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SALEM JANE ROUTELEDGE liked riding in the car with the top down. Nobody told them to turn their music down, no one told them that there were too many teens in the car, and nobody told them to stop drinking.
Perfection at its finest.
The sad thing was, Salem had been hanging out with the same group for almost three weeks now and still didn't know their names. Honestly, she didn't care to. Just because she liked their life didn't mean she liked them. Was it technically using them? Sure, but there were a lot of Kooks who used the working class to get where they wanted to be. At that point, Salem had decided it was fair game.
Sometimes to find the diamonds, you have to play dirty.
"Salem! Hello?" A blonde said, waving her hand in front of Salem's obviously zoned out face.
"Hmm?" She asked, a smile spreading as the girl handed her another beer. She popped the cap and tilted her head back, letting the liquid overrun her system.
This was her life, or half of it, anyways.
Half of her time she spent with the Kooks, the rich kids who could spend daddy's money on anything they wanted without a dent. The kids who had shoe closets and a car for each day of the week. They were snotty, they were brats, they were assholes- but that didn't change the fact that they accepted her plea to join them so that she could feel the wind in her hair while riding in a convertible.
Which was exactly what was happening now.
She had been playing this game for nine months- ever since her father went missing (or was dead, it was still unsure of which)- and so far it was doing wonders to her wardrobe and her bank account. Not only those two things, but it also did wonders to her happiness.
She imagined herself getting closer to the city whenever she rode around like this.
The car began to slow as they approached the front of the Cameron estate- owned by Ward Cameron and inhabited by him, his three children, and wife. If there was a tally going for the amount of times she had actually been inside of the Cameron household, it would be about five. She didn't particularly gravitate to Sarah, his oldest daughter, but that didn't mean that she didn't attend their parties and steal their liquor. If Salem felt like she could have any kind of ability to fit into Sarah Cameron's perfect life, she would have been glued to her side a long time ago, but that obviously wasn't the case.
Salem had come to the realization that you needed to find those rich enough to have six cars, but kind enough to give their money away.
"Ladies," Rafe said, approaching the white convertible and resting against the side.
Rafe was the oldest of the Cameron kids, and was very, very much of an asshole. He kept his hair slicked back, and his shirts pressed.
"Rafe," the driver replied with a giggle. She was tall and tan, and was Salem's shot into the modeling business for sure... if only she could remember her name.
"Where are you all headed?" He asked, taking a slow sweep of not only every girl in the car, but their bodies, too.
"Probably my dad's boat. Wanna come?" She replied, giving him a doe-eyed look. Salem had played that game on Rafe once or twice, but she soon found out that he snorted crack at parties, at that was enough for her to dismiss his attention altogether.
"I'll talk to the boys," Rafe responded. It was his way of leaving them on edge, but deep down they knew he wouldn't come- he never did.
The car sped up again, carrying them around bends and around golf carts full of wealthy grandparents, sons and fathers playing golf.
There wasn't a single worry with this lifestyle. And that's what drew Salem to it to begin with- she didn't want any worries anymore. She didn't want to wonder where her next meal was coming from. She didn't want to be stuck in the working class for the rest of her life. Because at that point, her dream of becoming a model for Vogue was out of the question, and she would be a nobody- just like every other Pouge to ever live.
And that, more than anything else, was what she wanted to run from- being a nobody.
