a/n: for those of you who dont remember who julian is, he is the first year class president of calliope who was made the president after harley refused the position!!
also there has been a slight error - julian's full name is Julian Lawrence. i got confused and wrote it Julian Hayes somewhere so I'm sorry if this caused any confusion. i'll make sure to edit it in the next draft/when i edit the whole book :)
oh and once again, i don't know how many typos and errors there are since i havent edited this chapter yet so yeah
thank u <3
February 2021
( One year ago )
"I made it."
Her voice was small and timid. Her hands were cold. Her eyes couldn't focus on any other words except for 'You have been accepted...'
She should be happy. She should be glad she made it into her dream school, she should be glad that she worked her way to one of the most prestigious schools in the entire world but she wasn't. All she could feel was the emptiness in the bottom of the stomach that was starting to be filled by the anxiety and panic and guilt and what-not.
She was about to collapse. She couldn't accept this-she shouldn't accept this. This was wrong. Unethical. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve this at all.
I'm sorry, mom, she thought to herself as a tear rolled down her cheek. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she flinched. She let out a sigh when she saw that it was her foster brother, Mike, standing behind her, a sly smile on his face.
"Relax, Cammy, why do you look so tense?" He reached forward for the acceptance letter and she let him take it, still in partial shock and surprise. "You're crying about being accepted? Those better be tears of happiness."
"That's some dumb shit right there," whistled Van, one of her brother's friend. His curly blond hair was tied in a pony, an unlit cigarette in his mouth as he looked for a lighter. He paused for a moment and looked her dead in the eye. "If you're going to be such a chicken about getting into your dream school the dirty way, maybe you should rethink your entire life. You've done this so many times. What's different now?"
"It's illegal," she muttered.
Van scoffed. "Illegal when you got what you wanted?" He leaned forward, grabbing her wrist and making her sit on the centre table. "Listen to me, Cammy. There's no point in backing out now. We all know what you did and we all know you're never going to do this for anyone because you're gonna be at a boarding school now. Only the three of us know, alright? And by the time this news will even be out, you'd have graduated and be doing something you actually wanted instead of rotting somewhere and selling weed like me. You get me?"
She didn't nod at first but eventually, she did give in. She couldn't do otherwise. Van's gaze was cold and intimidating. Cammy didn't want to make him mad.
"We're never going to tell this to anyone, right, Mike?" Van asked him.
Mike nodded, coming forward. He smiled, giving his sister a hug. "Congrats, sis. You deserve this."
She finally managed to flash a small smile. Yes, she deserved this. After all she'd done to get here, she couldn't back off. She deserved it. She deserved it. She knew she did.
Maybe I do deserve it after all.
Cammy
( Present )
"Cammy," Sean snaps in annoyance. "Could you please quit fiddling and press submit to the report before I do it for you?"
"I don't know!" I groan, pushing my laptop away from me. I bury my head in a pillow and scream in frustration. It causes me to mess up my hair but I don't fix it. It's only Sean here anyway, sitting on my chair with his feet propped up on my desk. Reece will be here any moment now; he's going to snatch my laptop away from me. The showcase has been over for a few hours, and in the next few, my deadline does as well.
He blows out a breath, dragging himself with his chair towards the bed. I feel him lean closer to my face and feel my cheeks grow hot, thankful that he can't see my face right now. "What's wrong, Cam? It's not like your script is going to get burnt."
He says it as a joke but I know it isn't. There is a third year - a girl who's one of the best in our program and a top ranker and hates Penny Bridgette as much as I do. She got her script burnt. Now, it's not like my instructor is going to burn my damn script, but I'm damn sure it's going to be a close enough possibility considering I know all about the crap I've written.
"Cammy." He pulls away and I look up just in time to see him grab my laptop. "I'm turning this in."
A wave of panic washes over me and I lunge towards him. "No!" I yell at him. He pauses. I get up, standing right in front of him, hands on my hips. "No. Nope. You're not doing that. Not at all. I won't let you. You can't. I'll die if you do."
