icarus

iv. whites and silvers

"Do you like this shirt?" Raven asks, dark eyes lined with wings sharp enough to cut as she takes out a shirt from her closet.

Yara's hand are fiddling with the letter that Atlas gave her in the elevator. Lithe fingers drumming on the thin piece of paper that had blended into the mahogany table. She looks up, and languidly pushes her hand under her chin, responding with a lazy, "Hm?" Raven pauses before the full length mirror in her walk-in closet as she repeats her question. Her shiny lips purses, and eyes filled with skepticism. "I like the peasant sleeves." Yara compliments.

Vivienne burst into Raven's room, her body clad in a white sleeveless gown that barely grazes the middle of her thigh. "Why do you own something that has the word peasant on it anyway?" She critiques. "You look gorgeous babe, but those better be paired with a skirt. Remember that scholarship student from last year that wore jeans that ripped? I heard she still hasn't worn jeans infront of the seniors." She exclaims, her bloody lips curling in pity. Raven rolls her eyes, and put the shirt on, pulling her braids in a half up, half down do.

Yara herself was dressed in Oscar de la Renta. A white fitted bodice gave way to a summer dress-like ending with flair, creating a yin and yang contrast with her dark skin. Makeup is kohl around her eyes, and lipgloss. Her hands are decorated with her pen, intricate designs all over her palm.

"By the way, who's the scholarship student this year?" Raven asks, slipping on her rings. Vivienne walks back into her room and out again with a purse, the green and red Gucci logo a terrible contrast with the whites and silvers of her aesthetic.

Yara shrugs uninterestedly, knocking on the desk. "Zane might've mentioned it to me, but I forgot."

Raven chuckles, and pats Yara's head. Just as she is about to speak, Vivienne interrupts with a whine. "Well? Can we leave now? The party starts in four minutes." Yara nods, and walks out their dorm. She brushes a waist length lock that had fallen in her face over her shoulder, and locks the door of their room.

The school organizes – more like they know about the party but don't dare to say anything considering who threw it – a party for them at the beginning of the school year. She almost always didn't attend but Atlas is waiting for her at the party. Kira's waiting for her by her door since her roommates refused to let her stepsister in. Zane is about to knock on the door when she opens it, and he still knocks her forehead.

She catches the skin of his palm and tugs harshly, ignoring the way his lips curl in a mischievous smile. "Ready, ladies?" He asks, one hand in his pocket. Kira purses her pink lips, her dark hair in loose curls. Her gown is Ellie Saab, the same Ellie Saab gown that Yara had grown out of and had given Mother to alter for her. No wonder I never got it back. Kira notices Yara's eyes and fiddles awkwardly on her feet, her face red.

"C'mon Z, we need to leave now or we'll be late." Vivienne says, slipping from beside her and gesturing for everyone to leave. Thomas walks out from the elevator and Zane's eyes dim with irritation.

Thomas spots Zane and the girls, and his murky blues lit up. "I was looking for you all. I suppose you're waiting for me but there's no need. We can leave now." Yara rolls her pretty eyes derisively, and Zane chortles, his hand on Yara's shoulder as they walk into the elevator that Thomas has just come out of.

"You guys go ahead. I've got things to take care of." Yara pats her brother's cheek, her breath hitching at the thought of what she is about to do.

Kira steps forward, her eyes locking on Yara as though the darker skinned girl would vanish any second. The others have already headed into the elevator as Kira says in a tone only both of them can hear. "I can come with. It'll be quick and we'll head back to the party, right? Where are we going again?"

Yara smiles coyly at her, the words leaving her glossy lips coated in poison. "I don't think when Mother said to try to shadow me, she meant like a guard dog." She doesn't wait for a response as she walks into the stairway that leads to the roof, wondering what exactly Atlas Harding wants from her.

**********

The roof is a greenery that the earth club had been using since Yara entered the school. So in the midst of roses and other plants, is Atlas, flicking his lighter continuously. He is dressed in a white sweater and white, meticulously pressed trousers, two silver necklaces that sat on his collarbone. Yara breathes slowly when he looks up at her, his smile nothing but pure seduction.

His lips curl. "I thought you wouldn't come."

"I was curious." Yara walks up the stairs, her legs stiff from the cold. She flips her hair over her shoulders, looking down at the empty building that hold their classes. She saunters to the edge of the roof that is restricted by the railing, and rests her elbow on the cold metal, eliciting shivers from her.

Atlas follows her to the railing, his hands curling against the metal. His eyes fix against the strobing lights from the hall. "Isn't curiosity dangerous?"

"Would you rather I hadn't come?" She asks instead, ignoring the way her eyes fight to stray from his alluring multicolored ones. Her legs almost buckle under the weight of the eyes on her, and his amorous smile.

His chuckle is deliriously low. "Of course not."

There is an ambiguous tension in the air, one that doesn't go away as his caramel tinted eyes run up her arms to her lips, one that makes Yara avoid his eyes. "Why'd you call me out here, Atlas?" She questions softly, masked anxiety at what he wants from her.

"I need your help with something." He starts, and then flicks the cap of his lighter again and again. "My father's a huge fan of a certain artist that you seem to know." Yara's calm facade almost slips into a twisted mess of shock and awe but she regains her composure and let a coy smile lift her lips. "Z." Her hands shake and almost lets her face twist into shock. "Father's obsessed with them, and I'm in need of his favour so I decided to be filial and ask if you'd come out of retirement and make a portrait for his study."