The Long Way Back | ✓

03 | THREE

"Unlike your academic track record, A's everywhere, Rika," Natalya teased, her pale blue eyes gleaming with teasing glint. "Oh well, Erika is right. They may not be the type that bullied kids around because admittedly their lives are too sophisticated for that. But it is actually the wannabes you have to beware of."

"Wow, even my old school is not that dramatic," Sophie commented, crossing her arms over her chest. She was not as surprised as she initially anticipated because of occasional visits to her dad's home in New York City. The crowd her twin sister hanging around with was not exactly...looking for peace in life, with their escapades and troubles they landed on. Not to mention how Vivian was often the ringleader of those crowd back in New York City. "And I live in a southern small town where blue blood and old money rules everything, canceling a lot of rules just for those factors."

"Trust me, Johanna," Erika said, her voice took a dip and lowered by several notches, "that is just the small scale. Let's just say that Kingston is...a real-life version of those teenage TV series like Gossip Girl, which is my biggest guilty pleasure."

Before Erika could say another word, four boys strolled down the train's corridor and somehow Sophie could hear muffled voices of screams and sighs from neighboring compartments. They reminded Sophie of a schoolboy version of boy band members since their looks that resembled Greek God statues (read: too handsome to be true) made them like male models instead of ordinary students. Shifting her gaze from the boys that somehow strolled out from their compartment, Sophie found Erika who sighed in exasperation while Natalya rolling her eyeballs.

"I take those are the Elite boys that are...entitled and shitty as fuck?" Sophie offered, sensing the heightening tension in the compartment. Gone the friendliness Natalya and Erika brought with them, replaced with hostility. "Let me guess one of them has fucked you over and let's just say the results are not pretty. Or Natalya rejected one of them and it does not end well while Erika played the role as the defender. Correct me if I'm wrong."

Much to Sophie's surprise, Erika and Natalya stared at her with blatant surprise written all over their faces. Natalya, whom Sophie thought had an exceptional control over her emotions that bloom on her face, had her eyes rounded in surprise and jaw hanging open. Erika just openly stared at Sophie. "Are you Sherlock or something? Honestly, those deductions are spot on, Johanna. If you're not a new student, I'd suspect you for a spy trying to gauge secrets from both Natalya and I. Eh, but who am I to fool, Natalya and I are definitely not the most interesting students in Kingston. The mention goes to the FK boys that just walked through the corridor. Probably going to the shop in this train, I don't give a damn honestly."

Sophie did not even want to comment on the last part that Erika was saying. It certainly cemented her impression on the Japanese girl. A top student who wears a smile, probably to cover the fact that she was indeed the smartest girl in the room, that sunny disposition probably hid a lot more than Sophie initially thought. Then again, nothing was like what it seems to be and Sophie herself was the prime example of that saying.

"Yeah like how you still listened to the Naruto theme songs playlist you make with Julian," Natalya butted in.

This time, Erika did not slap Natalya's thighs playfully or reacted with playful violence. Somehow Sophie noticed that her new friend (or maybe she was testing her luck by calling those two her new friends) was a little bit too much inclined using her hands to make a point.

"It was a case of a..." Natalya trailed off, her gaze rested at Erika whose black eyes were zoning out staring at the greenery landscape outside the window. "She used to be best friends with one of those four boys. It was Julian Sinclair, to be precise. Before everything went to hell, that is."