(i know)

"GO AWAY!"

Lila snapped something similar to that as Livia tried to approach her after school. Livia froze, rolling her eyes, and watched as the brunette marched off into the distance. No improvements. Livia let out a frustrated groan before turning the other direction. How is Lila still pissed? The entire fight was dumb to begin with. It's not like Livia actively spoke against her either. Half the fight was her and Sarah quarrelling.

Rubbing her forehead, Livia turned towards her locker, taking out her pencil case (the last lesson was physical education) and backpack.

From inside her bag, her phone started ringing. Frowning, Livia fumbled around until she got her hands on her phone, glancing at the name of the caller.

Miss Popstar.

Rolling her eyes, Livia brought the phone up to her ear. "Madi Tahiri, last person I thought would call me- how's your new album coming up?"

"You know when the fuck All That Was Gold's first album is going to come out. We need to talk."

Right to the point. Besides, Madeleine Tahiri never calls for smalltalk, especially when her group's new album is coming up in two months. Livia has no doubt that Madi will be a great star, but it must be nerve-wrecking, to say the least.

"What's up?"

"You know how your sister is studying at Bellington Academy?"

"Yeah? What of it?"

"Would you say she's a good leader?"

"Does this have anything to do with the school's apparent popularity contest? Because if it does, I want to tell you that I find it really, really dumb and stupid."

Madi was silent.

"It's just... a game. She's a decent leader, why ask? Is there some screening stuff first?"

"Livia," Madeleine hissed, her voice dropping. "It's not just a game. Okay, it's a game, yes, but one that can have serious damage on the players. Personal experience."

"What are you hinting at?"

"Livia. I was the Queen of Bellington Academy for like, three years. Your sister is trying to become Queen even though she's new. I've seen the Queenstrial competitions break people, for fuck's sake. Do you think your sister is ready for this?"

"Back up, woah, Queenstrial? Is this Red Queen or something?"

"A contest where twelve girls fight to become the Queen of Bellington."

"That is so cringe."

"It's tradition, Livia," and she could visualise Madeleine sitting on her bed, twirling one of her pearl necklaces around and around.

"It's a dumb tradition. This isn't Mean Girls or Heathers."

"It's not," Madeleine mused. "It's worse."

Livia sucked in an inhale. "Is this even safe? Like, Heathers had people die. Mean Girls... well, Mean Girls had Regina break her spine."

Madi fell quiet.

"Hello?"

"Usually, yes. At least physically anyways. There's barely been any physical altercations over this in the long history of the school, but has there been any in the past? Once or twice. It's more Pamela's mental state I'm worried about. The girl's been through some tough shit- I just want to look out for her. Anya- Anya Bazdar, in case you're wondering- says she has what it takes, but Anya's soft."

"My sister is incredibly mentally strong."

"Is she smart?"

"One of the smartest people I know."

"That's a relief."

"Madi. I'm going to need you to explain this whole tradition of Bellington or whatever. What the fuck is going on?"

And so she did.

And it was a lot. Kings and queens, princes and princesses, the more Livia listened, the more worried she got. It just sounds... dumb. And a bit dangerous. Boys and girls ripping each other apart for a step up the social ladder, fixed hierarchies, Pamela's complaints started to make sense.

"Normally, I wouldn't bother with all this- but Pamela's new. She hasn't played the games before. She's not like... Anya or Aaliyah or whatever, who's gone through this for years. I'm genuinely worried about her. I would talk to her myself, but I'm technically not allowed to interfere as a former queen, since I had given up the right to name my heir... ugh, it just sounds stupid now, doesn't it?"

It does. Livia nodded, before remembering she was only calling Madi.

"What should I do?" Livia swallowed, her throat feeling dry.

"Talk to her. I don't know her as well as you do. Ask her if she truly wants to go through with this- technically, it's almost too late to back out, but there's still a considerable amount of time before quitting becomes... losing. And trust me, you do not want to drop out willingly once you get that far."

"I'll try- but I have to tell you this. My sister is very stubborn."

"Livia. All I want is for little Aaliyah Rodriguez to get her sticky fingers away from the crown. But at the same time, I don't want to ruin someone's life over it. Look, ugh, I'm not even supposed to be talking to you about this. I gave up the right to interfere the moment I announced that the next Queen would be chosen by Queenstrial, not... by me. I just-"

"Don't worry, Tahiri. Focus on your girl group and your new album- aren't you technically still in school, just studying online? I'll... I'll talk to Pamela tonight, don't you worry yourself."

