chapter 2

The three girls stood behind me-- the ones I followed to the lounge yesterday. Were these the mean girls from fiction movies? Weren't they supposed to have platinum blonde hair and piercing blue eyes?

The one in the middle had evenly glowing tanned skin, a radiant hazel eyes with thick lashes, slim-- but fit-- figure, and a healthy volumized brown hair. She was a goddess to be exact, and her vanilla scent smelled sophisticated. She was about my height-- five foot eight but a few inches taller because of her heels.

She looked at me with her bedazzling eyes and shot me a curious stare.

"Am I getting to your way?" I asked, moving to the side. Her eyes trailed on me and the two girls beside her started whispering.

" 'you new here?" she asked. Someone from Kingsley asked me the same question. It must've been the guy in the Harley.

Kingsley's full of treacherous people. The things he uttered whispered in my ear.

"Yeah . . . Why?" I responded, weirded by her.

She plastered a smile, glancing at the two girls beside her and nodded. We were now starting to create a horde of students as their murmurs filled the hall.

"You seem alone," she nodded to me, apathetic. "Your name is swirling around the campus and I must've heard it from someone. Lala, right?"

Why the hell was my name already swirling around Kingsley? Seriously, did I really draw that much attention? I had only been here for like five seconds.

My feet were glued to the ground, though I wanted to run away from this awkward situation. Their sudden appearance bothered me a lot.

"I'm not sure if I'm really the person who you're talking about," I nervously responded, backing away from her.

She chuckled and showed off her perfect set of white teeth. Then the other girl with an olive skin, blue-green eyes, pouty lips, and a luminous wavy brown hair folded her arms above her chest. A look of distaste drawn across her face.

"Kourt, come on. You're wasting your time," she said irritatedly, rolling her eyes. Yes, she was probably wasting her time.

She ignored her remark and scrutinized me instead as if I was a test she needed to solve.

"It might seem sudden but hey," she smiled, extending her hand for a handshake. The students began to babble louder and some were even enthusiastic to see my reaction, "Kourtney Devaraux, captain of the cheerleading team."

I shook her hand and gripped the strap of my bag. This was probably the weirdest thing that ever happened in my entire life aside from the chaos I was facing.

"These are Amanda Ramsey and Emma Miller," she introduced. It wasn't necessary though, I didn't need an introduction. I would probably have Nick babbling about them during lunch meals. By the way, where the hell was he?

I guess Amanda was the one with an olive skin and Emma was the girl on her left-- srawberry blonde hair, a blooming fair skin, and pink pouty lips that seemed to smirk a lot.

"Have a nice day," Kourtney said before strutting away.

In my honest opinion, I was literally weirded out by her. I thought she was supposed to give snide remarks about people she wasn't fond of like a typical high-school queen. But I couldn't deny how gorgeous they were.

I shook my head in disbelief and headed to the natatorium.

~*~

I got the schedule for the swimming tryouts, and I was hoping for the best. Currently, I was sitting with Nick at the cafeteria. He made sure to accompany me on a daily basis since I was new and had no one to talk to.

"So in Chemistry class, we were taught a basic chemical experiment and Lindsey, my partner in the project, accidentally poured the wrong substance in our work," he said, giggling in amusement. I wasn't really focusing on the story because I was studying his accent precisely. "Then, unfortunately, we got F for that. It was so embarrassing."

"Didn't you blame Lindsey for what happened?" I asked, laughing along with him.

"No one will blame a council's president, silly." He rolled his eyes and ate a spoonful of his food. "This mash could've tasted better with thicker gravy," he remarked, referring to his food.

"By the way, I ran into Kourtney on my way to Mr. Grey awhile ago. She seems to act weirdly," I said, causing Nick to almost throw-up his food.

The look on his face was unreadable. His eyes widened, and his mouth gaped. He avoided my gaze, but the horrified look on his face was apparent.

"What in bloody hell does she want from you?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"That's the question I don't even need to know." I shrugged before leaning on my chair.

Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head. He remained silent, as his face became serious. What's going on?

"Is there something wrong?" I asked, leaning forward to examine his face. It was unreadable which was odd.

"Nothing," he shortly answered.

I snort out a scoff and nodded my head.

Speaking of the goddess of royalty, Kourtney entered the cafeteria and strutted towards the counter. They were like supermodels, cat-walking down the aisle.

They had this glamorous look that never failed to mesmerize anyone.

"They're really pretty," I remarked.

"Her sister is so different from her," Nick replied as he looked at them.

"Lindsey?"

Then he shot me a surprised look and uttered, "How'd you know?"

"Lindsey and Kourtney have the same surnames, of course I would know," I said and finished my food with one last bite.

Then after a few minutes of silence, someone interfered. The familiar sophisticated scent made me recognize the person standing next to our table. It was her.

"Hey, guys." She plastered a smile, arms crossed above her chest.

Here we go again. I drifted my eyes to her, wondering why she approached.

"Hey there, Kourtney, " I greeted, plastering a half-smile.

But she was facing Nick instead, while he avoided her gaze. He looked uncomfortable while Kourtney just couldn't help but smile.

"Lala . . . You know him?" she asked, pointing at Nick.

"He's a friend."

"Nicholas." She nodded. "Are you sure you know him?" She chuckled.

Kourtney took a glance at those two girls near the counter and smirked when she averted her gaze towards me.

"I'm not quite sure. It's been only two days since we first met so I'm trying to get to know him," I reasoned out.

She was rather amused by it and glanced at Nick, expecting a response from him. She lifted her brows and leaned forward to examine his face.

"Oh, won't you look at that. What happened, Nicholas? Can't even look at my face huh," she teased.

I was pretty sure there was something unlikely going on within these two. The way Kourtney was trying to push Nick's button was weird. I couldn't discern his expression. It was just unreadable.

"Kourtney, what in bloody hell brought you here?" he irritatedly asked, leaning away from her.

She chuckled and flitted her gaze to me. Smirking, her hazel eyes shot me an amused stare.

"I just wanted to invite Lala. There's a party at our house on Friday, I figured you might celebrate the second semester with us." Then she gave me a wide smile and convincing eyes.

"A party?" I asked. She nodded immediately. "Me?"

"Yup," she responded, popping 'p'.

What was I supposed to do at a high school party? Get drunk? Smoke weeds? See a bunch of underaged teens fucking their life up? There were so much more worth spending time than being stuck in non-productive things.

"I'm not into parties, sorry," I declined and shook my head in disagreement. She looked taken aback and raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Just fantastic," she sarcastically said. She clasped her hands together and pursed her lips before speaking, "You're probably missing out. Anyway, I'll leave you guys be."

She strutted away towards the counter, and we were left speechless. Nick didn't seem to like being around Kourtney. I guess something really bothered him and I couldn't exactly tell what she did that pushed his buttons. Not that I was being nosy, but he might be the reason why Kourtney was trying to talk to me. Weird.

I was finishing my food up and the awkward silence filled the gap between Nick and me. I sighed in frustration, rolling my eyes to him.

"She's nice, but why was she inviting us?" I asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Because she's Kourtney. She invites everybody," he responded. He continued eating his meal while I just stared at him curiously.

"You know her that well?" I asked.

"Fine," he sighed. "She's just the typical queen b who loves playing around with people. Trust me, I know her more than anyone in this school."

~*~