the boarders

Valentina

The bell suddenly went off, and before Valentina knew it, she was being pushed through the crowd, full of other girls from St Richmonds.

She had English with Miss Peiters, usually her favourite lesson, but she could hardly concentrate, not with Drew on her mind and fucking Aurelia gone missing. Octavia had a dentists appointment, so she couldn't even text her secretly under the table when she thought the teacher wasn't looking.

Valentina pushed open the door and sighed, she wasn't in the right mindset for this. There's nothing, she thought, I'd love more than to sit in front of the tv right now and drink hot chocolate. Strangely, she imagined Drew there with her, but she quickly pushed that thought out of her mind. She wasn't going to think about him.

Over the last couple of days, ever since they broke up, Valentina had been occupying herself with things to do to get her mind off of him. Whether that meant learning Spanish or attempting to cook Thai food, she'd done it all.

Because Valentina knew that if she didn't occupy herself, she'd be sitting alone and overthinking - one of her worst traits.

She sighed again, and took a seat behind a really bitchy girl called Susanne, who's father owned a tech company. God, she was so full of herself, with her totally fake tan and expertly applied eyelashes.

A noise startled her, and Valentina glanced to her side, where one of her followers was standing over her. She wrinkled her nose, and looked down at the girl, Katie? Valentina recognised her, last year she bought exactly the same wardrobe as Valentina for four days straight. She seemed to have regained her true personality, as she was wearing something completely opposite from Valentina's attire.

Squinting, Valentina recognised the newest Louis Vuitton bag on the girl's slim arm, one you could only get if you were on a waiting list. Valentina's bag was already on it's way, her mother had got it shipped over from Italy.

"Cute bag." Valentina smiled at Katie, beckoning her to sit down. She knew that if Aurelia was here, she'd tell the girl to fuck off and then steal her bag. But Valentina was different.

"Oh my god, thanks, mind if I sit here?" Katie said excitedly, whilst Valentina thought, quite narcissistically, that she was probably the highlight of this girl's day. She nodded, and moved her Gucci tote to her side.

"Have you seen Susanne Winters? What shade of tan is that? Mahogany?" Whispered Katie, getting a Fiji water out of her Louis Vuitton bag. Valentina almost smiled, it was actually nice to bitch with someone, to laugh again.

She turned to Katie and smiled broadly at her, before whispering in her ear the latest gossip about Susanne.