Carrington Academy

Chapter 2

Hey guys! 
Here's chapter 2 :) I dedicated this chap to xstaygold because she made the amazing cover for this book for me! :D 

Julia :)

~*~ 

Chapter 2

Angie. For one, she was 5 years younger than my dad. She’s famous because she hosts a talk show, and still is. Crimson Hills was a famous, posh place for the rich because of Carrington sitting right in it and the number of celebrities that live here. So everyone knew who Angie McDermott was, now Angie McDermott-Taylor. She, too, was a divorcee. Her first husband was the famous Hollywood actor, Craig Jones. Why she divorced one of Hollywood's A-list (not to mention good-looking) stars, I will never know.

They bought a house that was next to Crimson Beach. Basically our backyard was a beach. But nevertheless, they still had a wide outdoor pool. The house was modern and very spacious. Dad had specially given me one of the few rooms that faced the beach. He knew I loved beaches. The room itself had a walk-in wardrobe, a toilet the size of my room back home and a king-sized bed.

I didn’t bother to unpack straight away. Instead, I changed into my favourite black bikini and wore a sundress on top. I grabbed a towel, slipped into slippers and headed to the beach behind. Angie and Dad were at the kitchen, Angie flipping through a magazine while Dad was cooking something that smelt good.

  “Hi Rose,” said Angie cheerily, pushing up her reading glasses and looking up to me. “Going for a swim?”

  “Yeah, I want to check out the beach,” I smiled back. I had nothing against Angie, she was very nice.

  “Be careful, dear.” Dad said, glancing at me before turning back to the stove.

I carefully slid the sliding door to the back open. I realized our back yard was pretty big, the pool was in the middle of the back compound, blue and clean. I walked pass the pool and towards the beach that was a little far ahead.

As I approached the beach, I noticed there were beach chairs lined up by the beach, all carefully spaced apart. There were many chairs lined up across the whole beach. It was evening so it was cool. I breathed in the air and smiled, I missed beaches.

When I thought there was no one, I took off the sundress and kicked off my slippers, ready to get the feel of the sea water. The wind was blowing my hair, ruffling it.

  “Boo,” Someone said in my ear, I let out a yelp in surprise and whipped around.

  “Alex?” I was sure. He was grinning from ear- to-ear, obviously proud of scaring the daylight out of me. I thought I was alone. But obviously I thought wrong. Then I realized he was topless, only wearing a pair of beach shorts, barefoot. I couldn’t help but stare at his abs. He was hot. “What are you doing here?”

  “Taking a swim too, cupcake,” He said, still grinning. I rolled my eyes.

  “You know what I mean.” I said, resting a hand on my hip. “And, cupcake, seriously?”

  “Yes, seriously, cupcake, and well, I spotted you coming out from Angie’s house from mine.” He explained, “And then it all clicked. We’re neighbors!” My jaw dropped. He chuckled and ran off to towards the beach. “Are you coming or not?” He yelled to me. “Nice bikini, by the way!” I looked down and froze; I was wearing my bikini all along.

I digested all the information as I slowly walked towards the sea. Alex from the plane was my neighbor? Ugh. He was a bit of a jerk in the plane. But after all, we’re both going to Carrington. I might need as much help as I can. Might as well make friends with Alex, right? Then, I fastened my pace towards the breath-taking sea.

  “How long have you stayed here?” I asked him casually, as we walking deeper in. The cool sea water caused me goose bumps but felt calming.

  “About all my life,” He said simply as he pulled out a deflated ball from his back pocket. “What about you?”
  “Never been here in my life,” I said splashing some water, “I am only here because Angie and my dad are engaged and my dad wants to see me before I leave to Carrington.”

  “Figures why I’ve never seen you before, cupcake,” He laughed a little as he blew in the ball.

That was pretty much how we spent our evening; both of us throwing questions at each other while playing with the beach ball he brought. It was fun getting to know him. Our fun was cut short when I heard Angie shout for me to come in. I groaned a little and stopped throwing the ball.

  “Guess I have to go, Alex,” I said, “Bye.”

  “Bye, cupcake.” He said, then he did the unexpected, he kissed my cheek. I froze. “See you tomorrow, cupcake!”

He left me standing there, frozen as he laughed and went back in his house.

~*~

Turns out, Angie and Dad, both, had whipped up a home cook meal from the cookbook Angie’s celeb cook friend had given her. It was plain delicious. It was really tasty. I didn’t know Dad could cook, honestly.

Throughout dinner, we chatted casually. I told them about Alex, hoping I could find out who his parents were. Angie smiled brilliantly when I talked about Alex.

  “Oh, Alex’s parents have been my best friends since forever. Josh and Katie were, in fact, the ones who got me my role on the talk show. They’re absolutely wonderful, great people. Alex’s a nice boy too.” She just plain, loved them. Well, that was good, right?

Once I started the topic of Alex, Angie couldn’t stop talking. Apparently, Josh and Katie were her best friends from high school. They absolutely hated each other at first, but then fell in love after they graduated. Angie seemed very happy that they finally got together. Then, they got married before Angie’s first marriage and then came Alex.

After dinner, I went to my room to make myself comfy. I unpacked a few necessities and changed into some short shorts and a tank top. I put my hair up into a high ponytail and took out my laptop. I then sat on the bed, with the laptop on my lap, and started surfing the net.

After a while, I heard a faint tapping noise on my window. Tap, tap, tap. And then, it repeated. It got louder and louder. I slipped the laptop off my lap and opened my window and looked down. Down on the ground stood Alex in a black jacket and beach shorts. I looked at him wide-eyed.

  “What are you doing?” I half-yelled half-whispered.

  “Relax, cupcake,” He laughed, “Come down.”

  “What? How? No way,” I exclaimed with the same tone.

  “Just jump and I’ll catch you.” I scoffed. Like it was that easy. He looked at me pleadingly, “Do you need me to serenade you like Rapunzel?”

  “What- no! I can come down, shut-” He already started.

  “Rapunzel, rapunzel, let down your hair!” He cried, waving his hands up in the air. It looked so funny I giggled. He was grinning.

  “Ok fine, just promise you’ll catch me.” I looked back to my room. Angie and Dad won’t be calling me, right? I quickly shut my laptop and braced myself for the fall.