Westwood School

Mercedes Full of Angst

Rowen.

"Oh come on, Caspian, you seriously can't be DM-ing Gemma," I said rolling my eyes.

"Ok, first of all, she's hot, second of all, she's hot," Caspian responded.

Laurent chimed in, "I mean haven't we sorta been-there-done-that with that friend group?"

I scoffed, "Laurent, I think by we you mean you have, and by that you mean Collette."

Laurent glared at me and said something under his breath in French.

"Rowen, don't even, you've done everyone at this school," Caspian said, pointing his finger at me. All the boys and I turned to look at him and laughed.

"What?" he said adamantly.

"Ok, Caspian, mate, that truly means nothing coming from you. You've done everyone in the country." I said, shaking my head.

"Hah, he's done more than that, remember that ski trip? What was that girl's name? Isabella?" Matteo added through his laughter.

"What can I say? I'm a man of many talents," Capsian said defiantly, leaning back in the seat of the Mercedes van.

"You just tell the girls you're part of a British boy band and they just collapsed beneath your feet!" I pointed my finger at him.

"It's a great way to pick up girls. It's not like you've never done that." Caspian looked like a child as he defended himself.

"Oh my god," Laurent shook his head in his hands. "I cannot believe we have survived this long."

I looked at my watch, "What time were we supposed to pick her up?"

"10:00," Laurent said, on top of everything as always. "Honestly, we had to drive all the way into town to pick up this girl we are going to have to babysit. Let's just hope she's well behaved."

"Laurent, you saw her that night at the dinner, she looked like a lady," I offered.

"She was most certainly NOT a lady. She kept kicking me in the chins!" Caspian shrieked. The rest laughed at him for this. It was definitely rare to see a girl so adamantly against his affections.

Caspian sighed, and then continued, "When I posted that photo we took of all of us the night before, basically every one commented, Dm-ed or texted me, asking who she was. A fair amount of guys were asking if I had banged her or asking if they could."

I rolled my eyes but clenched my jaw. Something about that bothers me a lot. I mean, she's barely 16! Which I guess is a little young, if not a normal age to start lower 6th form, but it seemed so young.

"All I am gonna say is, if we have her at Matteo's party, it'll cause a lot of drama. And that's the perfect way to start off the school year," Caspian said mischievously.

Before anyone could say anything else, we arrived at the Lanesborough. The Lanesborough was an absurdly nice hotel in London. It was very traditional and had been around for what seemed forever.

There she was, standing there with her hair all straightened and in a gorgeous summer dress. It had flowy sleeves that covered her shoulders and a plunging neckline. It was fairly short at well, but it didn't seem trashy at all. I could tell it was definitely some designer, but I wasn't an expert in women's fashion. She had a blue globe trotter in one hand that our driver took and put in the trunk, in her other hand she had a bright orange Goyard bag. I opened the door to the car and helped her in so she was seated between Matteo and Laurent, facing Caspian and I. Mostly I didn't want her seated next to Caspian, that flirt.

"Good morning!" She said brightly to us.

"I hope you had a pleasant trip, how long have you been in London?" I leaned forward in my seat, resting my elbows on my knees when speaking to her.

"Oh, I only arrived yesterday." Her accent seeming even more apparent than the last time I saw her, starkly contradicting the British accents that were the norm. "How long is the drive to Westwood?"

"Two hours." Laurent looked at his watch as he said this.

"Hey Magnolia?" Caspian started. Oh God, what is he up to.

"Hmm?"

"Did you possibly pack a swimsuit in that gorgeous Globe Trotter of yours?" And I know exactly where he is going with this.

"Yep! Why do you ask?" her eyes brightened at his question. Poor girl, if she only knew.

Matteo cleared his throat and looked quickly at her up and down. "Well, I always throw a back-to-school pool party, and I- we, were hoping you'd come."

"Oh, you're too sweet! I'd love to come! Nothin sounds better right about now."

"Really?" I looked at her in surprise. For some reason I expected her to blow it off, or not be interested. Or maybe I just hoped she wouldn't come. Not that I didn't want her to be there, but because... these parties... well, they were quite an adventure.

"Why, I love pool parties. I throw them all the time back at home, but I'm assuming it stays warmer for longer in Nashville then it does here."

"Can we call you Nola?" Matteo asked slowly.

"Yes sir, you can call me most anythin' as long as it's nice." She tossed her hair so it was flipped over prettily.

"Do you like music?" I blurted out awkwardly. Serious smooth Rowen, come on, get your shit together.

She looked at me sideways, "I mean, y'all did meet me singin' in a bar..." She trailed off, and then laughed this sweet laugh. "But yes, I love just about every kind of music."

Taking that as a challenge, Caspian and the other boys began interrogating her on music.

"Have you ever heard of the band called, "Branded?"

"Uh, honestly no. But it sounds angsty," She said and seemed disappointed by this.

"Then I don't know if we can be friends," Capsian said with a harumph and crossed his arms. I glared at him. Ok, Caspian that's enough.

"It's our band," I explained while punching Caspian in the arm.

"Y'all have a band?" She said, as if not believing us, "Huh, well, that's cliché," She muttered to herself. "But, I'd love to see y'all play sometime. Maybe you'd even let me sing with you!"

"Honestly, that was not the response I was expecting, but we'd love for you to sing," Laurent rolled his eyes at me as he said it. Hey, I am not the worst singer.

We continued chatting about music for the rest of the ride. I gotta hand it to her, this girl seriously does like every kind of music out there. She seems to like 70s classic rock the most, which is perfect for me because, same. But I didn't tell her that. Music seemed too personal to share. like if you make some a playlist, you might as well get married and have babies.

We rolled up to Caspian's parent's summer house which was super close to Westwood. Matteo offered to carry her luggage for her. Show off, I thought to myself.

"Ok so here is my house, we are actually having the party in a few hours..." he trailed off. "But I'll show you where you can stay for the night until then!" He offered and I watched as she trailed behind him, heading upstairs to the guest room.

I turned around to see Caspian and Laurent both staring at me.

"What?" I asked, annoyed. They just shook their heads and laughed, walking outside to go set up for the party.

Hey! there's a chance I totally fucked up the names of the grades for British Schooling, but, I tried.  Feel free to correct me if you know. thanks for reading <3!!