THE FIRST DAY OF CLASSES IS NOT GOING the way Noelle Grimaldi planned. Meaning, it's fucking horrible. And she hasn't even left her dorm yet.
First of all, her HomePod- which she had set to play Gwen Stefani's 'Rich Girl' to wake her up- hadn't gone off and she woke up half an hour later- when her irritating roommate had tentatively told her that she was going down to breakfast. She shot out of bed and checked the time- 7:00 A.M. She had only one hour to get completely ready and eat breakfast- but she'd have to grab a yogurt or something equally light. And she had made breakfast plans with Sebastian for 7:20. She'd have to rush.
She barely even glances at her roommate, Natalia, who is perched daintily on her silk duvet, long onyx waves cascading down her back and a yellow silk headband set atop it all. She was dressed crisply in a gray pinstripe Versace pencil skirt, a fitted Oxford, a skinny yellow JCrew belt that matched her headband, and a pair of yellow Louboutin pumps.
She looks both sophisticated and beautiful, something that makes Noelle want to yank her hair out. She's supposed to be the one sitting coolly on her bed watching her frazzled roommate run around in ratty pajamas (well, silk La Perla nightie, but same difference).
Slamming the bathroom door behind her, Noelle quickly strips, hops into the shower and jumps back out in record time, steam filling the room and clouding the mirrors. She straightens her still-damp hair, quickly swipes on some lengthening mascara, wine-colored Chanel lipstick, and slipped on a Crest Whitening strip. Then she shimmies into an off-white silk Catherine Malandrino cap-sleeve minidress, black, opaque tights, and a pair of silver Louboutin heels.
She wraps a delicate turquoise and silver Hermes paisley scarf around her neck and gazes critically at herself in the mirror. She looks like a European model that had wandered off the runway and spent her free time sitting at Starbucks, sipping Caramel Macchiatos, and reading Shakespeare sonnets. Perfect.
Opening the bathroom door, she expects to see an empty room but instead finds Natalia and Aurelia sitting on the metallic beanbags scattered across the room, laughing over something. At the sight of Aurelia, all self-confidence flees from her body and she feels herself staring enviously.
"Hey Elle," Aurelia nods with a small smirk. She stands and stretches languidly, her silky chestnut waves falling perfectly to mid-back. She runs a hand down the side of her gunmetal silk Dior off-the-shoulder dress that barely hits mid-thigh, which, paired with apple-red tights and black Emilio Pucci block heel knee-high boots, looks both edgy and classic. A cable-knit beret, the exact shade of her tights, sits atop her hair and a stack of vintage diamond cuff bangles engulf her slim wrists.
It's days like these when Noelle hates her half-sister even more. Aurelia could just walk around in an oversized t-shirt and tube socks and still be asked to pose on the cover of the latest Vogue (something that actually happened during Spring Break). But on the days when she actually cares about her appearance, she looks so breathtakingly flawless, it's a wonder that she's not surrounded by a golden mist or something equally celestial. And you know, make everyone around her look disturbingly ugly in comparison.
———————-
A VALENTINO DRESS CLAD JULIETTE takes a deep breath and steps into her AP Psych class- one of her favorites. She had compared schedules with the rest of the Usual Suspects during breakfast and found that not only are Devin, Justin, and Corinne in that class but so are Aaron and Christian.
The moment she steps into the classroom, she spots Devin, clad in a simple white Saint Laurent fitted crewneck sweater and a black high-waisted belted studded skirt of the same brand. His feet are adorned with some black Le Silla knee-high boots and Justin, donning a white Saint Laurent sweater and dark jeans, with black and white Louboutin sneakers on his feet, in the back corner of the room- Devin is sitting on Justin's lap while they whisper things into each other's ears (Juliette doesn't even want to know) while sneaking in kisses- Could they lay off the tongue while they're in class at least? She thinks in exasperation. But then again, she's like that with her own girlfriend.
A Gucci clad Aaron is sitting next to them, but his eyes are fixed on the fine-ass man in front of him- Christian's Louis Vuitton clad self.