"Stop exaggerating shit, fuckwit." He smacks my head lightly. I'm annoyed now, though I won't say that to him. He must have noticed my expression or something because the next thing he does is keep the laptop on my desk and sigh, turning back to me with his calm eyes. "Look, Cammy, it's just been a month. The script is rough as fuck right now. It's okay. You have the entire year to finish the assignment. Besides, writing's not for everyone. Your instructor is just... I don't know. Seeing if you have potential."
I sit back. "Why doesn't stuff like this happen in your program?" I grumble.
"What, you think songs write themselves automatically or something?" he says. "Because I didn't know shit about songwriting at first. I only sang covers. The first song I wrote was for the entrance just in case. The second song I wrote was last year and do you remember what the lyrics were? Sun is shining in the sky and the stars are twinkling. I'm standing on the ground with nothing but my clothes on. I got B+ for effort. The lyrics didn't even make any sense."
I mean, he does have a point. Reece had helped Sean finish the whole thing. And considering it was Reece out of all the people who had helped him, the song naturally sucked. But hey, at least Sean's a better songwriter now, right? I know people whose song lyrics all have the word sex and drugs and vodka and party. At least he wrote about the sun and clothes.
"Turn it in yourself," Sean says to me. "And try not to panic about it. I know that me telling you that you shouldn't get anxious over this isn't going to help but I don't know what else to say, alright? Your play isn't that bad."
"It's about a girl whose bird dies," I deadpan.
"Which isn't bad," he says once again. "At least she adopts a dog, right?"
I groan in frustration once again and fall back on my bed, almost hitting my head with the wall in the process. I'm done with my life for real this time. Who the fuck writes about a girl whose pet bird died so she adopts a dog to cope with the loss of the bird? I don't make any sense. And how is anyone supposed to depict this in a fucking play?
Everything is so annoying. I'm pretty positive that I had been right to consider dropping out the day before. And the day before the day before. And the day before that-
Realisation hits me again. Friday. Harley. The examination leak. What she said to me. No, scratch that. What she asked me to do.
To be one hundred percent honest about this, I'm more scared of Harley more than I'm scared of Asher or Nate or Summer or any of those manipulative assholes in that whole damn clique. Because she knows. Asher has the gist of it as well and he could use it to use me over and over again but he's declared me as that dumb fucking bitch who will be of no use to him. But Harley's deal is different.
At first glance, she seems overconfident. A bitch too, because that's what she is but she's not overconfident. In fact, I don't think she knows how good she is at everything she does. It feels like a crime appreciating her right now considering she could press a button and circulate the message that I'd been involved in the leak.
She wouldn't have any evidence to back that up, of course, but when a rumour is as big as this, the police would love to get involved. More than love, in fact.
Sean's phone rings. I snap back into reality, watching him as he checks the contact flashing across his phone. "It's Reece," he tells me. "I'll bet you he isn't gonna come to meet up tonight. We're gonna have to hang with Jase and Cass tonight. God, I hate them so much."
I hate them too, but I don't say it to him now. He accepts the call, putting it on speakerphone. "What's up?" Sean asks. "You coming or not? Say no because I've to win a bet."
Reece laughs on the other end. I can tell that he's tired. "I'm sorry."
Sean smiles at me. "See? Told you so."
"I didn't agree to the bet anyways," I mumble under my breath.
"You fucking-" He stops midsentence, cursing under his breath and turning his attention back to Reece on the call. "Alright. Whatever. What are you up to, though?"
He hesitates. Then answers, "I'm with Asher and Nate. Make of that what you will. And I'll try to catch you guys after dinner. If I can't, then, um, I don't know."
"Reece, you don't get all day to be on call," someone says from behind him. I recognise the voice almost immediately. It's kind of hard not to. "Come on." It's Nate, of course. Some girl laughs right after, and it's obvious that it's Summer. It would be a surprise if it wasn't Summer. They're always together. Penny would be, too, but lately she's been drifting I think.
