The Unclaimed Throne

Chapter 1

"Fuck!" I cursed as my bedroom door opened and scattered all my papers that I had spent nearly thirty minutes organizing. I looked up to glare at whoever interrupted me, but my expression softened at the sight of my boyfriend Jackson.

"Hey, babe! I didn't realize you were coming over," I said, smiling. He didn't smile back. "Is everything okay?" I asked, getting worried.

"Alyssa... we need to talk." Shit.

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"What now?" I yelled as the door opened yet again, an hour later. My mascara was running down my face and my papers were hopelessly out of order. "Fuck." I blinked furiously until I saw the stunning face of my one true soulmate Maria.

"Language, Lyss. There are children here," she said breezily, walking in and perching gracefully in my plush blue chair. The 'children' she spoke of rolled their eyes as they walked in together and sat.

"I'm literally older than you, Harper," Leo said, using Maria's last name.

"Physically? Yes. Mentally? Never," she responded, staring into space dramatically before bursting out laughing.

"Hey, Soledad," I said to the last member of our friend group. She smiled softly and waved, her curly black hair falling into her face.

"And I'm emotionally older than all of you," she said to the group, and Maria conceded the point.

"Anyway. Alyssa. We're not letting you sit here and mope over a guy who's middle name is Cornelius. You deserve better," Leo said.

"It's only been three months since you started dating," Soledad reasoned.

"Besides, he's a man," Maria said, rolling her eyes. "Gross." I smiled in spite of myself.

"I just don't want to think about it anymore," I said softly.

"Well... there's this party tonight..." Leo, said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Yeah, but I have three more papers to write." I said, groaning.

"We'll help you, then you'll be done in time to go with us," Soledad said cheerfully.

I stared at her in disbelief. Her idea of a good time was usually a romantic movie and a glass of wine, not a college party at some frat house. "You want to go too?"

She fidgeted with her skirt, her tanned skin flushing. "Catherine will be there," she mumbled, and I smiled. She had the biggest crush on Catherine, a girl from our Ethics class.

"Fine," I groaned. "But only if my papers get done." Maria squealed happily and slid down next to me. "I have a psychology paper, British lit paper, and a paper on Diogenes. Who wants what?"

Maria, an art history major, and Leo, a music business major, took the British Lit paper. Soledad took the psychology paper, since we were in the same class, so I went to work on the Diogenes paper. He was insane. He literally lived in a barrel because he saw a mouse do it.

Two and a half hours later, it was ten after seven and we were done. I quickly proofread the papers, and they looked good, so I pronounced them done. A cheer rose, primarily from Leo, and Soledad looked pleased in the quiet way of hers.

"Come on, Lyss, you gotta shower! Wipe of that smudged mascara and everything him." Maria pulled me up into the bathroom and turned on the shower and I stripped and brushed my hair. "I'll pick out clothes for us while you're doing that." In the other room, I could faintly hear Leo showing Soledad his latest song.