THE LOCKER ROOM is filled with chatter and the pungent smell of girly odor and expensive perfume. Sawyer and I are bundled in a tight corner, busy getting changed for our next lesson, which is PE.
While tying my shoes, I can't help but think about what happened in the past hour.
After Biology, we all made our way to the cafeteria, where the girls and I got our food. We sat down at a table Sawyer told me is their group's 'usual spot'.
❀
"Ughh. I hate Xavier," Summer whines as she sits down opposite me.
"Why do you hate him today?" Sawyer questions the blonde, her tone telling me this happens regularly. "He's not as bad as you make him out to be and you kinda make it worse for yourself, no offense Sum."
"Well, for your information, Sawyer, today is the day he finally may have broken me down." Summer dramatically slumps in her chair, a small pout on her lips.
"Do tell," Eris chuckles beside me.
"He was annoying me in history, which isn't that unusual. But, and Adina can testify to this," Summer points to me, "he would not leave me alone for one second. He kept flicking me in the ear and laughing at me whenever I answered a question."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Sum." Bea empathizes, reaching to pat her hand.
"That's not even the worst part. Ohhhhh no, I had Chemistry with him last period, and of course, we're partners. When we were doing our experiment he just had to ruin it."
"What did he do?" Eris laughs at her annoyed expression.
"What did he not do? That's the question you should be asking. The experiment we were doing is like fifty percent of our grade for this semester, so it's pretty freakin' important. I told him, wanting to actually pass chemistry, that I'd do all the work."
"Let me guess, he messed it up somehow," Eris smirks as she puts her straw into her juice box.
"Oh, you know he did. He ended up putting in the wrong chemicals, and as soon as Mrs. Wilson saw the gigantic fuck up, let's just say she wasn't too happy. I got a forty-two. A freakin forty-two! My parents are gonna kill me."
"It's alright, Summer. I'm sure Mrs. Quinn will let you get some extra credit if you asked." Teagan soothes her, trying to hold back her laugh.
"Don't listen to her. I love her, but she and Xavier have had this 'rivalry' since they've arrived here," Eris tells me quietly. "Every day it's something new with them."
"I think she secretly likes him," Beatrice adds in, to which Eris laughs.
"As if. I'm sorry but I know the difference between a love-hate and hate-hate relationship, sweetie." She says, making me giggle. Bea rolls her eyes playfully.
"Well, I've read too many books not to know that love and hate is a very fine line," Bea cocks an eyebrow at her friend, to which we both shrug in possibility.
I turn to everyone else, finding some new faces have joined us, including the mysterious guy from Principal Davis's office. And just like last time, we both can't seem to look away from each other.
"Who's this?" He asks everyone, still looking directly at me.
Does he not remember me?
"Oh, this is our new roommate, Adina. Adina, this is Vaughn." Summer tells us before I cross my arms.
"Ah, so you're Vaughn," I say, trying to be as confident as possible. But I don't think it's working.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asks, sounding slightly offended but still, he looks amused.
"Oh, nothing. Just heard a lot about you from your friends actually." I tell him, smirking as I look towards Caspian and Chase.
After the boys explain to him what they told me, he turns back to me and puts out his hand for me to shake.
"Vaughn King." He says confidently to me as I look down at his hand, with a smirk etched across his face. Causing me to cockily raise my eyebrow questioningly.
Where have I heard that name before?
"Adina Ricci," I say, but instead of accepting the handshake, I gently move his hand down, being careful to not break eye contact.
Letting me see the small amount of shock he has towards my actions, his eyes widen slightly before returning to a neutral expression.
"Oh yeah, you're Vincent Ricci's daughter," Xavier says as I sit back in my seat.
"Yeah, but I prefer Adina," I say, making sure I don't seem too aggressive.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to offe–"
"No, no. It's fine, I just get that all the time. With my Mom as well."
"Dude! I love your Mom's movies." Chase enthusiastically tells me, making me laugh. "'The Date' is probably my favorite movie ever." At this, we all look at him weirdly, but to be honest I'm not surprised. "What? I love Rom-Com's." He pouts, looking down at the table.
Teagan reaches over and quickly pecks his bottom lip, which some of the boys, in turn, make fake gagging noises.
"Hang on a fucking sec. Your Mom's Anastasia James?" Caspian asks in disbelief and I slowly nod, nervously biting my lip.
You'd think I'd be used to this sort of attention by now but you would be completely wrong. I always get shy whenever someone brings up my parents. Not because I'm embarrassed about them, I'm very proud of what they have achieved in their life, but because of the expectations, people seem to have for me once they find out.
"Yeah, but I'd rather not talk about it if that's okay." They all nod, understandingly. Even Vaughn, who keeps looking at me curiously, as if he's trying to figure me out.
I don't realize it, but no one has talked for quite some time until Teagan tries to break the awkward silence.
An awkward silence fills our table, the only sounds coming from Summer, who is busy opening a chocolate wrapper and is struggling. Teagan sighs, breaking the silence.
"So... how's everyone's spaghetti?" All that I can hear is everyone making noises of recognition for what Teagan asked.
After a bit, everyone is in their own conversations until a nasally, high-pitched voice sounds around the table.
"Hi Vaughny," a short, red-headed girl greets mystery boy as she wraps her arms around him with a cocky smirk on her face.
"Get off me Mia," Vaughn grumbles at her, his face emotionless as he dismisses her.
"Babyyy, don't be like that." She tells him as she tucks a loose strand of hair behind his ear.
Some of the boys make gagging noises while the girls silently laugh as Vaughn pushes his face away from her grasp.