"See you around," Sean says and hangs up. He looks up at me and smiles again. "Guess we're on our own now."
As if on a queue, the notification ring goes off. I lean forward to get my phone, reading the text I've gotten.
Parker: Jase and Cass and I are gonna go out tonight. You in?
I breathe out. "Guess not so much."
Asher
( Present )
"It's real?" Summer asks, her eyes at Reece.
We're sitting at a cafeteria. I got us the permission to be out of the campus tonight which isn't very difficult, considering my father is one of the board members of the school as well. Summer's mother is a board member as well but despite that, we'd never met each other before we got into this school.
"Yeah," Reece answers, tired. He clears his throat, looking right at me. "Yeah," he says loudly this time so no one asks him this again. "It's authentic. I don't know what can be altered in this video."
"Told you so," Nate laughs out, shaking his head. He runs a hand through his hair, leaning back against his chair as his eyes dart between his coffee and me. "It's real. And unless we can access the school records-which, by the way is almost impossible, there's no way of knowing whether Harley actually went to the same school as Carly."
"What's Carly's full name anyway?" Summer groans. "Something Elizabeth something?"
"Carline Elizabeth Katherine," Reece tells her.
"Great." She rolls her eyes. "Three grandma names in one name."
"I like her real name," I say. "Carline. It's cool. Sounds old as fuck but it's cool."
"Not really," Summer counters.
Nate lets out another laugh. "Says the one who is literally named after a fucking season."
She folds her arms across her chest, annoyed. I scoff, turning all my attention back to Reece. He sits here in front of me, calm and composed, but his eyes give way to the nervousness he's feeling.
"So," I begin. "You sure nothing's been altered in this?"
He shakes his head. "Nothing."
"And how do I know you're not lying?"
"Why would I lie to you about this?" He slams his laptop shut. "Don't you trust my skills?"
I laugh. "I do trust your skills, Reece. I don't trust you."
He groans in frustration. He's already annoyed by this situation and is trying not to show it to any of us but there's a reason he isn't in the drama program. He's a damn bad actor and a liar. He's not lying right now, I can tell that, because if he was, I'd have seen right through it. Too bad someone can't.
"Look, Asher, I'm really tired right now and I can't deal with your bullshit. It's up to you to trust me or not. Okay?" He adds the last word just to make his sentence not sound pissed.
"Okay," I reply. "But before you leave, there's one last thing that I need you to answer." I look at Nate, who throws a knowing look my way. Are you going to be the one who's gonna say it? Or am I? That's what I think my look says. He just shrugs, gesturing to me to go forward with it. "How's things with her?"
His face falls but he recovers quickly. Clearing his throat, he says, "I don't know."
"You don't know? Which means, like, you've found out nothing?" Nate asks him, clearly not satisfied with this. "What have you done in the past month?"
"I-"
"Come on, now, Bremer boy," Summer says in a sing-song voice. Her voice is excited and so is her expression. She's enjoying this just as much as everything is frustrating him. "You've got the looks, haven't you? You're pretty hot, if I'm being honest. And you've got a piercing. And a tattoo. You're telling me your charms aren't working on a sixteen year old? Are you even trying?"
"I don't think he is," Nate comments lazily.
"I am," Reece snaps.
"Think again."
He runs a hand through his blond hair, closing his eyes for a moment. "She's... difficult, alright? And intimidating as fuck. I can't hit on her. I tried."
"For two days?" Summer rolls her eyes. "Be like Penny. Don't give up on her."
"It's difficult to do that when you don't even like the person you're doing this with," he mutters under his breath. "I can't do this. I'm sorry."
"You can't?" I echo. "You do realise there's something at stake here, don't you?"
All the colour drains out from his face. He bites his lip, reaches for his laptop and stands up, looking me in the eye. He looks like he wants to say something but thinks better of it and shuts his mouth, mumbling a little 'Goodnight' and walking out. The bell of the cafe chimes. Summer looks over my shoulder towards the door and sighs.
"He's not gonna give up on her, is he?" Summer asks.
