Power Play: Upper East Side (Greisbach Academy #2)

  Description

  Greisbach Academy—the school for the privileged, wealthy and famous. Everyone that is anyone living in the Upper East Side attends—me included. But I’m an implant; a girl from a trailer park who got lucky and had all her wildest dreams come true.

  Money? Hellz yeah. More than I can spend in two lifetimes——three even!

  Boyfriend? The king of Greisbach Academy; ladies eat your hearts out.

  Friends? For the first time in my life I have a thriving social life.

  So, what’s the problem?

  The reigning queen of Greisbach Academy is my problem. She’s a bitch to the extreme and she’s got it in for me for stealing her boyfriend.

  I thought we’d called a truce, but when she pulled a humiliating series of pranks on me, it was time to take the gloves off and go head to head with the heiress once and for all!

  This is going to be the most explosive power play Greisbach Academy has ever seen!

  Power Play (Upper East Side Series)

  Copyright 2019 by Trinity Towers

  All rights reserved. With the exception of brief quotes used for critical reviews and articles no part of this book may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the author Terry Towers. Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Terry Towers can be contacted via her website at www.elixaeverett.com

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via internet or other means, electronic or print without the author's permission. Criminal copyright infringement without monetary gain is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov.ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors imagination and used fictitiously.

  Power Play

  Upper East Side, Book 2

  (Greisbach Academy Teen Bully Romance)

  By

  Terry Towers

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  The Story Up Until Now…

  The Upper East Side of Manhattan…. I had spent my entire life dreaming of living here and being one of Manhattan’s elite. Glamorous parties, luxury clothes, a home by Central Park; who wouldn’t want to be part of that?

  When my mother and I won the Powerball, nearly a billion-dollar win, it was my dream come true! In one swoop we got to say goodbye to the trailer park in Florida and hello to the finer things in life, and my dream.

  Here’s my problem: From the moment the students of Greisbach Academy met me they knew I was different. It’s like they had some sort of messed-up sixth sense—I was an outsider. An imposter in expensive Chanel clothing.

  That was where Jaxson came in.

  Jaxson, the undisputed king of Greisbach Academy, decided that he wanted me. Not as a real girlfriend, but as a fake one to sever the bond once and for all between him and his ex, the queen bee of Greisbach Academy. In order to climb the social ladder, I agreed to his crazy plan. What I didn’t anticipate was falling for the king of assholes and even more amazing is that he’s as crazy for me as I am for him—who’d have thought it!

  Here’s the catch though.

  His ex, Trina, isn’t very happy about this turn of events, or my rapid rise in the social hierarchy. Despite her efforts to ruin me, I had called a ceasefire, but that was pretty much pointless because a storm is brewing.

  It’s going to be a power play for the school hierarchy, and I plan on showing who the real queen of the school is, once and for all.

  Chapter 1

  “All right ladies, we’ve had some excellent practices so it’s now time to appoint the captain and assistant captain of the team,” Coach Monroe announced as she paced back and forth in front of the twelve of us, looking super official with her head held high and her hands clasped behind her back. She had such a formal demeanor about her, it made me wonder if perhaps she was in the military at one point in time or another. While rumors circulated around the school about most of the teachers, it was slim pickings when it came to dirt on the coach.

  I leaned forward ever so slightly and looked down the line of girls to see Trina at the opposite end of the row. For the past week we’d been keeping as far away from each other as possible, since the day I stood on one of the tables in the cafeteria and owned who I was—a former girl from the trailer park and lottery winner. My family didn’t come from a tradition of wealth and we didn’t build an empire to gain our fortune. It was just one crazy fluke. At first, I had tried to hide who I had been, but not anymore. Now I owned it and I was effing proud.

  Feeling my gaze on her, Trina turned her head and our eyes locked.

  Good luck, I mouthed.

  She casually lifted her hand to her cheek and gave me the middle finger. Grinning, I straightened and focused my attention back to the coach, crossing my fingers behind my back. I wanted this; being the captain would look amazing on my college application—especially if we kicked ass throughout the season. While the school was small, our team was quite strong, and we definitely had potential to go all the way.

  “I’m going to cut to the chase and let you all know that the captain for this year will be our new student, Keira, with Trina as our assistant captain.”

  My grin widened and I just couldn’t help myself; I looked down the row again and gave Trina a nod. She was pissed; I could practically see the steam rising from her head as she refused to look at me. I really shouldn’t be stirring the pot, but dammit, she started this whole war—not me. She just hadn’t anticipated that I’d fight back.

  She’d already outed my secret, so she had nothing left to hold over me—she was powerless at that moment and she knew it. I wondered how many times she’d made other girls feel worthless and powerless and not given a shit. But it wasn’t over; winning one battle wasn’t the war, and she sure as hell wasn’t dethroned. I’d be naive to think otherwise.

