Not long after, the bus came to a stop, and I walked out; I stopped on the pavement for the briefest moment to stare at the large and old, yet hauntingly beautiful and fancy, building in front of me.
The Berkshire Academy of Weston.
The private school for the rich and the corrupted. Kids of infamous judges, senators, government associates, and some of the highest paid lawyers and doctors in the United States.
I wasn’t one of them. My father was a high school teacher. My mother was a nurse. And I was the quiet and poor girl amongst all the famous, wealthy spawns of the devils themselves. I didn’t belong here. But I chose to be here.
48.2% of Berkshire Academy of Weston graduates end up at an Ivy League College – Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, or Harvard.
That little fact was the reason why I chose to enroll in this school during my junior year. Now, I was a senior at Berkshire. A few more months, and I’d be out of here.
I took in a deep breath and inhaled the fresh September air. It wasn’t too cold yet. The fall season had just begun, and the leaves were just starting to turn red, orange, and yellow. It was a beautiful time of year – the time where the trees end up naked, silently awaiting their rebirth once again. The end of something beautiful, while waiting for a new beginning.
“Lila!”
My thoughts came to a halt, and I turned to see Riley coming my way. She waved animatedly, and I couldn’t help but smile. Riley was a sweet, wild girl, and my only friend at Berkshire.
Her pretty blonde locks bounced as she hopped over to me. “Are you late, too?”
I nodded with a sigh. She perked up cheekily. “No way! Miss Smarty Pants is late? Jesus, I need to write this down. ASAP.”
The urge to roll my eyes was strong, but I refrained from doing so. “You have Advanced Calculus next, right?” I asked, switching the subject.
I usually loved to join in on the teasing, but I wasn’t in the mood today. Waking up late had made me a tad grumpier. My knee was sore and ached every time I took a step – a constant reminder of how amazing my morning had been so far. Grumpy Lila was no fun.
Riley looked thoughtful for a second. “Yeah. I do,” she responded after a long second. “You?”
“English. We have twenty minutes before our classes start.”
“I actually need to see my teacher before class. Did I mention I hate math? Yeah, I probably did a hundred times. We have a test next week, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to flunk it.” Riley’s normal cheerfulness disappeared, and her brows tensed with a frown. She looked deeply saddened for a moment, but just as quickly, her expression changed, and she was back to happy Riley once again. “I’ll see you at lunch?”
I grabbed her hand before she could leave. “If you want, I can help you this weekend with Calculus.”
She smiled brightly, her whole face shining like the moon. “Really? Thank you, babe. How about we talk more about it at lunch? We can pick a time and place.”
“Sounds good to me.” I let her hand go, and she waved before running through the gates.
I looked down at my phone. Fifteen minutes until my next class. It was enough time for me to grab an iced latte. Perfect. Maybe sugar would help my mood.
The coffee shop was only a few feet away, sitting right next to the campus. It was pretty much only visited by the students of Berkshire. It wasn’t lunch yet, so when I walked in, the shop was fairly quiet. I ordered myself an iced latte with extra whip cream and went to stand next to the heater. “Sugar” by Maroon 5 continued to play in my ear, and I softy hummed along to the song.
When a blast of cool air hit the back of my legs, I turned around to see a group of loud boys walking into the coffee shop. I instantly recognized a few of them from my classes. The Bennett Twins were part of the group. The boys kept the door opened, standing right at the entrance. Half of the group were wearing the required Berkshire uniform – pants, shirt, tie and blazer. The other half were in their gym clothes or football uniforms.
Jocks. Ugh.
Rich. Loud. Foul-mouthed. Annoying. A bit too wild. Everything I stayed away from, and everything I despised.
Whatever.
Ignorance was bliss. I turned back around and focused on my playlist instead, my foot tapping impatiently on the floor. The barista was taking forever, and I desperately needed my sugar. I could feel the group of boys coming closer to me, and I half-listened to them order their own drinks. In my peripheral, I could see them pushing each other around, bumping shoulders, and shaking with laughter. Their teasing rung louder than the music blasting in my ears.
“Here you go!” I lifted my head up when the voice called out in a singsong tone. Finally! My mouth watered as the young lady handed me the iced latte, and I almost drooled at the sight of extra whip cream. Heaven.
“Thank you.” I cleared my throat and sent her a grateful smile. God bless your soul, woman.
I swiveled around while simultaneously putting the straw into my mouth. But I never got the chance to take the first sip of my heavenly goodness. Nope. My happiness only lasted for two seconds flat.
Before I knew what was happening, a rock-hard wall bumped into me. I heard someone swear under his breath. It happened fast, too quickly for me to catch on until it was too late. The world spun and tilted on its axis. My eyes closed as I expected the impact of me hitting the floor, but my face didn’t kiss the ground. I stayed suspended in the air, my body bent backward.
Someone was holding onto my arm…really…really tightly. Two heartbeats later, I was back on my feet again. I finally opened my eyes, and a shaky breath expelled from my lungs.
The first thing I noticed was that his navy colored blazer was wet. My coffee… “Shit. Sorry. I am so sorry,” I muttered, absolutely horrified.
Then, I inwardly groaned. First – why was I apologizing? He bumped into me. His fault. Not mine. Second – My iced latte was gone.
My heart was still beating too fast and too hard after the little scare, and it felt like it would thump right out of my chest. Wait…
I looked down at myself and saw that my white shirt was soaked, and my pink bra was now quite visible to everyone. Oh, that was where my iced latte went. Amaaaazing.
Mood level: Extra grumpy with just a touch of bitchiness.
I let my eyes travel the length of the wall that bumped into me. Okay, not a wall then. He was definitely human. But a rock nonetheless. I had felt those hard muscles when he knocked me over. It was like a truck hitting me, and I swore he must have given me a concussion from that whiplash.
My gaze went up and up…and up. Jesus Christ, he was tall. I was basically a midget next to him at five foot two inches.
My eyes stayed longer on his stomach, and for a brief moment, I wondered if he had six-pack abs. His wide chest caught my attention next. He was tall and lean, but still muscular and a bit bigger for his age. I could instantly tell he played football – his strong arms and muscular shoulders told me so, and he had a gym/sports bag thrown over his right shoulder. His school blazer molded to his upper body perfectly. Deliciously.
Sweet Mother Mary… I was supposed to be angry, right?
When my gaze finally landed on his face, my eyes decided they’d been blessed. A classic gorgeous boy. Chiseled jawline that could give you a papercut if you touched it? Check. Piercing eyes? Check. Thick eyebrows? Check. Plump lips made for kissing? Check. Intense good looks? Double check. He was a fine specimen, and I wanted to put him under my microscope for a closer look.