Out of all days, today my hair decided it would be a bad hair day. Great. I mumble a quick sorry to the lady I had bumped into as I was lugging my heavy and stuffed suitcase through the main gate. My brunette curls bounced in and out of my face, making it even harder to pick up the bunch of things that had fallen out of my handbag. "Okay", I say to myself softly. "Lip balm, wallet, water bottle, brush, mascara, and a map of the campus". I verbally tick everything in my to-have-in-bag list. Then, I pull out the suitcase handle and begin to drag it along again. The weather outside was slightly sticky, indicating a very probable storm later on in the day. Making today even worse than it already would be. For me, anyways. I pull out my iPhone from the back of my jeans. 11:22. Early as usual. We were all supposed to meet at quarter to twelve. Instead of wasting my time, I unfold the map and decide to study it. I set aside my suitcase and get comfortable on the bench. "Westkidders Private Boarding School for 15 to 21". Below the title is an elaborate map, marking out all the places within campus. I unlock my phone and go to the notes the co-ordinater had given us. His name was Adrian something. 'Our rooms are in the East Chambers. You may pick up your keys at the lobby, if you arrive early. Settle in! This is your new home for a week!" I frown at the text message on the screen. A week. 7 days. I don't know how many hours, but I'm pretty sure it's a lot. More than 100 for sure. 100+ hours of my life I will never get back. Well, that and all the other years before the last two. I look closely at the map again. I was in the main garden. And that means the lobby was right about-
"Ashley!" I hear a voice shout. "Ashley!" I look around and find a girl, flailing her arms like she's trying to stop a plane. I can see that she too has got a suitcase with her. I can hear the rattling of its wheels getting louder as she walks towards me on the cobblestone pathway. "Make friends", I tell myself. "Or re-friend them". "Hi", I say extending my hand. "It's nice to-" She pulls me into a hug, interrupting me once again. Finally she breaks away. She beams at me, and for the first time I realise how pretty she actually is. Her dark eyes gelled so beautifully with her jet-black hair, and she wasn't too think or too fat. Just right. Was she a model? "Ashley Thompson", she says, breathlessly. "Wow. Look at you! Still your drop-dead gorgeous self. You've not changed a bit!" I smile at her. "Oh shit. I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Britney. Britney Davidson". I smile at her. "It's nice to meet you AGAIN Britney", I
laugh. She laughs a bit too. "We used to be best friends", she says after a moment. "We were going to go and model together. Be the best looking women on the planet." Wait. What? I wanted to be a model? "Yes. You did", she sighs, making me realise I had voiced out my thoughts. "You would have been one of the best", she continues. "But that's okay. Did you end up becoming an architect?" I shake my head vigorously. "Oh", she says, suddenly becoming a bit sad. "Why, what's wrong?" I ask. I just met my ex-best friend and she's already upset. Great going, Ashley. Great going. "Nothing. That's why you left school. When we were 18, you wanted to study architecture and since Westkidders didn't have that course, you went away to another school". I give her an apologetic smile. How hard it must have been, to see your best friend ditch all the plans you had made to follow her own passion and not end up pursuing it? I feel like shit right now. "It's okay. That was like, 15 years ago", she brightens up, much to my satisfaction. "So what do you do now?" I clear my throat. "I'm a lawyer. I'm based in Paris". "Oh so are you fluent in French?" "Yes. Only the court I work for functions in English so, the language wasn't a job requirement. And what is it that you do, Britney?" "I figured, you know, it doesn't matter how I enter the fashion world. I just had to do it". "So you became a model?" "Nuh-uh, girl. I became a fashion designer". "And where do you work out off?" "Oh. I was in Australia. Melbourne, to be precise. But then the office I was working for shut down so I shifted to Brooklyn and started my own company. You might have heard of it... It's called 'Parade'." My jaw drops. "Might have?" I ask, still gawking. "That's like one of THE biggest names in the fashion industry!" She blushes a little, surely glowing with self-pride. I mean, who wouldn't? I have quite a few clothes from Parade and though they're slightly expensive, they're all my favourites. "Shall we?" She asks, motioning towards the direction of the lobby. "Sure", I say and we start to pull our suitcase on the pathway. So far, this hasn't been bad at all. Except for my hair.
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"So this is where we used to eat lunch", Britney says, showing me a large room with a lot of benches and tables. We had unpacked a little and relaxed for about 5 minutes in our rooms. To get a feel for it or whatever. Then I had asked Britney if she could give me a your of the place. Now, we were standing in front of the school lunch room. "Whenever the school cooked chicken pot pie, you would eat so much. It was your favourite!" I laugh weirdly. "Why's that funny?" Britney asks, perplexed. "I'm a vegetarian now", I say, suddenly feeling shy. "What?" Britney asks. "You used to love meat! Like you were 98% chicken or something". I frown at her and then burst out laughing. No wonder we were best friends. "Okay, now moving on, this is the chemistry lab..."
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Nothing says awkward like being in a room with a bunch of people who you went to school with but don't remember at all. "Britney? Is that really you?" A man asks, entering the lobby. "Finn! Of course it's me. But is that really you?" 'Finn' laughs heartily. "Apparently, yes it is me." He says, hugging Britney. "Has anybody else arrived?" He asks breaking away and looking around the room. His eyes land on me. "Ashbeee!" He half yells in a sing-song manner. Ashbee? What the hell? "Finn!" I reply in the same way. "Man, where do you get those anti-ageing pills?" He asks pulling me I to a hug. A fresh wave of minty cologne hits me. "You haven't changed. At. All." I laugh. "Just out of interest, why did you call me Ashbee?" I ask. "Oh yes, I heard" he says, his face darkening. "You used to be terrified of bees. You hated them. So me being my annoying immature self, I decided to call you that". I laugh. "You may have become more mature-looking", Britney adds. "But I know you haven't changed". He laughs. "Well I wish I hadn't", he says, showing us his hand. I spot a thick silver band around his forefinger. "Oh! You're married!" Britney exclaims. "When!?" "2 years ago", he sighs. "Marylyn and I have two kids; twins: Stephanie and Sophie. They're almost a year old now". Britney and I say 'Aww' at the same time. But then we're joined by yet another man and a girl, who seems like she's still 18. And they're followed by a lady with red hair. And two more men. And a bunch of other people. Soon, the lobby is jam packed and noisy as hell. I give out a rather deep sigh. This was going to be a long week.
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Hey y'all! Sorry for not updating in ages :3 I have been busy. VERY busy. So please put up with me... I'll be better from June.
I promise.
I'll have a schedule for updating all my books.
Okay, I'm sleepy now. Bye xxx
