The first thing Leighton does when she wakes up everyday is turn off her iPhone alarm, check the time to make sure she absolutely has to get up, and text Justin.
IMESSAGE
TO JUSTIN👑 good morning handsome do you need a ride to school?
TO LEIGHTON🤍 good morning beautiful. that'll be lovely.
TO JUSTIN👑 perfect
After replying to Justin again, she goes straight to Twitter (imma need Elon to leave the bird app alone) to post a picture.
LEIGHTON NICOLE ROTHSCHILD ﹫leightonnicole
I'm not playing tag but bitch I am most definitely IT ꜱᴇᴇ ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
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Leighton puts her phone down and goes into her bathroom to get ready for school. She's always early in the mornings. She prefers it that way. It saves her from having to be around everyone else as well as being in a good mood all day. That's how she's always been. The rest of the world can go screw itself, if they want to pretend she doesn't exist. Not today, however. Today she has an obligation to make herself presentable before going into class, which is why she's doing a little bit of makeup while washing up so no one will think that she just got out of bed. She doesn't like wearing makeup. It's too girly, and it gives off an aura of insecurity. But she needs to look like she belongs here, especially when she's at this prestigious private school. As far as she's concerned, everyone has to play nice or they won't live through the next few years. There are enough girls who aren't born with the gift to feel like they're special that they don't mind taking advantage of it, but Leighton is not one of them.
She dresses in her uniform and heads downstairs, where her father is sitting on the couch, drinking his morning coffee. He's still reading the paper. "Good morning, Daddy," Leighton says with a cheerful tone.
Her dad looks over at her and nods hello, smiling. "Good morning honey."
Sometimes he smiles even more than he did at Christmas. It's hard to tell if it's from genuine happiness or not. Maybe both. "What are you reading today?" Leighton asks, walking closer sitting down at the table, putting her Hermes bag down on the floor. "Something funny?" It seems like something interesting would have made the headlines by now.
"It's not really anything exciting, actually," her dad replies.
He hands his daughter the newspaper. She takes it from him with a smile and starts reading it out loud: 'Penthouse', by Robert Altman. Oh, great. Leighton groans internally. She hates reading these kinds of things about celebrities who are sleeping around. It makes her stomach turn to see people who love each other so much making decisions that will affect their whole lives and their relationships forever. And then there are those women whose partners cheat because their partner doesn't trust them enough, who can never know when their partner is lying to them about where they've been. It's all very sad. Leighton doesn't understand why anyone would willingly put themselves through that, especially when the end result could be so much worse. "Oh, Dad, are you going to read this article yourself tonight? You usually do, right?" she asks, looking up from the paper and glancing at him for a quick second. It's true, though. Whenever Leighton reads some trashy magazine articles that someone has written about the latest celebrity, she always finds her father reading them too, sometimes with more gusto. Leighton thinks it's probably the closest they'll ever come to understanding what the world is really like. They may never agree on what people really mean by loving each other or what kind of choices they should make, but at least they share an interest in everything and nothing in particular. That's all she can ask for.
Athena comes down the stairs in the tightest button up blouse and skimpiest skirt possible. Madison shakes her head at this. She's tried to convince her sister to be normal and look decent but the girl just doesn't want to heed any advice.
"No comment. Good morning daddy!"
"Good morning, my dears. Athena, what are you wearing? Your backside is practically out and your chest is popping out of your blouse. Go upstairs and change. Please."
"Mom says I can wear this to school."
"Willing to bet that you got her to buy you that skirt without looking at the length of it. Tell me I am wrong." James finally looks up from the newspaper. "Go change. I will not tell you again."
Athena groans loudly and stomps upstairs.
"Madison, where is your mother?"
"Upstairs in her parlor."
Leighton ignores all of the commotion in favor of finishing her breakfast. "Alrighty, I am finished. Daddy, I am heading out. I'm picking Justin up so we can go to school together."
"Are you going to treat him right?"
She wants to rolls her eyes at this. He's crazy for even asking such a ridiculous question. "Of course I am. " She says it flatly, as if she can't believe that he would doubt her. "I am going to be the perfect lady."
"Good. That is what I like to hear. Now go on before you're late."
She gives the man a kiss on the cheek, picks her bag up off of the floor, says goodbye to Madison and is out the door on her way to her Ferrari. As she drives away from the villa with her head held high, she thinks about Justin and how close they came to having sex last night. she's normally prim and proper but last night something sparked within her and she just really wanted to get on her knees and take him down her throat. She could have made love with him, right there on the floor. Her hands tighten around the steering wheel at the thought. She has been single too long—the idea of finally being intimate makes her want to jump up and down in excitement. When she gets home, she can fantasize all she likes but now is not the time. Today she's got class.
