Bridgeport Academy » COMPLETE

6

"Well, look who's here!"

Kae stood outside Richards' lounge, reapplying her lip gloss in the hall mirror. She was wearing a scoop-neck, emerald-green top that was getting a teensy bit stretched out, and the highest tan leather heels she owned.  She whipped her head around to find Dave, the boy from earlier with the beard and great abs, standing in the doorway, an unlit blunt in his hand. Tiny beads of sweat stood out on his forehead, and his eyes had a glassy, tipsy look.

"Hey," she answered brightly, wiping her hands off on the only pair of True Religion jeans she owned, which happened to make her legs look slightly longer than tree-stump length. "Is the party in there?"

"Indeed it is," Dave replied gallantly, looping his arm around her waist. Kae smiled. Dave seemed really happy to see her. And she was happy to see him, too. He wore a black V-neck, army fatigue shorts, and no shoes. She loved his broad shoulders and the flicker of wildness in his eyes.

He pushed the heavy wooden lounge door open for her. Everyone froze. "It's cool," he announced, his hand brushing accidentally against Kae's breast. "It's just us."

Kae glanced around the room. Her first Bridgeport party! She could have been stuck back in the dorm playing checkers with Debbie, but instead she was breaking the rules on her very first night at boarding school!

She could immediately tell that it had a different feel than the house parties she'd gone to back in the city. No one was fooling around in the guest bedroom and they didn't have to worry about parents coming back early. Someone had dimmed the lights and lit a bunch of candles. Everyone looked like they'd just stepped out of a catalog. They were all so pretty, with perfect, glowing skin and healthy, athletic bodies that came from mandatory year-round sports. Each person was more beautiful than the last. Everyone was holding large coffee mugs, which was a little puzzling, until Kae realized that the mugs contained alcohol.

Across the room, Alex sat on the leather couch with her friends Teyana Taylor and Keke Palmer. Keke had been regaling them with tales of the fabulous African safari she'd gone on this summer. It didn't sound so great to Alex. Flies, malaria, and smelly wild animals. Fun! She gazed toward the doorway, saw her new roommate waltz in on Dave East's arm, and immediately elbowed Teyana hard in the ribs.

Teyana was from Connecticut and stood to inherit $200 million.  She was a prude and always blamed it on where she grew up, as if Connecticut were a different planet where the girls drank whole milk and saved themselves for marriage. Despite her prudishness, she was also a major gossip who followed The Shade Room religiously but acted like she knew it all first-hand.

"Looks like Pony's gone in for the kill," Teyana said, giggling and pointing. "Guess he knew where he could get some."

Alex shrugged. She couldn't imagine her naive new roommate being a slut, which was the newest rumor going around campus, but there was something seemingly immature and trusting about her. And she did have some kind of air of mystery about her, which reminded Alex of someone. Jasmine, perhaps?