The Academy

Chapter 18

Nicola's POV

I was grinning like an idiot as I did my homework. I couldn't stop daydreaming about the day Alicia and I had yesterday. I rubbed the heart pendant on the necklace as I thought about how soft her lips are.

"NIC!" KJ made me jump. He laughed as the librarian told us to keep it down. "I've been asking you about this problem for the last minute, but you were spaced out. What's up?"

"N-nothing." I stuttered out. "Sorry. Just spacey today I guess. Now, to solve-"

"Woah. Where did you get this?" He grabbed my hand and pointed at the bracelet Alicia gave me. I placed that bracelet on the same hand where I also wore my grandmother's bracelet.

"A friend gave it to me." I quickly answered.

"Rosé?" I just nodded to avoid him asking anymore questions. "I mean I know she loves you, but didn't realize she loved you that much." He laughed. I gave him an inquisitive look. "This is a David Yurman piece. I recognize it because my sister had been begging my dad for years to get her one. The one you're wearing has a base price of 50K. And then the necklace you're wearing... I'm assuming that Rosé got that for you as well... def around 70K. I feel like she saw the bracelet I gave you and had to one up me." He laughed while I was stunned that Alicia spent over a 100K on me.

"Ya. Must be." I fake laughed. Did Alicia witness KJ gifting me the bracelet and got jealous?

X

I got to math class and placed my books on the desk. Because Alicia had the professor force us to get a new partner, the seating chart had changed. Instead of KJ sitting in front of me, Alicia had taken his place. Currently, she was on the other side of the room chatting with her friends. Yes, the same friends she worked with before ditching them to work with me. KJ entered and waved at me before heading to his new seat. I waved back as I sat down. I began to touch the necklace very very carefully now that I knew what it was actually worth.

"Hey, cutie." Alicia addressed me as she sat down. Since the classroom was so loud, no one heard her. We still had a couple of minutes before the lecture began. I forced a smile at her that she could clearly see through. "Considering that my family and I have to plaster on fake smiles and enthusiasm at events, I can see through a mask. What's wrong?" Her eyes were gentle.

"These." I pointed at the necklace and bracelet. Her eyebrow quirked in confusion.

"I thought you said you liked them."

"That was before I figured out how much you spent on them. You spent way too MUCH money. I can't accept this when I know this could help with my parents' mortgage, other bills, debts-"

"Hey. I didn't check the prices when I bought them for you. I saw something that I thought you may like and picked it out. As for your parents' bills, I can help out-"

"No! That's the last thing I want." I whispered yelled since class had started. "I don't want you thinking I'm with you because of your money. I just don't want you spending so much on me."

"What's the purpose of having all the money in the world if you can't spend it on the one you love."

"It's just that these can pay off- Wait!... did you just say the L word?!" Alicia looked at me in confusion. Once she realized what she had said, her eyes widened and she swiveled around in her seat. "Alicia." I whispered, but she refused to turn around. "Alicia." I harshly whispered, but she continued to ignore me. It got to the point that I started poking her with my pencil. She grabbed it and placed it on her desk still ignoring me. I tried the same thing with my pens, until she had grabbed my pencil case. I sighed as I slumped back in my chair. Now I have three big problems to deal with: the expensive jewelry that could help my parents out since they needed the money, Alicia accidentally telling me that she loves me, and Alicia ignoring me. Ugh! Why is everything so complicated?!