Sunsets

˗ˏˋ Chapter Three 'ˎ˗

After breakfast and coffee, Elaine went to class and found a seat in the front. It was art class, which meant she had to work with Camille again. The teacher told everyone to find their partners, but Camille was nowhere to be seen. After Elaine pulled out her computer and notebook, Camille walked in, visibly in a rush. Her hair was slightly messy, way messier than usual, her lipstick slightly smudged, and her cheeks flushed. Everyone stared as she walked in and sat down next to Elaine but everyone assumed she just slept in or something like that. Elaine knew she hadn't slept in, she had seen Camille in the cafe earlier. There was definitely something going on but Elaine decided to focus on the work. Camille was extremely good at doing research. Elaine was trying to catch up with the blonde's extremely effective work tempo. By the end of the class, they were turning in the project, way before anyone else. They still had a week left before the deadline but they were done already.

Elaine walked to her next class, which was her Latin class. It wasn't that Elaine loved Latin or anything, but she had to pick some extra language classes. During the class, everyone had to partner up with the person sitting next to them, which in Elaine's case was a tall, blonde guy with a playful aura. He smiled at her softly and introduced himself. He had a boyish voice but still sounded mature.

"Hi, my name is Louis," the guy said, with a smile.

"I'm Elaine," said Elaine, giving him a soft nod.

The class passed by and the two got to know each other a bit. They were talking while walking out of class, when Louis seemed to spot someone. Elaine tried to see who he had spotted but had genuinely no idea. Louis smiled brightly and looked at Elaine again.

"Do you wanna meet my girlfriend? She's amazing. Like she's so cool and so nice and so beautiful and so- Okay, yeah, come on." Louis was smiling brightly as ever.

The two walked over to a girl with dyed, dark red hair. Elaine found her familiar but couldn't quite place who the girl was. Louis introduced the two of them to each other. The girl's name was Jules.

"Oh, you're that girl that always orders espressos at the cafe!" Jules smiled.

"Yeah, yeah" Elaine nodded. So that's where she recognized her from. From Jules working at the cafe.

Elaine was very awkward, always, around everyone. She had never had real friends. All she had ever done was try to live up to the standards that made her parents as proud of her as her older siblings. Elaine was trying to laugh along and talk. She was being as nice as she could. She had taken somewhat of a liking to both of them. Elaine exchanged numbers with the two of them and went to her next class, which was English. It was nothing special, just a lecture and a new set of homework and notes to clean up and arrange.

During her lunch break, Elaine ran to the cafe, to get herself a small something to eat and a coffee. She got it as a takeaway, to ensure she wouldn't be late for her next class. She ate in the lunch hall, sitting with Louis and Jules. Elaine noticed Camille walking past. Jules and Camille stared each other down and Louis's grip tightened on Jules's hand.

"Woah, what was that?" Elaine asked, confused.

"Ugh, Camille is a massive bitch. That's all you need to know," Jules whispered to Elaine, careful no one would hear.

"That much I know," Elaine said, "But did something happen between the two of you, or am I reading this wrong?"

"Okay, so Camille and I are both from like, pretty high-end families, and because of our parents, we used to be very close friends as kids. But, when we turned about thirteen, she started hanging out with older girls and basically just bitches and she became super rude and selfish and just a massive pain." Jules explained, keeping her voice low.

Elaine nodded along, understanding.

The lunch ended and she had to go to her history class, which she unfortunately had with Camille. The class started, Camille walked in and seemingly the only empty place to sit was next to Elaine. Camille sat down next to Elaine and leaned over to whisper.

"Hanging around losers, are you?" Camille said, in a snarky tone.

Elaine decided to ignore her, the best she could do. The class was long but easy for Elaine. She answered every question she could, feeling Camille's annoyance boiling. At some questions, both their hands shot up. It felt like a contest of knowledge, and Elaine was winning it by far. In the subject history, at least, She knew Camille would beat her if this was some sort of science or mathematics. The next class Elaine had was music, which she found out she had with Jules. Life is so much easier when you have someone you know you can talk to. The music lesson passed by, it wasn't very challenging, but not boring either. Elaine's last two classes passed by quickly. The remaining classes were geography and technology. She actually had Louis in her technology class, he was the nicest guy she had ever met. He was respectful to others, always making sure people felt comfortable. Elaine noticed Louis had a bunch of friends.

Elaine made herself a salad for dinner and went to take a bus out to the closest mall with Louis and Jules. Her ideal afternoon was being curled up with a book or her computer, or going out for a walk but this wasn't all bad. They had fun, ate ice cream, went to hang out in a local park, and swung on some swings at an empty playground until the sun started to set and the last bus to their school was going. The group sat in the backseat of the bus, so all three could sit together. Louis and Jules were very comfortable with displaying affection in public and it was cute. It was cute how brightly Louis smiled when he talked to Jules and how Jules's eyes lit up around him. The three of them got to the school and all of them walked to the girl's part of the dormitories and the two girls found out their dorms were on the same floor.

The day left Elaine exhausted, she took a warm and calming shower, washed her face, brushed her teeth, and changed. She did homework and cleaned up notes, while drinking a cup of tea and eating a granola bar, as usual, and went to bed early as she was very tired. She fell asleep with a soft smile on her face. She finally had someone she could call a friend. Even better, she had two people she could call friends. In her opinion, it was a good day.

Word count: 1173