Goldmont Girls: Secrets and Lies

Chapter 2: Kalea

That same morning, Bryan Teasherallen pulled up in front of Rory Ann Academy. Monica Teasherallen and Kalea Johan grabbed their Armani backpacks from the floor and jumped out of Bryan's blue Jaguar Sedan. Bryan was Monica's cute older brother. He had the same blue eyes as Monica, a British accent, and a flop of light hazel hair. Monica waved goodbye to her brother, who simply rolled his eyes and drove off. He took AP classes at the local Goldmont college with Kalea's older dorky sister; Rowane Johan.

"Ugh, he's finally gone. We will skip class and go to Romeo's," Monica instructed flatly, and tucked her BlackBerry into her backpack.

"Yes, finally," Kalea echoed, but looked back at Rory Ann pitifully as they walked in the opposite direction of the front doors.

Today was the first researching day of Rory Ann's huge science fair. Kalea had hoped to snag Chad as a last-minute partner, since she was so busy with her Sweet Sixteen party planning all week. Kalea knew for sure that her Sweet Sixteen was going to be big. Her parents were going away for the weekend, so the whole thing was at her family's summer house with an huge pool, a fog machine, a karaoke machine, a hot tub, and an energy drink bar. Kalea had made sure that her dad ordered gourmet food catering from the most expensive restaurant in town, installed a huge entertainment system, and hired a live band. Hopefully, Monica could sneak some drinks from her parent's liquor shelf.

Her Sweet Sixteen just had to be perfect, unlike her sister's. Kalea thought her sister Rowane was such a nerd. When she turned sixteen last year, she insisted on just a small dinner at a local Italian restaurant. No presents. No friends. No hot boy bands. The next day, she just went back to her Advanced Algebra classes at CIU, the local University. She didn't have any party to brag about; any new presents to show off. Bor-ing.

"Hurry, there's the metro!" Monica notified, and pointed to the bus stop two blocks away from Rory Ann.

The two girls sprinted to catch the bus before it left, barely making it. Kalea swiped her metrocard and they made way to two empty seats located at the back of the bus. Kalea slid into the side near the window and Monica sat beside her, their usual arrangement. Kalea looked outside the dirty window as the bus lurched, grunted, and moved forward. They sped by Rory Ann, the local ice cream shop, Chrissy Lamor's house, and some mansion Rowane always babysat at.

"Oh my God, Lea," Monica whispered into Kalea's ear and shook her arm lightly, using Kalea's special nickname for her.

Kalea tucked a curl behind her ear and gave Monica a side-glance. Monica's pink headband was slightly falling off, wisps of blond hair escaping down her face. Her sky-colored eyes were wide with shock.

"What is it?" Kalea asked curiously.

"Look who it is," Monica motioned to the seats across from us.

Kalea took a peek and almost gasped in fright. Casually scrolling through her pink-case Galaxy phone, sat her old friend Nikki Monroe. She looked pretty much the same, except even more beautiful than she used to be--if that was possible. She had wavy brown hair with light pink highlights, her skin was dark and tanned, there was concealer on her freckles, and she had an amazing sense of fashion. She was wearing a cute white halter top with a short yellow tiered skirt. Her Prada bag sat at her opened-toed sandaled feet.

Kalea took a glimpse of her disgusting Rory Ann Academy uniform and sighed. Ugh. If she knew she was going to ditch today, she would've worn something way cooler. She went back to staring at Nikki. Kalea just couldn't believe she was in Goldmont again.

 Back in elementary school, Nikki and Kalea had been best friends. They knew everything about each other, they had sleepovers every weekend, and loved to talk about bands, fashion, and boys. Nikki had always been a little bossy, threatening violence if she didn't get her way. She wanted to control Kalea's every move, until Kalea had enough. She confided her worries with Nikki's mom. Nikki wouldn't talk to her after that day, nor answer her calls. Two weeks later, just before seventh grade started, Nikki had moved to Europe without notice. Kalea hasn't seen or heard from her since. Rumor had it that her Dad striked big and whisked the whole family to an expensive mansion in London.