LIFE OF THE PARTY |ELITE|

2.02

"It appeared that no misfortune happened by itself in Las Encinas. It always had a twin shadow somewhere."

         It took Cordélia a minute or two to gather the courage she needed to finally walk out of her car even if Graham and Adrian had already left and if Carlos' looked at her worriedly through the rearview mirror. It felt like she was back years ago on her very first day, it was the only time Las Encinas had scared her like that, at least it used to be. The duchess took her brown leather bag in her hand and finally opened the door, her breath getting stuck in her throat for a second as she spotted the many students she had known for years, it felt unfair, unfair that people she didn't care about were alive, but Marina wasn't. The girl pinched her wrist, she hated herself for thinking that those poor kids had nothing to do with Marina's death, the only person to blame was her murderer, but no matter how many times she repeated this sentence, she still didn't believe it, she felt guilty, guilty that she didn't try harder, guilty that she didn't believe Nano could murder Marina. It was only when someone loudly honked next to her that the brunette realized she was still in the middle of the road, as she turned to see the car, she spotted Lu in the passenger seat and an unexpected person behind the wheel.

"You better be kidding me."
"I'm back, bitch! You know you missed me, Lia."

         The boy jumped from his seat, passing his arm around Cordélia's shoulders as she looked at him with a visible annoyance. Valerio was Lu's half-brother, very annoying half-brother, a junkie, and an ass who used to have a huge crush on her the last time he stayed in Spain which used to make her really uncomfortable.

"No, I didn't."
"No, she didn't."

         Lu then exited the car joining the duchess as she pushed Valerio's arm off of her with a disgusted look, the two girls hugged quickly before heading to the stairs where Guzmán was already waiting. When she saw her best friend, Cordélia immediately forgot how uncomfortable Valerio made her feel and she quickened her step to get to him. Guzmán met her half-way and hold her as close to him as it was physically possible, burying his head in the crook of her neck, smelling her familiar perfume, finally feeling home. They stayed like that until someone scratch their throat next to them, bringing them back to the reality as Lu watched them with a displeased look.

"I'm all about you guys being happy to see each other and everything but first, that's really annoying, and second, it hurts my feelings."
"Sorry, Lu."
"Wait, you have feelings?"

         Cordélia couldn't help but laugh when Lu gave her the finger following her last sentence, but eventually, the Mexican girl smiled again and joined them against the railing as they watched the students around them. Las Encinas were the same, and yet, it seemed very different, it was full of the same familiar faces they had known all their life, the buildings were the same, but it was now filled with another cursed memory: Marina's death. How could they possibly forget that their friend had died within those walls? How could they get over this?

"Okay, no. Are we all going to ignore the fact that Guzmán now look like he just got out of the military?"
"Yeah, what happened to your hair?"
"I let my intrusive thoughts win."
"I feel that one."
"Did I saw your cousins earlier, Lia?"
"Yup, they moved in with me, my uncle thought it was a good idea. I don't have a legal guardian anymore; I am the head of my family, but I have to live with my cousin because no one trust me. Which, let's face it, is fair."
"I can't believe I'm standing next to a duchess; next step is Carla inheriting the Marquesado and Las Encinas will be a fucking court."
"Can we talk about Valerio being back? Like... why?"
"The usual, his mom got tired of him, so she sent him to our dad. I don't give him two months before being sent back there."
"You're fucking kidding."