"Nah, he's not." Nate reaches forward for a glass of water. "Plus, I kinda want to see his face when what he's trying to hide is exposed, you know. Because that would be real fun. You guys want to bet on that? I'm pretty sure he'll be expelled."
"We ain't betting on that," I laugh out. "We all know he'll be expelled. And I'm not bluffing here. I'll actually turn him in if he does something I don't like."
It's a real shit move, I know that, but I like the thrill it gives me. Nate's the one who deals with rumours among us all, I'm the one who's got all their secrets, and then there's Summer - the charming 'pacifier', which she's not.
If you've ever met Summer before, you'll know how true the saying 'Looks are deceiving' actually is. She looks like a calm person at first glance, something that's backed up by her grace when she dances and models. Even her voice is sweet, her words are soft and thoughtful. But everything she does has another meaning to it. Putting everything in simpler words, she's crazy.
And as much as I hate admitting this, this girl named after a season sometimes scares me more than I ever scare myself.
"Also," Summer reminds me. "Text. You asked me to remind you."
For a moment, I'm lost. Then, I remember that earlier after Penny's performance, we'd decided that we're gonna get Harley on the council. We can't force her, of course, but something in me tells me that she's not going to refuse this either.
Nate shoots me a look that clearly says go ahead and just fucking do it so I take out my phone, typing in a quick message to her and sending enter. I keep it back on the table, knowing that she'll reply to me soon. I didn't necessarily have to wait for this long but I didn't have the energy to deal with her today. If I send it now, she's probably going to talk to me about this first thing in the morning when I'll be genuinely willing to talk to her.
"Diego's coming for the debut," Summer says suddenly. "And Clara." She's looking at her phone. She probably just got a text from them.
"No Gabriel? And no Isaac?" asks Nate.
"They've got college interviews."
"Man, I hate Clara." Nate doesn't really complain much but when it comes to that girl, he can talk non stop about how stupid and bossy she is. He also once said that she's the stereotypical mean girl from every mean girl movie ever and the fact that she's blond and that she was a cheerleader back in her middle school makes it funnier to me.
I, on the other hand, like Clara. She's cool, close with Summer and I, bitches about Nate behind his back and knows that I'll tell him what she said regardless of the fact that I'm her friend too. She was kind of uptight when I met her but I think it's Summer's company that made her chill out a bit.
"At least Diego's coming," Nate adds almost immediately. "Diego's amazing. I like Diego."
"I like him too and all but whenever I hear his name, Dora's Diego comes to my mind." Summer shrugs as if she didn't just say the one thing Diego's tired of hearing. "And anyway, they're not gonna stay around for long. Just for the show. That's it."
"I mean, what else would they stay for?" Nate smirks. "Lunch? Dinner?"
"If they'd stay here, I'd actually cook them dinner."
I raise my eyebrow. "You would cook them dinner?" I pretend to massage my forehead due to the ridiculous thing she just said. "The only thing you can cook is instant noodles and for the hundredth time, Summer, instant noodles isn't proper dinner."
She glares at me. "They're better than anything you can cook."
"Say that when you're over at my place the next time," I mumble under my breath.
That's when the notifications on my phone goes off. I reach for it, seeing the name from the screen and showing it to both of them. They lean in closer to see what's up, both their expressions turning playful and relaxed the moment they see her text.
Harley: no I'm not. Find someone else for your council crap.
Asher: Fill the form by tomorrow. I'll convince Roma to extend the deadline.
It's an easy job. Roma doesn't really care about how long it takes. The only thing that we can't change is the student council election date.
I keep my phone on the table, ignoring all the notifications that follow my reply. They keep on coming and I'm sure that Harley's mad at me about this but she won't be for long. She even calls me once but I don't pick it up. Summer laughs while Nate's amused, and we resume our conversation, continuing for another half hour before heading back to the campus.
I don't reply to her before I go to sleep. Ignoring texts and calls is something that I'm genuinely good at, and besides, I've got a fashion walk to worry about more than her.