"Wassup Superstar?" Corinne, clad in head to toe Chanel, practically shouts across the room, grinning as the familiar warm flush creeps up Jules's face when everyone turns to stare at her. "Don't you look sexy today? Then again, you look sexy every day."
She kisses her girl and then sits down. The beep rings loudly, signaling the class has started. She looks at Devin and Justin, neither of whom even care about PDA or the bell for that matter, and proceeds to suck each other's faces off.
She goes to say something to both of them but their AP Psychology teacher- who, besides being a Yale Ph.D., is a rather good-looking as well- Dr. Charles McCarthy walks into the room.
"Hello class," He says in his deep baritone voice. A few girls in the front row swoon. "Phones and other electronic devices away. Mr. Harrison, if you are quite done with your intimate moment, kindly remove yourself from Mr. Pruitt's lap and take a seat, please," He narrows his hazel eyes and the rest of the class laughs as Devin disentangles himself from Justin's grip and sits in his own seat without even blushing. "Now, welcome to Advanced Placement Psychology..." He begins droning on about class expectations, structure, and the material they'd be studying.
Dr. McCarthy starts off by explaining the functions of the different parts of the brain. Finally, a few minutes till class ends, Aaron discreetly sends Chris a message. Said male feels his phone lowly vibrate in his pocket. He waits for Dr. McCarthy to turn around before checking the message.
AARON
spend your free period with me.
Oh, the author, like an idiot forgot to mention who Christian got as a roommate. It's Aaron, and both of them have been delighted ever since. Christian turns around to look at a smirking Aaron with a smirk of his own etched onto his face. He replies to the text.
CHRISTIAN
absolutely
Aaron is pleased by this. Very pleased.
The bell rings and the classroom clears up. Juliette is discussing dance team stuff with Devin when Corinne walks up next to her, leaning her head on the former's shoulder. "Hi, superstar. Hope I didn't embarrass you."
Corinne rambles on but Juliette shuts her up in the most effective way possible: kissing her deeply and grabbing her ass. It works every time and they both like it.
"Embarrassed? Me? Never. Maybe a little caught off guard." See, Corinne mainly calls Juliette that in the privacy of their dorm. When they're doing some freaky horny shit. "But you know I like it. Come on. Let's go get coffee. We have Bentley next and I'm going to need it so I can stay awake in his class." Mr. Bentley is the AP English teacher and he's extremely boring. He has the tendency to give extremely long-winded explanations for things. Like, bro, we just tryna learn. The hell you gotta be so detailed for? Just teach us so we can go.
The couples wave each other off and go their separate ways. This would be easier if some of the Usual Suspects had English with her. But Corinne, Delaney, and Andrea are in there with her so perhaps she'll tolerate the bullshit this time.
FURTHER UP THE HALLWAY
"Yo Justin."
Said male turns around to see Dominic, Carter and to his dismay, Creep Dude from the party coming his way. Devin slides up in front of him, pulling him down for a kiss before heading off to his art class.
"Love you."
"Love you more." And with that Devin grins and traipses off to class. Justin shamelessly watches him leave, not even attempting to hide the fact that he's staring at Devin's ass. The pretty boy's hips are swaying seductively- he knows Justin is watching.
The elder watches him turn the corner and decides to turn around, acknowledging the three males in front of him. "What's up?"
"First of all, that party was fucking lit. Still high on it- I think I'm still just high as a matter of fact." Dominic says.
Carter scoffs loudly and smacks him in the back of his head. "You are high. You smoked three blunts on the beach yesterday. You threw a wad of hundreds at the damn lifeguard to get him to stop talking to you."
"He was a buzzkill. I wasn't trying to hear what he had to say."
"So." Creep Dude (what's his name? Justin doesn't know) says, cutting off the flow of the conversation. "Let me know when you're ready to hand Devin over to me. I'd love to handle him."
Justin snarls loudly and next thing you know, he has Creep Dude pinned against the nearby wall with a hand around his neck. "Talk about my boyfriend like that again and I will fucking kill you."
Let's just say Creep Dude is moments (seconds actually) from pissing his pants. Justin doesn't play any games when it comes to his baby. The slightest insult, nonconsensual touch, or any homophobic remark and he will raise complete hell.
Y'all gon' learn. Just you wait.