𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈-𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎 ▷ 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐬

𝟒 | 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀 𝐇𝐈𝐓?

The library was packed with students. Kia didn't like the study periods when everyone was around. It was too much commotion for her to be able to focus. Especially now, when she could see August sitting with his friends, pretending to study as they laughed and joked around.

She couldn't fathom how someone could be so ugly on the inside and so beautiful on the outside. He was almost too pretty; could easily fit in on the front page of a magazine. She watched him as he moved his hair out of his face and wondered how long it would take for her to get over it. Over how pretty he was. She just wanted to look at him forever, from afar, just look at him like at a picture and never speak to him again.

"Hello?" she heard Wilhelm, who was sitting in front of her, "Is everything okay?"

The pencil she was biting made a slight crunch. "Yeah," she cleared her throat and looked down at her notebooks, "Is everything okay with you?"

He remained silent for a few seconds too long, "Yeah, everything's fine." He was lying and she knew it. There was nothing fine about the current state of things. Neither for her, nor Wilhelm.

Felice, who was sitting right next to Wilhelm, looked between Kia and him and decided to break the awkward silence that fell upon them. "So Kia," she said, "How come you don't hang out with people from your year?"

Kia looked back at her, realizing she had no particular reason for having absolutely zero friends. "I don't know, never got around to it I suppose. Or it's just the fact that I'm extremely unapproachable."

"Well August seemed to have found you very approachable," Wille muttered under his breath. She didn't know he still held the fact that she made out with August once, (while she was drunk) against her.

She huffed, "What did August do to you anyway? Don't tell me it's because he's an asshole, I see the way you look at him. You hate his guts."

Wille simply gave her a death stare and continued doing his math homework.

"Well, Kia, how about you come and hang out with me and my friends tonight in my dorm room? It's Sara's birthday, I'm sure she wouldn't mind you tagging along. She needs to meet more people as well," Felice's smile beamed at her and Kia found it hard to say no. She didn't have a reason to refuse, in fact, she was in dire need of a distraction from her current state of mind.

Kia smiled back shyly, "Yeah, I'd love to. Just please ask Sara if she's fine with it. I wouldn't want to impose."

"Great," Felice smiled even wider, "I'll ask Sara, but I'm sure she'll be happy for you to come."

"Thanks, Felice," Kia offered a smile in return, after what they continued doing their homework in silence.

♔

"How many people have you had sex with?"

Kia felt blood rush to her cheeks. She didn't like sharing things about her sex life, much less with girls she met only an hour or so ago. She couldn't even remember if she tried to, she was blackout drunk for most of them. Some of them could hardly be considered sex, couldn't they? She wouldn't know.

"Three," Stella answered and then looked at Fredrika, "Your turn."

"Also three," she said but then changed her mind, "Or two. Or one. It really depends."

They went back and forth, then tried to convince Madison to answer, but she refused. Then it was Kia's turn.

"What about you Kristina?" Stella asked her, leaning forward on her hands and looking at her intently. Everybody watched her in anticipation of her response.

She thought her face was about to burst into flames. "I'd rather not say-" she smiled and waved around with her hands in an attempt to swat them away.

"Come on, it's okay. We're all friends here," Stella coaxed her, a devilish grin spreading on her face.

Kia cleared her throat to prevent her voice from cracking and while avoiding everyone's gaze, she said "Five or six." It was more of a mutter than actual speech, but she wasn't going to repeat it.

Stella, however, was all ears and soaked in the information instantly. "Wow," she leaned back in her seat, "Who are they? Are they all guys from Hillerska?"

Kia shook her head. "No, they're not," then she quickly frowned, "Besides- that wasn't the question."

"Well, you can't just tell us something like that and not expect us to want to know more," Fredrika chuckled, then gave her a sly look, "Was August one of them?"

Kia's blood froze in her veins. "No. August isn't one of them." Suddenly she was pissed off, because they were asking too many questions about her and because they've asked her about August. She was hoping they didn't bring her there specifically to interrogate her about him, she knew that Felice was once involved with the boy herself.

"Okay," Felice jumped in, much to Kia's surprise, attempting to hasten things along. "It's my turn, I've slept with three people. Sara?"

Kia didn't notice up until now but Sara was staring at her with a blank look on her face. She turned away once Kia looked at her though, saying, "I've never slept with anyone."

The girls proceeded to banter about virginity and how it's better when you're with someone than when you're alone. Kia remained silent, listening to the conversation, and every now and then she caught Sara staring at her. She didn't look like she had a problem with Kia, she was simply analyzing her.

For the rest of the party Kia couldn't stop wondering about what Sara had on her mind.

♔

It was almost one in the morning when Kia returned to her dorm room. She felt exhausted from interacting with new people, but satisfied at the same time. For once, she wasn't alone. She could finally be normal again, have normal friends and talk about normal things. The last time she felt this normal was before her parents filed the divorce papers. Before all the shit with her psychopathic father happened.

She wanted to be normal. She wanted to feel at peace.

The odds were against her that night, though, because there was a knock on her window before she even had the chance to close her eyes.

Startled and confused, Kia sat up in her bed and looked outside her window to find August standing alone with a hood over his head.

"What the fuck?" She whispered as soon as she opened the window, "What the fuck are you doing here, August, are you fucking insane?"

He smiled up at her, fumbling with his hands in his pockets. "You really curse a lot. Has nobody taught you the proper manners when talking to your elders?"

"If I come through this window, you won't be here to see the sunrise."

He stepped closer to the window and pulled something out of his pocket, shoving it in front of her face. "I was hoping you would come through the window for something else." In his hand was a small zip lock bag, containing a few clumps which were dark green in colour.

She stared at it for a few seconds, baffled at his proposal. She tried to reach for it, but he was quick to retract his hand and place it back in his pocket. It was truly magnificent how well he knew the way to make someone mad.

"You'll have to come with me if you want it," he smiled from ear to ear, "What do you say, Kristina? Care for a hit?"