  “That’ll be all ladies, our first game will be after school next week, so we’ll be having practices all week after school and don’t get your hearts set on having your weekend to yourselves,” the coach announced. There was a hint of a smirk on Coach Monroe’s lips when several of the girls groaned upon hearing their weekend may be lost to them. “You’re all dismissed.”

  With the large shit-eating grin still on my lips, we fell out of line and made our way to the locker rooms. As the team walked to the locker rooms, several of my teammates gave me their congratulations. Trina and her minions were not in the mix, not that I expected them to be.

  I was the last to enter the changing rooms and I had barely stepped foot in the room when Trina approached me. Standing before me she flipped her blonde ponytail over her shoulder and her bright blue eyes narrowed as they glared at me. “Bet you’re proud of yourself.”

  “Little bit, yeah. Seems trailer trash from Florida can accomplish a thing or two here in the land of trust-fund babies—imagine that.” I smiled and brushed past her, with my head held high. I could have been petty and thrown Jaxson in her face but decided to take the high road. Despite my words and the fact that I’d won several battles so far against Trina, I still wasn’t completely secure and knew I shouldn’t be poking the bear.

  Going to my locker, I selected the four-number passcode and unlocked the lock that opened the varnished oak door. I did my bes
t to ignore the chitter-chatter behind me just in case what was being said was something I didn’t want to hear. Grabbing my backpack, which contained not only my towels and toiletries but also my clothes, notes and textbooks, I headed for the showers. The last thing I wanted was one of the bitches of Greisbach Academy messing with my stuff. They hadn’t…yet, but after Trina had flown someone in from Florida just to humiliate me and that backfired, anything was possible.

  The shower room had a dozen individual stalls that had two sections: one section for your towels and belongings, with a second, curtained-off section in which to actually shower. Entering the stall at the very back, I unloaded my backpack on the wooden bench and hung up my towels so I could reach them when my shower was complete. I then placed my shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and loofah inside the shower on the designated shelves. I couldn’t help but smile as I looked at the bottle of shampoo; it was a luxury brand from the salon I went to—a far cry from the dollar-store stuff I had used all my life. I do need to say it was worth the extra money, my hair had never felt so soft and silky before.

  Turning on the shower, I adjusted the temperature to my satisfaction and then stripped out of my sweaty gym gear and pulled my long dark hair out of the tie holding it into a ponytail. Normally, I would just wait and shower at home after practice, but I was meeting my mother to look over a restaurant space and didn’t have time today to go home first.

  Stepping under the stream of water I moaned softly. The warm water felt amazing as it beat down on my back. Closing my eyes, I let my head fall back, my wet hair lying all the way down my back nearly reaching my backside.

  Knowing I couldn’t give myself the benefit of indulging in the shower, since I had to hurry in order to make it to meet my mother in time, I set to work shampooing my hair and then conditioning. One of the longest waits in the world, I swear, is waiting for the conditioner to work. Waiting for the conditioner to perform its magic, I set to work multi-tasking, putting the loofah and rose-scented body wash to good use.

  Rinsing the conditioner out of my hair, I wiped the water from my face and then turned off the shower. Once the water stream was stopped, I reached out from behind the gray curtain for my towel and snagged it. The first towel I wrapped around my body, securing it above my breasts and the second I used to wrap around my hair, turban style.

  Grabbing the edge of the curtain, I pulled it back in one thrust. That was when my mouth dropped open and my heart fell into the pit of my stomach.

  “You’ve got to be shitting me!” I muttered, giving my head a shake. My stuff was gone—including my bag, clothing, and books. “Damn, damn, damn.” I’d give kudos where kudos was due; they had been pretty damned stealthy when they stole my stuff. I hadn’t heard a thing.

  Exiting the shower stall, I made my way into the locker room, only halfway expecting to see Trina and her whores. But they were nowhere to be seen, doing a complete vanishing act.

  I’ll just call…. The thought was cut off, as I realized they also had my phone. Oh dear God, my phone! All my pictures, my chats with Jaxson…. Everything gone thanks to those bitches. At least it was locked. It would take a hacker extraordinaire to get into it. It’s not like there was anything racy on my phone, and there were no saved passwords, but it was the principle of the matter. Those were my memories they had in their grubby little bitch hands.

  And I had no clothes….

  “Barefoot with a damned towel around my body that features the Simpsons cartoon characters. This is just peachy,” I grumbled.

  I had a couple of options: wait there for God knows how long for the cleaning crew to get there, if they hadn’t already cleaned in there…. Or, walk out of the changing room with my head held high and hope the office wasn’t already closed so I could use their phone.

  There really wasn’t another option. I had to get hold of my mother and sitting in the changing room wasn’t going to achieve that. Walking to the exit door, I took a deep breath in to settle my nerves. I wasn’t an exhibitionist type, and the thought of walking down the hallway of the school halfway naked and dripping wet made me want to vomit, but I knew I had no choice. Coach Monroe was locking up as we were entering the changing room, so the main office was my only choice. I did peek my head out and into the gym area. It was all dark. My first thought had been right, and Coach Monroe had already left.

