Letting Reality Begin

Chapter Two - The Definition of Perfect

“Lily!” cried Melissa Fort, enfolding her best friend into a tight hug. Lillian Deverall had to smile at her best friend’s enthusiasm and eagerness. Melissa was always so happy and she was the best person Lillian knew to go to for major cheering up – not that Lillian needed any cheering up. Yet. Ellie did though. She had been hyperventilating all morning, pacing around in her black, patent leather Mary Janes – which she had guessed were the new style.

Only a certain amount of people were informed about what the new trend was going to be before hand – and the rest were left to guess. When Chantelle had finally turned up early for once, Ellie had almost screamed and fainted. The style was, in fact, boots and opaque tights – neither of which Lillian was wearing, despite having known what the new style was going to be for over a month.

Lillian had found it strange that Chantelle hadn’t told Ellie though, since Ellie was one of the ‘Inner Circle’ as Chantelle had once put it. If she had known that Ellie hadn’t known, Lillian would’ve told her – but since most people didn’t really contact their friends much during the summer, Lillian had just assumed.

“Hey Liss! How was skiing?” asked Lillian, pulling away from the hug. Matt, Dean and Ellie said a hasty goodbye and then headed over towards the canteen to buy their daily skinny latte. Skinny lattes were the regulation morning drinks for all the Populars. It was skinny lattes or nothing. Lillian had seen practically every Popular – apart from Chantelle – staring enviously at Nobodies who were actually allowed to drink cappuccinos or mochas.

Sometimes being a Popular wasn’t all the glam lifestyle that the Nobodies assumed it was. You were suffocated with rules, manipulated into the image of perfection and controlled like robots. Not that Lillian could remember a time where she had last followed any of the rules.

Lillian looked closely at her best friend. She hadn’t seen Melissa for ages – with her being in New York and Melissa going to Spain and then skiing – and it seemed she had changed a bit. Her normally porcelain skin was slightly sun-kissed, her light freckles showing up a bit more, and her ash blonde hair had gone a couple of shades darker.

Melissa pulled a pained face. “Actually it was pretty rubbish, Lil. I sprained my ankle on the second day when I...” Melissa paused and winced slightly. “When I fell off a drag lift and landed in an awkward position. I know. So embarrassing. But anyway, that meant that I couldn’t teach Alicia how to do jumps and go on the black off-piste slopes like I’d promised her.

“I wish I could’ve texted you, but I left my phone in my bedroom before we left,” she continued. Well that explained the millions of unanswered texts that Lillian had sent her over the holidays. “But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part is the fact that Chantelle had lost her Blackberry and you know how much she worships BBM. But she’s got a new one now.

Lillian already knew that. Chantelle had already sent her a BBM that morning. Lillian couldn’t help staring blankly at Melissa. “So if she’s got a new Blackberry... what’s the problem?” Lillian wanted to know, feeling slightly confused at the whole situation. There was no way on earth that Chantelle would let her Blackberry out of sight for long enough for her to lose it.

“She blamed the whole thing on Alicia. Apparently Alicia snuck into Chantelle’s suite and stole it, even Ally obviously didn’t have anything to do with it – since she was skiing the whole day that Chance claimed to have lost her phone,” explained Melissa, looking stressed, as she pulled her blonde locks up into a messy bun. “So now Chantelle isn’t letting me talk to Alicia in and out of school. The stupid cow. Now Ally is in trouble with Mum, Dad and Nick for the whole freaking thing.”

Lillian gave Melissa a quick hug and a sympathetic look. It wasn’t that sort of half-fake one that she always gave to Callum. She was never really that sympathetic when Callum told her that he had broken up with his latest girlfriend, because she knew he would get a new one within the following ten days. And then would break her heart with the next two to three weeks when he decided that they were better as friends. Lillian had known Callum for over ten years now – she knew the drill.