Decor quod Bestia (A Beauty and the Beast Retelling in Modern Day)

What day is it? And in what month?

The hot sun beat down upon me as the heat of the July day wrapped its heavy arms around me. There was a light sweat on my forehead as I walked with my friends to the Science Hall. We were about thirty minutes early for our summer class but we would sit in the hallway to wait for the Professor to unlock the door. In my arms I carried a dark forest green binder filled with notes already and it was only the fifth class. I looked over to my left at my friend Earn, who walked with assurance in her pink hoodie and light jeans. I looked over to my right were my friend Alyssa walked slowly, the light breeze catching strands of her hair, and the sun turning it a unique shade of golden that matched her hazel eyes with the contrast of night and day.

 If an outsider saw us together they would not understand how all three of us could look so different and have such different personalities but yet still make great friends. Earn with her jet black, naturally strait hair and glistening dark eyes (always full of humor) that were unique to all Thailand girls, always had a smile on her face and was loud and smart. She was always the stylist in the group always wearing what was in, in the ever changing world of fashion, and never what was out.

Alyssa was all cool serenity and had a presence of self-awareness that automatically drew people to her. Not to mention that she was the nicest person I had ever met in all of my eighteen years of life. She was the type of person that didn't care what people thought about her or what she wore (a fact that Earn never let her forget.) Her normal outfit would consist of one of her sports jerseys, a pair of faded, styled ripped jeans, and a pair of fashionable, but practical flip-flops.

And then there was me. I was the kind of person that was mostly nice to everyone but if you disrespected me I would disrespect you. I never really had a style, normally whatever I found upon wakening for the day, which sometimes ended up being Alyssa's' cloths (a fact that she never lets me forget) because she was my roommate. Today though, as my sun kissed skin glimmered in the waves of heat that rolled off of the pavement, I wore my own dark blue shorts that covered up to my knees, a black and white flowered print tank top, and light blue flip-flops.

I had a grey hoodie on my arm because even though it was ninety-eight degrees outside, the class room would probably be around sixty degrees and it always seemed to me that the temperatures always flipped just to irritate me.

"Hey guys, do you think that Trevor likes me?" Alyssa asked her hands wrapped around her back pack straps like a little kid. Her dark blue tank going well with her ripped jeans, her blue sandals that I was pretty sure were mine, made a slapping sound as they came up to meet the bottom of her feet.

"Yeah...sure Lyss, but he is a jerk," I said as we crossed the road jay-walking over to the door.

"I guess.....but.....oh I don't know," Lyss said back to me as she opened up the door and held it so Earn and I could walk through.

"Thanks. But Yeah Alys, Izie is right. He is such a-" Earn was about to say a cuss word so I interrupted her. I was fond of the hard to understand heavily accented girl but I was not very fond of the use of cuss words when you could use so many better words. I also notice how I was the only one that ever called Alyssa, Lyss. Most just called her Alyssa, Alys, or sometimes Aerial (that was her middle name) but never Lyss.

"Lyss you should just see him as a team mate. I mean did you see what happened to Becky after she went out with him only once?" I asked her as I walked through the door and into sudden coldness that had me taking a deep breath at the suddenness. 

"Yeah I guess...," Lyss said acknowledging the question be not looking at me directly. It didn't matter that Trevor, in his drunken state, had tried to seduce me last night. Not that my immunity to his apparent charms mattered anyway. I would tell Lyss the truth either way.....even if it was sort of painful.

We sat down in the hall and waited for our Elements of Calculus teacher to arrive. I listened to my iPod, dropping the issue of Lyss's apparent crush, and read Rangers Apprentice: The Emperor of Nihon-Ja. As I read my book, Earn sat doing homework for her Psychology class, and Lyss wandered off to get a bottle of Coke. It was all very usual for us. Get up, head to Elements of Calculus early, and then wait for Professor Steadman to open the class doors. What was not usual was the person that just walked in letting the door slam behind him.

He had this look of importance that just made me assume that he was just another self-absorbed rich kid. The way he walked towards us like he owned the building....something about him just rubbed me the wrong way. I already could feel myself not liking him.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that his wavy raven black hair was styled in a messy but fashionable do, that suggested he had spent the whole morning doing it. Or the way that his grey shirt clung to a very athletically toned body and his black leather bicker jacket swished when he walked. No, no. It was also nothing to do with the fact that when he removed his black wrap around motorcycle sunglasses, blue/grey eyes met my own dark chocolate ones. I didn't like him....... ......okay maybe I did......and I did totally appreciate how godly looking he was, but I could tell his personality was like vinegar.

"Hello," He said in a surprising some-what deep tone. “Are you ladies also here for Elements of Calculus?”

“Yeah, my name is Earn!” Earn said sticking her hand out for a shake. I rolled my eyes. She was always interested in the bad boy types.

Biker Jacket (that’s what I had decided to call him in my mind) took Earns hand and brought it up to his lips, and kissed the back of her knuckles. I grimaced because who knew how many germs had just gotten into his mouth by her hand. Or in that case who knew how many germs got on her hand from his mouth. I shuddered at the thought.

“Nice to meet you Earn. My name is Alexander Dante,” he said flashing a brilliant smile. My eyes almost popped out of my head.

“As in the heir to Dante industries?” I questioned, not bothering to give him my name.

“Yes. And your name is?” Alexander answered me curtly, probably mad that I had spoken without permission.

“Well then I have a gift for you,” I said to him, and promptly punched him in the face before walking away.

“Come along now Earn and Lyss. The Professor has unlocked the door,” I said not caring at all that there was a son of a famous billionaire lying on the ground with a blossoming black eye.