A year to remember

2. Alyssa

I may live in a small good-for-nothing town overshadowed by a large, fabulous city, but I came from a rich, powerful old-money family. Being a Vanderbilt meant that the popularity factor always came down to me; if I liked you, you were in. If not, your life became a living hell.

Right from the start, I chose my friends. I picked out Mila; a tall, stunning girl with exotic looks whose mother used to be a supermodel and whose legs were insured for one million dollars each. I chose Scarlett, a beautiful blonde girl whose father was CEO of some big mining corp and played golf more days than not. I found Jared, the schools heart-throb playboy, and just like that, our elite group was complete.

In Sophmore year of high school, Charlie came along, a male model from New York City. He was tall, dark and handsome and all the girls in the school suddenly fell over themselves in an effort to get with him. Mila fell in love at first sight, and to my surprise, so did Charlie. The two became inseparable so our group grew from four to five. I, however, decided to move onto bigger and better things- college boys- but Jared was still fun to flirt with. After Charlie left, Mila was devastated and slowly began changing from the happy-go-lucky girl we had known into... well, another version of me, yet worse.

Thinking back to our Junior year at high school, almost every moment I spent with her probably pushed her in that direction.

There she was; sixteen years old, pretty and innocent, sitting on the edge of my bed as I lay back, reading a magazine.

"Hey, Lys..." she started nervously. 

"Hmmm?" I murmured, disinterested as I flicked through the pages of the magazine.

"Charlie," she began, but faltered as she started fidgeting with her necklace. It was a pretty little golden locket Charlie had given her with a photo of the two of them in it. "Charlie wants to... you know."

I looked up from my magazine, curiously raising an eyebrow at her.

"I just," she continued. "I'm just not sure if I'm ready yet."

Throwing back my head, I laughed at her innocence. "Mila, you and Charlie are great together. He's a really sweet guy and it's pretty obvious how much you two like each other." I said, gesturing at the locket.

"Yeah," Mila agreed, smiling lovingly as she looked at the photo in the locket.

"Besides," I continued, my attention already moving back to the magazine. "You're going to lose your virginity someday. If not to him, then to someone else. Once there's been a couple, it really doesn't matter who your first was anymore."

Thinking back to that moment, I probably could have handled that situation better. Maybe I shouldn't have opened my big mouth, or maybe I should have just left the last bit out. Or better yet, maybe I could have said "Look, everyone's different! Just because he's ready, doesn't mean you are too. Talk to Charlie, he'll understand." But I didn't, and three months later, Charlie was gone. His family moved back to New York City and the distance thing proved to be too much, so the perfect couple called it quits. Mila was crushed, but then she seemed to take my stupid advice and began mingling with boys a little too well. After a perfect year with Charlie, she couldn't hold onto any other relationships. Or maybe she just didn't want to.

I didn't really think of that moment again until now. Almost a year had passed and we were just about to start our senior year. I lay back on my soft bed, sinking back in the pillows and picked up a magazine.

"God, I'm getting so chunky." Mila said, criticising her tiny frame in my over-sized mirror.

"You are not," I said, not even bothering to glance up from my magazine. "All that sex burns the calories right off." Mila laughed as she pulled her dark dress down lower, exposing more cleavage. The locket suddenly fell forward and caught her eye. She went quiet.

"He has a girlfriend, Lys." She said quietly.

"Who?" I asked, already knowing the answer. That locket combined with my bedroom and a magazine had given me a sudden feeling of deja-vu.

"Charlie," she sighed, answering me anyway, as I knew she would. "I thought he still loved me, but I guess I was wrong. It's not that easy to flirt through text." 

"You never marry your high school sweetheart, Mila. The world is so much bigger and better than anyone you could eve possible meet here." I watched her as she gazed down sadly at the locket, twirling it between her fingers. Her face flushed with colour and she rearranged her features quickly into a look of concentration as she dropped the locket and starting twisting her hair around her finger. "Besides, need I remind you about your boyfriend?" When she didn't say anything, I helpfully added, "you know, Brian?"

"First of all, we aren't actually exclusive, so I don't owe Brian anything. Second of all, if we were exclusive, and I'm pretty sure we're not, then we've already broken up." She dabbed at the corner of her smokey eye. "He just doesn't know it yet," she said with a slight smirk. For a split second, I was proud of her, but then I quickly realised the reason for her sudden resolve.

"Did he cheat?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"It's not cheating if we aren't exclusive." She replied, but she still looked a bit hurt.

"So he strayed then," I pushed.

She frowned slightly, but before I could say anything more, Scarlett entered the room in a pale green dress. "Wow, Scar!" Mila gasped in awe, suddenly happy again without a trace of confusion or hurt left on her face. Maybe I had imagined the hurt there?

"God you look incredible, I wish I had your body!" She exclaimed as Scarlett spun on the spot.

"Do you think?" Scarlett asked, shooting me a slightly nervous look. Mila was right, she did look incredible. The pale green of the dress matched her eyes exactly and made her tan pop. I knew she was feeling nervous because she hadn't seen her boyfriend, Tyler, for a while and he was coming to the party tonight. She had nothing to worry about though, because Tyler wouldn't be able to keep his hands off her. The dress fit her perfectly, hugging her in all the right places, especially her amazingly toned peachy ass which I knew she worked hard in the gym to get.

"It makes your butt look big," I said as I stood up and padded over to my huge walk-in wardrobe. I dropped my robe and stood wearing nothing but my lacy underwear. I glanced down at my perfectly sculpted legs. "You should try running if you want to slim it out." I suggested as I pulled a pink Gucci dress over my head and walked back into my bedroom.

"Or sex," Mila added with a laugh as she threw an arm loosely around her best friend, who was looking slightly deflated at what I had said.

"You know, it's not cool being so easy, Mila" I snapped, turning to face her. "Sometimes you have to play hard to get. Show them what they want, but what they can't have. Don't always just give it to them on a silver platter." Mila looked stung.

Just then, my phone buzzed. "Our car is here, let's go." I said, leading the way.

"By the way," Scarlett whispered as she wrapped her arm around her best friend. "You're not that easy."

I could hear the smile in Mila's voice as she replied "I now.. and your butt looks great tonight."

"I know," Scarlett replied.