Livia heard Madi suck in a breath. "Sorry for bothering you."

"No, no. It's alright, Madeleine. Also, there's a King, right? Who's the current King? Chikao?"

Chikao is Madi's ex.

"Hell no," Madeleine snorted. "I suggested Casper take up the spot, but he told me he wanted to leave with me- he got a role in that one upcoming TV show, have you heard?"

"Which?"

Casper Robinson was a very talented actor, Livia could tell from their few interactions. Besides, he's the son of like, two of the most iconic actors of all time. It runs in his family.

"Red. You've read the book, haven't you?" Livia had. Red is one of her favourite books.

"Duh."

"But, umm, yeah. The current king is Theodore Collins. You know him."

"Oh, him."

He's a nice guy. Livia met him once. He was Pamela's age. Friend of Brie. She invited him and his older brother out one time to hang out with them when James and Jack were grounded for not doing their homework. It was pretty awkward, but he's nice enough for Livia to not want to strangle him.

"How did he get the throne?"

Theo's mother is a decently famous actress, but nowhere near everyone-knows-her-name famous.

"I named him," Madi grinned. "Since I had no King, I could name both heirs. Theo's smart enough not to fuck up, and he's the kind of dude who lets people do what they want as long as it doesn't get on his nerves. He provides the sort of.. peace and healing time the student body desperately needs."

"Ian knows about this stuff?"

"Ian Briggs? Please, he's a prince. One of the high-ranking ones, in fact. Isn't he dating Anya?"

"Don't know. Wow. Ian. A prince. That's going to haunt my nightmares for a little while."

"Anya hasn't told me anything about her personal life, which is... weird. But whatever. I'll get answers out of her later."

"I know you will. Umm, listen, Madeleine, I need to head home now- I'll see you later?"

"Good luck. Bye."

Madi hung up. Livia let out a quiet exhale. Tonight was not going to be fun.

*

Her dad had gone back to Shanghai for a business trip, and her mother wouldn't be home until seven. This was the perfect time to ambush Pamela and ask her the questions swirling through Livia's mind.

And so, Livia stormed upstairs, a tornado in human skin as she marched towards the shut door of Pamela's room. She normally gets home pretty late, since a majority of the instrumental classes her school has takes place after three o'clock, but Pamela had came back earlier today, it seems, since Livia saw that the lights of her room were on (Pammy, why on earth do you need to turn on the lights at three p.m. in the afternoon?).

"Pamela Wong, we need to talk."

Pam was lounging on her bed, typing away on her laptop. "Go away. I'm doing my essay."

"One."

"Go away!"

"Two."

"I swear to god-"

"Three."

Pamela sucked in a deep inhale. "Fine. What the hell do you want to talk about, and why on earth is it so urgent?"

"Madeleine Tahiri just called me."

That caught Pamela's interest. She instantly scrambled off her bed, gaping. "What did she say?"

"Pamela. Tell me. Do you think you can handle the Bellington Games?"

"Of course I can! Why can't I-"

"Madi is worried that you can't."

"What?" Pamela looked deeply offended. "Of course I can handle it! I'm not a little girl!"

"You kind of are," Livia pointed out with a small shrug. You're only sixteen."

"You're only eighteen. Shut up.

"Seventeen. My birthday is in... three weeks?"

"Ugh, who cares?"

"I do. But that's not the point. Why didn't you tell me more about these... games?"

"You don't bother me with stories from your school, why should I bother you with mine?"

"That's different, Pamela. I'm genuinely asking you a question- can you handle this... whole thing?"

"It's just a stupid little game, Livia. It's just some fun. Why are you so worried for me all of a sudden?"

"Madi disagrees."

"Well, I think it's just a silly little game that doesn't matter in the end- calm down, Livia, it'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen?"

"A lot."

"Don't be so dramatic... it'll be fine," Pamela deadpanned, smacking her palm against her forehead. "When did you care so much about me anyways?"

Livia pinched her nose. "You're my sister. I'm supposed to care for-"

"You know very well I can handle this by myself. Just get out of my room, please. I have things to do. Empires to build!"

"No you don't!"