"Mia stop embarrassing yourself. He told you to get off him, and honestly, we wouldn't be too upset to see you leave either." Summer tells her with a passive-aggressive tone.
"Oh, hi Summer, trying out for track this year... again?" The Mia girl chuckles to herself, "actually, never mind. We all know you aren't getting on the team."
Mia smugly says as she takes her hands off of Vaughn and crosses them over her chest, her blue eyes zeroing in on me. "Who's this?" She questions, her voice laced with a disgusted tone.
"Adina," I tell her with raised eyebrows and an amused grin, looking her up and down.
She's definitely pretty, there's no doubt about it, but perhaps a bit too full of herself. Her school skirt reaches just below her ass. Not that I'm one to judge, but it doesn't leave much to the imagination. Especially considering she's wearing a pretty low-cut dress shirt, unbuttoned to show off her chest.
I mean if you got it, flaunt it.
Instead of the normal school socks or tights, she has paired her already revealing attire with black, knee-high stockings. Her deep, red hair falls down her back in soft curls, and bangs cover her forehead. Her face has been layered with a mountain of foundation and other make-up products that seem to be either unblended or have worn off since she applied it this morning.
All I can think as I look at this girl is, She can't be serious right now?
He literally told her directly to basically fuck off, yet here she is, asking questions as though she owns the place.
"Mia Olsen," she says with a smirk as if I should be grateful to know her fucking name or to even be talking to her. So, before I can think it through, I let my mouth run with no filter.
"When?" Confusion fills her face, her nose scrunching up as Eris silently laughs at my side.
"When, what?" Mia falls into my trap, eliciting a smile from me.
"When did I ask?" I narrow my eyes at her, which creates muffled laughs from around the table.
"Who even are you? Some rich girl who thinks she's all that? Sorry sweetie, but if you hadn't noticed, this school is full of girls like you." She scoffs at me, making me hold back my laughter as well.
"So, that would include yourself then." I smile sarcastically at her, making her look like a fish. Her mouth opens and closes, again and again until she snaps.
"Jealousy doesn't suit you, sweetheart." She flicks her hair over her shoulder with a smirk on her lips.
Can I bitch slap someone on my first day?
"Fuck off Mia. No one wants your cheap ass anymore, especially Vaughn. So don't come to our table and think you own us or something, 'cause babe, if it's any consolation, you don't." Eris sassily tells her, which makes Mia stomp off in the direction of her cheerleader friends.
"Jeez." I sigh, my eyes still glued to the back of the bitches head.
"Girl, it's only your first day and you've already gotten yourself an enemy. But, no one likes Mia anyway, so I think you're good," Summer says, trailing off into her thoughts at the end.
"She thinks just 'cause Vaughn and her hooked up last year that she's the shit. Life lesson, just because Vaughn can't keep it in his pants and he sleeps with you one time does not mean that you own the school, or us." Xavier continues, looking at the wall behind me in anger, gradually turning sarcastic at the end.
"Guys, I said I'm sorry, I didn't know she was a psycho." He turns to Blaise before saying, "no offense." To which Blaise waves him off and grunts.
"We did warn you, V." Caspian laughs, amused by his friend's obvious mistake.
"Whatever," Vaughn mumbles and rolls his eyes before going back to eating his food.
❀
"Adina!" I'm pulled out of my daydream by Sawyer pulling my arm, shouting my name.
"Sorry," I shake my head, "sorry. Yeah?"
"Come on, most people have gone in already." She says, nodding towards the door that leads to the sports hall.
I follow her out into a big hall full of students. A bunch are sat on the bleachers, while others are spread out across the room.
We spot some of the guys from lunch gathered near a set of free seats along the bleachers. Sawyer guides us towards them and when we sit down, Chase, Blaise, and Vaughn move to stand in front of us.
"Hey, guys!" Chase excitedly greets us as he sits beside me, throwing his arm around my shoulders.
"Chase," Vaughn warns, for some reason.
"What? I just wanted to say hi to the girls." He pouts making Sawyer and I laugh at his childishness. "How're you liking Caldwell so far?"
"It's been great, my roommate stinks though," I sarcastically tell him, nudging Sawyer jokingly. "But, seriously, besides the whole Mia incident, everything has been good."
"Glad to hear. And yeah, we just ignore her. It's like routine for us at this point."
"Is she... always like that?"
"Yeah, especially around us. She's not the biggest fan of the girls." Chase informs me with a wide-eyed expression before Sawyer continues;
"But mostly Eris and Summer. And I'm gonna assume you now as well."
"Why Sum and Eris?" I ask the two, curiously looking up at the others who had yet to speak. Although I highly doubt Blaise was gonna be having any type of conversation with me any time soon.
"Well, Eris's parents are family friends with Mia's parents. They've known each other since birth, but from what I know, Eris has never liked her." Sawyer tells me.
"And when Summer came to the Academy, Mia made it her mission in life to tear her down. Sports, academics, you name it. They were competing against each other. Still do." Chase concludes to which I nod in understanding.
I'm about to ask another question but I'm interrupted by a deep, loud voice coming from the middle of the hall.
"Everyone gather around," a middle-aged man shouts as he looks down at his clipboard. "I believe we have a new girl, introduce yourself." He says before looking directly at me with an encouraging smile.
"I'm Adina," I say with a shy smile, probably due to the number of unwanted stares I'm receiving.
"Okay," he sighs, satisfied with me, "we're playing dodgeball today, get into three teams of ten."
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sorry for not updating
everyday. i've officially finished
school and my year has been going out
a lot. but i'm going to try and do
a double update tomorrow.
hope you enjoyed :)