"Why did you give her your letter?"

"Because I thought she might be able to figure something out, you know since you won't help me," he smirked. Jameson Hawthorne was bound to get himself killed one day. I kind of wish Avery called security on him and got him kicked out of this godforsaken house.

"Not my puzzle to solve Jamie."

"Show me your letter then we'll see."

"No," we both slid into the car. It was good that Jameson was trying to pull me in on this mystery. It distracted me from certain conversations with bossy blondes.

"You read my letter," Jameson said to Avery as he slid into the backseat with me. I don't really think she was paying too much attention to him. She was probably freaked out about all the stupid security protocols and functions of this dumb car.

"Xander need a ride?" Oren asked from the driver's seat, looking at us through the mirror.

"Xan goes to school early on Fridays," I say to him, "Extracurricular activity."

Oren turned his gaze to Avery "You okay having company?"

"It's fine," Is what Avery said. But what she didn't say is "I think Jameson scares me because I am attracted to him and there is a slight chance he is related to me." luckily they are most likely not related. 

Oren turned the key in the ignition and then looked back to stare at me and Jameson, "She's the package," he told Jameson. "If there's an incident..."

"You save her first," Jameson finished. He kicked a foot up on the centre console and reclined against the door. "Grandfather always said Hawthorne males have nine lives. I can't possibly have burned through more than five of mine."

"Dying isn't really my specialty so I'm sure I will be perfectly fine," I really am feeling snarky today.

Oren turned back to the front and put the car in drive, and then we were off. I could hear the roar of the paparazzi as we open the gets to get to school. They were all hoping to catch a glimpse of the new Hawthorne heiress. I looked at Avery. She seemed slightly uncomfortable with the fact that there were so many people waiting for her. She was used to being invisible only being seen by a rare few individuals.

I watched as Avery reached into her bag and pulled out a paper, which I assumed to be her letter.

"Here." she said to Jameson.

"I showed you mine," Jameson said with a smirk. "You show me yours," he looked over his shoulder to face me, " Hey Anna maybe you can learn something about sharing information."

"Shut up and read her letter Jameson"

For once in his life he did. "That's it?" he asked Avery.

She nodded; both of them had the same face of curiosity. they both wanted to understand whatever was in that letter.

"Any idea what he's apologising for?" Jameson asked. "Any great and anonymous wrongs in your past?"

Tobias Hawthorne apologised? Why? From what I know about Avery there is nothing that could be his fault. Unless its about something that's going to happen. Her new life as the world's riches teenager. 

"One." She swallowed, she was about to talk about her mum dying now. "But unless you think your grandfather is responsible for my mum having an extremely rare blood type and ending up way too low on the transplant list, he's probably in the clear."

Her mother was probably the hardest topic for Avery to talk about with other people. It was a key moment that shaped her as the kid who just dealt with her life till she was able to make it better for herself.

"We'll come back to your letter." Jameson ignored her last words. He was very good at ignoring grief,  "And turn our attention to mine. I'm curious, Mystery Girl, what do you make of it?"

"Your letter is written in proverbs, All that glitters is not gold. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. He's saying that money and power are dangerous. And the first line—better the devil you know than the one you don't—or is it?—that's obvious, right?" The way Avery is talking is like everyone would understand it. Like every solution was the obvious. It meant she was either extremely cocky (unlikely, Very unlikely), or she underestimated herself (definitely that one).

I felt weird that I was here. I didn't want to be involved in this and being here makes Jameson think that he can reel me in to help him. Also Avery definitely didn't trust me. I mean personally I wouldn't trust myself either. 

"Keep going," Jameson prompted Avery.

"Nothing is certain but death and taxes. It sounds to me like he knew he was going to die." She really shouldn't have said that. I knew he was going to die. But I don't count. Nearly everyone in the Hawthorne family was shocked with his death and all of the brothers were devastated. I think.

