through the mirror

chapter one

"Astrid! Long-time no see!"

Ugh. That voice. Again.

I turned around, greeting the girl that had called out her name. "Britney! It's been ages!"

"So, how was your summer? Any juicy gossip?" The annoying blonde asked, winking subtly.

"Nothing special. Went on a cruise to the Bahama's with my parents."

"Sounds exciting! Well, I gotta dash, but we definitely need to catch up later! See you around!"

"Yep. See you later," I called as the girl ran off. Sadly.

Britney was exactly who I didn't want to become. Her parents were rich, and she certainly took it for granted. Fake blonde hair, fake blue eyes, fake small nose, fake big lips.

Fake.

Yes, I wore makeup, and yes, I straightened my hair. But I didn't dye my hair, I didn't wear colored contacts, I certainly did not have a nose job or a lip filler.

I didn't want to be that girl. *cough*Britney*cough*

I was popular, nonetheless - but don't get me confused with girls like Britney. I may be popular, but I don't judge people and diss people based solely off of looks. If I ever judge or diss someone, it's because they are truly a bitch or dick. I stick up for her friends, and I don't spread rumors, and I'm not with a new guy every five seconds. In fact, I have only had one boyfriend. It wasn't because nobody liked me - because more than a couple of guys had shown interest - it was just because all the guys that had shown interest were the fuckboys and players of the school.

I don't fuck with fuckboys.

Especially not the fuckboys of North Grove Institute for the Educationally Advanced.

Yes, I go to a private school. That tends to happen when your parents are rich. Anyways, most of us just call it NGI for the sake of time and not sounding like stuck-up snobs, even though half of the people here are.

My point is, most of the guys here are rich snobs who have a different Rolex for every month of the year and play Jenga with iPhones.

See my point?

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the first bell ringing. Four minutes until the first period. I walked with the mob of students to my first class; French II.

Of course, we had assigned seats, and I got stuck between Oliver, who has been my friend since middle school, and a guy named Jackson. I hadn't met him before. Oliver was one of the very few guys in this school I didn't mind hanging around; in fact, we were quite good friends. And Jackson seemed nice enough. Hopefully, there wasn't anyone bad -

Oh, God. Benjamin Turner was assigned the seat to the left of Oliver.

Benjamin Turner was a full-blown fuckboy. He had shown interest in me before, by slapping my ass and saying I had "nice tits." Not my words.

When I rejected him, he flipped out and started calling me a whore and slut and all the good stuff. I didn't bother me, but it definitely made me decide that he was a douchebag. I tried to avoid him as much as I could, and here he was sitting two seats over from me.

He slowly walked behind my chair, holding a water bottle and slowly sipping on it. The way he drank from it made me wonder if it was actually water or something else clear. Like vodka.

"Oops," he said, dumping the unidentified liquid all over my head. "I tripped."

"Benjamin!" I screamed, standing up with a shocked face. The - what I had now assumed was just water by the taste - covered me. My hair was wet, it dripped off the end of my nose and eyelashes, it covered the front of my school uniform.

Sadly, our school uniforms consisted of a white button-up shirt, white jacket with our school symbol on it, matching red plaid tie and very short skirt in my opinion, tall black socks, and sneakers/dress shoes of our choice. I had chosen a pair of white All-star Converse.

Anyways, my point was, my white shirt was now wet.

And when white shirts get wet, they get transparent.

So now my bra was visible to the entire classroom.

Great. Just how I wanted to start my second year of high school.

"Nice tits," Benjamin told me, staring at my chest. I suddenly got a feeling of deja vu.

"Fuck off," I told him under my breath so the teacher wouldn't hear me. Then I turned to the elderly woman and said sweetly, "May I call my mother and ask for her to bring me a spare uniform?"

"Of course, dear," she said. "And you, Mister Turner. Office, now."

"Worth it," he whispered as he walked by.

I went out into the hall, which was now empty of people as everyone was in class, and dialed Mom's number.

"Sweetie? Is something wrong?" She asked, picking up immediately.

"No, I was just wondering if you could bring me a spare uniform. Something got spilled on the one I'm wearing."

"Okay, sweets. Mister Manga should understand. I'll be there in five or ten minutes." Mister Manga was Mom's boss, but she worked in a home office.

"Okay. Thanks, Mom."

"No problem."

I hung up and went down to the main office to wait for her to get there. When she did, I changed into the new - and more importantly, dry - uniform, and went back to class, where Jackson filled me in on what they were talking about. Thankfully, since it was the first day of school, we were only talking about rules in the classroom, requirements of the class, and what you were expected to accomplish and how you were expected to behave. Nothing too important yet.

I went about my day, and sadly, had two additional classes other than my first one with Benjamin Turner, but all teachers were informed of the "disruption" in first period, so he was always sat on the opposite side as the room as me. And coincidentally, I had the same three classes with Oliver as I did with Benjamin, and he promised he would protect me, with a wink.

Oliver was very flirty with me, but it was a platonic flirt. The two of us were very good friends and were comfortable around each other, so we both joked around like that a lot.

I had third-period lunch, with Oliver, my guy bestie; Millicent, my girl bestie; and a couple of other friends.

So, it seemed like, aside from Benjamin Turner, my sophomore year of high school was going to be pretty okay, at the least.

a/n: hey loves!💖 thanks so much for reading the first chapter of my new book! this one is quite the story, and it's just getting started! i am planning on updating once a week hopefully, on mondays. thanks again for reading! love y'all!💖💖💖