  Well here goes nothing…. Opening the door, I took a deep breath in and stepped out and into the hallway. It was deserted, which was both a relief and a disappointment because it meant I had to make it all the way to the office.

  My jaw clenched. The whore was going to pay for this. I wasn’t sure how, but I’d make it happen. I really must be an idiot to let my stuff out of my sight, even for an instant. But of course, there was no way to prove it was Trina and her friends. Half of the girls in the school had Louis Vuitton monogram backpacks—the other half had Chanel or other high-end brands. Even if they were caught with the bag on the security camera there was no way I could prove the pack they were carrying was mine.

  Bitches! I wanted to ball my hands into fists and throw a tantrum that would put a two-year-old to shame, but I refrained. Losing my cool wouldn’t achieve a thing.

  The ceramic tile under my bare feet felt cool and I found myself being grateful that the custodians had already scrubbed the hallways, so I wasn’t stepping in dirt and grime from the hundreds of students passing through the halls today. Funny how simple things like clean school hallways matter when you’re practically naked walking through the school with no damned shoes!

  Another couple of corridors and I’d be at the office and I could call Mom or Jaxson and get some clothes. My mind started spinning, attempting to formulate a plan to get back at the queen of the bitches. I was about to reach the end of the hall when my eyes landed on a poster, announcing that the student election was coming up and candidates needed to submit their application to run by the end of the week.

  Trina wanted to be student body president more than anything. She’d gloated how she was a shoo-in the first day I’d met her. Wouldn’t it suck for her if someone beat her—stealing the main thing she wanted, after taking the position of volleyball captain from her?

  It had been mentioned a number of times, even by Headmistress Witherspoon, that I should run. That would be a declaration of war a week after I had called for a truce. But let’s be honest here, wasn’t stealing my clothes and belongings a declaration of war already?

  Finally, I rounded the corner to the hallway where the office was located. This would be over soon. A minor inconvenience. I’d have my phone shut off, and just go replace my things. I’d explain to Headmistress Witherspoon what had happened, and she’d give me a new uniform to wear home and replace my books. Easy peasy. The joke was on Trina.

  Screw it, Jaxson and I could make more memories, I’d uploaded most of my photos to the cloud anyhow, the only thing I’d really lost was our conversations. By the time I reached the office I was feeling much better about the whole situation. Lesson learned; at least I knew exactly where I stood with Trina. Shots had been fired.

  Reaching the office, I grasped the bronze door handle and twisted—or at least attempted to twist it—it wouldn’t budge. It was locked.

  Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!

  “Now what?” I said out loud to the empty corridor. I hadn’t seen a single member of cleaning staff. Peering through the glass and into the office I sought out the analogue sun-shaped clock that was mounted against the wall. It was only five-thirty and everyone was gone already? I could see the office staff leaving, but the cleaning crew and everyone else? The place was like a tomb—closed and dead quiet.

  Now what?

  I turned to my left to face the double doors that led outside and into the courtyard of the school. What was I going to do? Go outside with just a towel wrapped around me and walk home barefoot?

  Of course, I could just walk as far as the edge of the courtyard and ask to borrow someone’s phone. If I
explained the situation, I was sure someone would be happy to help. I wasn’t the first student to be bullied or hazed and sure as hell wouldn’t be the last. I’d borrow a phone and then call Mom or Jaxson and then wait in the courtyard until help arrived.

  “Shit,” I muttered, leaning up against the door that led to the office and closed my eyes. Tears were threatening to form, but I forced them back. There was no way in hell I was going to give Trina and her crew the satisfaction of my tears. For all I knew they could be anywhere watching me, maybe even outside the front doors waiting. The last thing I wanted was to see that they were close to breaking me with this prank.

  Nope, nope, nope. I will not lose my cool.

  Even if I had to walk out there with my head held high, I’d do it. Besides, this was New York; there’s a helluva lot weirder out there than a girl with a Springfield’s finest wrapped around her. Though it would have been a bonus if I’d at least had some damned shoes! Or socks! I’d have given my soul for a pair of socks right then.

  I gave the door one last look, took a deep breath in and released it. Fuck it! With as much dignity as I could muster, I made my way down the hallway and to the front door of the school. Placing my hand on the handle I gave myself one last pep talk to keep myself from losing the courage before opening it up and stepped out into the cool late-September evening air.

  Chapter 2

  The cool Manhattan evening air hit me, making me do a little gasp. It was colder than I’d expected. If I had been fully clothed it would have been refreshing, but in my current condition it was nothing but. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea, but before I lost the courage, I stepped from the doorway and let the door close behind me—sealing my fate since it locked automatically to prevent people from coming in at this hour.