The Elites

Little Do You Know

"Little do you know
I'm still haunted by the memories
Little do you know
I'm trying to pick myself up piece by piece"

"Little Do You Know" – Alex and Sierra.

I head out of my final class of the day. Usually, I'd be happy to go home but I can't relax like I usually would.

"Doesn't have your aunt have enough money to buy you a car?" Hope asks just as I grab my bike. Obviously, everyone who goes here is rich. I told Melissa I didn't want a car for my sixteenth birthday, I guess I was hoping to hold on to my normalcy for as long as possible.

"I prefer riding my bike." I grab my bike and start walking with Hope. I roll my eyes as I realize heaps of people are looking at us. Hope's trauma has made people even more obsessed with her.

"You get used to the looks" Hope informs me, a slight edge to her voice. "I'm sure people stared at you when you moved here because you were an orphan who moved in with her rich aunt and uncle." She's right, but I never got used to the attention, I just learnt to hate it. All I wanted back then was to go back to my normal life, but that was impossible.

"You didn't have to get used to it; the media has followed your family for longer than we've been alive." I open Hope's trunk and shove my bike in. Hope chucks her bag in and gets into the driver's seat. I throw my bag in and climb into the passenger seat.

Hope starts the car and glances behind her before reversing. I'm kind of surprised she drives to school, I thought she'd be one of the students whose family has their own personal driver. She has a Porsche. I wonder what car I would drive if I was comfortable enough to spend Melissa's money and get whatever car I wanted.

"I'm sorry about Eleanor." I have no idea if this is the right thing to say, but I sometimes feel so isolated because nobody discusses my parents in front of me anymore, I understand people think that it will hurt me, but it's painful to lose someone and then feel that they are slipping away.

A look crosses Hope's face, but I can't quite make it out, it could be uncertainty, or maybe anxiety. "I'm sorry I never said anything to you when you first moved here, I should have told you I was sorry for your loss."

"It's ok, we were never really friends." I never thought I would find myself semi-bonding with Hope Flynn in her car. As far as I know, we're the only two people in school who have lost a person from our immediate family. If someone else at school was to have lost a parent or sibling, we would have known about it. Private information doesn't stay private at Redwood.

"Our parents are friends so I could have easily made an effort." Hope's right about our parents being friends, but just because our parents are friends doesn't mean we have to be. This might have meant more to me if Hope had approached me in sophomore year, when I was terrified at the thought of being the new kid with dead parents, but I am used to it now.

"It's not like you try to make friends with many people." I regret the words as soon as they come out, realizing how judgement I sound. I look away from Hope, waiting for her to lash out, something I've seen her do countless times.

Hope doesn't respond to me and turns right down a street. I'm tempted to ask how she knows where I live, but I'm not surprised, her parents have come over to my house a lot and occasionally Hope has come with them. She never talks to me, just sits on her phone or reads a book, Eleanor has come once so I hid in my room.

Hope and Eleanor had a very tight circle and hardly anyone of them were true friends. Courtney was always their frenemy, Scarlet was close with Eleanor but I'm sure if she liked Hope, Noah just wanted to fuck Courtney, and I'm honestly not sure about Ashton or Kai. Ashton and Hope always seemed quite close, I often saw them hanging out just the two of them.