Pamela fixed Livia with a firm look. "Everything will be fine. It's all just fun and games. It sounds really bad, but it's not. I promise. Pinky promise. There's no stakes here. Nothing dangerous. Just a bunch of teenagers... doing a bunch of dumb teenagers things."

"You're lying."

Pamela's nose flared, and for a moment, Livia could see the resemblance between the two. Her jaw flexed, as she sucked in an exasperated breath.

"Get out."

"So you are lying."

"I never said that!"

"You're dodging my question," Livia deadpanned. "That means you're lying. You don't want to answer me because you know I won't like the answer, so you're trying to lie and get out of it."

"No I'm not! Livia! This is my life. Let me choose what to do with it."

"Whatever, I'm telling Mom."

"-wait, what? No! Keep Mom out of this, Livia. Dad too. This is between you and me. No one else."

"So there's something bad about this game. What is it, Pamela? Tell me."

"I'm not telling you anything. Go away and keep your mouth shut."

"I'm calling Mom," Livia announced, reaching into her pocket and taking out her phone. Before she could do anything, however, Pamela lunged forward and knocked it out of her hand. The device landed with a thud on the hard floor of the room. Livia's jaw dropped, obviously displeased, as she kneeled to pick it up. The screen hadn't been cracked, thank god.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Pamela spat, her eyes volcanic and mouth pulled down in rage.

"This isn't about me!"

"Everything is about you, Livia," Pamela snarled. "Everything. You just can't keep your nosy little fingers off other people's business. There's a reason why all your friends leave you, Livia. You can't keep your little nose out of other people's shit. You just have to wedge your in into every little thing that doesn't concern you."

"No I don't-"

"Did Sarah need your help when her parents announced that they were divorcing? Did you need to pour gasoline on the fire when Lila, Gianna and Gretchen were fighting? No you didn't, but your fragile little ego had to put yourself in the centre of attention- or at least part of the show. That is why Sarah hates you. That is why James and Jack can't stand you."

"How dare you-"

"How dare me? How dare you? Get your ass away from my school life, tell Madi that I don't need her to look out for me- I'll be fine on my own. I've always been, I'll always will. Now fuck off."

"You'll regret this someday."

Livia's voice was icy cold, chilly, like winter snow.

"Someday, you'll regret not listening to my advice and you'll realise it'll be too late."

"How do you know that?" Pamela hollered down the corridor as Livia walked out.

"Because I've seen it happen once- to me- and I know it will happen again, Pamela."

"You know nothing about me."

"Pamela, you're basically me. Every insult you throw at me, you're throwing back at yourself. We're sisters. You may be better at hiding your hostility, Pamela, but deep down, we're both the same brand of monster. Keep that in mind the next time you try to scream at me when I try to offer my help."

"I don't need your-"

Before Pamela could finish her sentence, Livia slammed her bedroom door shut. The mansion seemed to shudder, and Livia felt herself shaking. She gritted her teeth, clenching her fists around the metal doorknob of her room. Once she had finally steadied herself, she surveyed her bedroom.

It looked so clean. Someone must have cleaned it while she was at school. She hated it.

Livia pulled up her sleeves and reached for her bookshelf. It was so organised it hurts her brain.

Everything seemed to hurt- even her ragged breaths, her soft steps and every push and pull of her muscles. It felt horrible. Livia sucked in a deep inhale, looking away from the shelf. In her hand, she gripped a copy of The Final Empire, which she inspected before shoving right back on the shelf.

Today was not a good day.

*

"She got very angry at me, Madi dear."

"Well, at least she's passionate about this," the girl at the other end hummed. Livia could hear piano sounds, too, and so she asked:

"Is Alanna Belcourt playing the piano?"

Madi had been whisked away a few months ago to join a newly formed girls' group. Her father was pretty well-known in the music industry- hell, he owned a label. Madi is an extremely talented singer anyways, so when it reached her father that a newly formed girls' group needed a fifth member, Madi was picked.

"Yeah. We're all living at the house right now."

Not all the girls lived near London, where Madi was now. When Madi had told her about this a while ago, Livia had noted how diverse it was- Madi herself was of Moroccan heritage. There was an Irish-Chinese girl, Helena Liu or something; she thinks one of the girls was Scottish. Alanna Belcourt was French.

