As a current high schooler, I felt it was my duty to mash together the glorious mess that is the 21rst century high school experience and throw the RQverse into it. Everyone's age is knocked down a year or two from the beginning of Red Queen, just because junior year is the most eventful in American high schools and what's a story without some drama? Also thank you to everyone who expressed their interest in this fic! You guys don't know how much it means to me.

Characters are slightly OOC as a result of their upbringings changing in accordance to the time and culture shift.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard or any of the characters involved in this story unless stated otherwise.

In very simple words, let me break down my scenario for you: I'm fucked.

Now, in more complex words:

Archeon Academy is a highly prestigious school. It's rich, it's got some amazing programs, its alumni has two former presidents in it, and the students are all either geniuses, kids of billionaires, or both.

I am a sixteen year old girl from the Stilts, a once okay town that got wrecked by an earthquake not long after I was born. Now everyone there, including my family, is lower middle class to dirt poor, and it definitely doesn't have any geniuses.

My entire life, we've coexisted without any problem. I made fun of the academy with Kilorn and the rest of the kids at school, but that was about as close as I thought I'd ever get to it. Shiny silver kids from shiny silver families with shiny silver spoons in their mouths. It was easy to write them off as a distant fantasy, in our conditions.

Or at least it was all up until recently, when my mom got a promotion to work in finance for one of those shiny silver families' corporations and we moved over to the suburbs of the busy cultural hub of Archeon.

Which, of course, puts me in just the right spot to attend Archeon Academy.

I won't lie to myself. If I had stayed in the Stilts, I would have wasted away like the rest of that town. The same people, same jobs, same desperation and resignation. It's an awful, stagnant place. If I want any shot at success, I had to leave at some point. I also know that I've always secretly wanted to escape that muddy town of thieves and bums.

So I won't lie to myself and say I don't need Archeon Academy. Because I do. And the Stilts taught me all I needed I know all about prioritizing my needs before my wants.

That doesn't mean I have to enjoy it though.

"Now, Archeon is home to a couple distinct mega corporations, but most importantly, there is the Calore dynasty. You know Norta Inc., right?" I snorted.

"How could I not, Farley? They're everywhere."

"So you know exactly how powerful they are?"

"Yes, I know."

"And you know you're going to be in the same grade as a Calore?"

"What?" Farley presses her fingers to the sides of her temples and sighs. I know my laptop screen doesn't do her exasperation justice.

"You're telling me that you're starting school tomorrow and you didn't think to check who you might be dealing with?" I shrug sheepishly.

"I had to do the summer assignment."

"Right." Her expression sours. Farley attended Archeon Academy a couple years ago. As the daughter of an esteemed general, it was the only place anybody expected her to go, and she complained the entire time she was there. Luckily, though, as my brother's girlfriend and honorary Barrow, it means she can pass on her tips and tricks to me.

"So. The Calore?"

"Mhm. Maven Calore. You shouldn't really have to worry about him. The last charity ball I went to was two years ago, and he seemed like a polite kid. But you never know with these preppy Silvers, and since he's set to be heir to Whisper Corp, he has more potential to be a snake than nearly anyone else there. These people were raised on manipulation tactics and social grace." She pauses and scowls. "For example, Ptolemus."

I laugh with her. My expression quickly dissolves into an amused grin.

"I can't believe you ever dated that douchebag."

"I was young and dumb, he was rich and admittedly hot. It's all over now, though. Let's not dwell on him. How about we talk about his sister, instead?"

"What do I need to know about her for?" I frown. Farley just stares at me for a minute.

"You're kidding."

"I'm not."

"Mare Barrow, you are hopeless." She leans back in her chair and muffles a moan of frustration "She's in your grade, too! Samos girl? She's always on Viper Magazine covers? Has cheekbones so sharp they could cut down trees?"

"Cheekbone girl?" I gasp.

"Yeah, cheekbone girl!"

"I'm going to school with cheekbone girl?!"

"What the hell are you two talking about?" A familiar voice calls from the background.

Farley rolls her eyes, flicks some blonde hair out of her face, and rotates her laptop to show my favorite brother stepping into the room with damp hair and a towel around his shoulders.

"Shade!" I scold. "You haven't sent home a letter in ages, Mom and Dad are on my ass!" Even with my eyebrows down low in mock anger, I can't help the smile that reaches my face.

"Oh, hey Mare. How long has it been already, a full 48 hours since you last reminded me?" He takes the laptop. I hear Farley squawk in protest in the background. Muffled rustling and Shade's shirt are all I see and hear for a couple seconds while I stare fondly at the screen and wait. Finally, his face fills my screen again. "How's the house holding up without the Barrow boys?"

"Mom doesn't know what to do with herself without having three teenage boys to look after constantly. She's been nagging," I sigh. The chair creaks when I lean back. "Dad's on different medication for his knee pain and Gisa is doing well at her program. She's trying to see if anyone in the Arts District will take her in as an apprentice." He nods slowly and thoughtfully.

"Any luck?"

"Not yet, but it's a big city with plenty of opportunities. She'll find someone."

"And you?"

I bite my lip. Leave it to Shade to bring up the one thing I want to avoid. I've tried not to mention my new school situation too much around my parents. Gisa is excited to go, the freshman that she is, and I don't want to ruin that for her, either. Farley is different. Farley gets why I'm nervous. She was in the same situation, too.

"I'm great." Shade raises a bushy eyebrow.

"You sure, kiddo?"

"Yes. Don't call me that."

He just shrugs, then fixes me with that concerned, warm honey look that so many girls fawn over and my mom melts for.

"You positive? You know you can trust me, right? With anything."

Of course I know. It's Shade.

"I'm doing fine," I smile. "It's just a new school. Sure, I might have to deal with some preppy Silvers, but it's Archeon. I have to do it at some point anyways."

"Remember what I told you!" Farley shouts from off screen. I roll my eyes. My lips betray me and curve into a grin

"Yeah, I know."

"Say it!" I groan.

"Head down, spine straight. But if they try, don't hesitate." I grumble.

"Finish it!"

"...bitch."

"Hell yeah!"

Shade turns back to his girlfriend with a soft grin. "You told my sister a mantra that somehow combines Vine, violence, and actual advice in two sentences?" She shrugs back.

"I love you, babe."

"Oh shut up."

He means it, though. He means it more than anything. I can tell from how his gaze lingers just a little too long and how the smile doesn't slip from his face when he does look back. He really, really loves her. And it's only a matter of time before he proposes.

"Hey listen, we have to go. But good luck tomorrow, okay? I don't know if we'll be able to contact you then," my brother says gently. "I'm really sorry."

"Don't be, Shade. Really. I'm going to be fine." I wish I believed it.

He does, though, and a sleepy look clouds his eyes. Farley sits next to him.

"Alright, bye kid."

"See you, Mare."

"Bye." The screen turns back. My reflection stares back at me. There are no bags under my eyes, a fact that will change soon. I look messy, what with my hair in truly awful bun and me being in old pajamas, but in less than 24 hours, I'll be joining the elite youth of the east coast. The thought both terrifies me and fills me with a strange hope at the same time.

The laptop closes with a little click. I rub my eyes tiredly and fall back on my bed.

"You got this, Mare," I whisper into the silence. I close my eyes.

I fall asleep to a lullaby of distant cars and rain at my window. A final reminder of where I am, and who I might become soon.

Who knows what's to come?

Progress updates available on my tumblr (blairistired) under the tag #aa wip !