St Mary's Academy Series Box Set 1 Read online

  Seven Steps

  Copyright ©2019 by Seven Steps

  All rights reserved by the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, living or dead, is wholly coincidental.

  No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, recording, by information storage and retrieval or photocopied, without permission in writing from Seven Steps.

  Edited by Angela Campbell, C. Marie, and Emily Lawrence

  Proofread by Genevieve Scholl

  Cover Photo provided by Shuttershock

  Proudly Published in the United States of America

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Also By

  Foreword

  The Boyfriend Agreement

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chasing Mermaids

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  The Secret Lives of Princesses

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  The Trouble With Kissing Frogs

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

&n
bsp; Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Also By

  Afterword

  Also By

  St. Mary’s Academy Series (Clean YA Romance)

  The Boyfriend Agreement (Book I)

  Chasing Mermaids (Book 2)

  The Golden Boy (Book 3)

  Stealing Hearts (Book 4)

  The Secret Lives of Princesses (Book 5)

  The Trouble With Kissing Frogs (Book 6)

  Rebels, Love Letters, and the Secret Crush (Book 7)

  Clean New Adult Romance

  The Last Rock King

  Clean Adult Contemporary Romance

  Peace in the Storm

  Clean Historical Western Romance

  Adam’s Bride

  A Touch of Grace

  Clean Sci-Fi Romance

  Venus Rising

  The Escape

  Fire In The Sky

  Foreword

  Thank you for reading the St. Mary’s Academy Box Set. This box set is laid out in the order the books are meant to be read. Please enjoy, and don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon.

  Happy Reading!

  —Seven Steps

  The Boyfriend Agreement

  1

  I am invisible.

  I eat, sleep, go to school. I even manage to strap on my running shoes from time to time and race around my lower middle-class neighborhood in Brooklyn NY, just one subway stop away from Manhattan. It’s an ill-advised pastime, really. According to Maria Jimenez on the six o’clock news, criminals are no strangers to Briar Hills, Brooklyn. Let’s just say that the neighborhood watch around here has a way different meaning than in nicer places. Still, no one has bothered me yet. It’s as if they don’t see me. Like I’m a single ray of sunshine on a clear day. Unheeded and hardly noticed.

  Like I said. Invisible.

  One would imagine that being invisible would be fun. It’s not. It’s less like a superpower and more like drowning in a glass tank in the middle of a crowded room. I hated it. At best, people looked through me instead of at me. At worst, my existence was completely forgotten. I knew this because when people got around to noticing me, it was always with a surprised expression.

  “Hey. I didn’t see you there.”

  “When did you get here?”

  “Have you been here long?”

  Being invisible sucked. I wanted to be seen. To be acknowledged. For someone to say, ‘Nice outfit, Bella’ or ‘I love your hair, Bella’ or ‘What do you think about that, Bella.’ But for someone like me, getting a compliment was like finding a yellow thread in a haystack. Impossible.

  And so, I had no plans on being seen at school that morning. A fact that I flaunted by not washing my super curly hair and wearing old jogging pants with a hole in the knee. St. Mary’s Academy didn’t have a dress code for Juniors or Seniors. They called the policy progressive. Really, it was so that the junior and senior fashion club, of which the principal’s daughter was the president, could showcase their latest designs. Nepotism at its finest.

  Ms. Mitchell, my English teacher, walked between the classroom desks, a faded copy of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in her hand.

  She read the words reverently, as if Old Bill were writing them just to her.

  “I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is that not strange?”

  The words pulled a sigh from me, and I slowly turned, looking for the boy that I always looked at when I thought of romance.

  Jake Winsted.

  I had been in love with Jake since the ninth grade. It wasn’t just his looks, though his blond hair and blue eyes were the definition of gorgeous. It wasn’t just his super-hot football player body, or his laugh that started deep in his belly and shook the walls whenever he released it. It was the quiet moments. Like, when something caught his interest and his whole body leaned forward, totally engaged. It was the way everyone looked up to him. He was the most popular boy in school, and yet I’d never seen him bully anyone. He wore his power with confidence and ease, wielding it sparingly and always for good.

  Ms. Mitchell—Leah, to me—closed the worn book, slipping one slim finger between the pages to hold her place.

  “It’s often said that the simplest words hold the most power. You, my little birdies, are going to give me your simple but powerful words in project form.”

  A collective groan rose from my fellow students. I, however, gave a little cheer. I know it’s weird, but I actually liked projects, and I loved school. My dream was to graduate valedictorian of my class. Considering that I had the second highest GPA in the school, that dream might actually become a reality.

  “This project consists of two parts.” Her red t-strap heels tapped against the polished wood floor as she continued her journey up and down the aisles. In the course of a class, Ms. Mitchell would walk down each of the four aisles at least a dozen times, her heels making short taps against the floor like some weird, slowed down version of Morse code. All that exercise must’ve contributed to her figure that I would best describe as lithe.

  “You will write me a ten-page summary of the Shakespearian work of your choice.”

  Easy peasy, rice and cheesy. I could write essays in my sleep.

  “The second part of this project will be a group aspect. You will be partnered up with a fellow student, and the pair of you will compose a short, dramatic play based on your chosen work.”

  I sat up straight in my chair. Partners? My mind raced with the possibilities. Who would be my partner? What if it was Jake? Could such a wonderful thing even happen?

  Gooseflesh skittered across my upper back. I was suddenly very aware of my body. My outfit (homeless chic, at best), my greasy, puffy hair, my non-name-brand, red sneakers. I was a complete and total mess. I couldn’t be Jake’s partner wearing something like this. He’d probably take one look at me and barf. I know I would.

  “The partners will be announced on Monday, and the project will be due two weeks after that.”

  She leaned on her desk, crossing her ankles in front of her. Ms. Mitchell was beautiful, in a librarian sort of way. Her wardrobe consisted of dark blazers with short skirts, white shell tops, and red t-strap heels. For the most part, she kept her hair up in a French twist, held in place with pearl chopsticks. Red cat-eye glasses dangled from a black strap around her neck. Reading glasses.