Ruin Me

8. Envy me

I woke up on Monday morning with no idea where I was. I stared confounded at the unfamiliar room around me. For a moment I believed that I was just in a crappy hotel room and mom would walk out the bathroom any second with a breathtaking smile on her lips.

She didn't of course, she never would smile at me again. Every morning I had to wake up and remember that she was gone, it was like she died everyday time and time again.

In reality, I was at Kings Bridge with a pit of dread wrapping itself tightly around my stomach. Today was Monday which meant the first day of a new school. Though I had been permitted to stay at Kings Bridge I couldn't go to school there. Instead I had to attend the public school twenty minutes down the road. Ainsley High.

It wasn't like I wasn't used to going to new schools and blending into the background. I'd been to more schools than I cared to remember, each time we moved it was a different school with new people and a new system. I eventually gave up on making friends because I knew that inevitably I would have to leave them behind. As a result I'd never really had a proper friend, something I wished I'd had more than anything.

So this was going to be more difficult than other times because now I actually had to get people to like me. Something I wasn't particularly skilled at. I'd been trained to be charming and charismatic but ruthless and cut throat, not kind and considerate. Not a friend.

I'd already resigned myself to defeat, if I set my hopes low I couldn't be disappointed. I wiped the fear from my body, being scared wasn't going to help anything so I went over and put my Arctic Monkeys CD on. As Florescent Adolescent filled the air I instantly started to feel more confident.

I danced around the room as I got ready, pulling on old denim jeans, a plain white t-shirt and baggy burgundy cardigan. I washed my face while nodding my head to the beat and singing along loudly. I swept a coat of mascara over my lashes, some lip balm on my lips and brushed my straight hair to get rid of my tangles. My whole body swayed to the beat and my mouth shaped the words automatically. I was so absorbed that I almost forgot that I had to go to school. Almost.

"Cara," there was a knock at the door, then before I had even moved it was pushed straight open, Nico strolled in casually.

"I could have been naked," I gaped at his intrusion.

"I know," Nico grinned smugly, "that was the aim."

"You're vile," I threw my hairbrush at him which he caught effortlessly.

"And you're going to be late," Grey stick a head in my room, "I'm driving you."

"You're what?" I raised a surprised eyebrow.

"School doesn't start until 9 for us but 8:30 for you and I'm the only one with a car here and your dad will be setting up his lesson, so I'm driving you. It's all sorted."

"Obviously we're coming," Mitch added as he came into my room too. That's when I noticed the uniform.

I'd missed it on Nico because he was just wearing a white shirt and black trousers, Grey was the same but as he stepped more into the room I could see he had a red and gold stripped tie hanging undone around his neck. Mitch however had no tie but instead wore a fitted royal red blazer with gold edging and a gold embroidered logo. I had to admit they all looked like Ralph Lauren models.

"Cara needs to go, it's 8," Sawyer chimed in as he too came in without asking. He was actually wearing the full uniform; black trousers, crisp white shirt, red and gold tie and the distinctive red blazer. Sawyer, like the other three looked undeniably handsome, the rich red complimented his dark skin beautifully.