"We didn't even know he was sick," Jameson murmured. He turned to stare at me.

"I guess everyone's trauma dumping today," I joke, "but in all seriousness he obviously knew he was dying." Jameson turned his head around back to Avery. Someone's in a mood today.

They both continued their work on the letter going through the lines. Trying to figure out Tobias Hawthorne's very strange wording.

Yeah I wish I stayed home.

Avery's POV

"Almost there." Oren spoke from the front seat. If he'd been following our conversation, he gave no sign of it. "The Country Day administration has been briefed on the situation. I signed off on the school's security years ago, when the boys enrolled. You should be fine here, Avery, but do not, under any circumstances, leave the campus." Our car pulled past a guarded gate. "I won't be far."

I turned my mind from the letters—Jameson's and mine—to what awaited me outside this car. This is a high school? I thought, taking in the sight outside my window. It looked more like a college or a museum, like something out of a catalogue where all the students were beautiful and smiling. Suddenly, the uniform I'd been given felt like it didn't belong on my body. I was a kid playing dress-up, pretending that wearing a kitchen pot on her head could turn her into an astronaut, that smudging lipstick all over her face made her a star.

To the rest of the world, I was a sudden celebrity. I was fascinated—and a target. But here? How could people who'd grown up with this kind of money see a girl like me as anything but a fraud?

"I hate to puzzle and run, Mystery Girl...." Jameson's hand was already on the door handle as the SUV pulled to a stop. "But the last thing you need on your first day at this school is for anyone to see you getting cosy with me." He then turned to Annabelle "ad bibliothecam occursum prandium,"

"Bene" she replied but Jameson had already vanished.

I made a mental reminder to search up what that meant when I had the time.

Right now I had to face the tons of prep kids in this enormous school .

"This school sucks. If I were you I'd leave right now," she started, "But then again I'm not you."

I have no idea how to read Annabelle. I have so many questions for her but I don't think she will answer any. Even the questions I asked Xander about her went nowhere. She hides every emotion she showed and changed it. If I hadn't known better I would have just pinned her for a cocky prep school kid herself. But there was something in the way she said things. They were said to get a reaction. To force an emotion.

"Do you need help to get out of the car?" she smirked before jumping out and waiting for me on the other side.

"It's just a school," Oren told me. "They're just kids."

Rich kids. Kids whose baseline for normal was probably "just" being the child of a brain surgeon or hotshot lawyer. When they thought college, they were probably talking about Harvard or Yale. And there I was, wearing a pleated plaid skirt and a burgundy blazer, complete with a navy crest embossed with Latin words I didn't know how to read.

I grabbed my new phone and sent a message to Max. This is Avery. New number. Call me.

Glancing at the front seat again, I forced my hand to the door. It wasn't Oren's job to coddle me. It was his job to protect me—and not from the stares I fully expected the moment I stepped out of this car.

"Do I meet you back here at the end of the day?" I asked.

"I'll be here."

I waited a beat, in case Oren had any other instructions, and then I opened the door. "Thanks for the ride."

Annabelle smiled at me. I couldn't tell if it was genuine or condescending.

Annabelle seemed incredibly smart but she obviously didn't want to be involved in the mystery Jameson though there was. I'm also pretty sure she was listening to my conversation with Alisa about me thinking one of the Hawthorne's would axe murder me.

"Took you a while," she said while still smiling. 

"Why did you wait then?"

She stared at me for a second, I could see how blue her eyes were looking, They looked like waves. "You still haven't figured me out yet, thought I'd give you a chance," she spun around and I followed her.

"You get two questions," She continued, "I will answer both truthfully."

"What makes you think I have questions?"

"Girls like you always have questions." This girl was extremely straight forward.

"Who are you to the Hawthorne's?"

"A close family friend," I wanted to ask her more on that but she turned around.

"Where are you going? I still get one more question,"

"You should work on your counting skills, Avery. They are not very good."