Hence, none of the families could relocate that fast, so Madi's father decided to purchase a small house for the girls to live with Diana Andrew's mother as a guardian for now. Not the best, but all five girls were too young to live by themselves (or at least didn't want to), and living together for a little bit is a good way to make sure they all get along.

"Tell her she plays it wonderfully. Remember when I played the piano?"

"It was a disaster," Madi snorted. "At least you could play the first... three bars of Burn."

"Oh my god, we don't talk about that."

Madi let out a laugh. "So your sister won't be backing out. I guess she's going to play... gods, tell her that I'm willing to send years worth of information on Aaliyah if it comes to it, will ya?"

"I don't think my sister would want me talking to her about this anymore. You can call her yourself."

"Nah," Madi sighed, "if Aaliyah gets smart and forces Pamela to show her messages and sees my name in there, she can claim that Pamela won unfairly or something."

"Does that even matter? And won't they know if I like, tell Pamela what you say?"

"Well, it's not against the rules since you're not a student of Bellington. We have this unspoken code about never messing with people outside of the school- hell, we try our best to not let anyone outside Bellington know anything about the games so that we won't scare people away, not that that's working. Besides, you're you. I don't think anyone wants to mess with Livia Wong."

"Well, there are some people, but... true."

See, the thing with Livia is that she knows so many people. She's not close with them, but she knows them all well enough to ask for favours, or for them to feel some kind of loyalty to her. She'll have to thank old social and extroverted Livia for that, and she never would have been able to achieve that success with how she acts now, but she's thankful for it. It's really helpful, being able to make a few phone calls to get all the information and thinks she needs.

"How's life?"

How's life? All my friends hate me, my sister included. I sit alone at lunch not because there's no one who wants to sit with me, but because company hurts. I bury myself in books and schoolworks even though my parents could probably pay my way into any university. I ignore my old friends because I hold a grudge against them, even though they've apologised a thousand times, and even when I've forgotten why I hate them in the first place.

But Livia just gulped.

"It's fine."

"You're lying," Madi mused, and Livia suddenly felt like Pamela, standing in front of her door frame, being accused of telling lies. Livia bit her lips, looking away as the memory faded.

"Am I, now?"

"You know they call me the human lie detector?"

"That is a lie. You didn't know I was the one who stole your bag of skittles back when we were thirteen until Lisa Arlington told you."

"We were thirteen! Also, have you been in contact with Lisa? I kind of miss her."

Lisa's auburn hair suddenly appeared in Livia's memory, and a small smile appeared on her face. Two years younger than both Madi and Livia, the main thing she remembered about Arlington was her height, and Lisa was so short. Absolutely adorable. She hasn't seen her for a little while. Last she heard, Lisa had been shipped to Toire's Hades College for her poor behaviour. The girl had either turned into a pyromaniac or was suffering from psychotic depression, or was it both? She had heard someone- Mrs Carmen, she thinks, talking about it. Absolutely heart wrenching. Livia hopes she's okay. Maybe she can ask Victoire.

"I'll ask Jason and Victoire later," she replied, wiggling in her bed as she attempted to get under the covers without using her hands. "They should know."

Madi let out a soft sigh. "Well, our lives just... suck now."

"What do you mean?" Livia asked, bursting into laughter. "You're going to have your debut in a few months, and you'll be like... the new Fifth Harmony. The new Little Mix. The new TLC. The new Destiny's Child. Y'all are talented as fuck. I will riot if you guys don't become famous."

"We both know it isn't that easy."

"I'm not an expert about the music industry- you are."

"You don't need to be an expert to know how... dark it is."

"You chose this life, Madi. There's no backing out."

"I know," the girl huffed. "Ugh, this talk is making me depressed. Oh, hey there, Mikayla. Where's Helena?"

Livia heard muffled speech from the other end of the phone. "Ugh, lucky girl. Can you ask her to get me some chow mein too? Thanks."

She heard the closing of a door.

"Mikayla McLean?"

"Yeah. Helena went out for Chinese food. Apparently Ms Andrews really didn't want to cook tonight- can't blame her. Taking care of five kids can be exhausting."

"Isn't Diana nearing her twenties?"

"My dad was not going to leave five teenagers alone in a house."

Livia hummed. "Fair."

"Hey, uh, listen, Alanna's yelling for me- and god that girl is loud. I'll call you tomorrow, maybe?"

"Sure. See ya."

"Bye!"

And that was the end of that.