Their Clueless Alpha Princess Chapter 07

Their Clueless Alpha Princess Chapter 07

Thea’s POV

The group project was a French drama performance. Each group would adapt a classic work, rehearse it, and perform it at the end of the semester. Madame Arnaud said the top three groups would be selected for the academic exchange in Paris.

At my school, an opportunity like that came along once a decade. Maybe less. The last student from our district who’d attended an international program had graduated six years before I enrolled. For most kids here, “study abroad” was a phrase from a movie. For me, it was the kind of line on a college application that could change everything.

An international credit from a French academic exchange. On a Veritas application. From a girl at a public school nobody had ever heard of.

I was not going to let two absent transfer students destroy this.

After class, I waited until the room emptied, then walked up to Madame Arnaud’s desk. She was stacking papers, humming something from the Edith Piaf album she played before every lecture.

“Madame,” I said. “About the group assignments—”

“Miss Voss.” She peered at me over her glasses. “I was hoping you’d stay.”

“The Solvane twins haven’t attended a single class since they enrolled. I don’t think it’s fair to—”

“Thea.” She set the papers down and folded her hands. “You are the strongest student in this class. That’s precisely why I paired you with them. I’m hoping you can help them settle into the school.”

“They don’t seem interested in settling.”

“Their entrance exam scores were nearly perfect,” she said. “Both of them. They’re bright students, Thea. They simply haven’t found their footing yet.”

Nearly perfect. I stared at her.

Two boys who couldn’t be bothered to sit in a classroom for fifty minutes had scored near the top of every subject. I didn’t know whether to be impressed or furious.

“I understand your frustration,” Madame Arnaud continued. “But I believe this group can do something special. Give them a chance.”

I left the classroom with my jaw tight and my fists clenched inside my hoodie pockets. She wasn’t going to budge. Fine. I’d work with what I had.

Paris meant I needed all four group members present and cooperating. Which meant I had to find the Solvane twins and drag them into this myself, because nobody else was going to do it.

Somewhere between the classroom door and the hallway, the sting of Darcy being paired with Vesper faded to nothing. I had bigger problems now. University was the exit strategy. Paris was the accelerant. A crush on a boy who hadn’t looked at me once during class didn’t factor into the equation.

I stopped three girls in the hallway. Two of them hadn’t seen the twins. The third pointed toward the gym. Juno caught up with me at the vending machines and fell into step.

“I heard they hang out behind the gymnasium,” she said. “Ash, at least. Soren is harder to find.”

“One is enough. I’ll start with the easy one.”

“Easy?” Juno raised an eyebrow. “That boy made three girls blush in under a minute this morning.”

“I’m not here to blush.”

We found Ash on the bleachers by the athletic field. He was stretched across the top row, one arm draped over the back of the seat, his legs extended. Three cheerleaders orbited him. One leaned in close to whisper something, and he laughed — low and warm and perfectly calibrated. Another girl twirled her ponytail around her finger and asked a question I couldn’t hear. He answered without looking at her, and the color rose in her face so fast I could see it from thirty feet away.

He was cutting class to charm girls. I could not believe this was my group partner.

“Good luck,” Juno said from behind me. She was smart enough to stay back.

I walked straight across the field. The cheerleaders noticed me first. One of them glanced over her shoulder and murmured something that made the others look.

“Ash.”

He tilted his head. That same lazy grin from the party spread across his face, and he looked me over with that same lazy amusement from the party.

“I know you,” he said. “The girl from the party. You mistook me for someone else.”

“Thea Voss.” I stopped two feet from the bleachers. “You should remember that name, because I’m going to be your French class partner for the rest of this semester.”

“French class?” He leaned back on his palms. “I don’t think I’ve made it to that one yet.”

“I noticed.”

He turned back to the cheerleaders and told them he’d catch up with them later. Casual. Unhurried. Like I hadn’t said a single word worth acknowledging.

I grabbed the front of his shirt collar and pulled him off the bench.

He was taller than me by a full head, and built like someone who’d never missed a meal in his life. But surprise was on my side. He stumbled forward, and for one satisfying half-second, those golden eyes went wide.

“Listen.” I didn’t let go. “I don’t care if you skip every class this school offers. I don’t care if you fail French. I don’t care how many girls you want to date or how many parties you want to throw. But the teacher put you in my group, and this project is tied to a trip to Paris that I need more than you can possibly understand. So you are not going to wreck my grade because you’d rather sit out here smiling at cheerleaders.”

Ash raised both hands in surrender. The grin was still on his face, but something behind his eyes sharpened.

“Don’t be so serious,” he said.

“I’m always serious.”

I let go of his collar and stepped back. Smoothed my hoodie. Straightened my bag strap.

“Here’s the deal,” I said. “You and your brother are here to find the Wolfhart granddaughter, right? The princess everyone’s looking for. I can help with that. I’ve lived in this town my entire life. I know people. I work at the diner on Maple Street where half the neighborhood eats every week. If a girl in this area matches that description, I’ll hear about it before anyone else does.”

Ash folded his arms across his chest. The lazy sprawl was gone. He was standing straight now, watching me with a curiosity that felt like being weighed on a scale.

“And in exchange?” he asked.

“You and Soren show up to French class. You cooperate on the group project. You don’t destroy my chance at Paris.”

The cheerleaders were watching from ten feet away, whispering behind their hands. I ignored them.

Ash’s mouth curved. Not the performer’s grin this time. Something smaller and more genuine.

“I think we can work with that, Thea Voss.”