

1: This month's Elise Whitmore post is finally here. Let's see how much more embarrassing our rich girl can get.

2: She even buys her books used? Just how broke is she?

3: Money can't turn just anyone into a princess. Some people get lucky and end up somewhere they don't belong.

4: Vivian Whitmore is what a real rich girl looks like. Elise was born to be a servant.

5: Agree with number 4.

6: Hang on, I buy discounted books sometimes too. A rich girl buying used books is kind of... cute?

7: Number 6, get your eyes checked. She's just poor and can't break the habit.

8: Can we talk about her face and figure? I'm in love.

9: In a place that run-down, I'd look like I was digging through the trash. She looks like an angel. I'm jealous.

10: Same. I think I might have a crush on her.

11: Girl, I'm available!

After that, the thread wandered completely away from the used books. Reply after reply praised Elise's looks.

“What's wrong with them?” Brooke scowled at her phone. “Her face isn't the point. She's buying used books!”

Kayla looked at the original picture again. She hated to admit it, but Elise stood out in the shabby shop. Somehow, even the cluttered surroundings looked beautiful in the photograph.

Brooke had posted it because she wanted everyone to laugh along with her. Instead, a whole crowd of people had turned into Elise fans. Were they all out of their minds?

By then, Elise had paid for her books and was coming out. The two girls quickly hid so she wouldn't see them.

Elise wandered farther down the street, unaware that they were following her. Brooke took several more pictures of her from behind and added them to the thread.

New replies appeared immediately.

127: Is the poster a fan or a hater? You even edited the pictures.

128: I was wondering that too. Definitely a fan pretending to hate her.

129: Nice editing skills, OP. Her ankles are so slim and straight, and her skin is so pale I thought she had nude stockings on. Zoom in and it's actually her skin. She looks amazing from behind.

132: Please post the originals! I want one for my phone wallpaper.

133: Me too! She's so pretty!

134: So OP's a fan pretending to be a hater. Reported. Go hide in the mountains and think about what you've done. 🙂

Brooke explained herself again and again, but nobody believed her. Before long, so many people had reported the post that it was taken down.

“I swear I didn't edit them,” she said, close to tears.

Every single picture was unedited!

Elise knew nothing about any of it. Since coming back, she had spent the past few days buried in her studies, with no idea that she had become the center of attention on the school board.

Once she had all her textbooks, she bought some stationery and headed for the bus stop.

She was halfway there when rain came pouring down. She fumbled the umbrella open, but the rain only grew heavier, threatening to become a full-blown storm. Water splashed into her plastic bag and dampened some of the books.

Elise gathered them against her and hurried under the awning of a nearby store.

She had been waiting there for a little while when her phone vibrated in her pocket. Julian's name appeared on the screen.

Why was he calling her?

She blinked and slowly answered. “...Julian?”