A GOLDEN EMPIRE

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

AT EXACTLY 3 PM, THE BELL shrills loudly, indicating that the school day has ended and students couldn't be happier.

"Ahhhh, the sweet sound of liberation. What are we doing tonight?" Brandon asks, putting an arm around Adrianna's shoulder, laughing as she playfully swats his arm away.

Justin chuckles and turns to Aurora, who's looking up at him with love written all over her face. He pulls her closer and buries his face in the crook of her neck.

"What's wrong, love?"

"Mmm, baby. I'm so tired." To emphasize how tired he truly is, he slouches against her lithe frame.

Aurora pouts and runs a hand through his curly hair. "Big guy needs a nap. Stat." She moves her other hand to hold on to his broad bicep.

He nips at her neck hearing this. "How did you get to school? Did Winston drive you today?"

"No papa, I drove myself today." She says, holding up the keys to the Aston Martin in his line of sight. "Did James drive you?" James is the Winchester family chauffeur.

Justin shakes his head and stands up straight. "My dad actually. He took a detour to work this time.... which he never does. I was convinced he wanted to talk about something important. Nope."

Mario intercepts their conversation. "Hey lovebirds. Help us out here. What should we do tonight? Brandon and Adrianna can't agree on anything."

Aurora has the perfect solution. Something they always do to celebrate getting through the first day of school. "Have y'all forgotten our first day of school tradition already?"

"Dinner at Maestro's Steakhouse! Thank god. I won't have to endure dinner with my parents." Adrianna says. "Had enough of their shit. When we got home from brunch yesterday, my mother once again tried to body shame me. I looked good yesterday."

Brandon scoffs. "Camille is so... what word/phrase am I looking for?"

"My mother is self-absorbed. She and my father both. Hell, during breakfast this morning, I grabbed a muffin. I'm about to take a bite off of it and next thing I know, she's snatching it from me."

FLASHBACK-

Adrianna ran her fingers over her perfect curls before smiling at her reflection. It was the perfect outfit for the first day of high school; every inch of her, from her Harry Winston accessories to her Louboutin heels, screamed wealth. Grabbing up her black Versace bag and scooping her cell phone into her hand, Adrianna bounced out of her room and down the grand staircase.

Just as she got to the landing, her maid, Audrey, passed by carrying a plate of chocolate chip muffins. The heiress picked one up off of it and headed over to the parlor where Holden was seated reading the newspaper next to Camille, who was buried in the latest issue of VOGUE. Holden folded his paper and smiled, "Good morning Adrianna. Are you ready for your first day back to school?"

"Good morning dad. And yes I am," she noted, "but I can't stay here long; I promised Avalon I would meet her at school early so we can get our schedules."

"What about your boyfriend? Are you meeting him too?" Camille asked, not bothering to look up from her magazine.

Adrianna's smile seemed to falter at the use of the word boyfriend. " Well, mother. I do not have a boyfriend," she paused and her smile vanished profusely, "and if you're talking about Brandon, he and I are just friends."

"Now Adrianna," Holden chided, "That's not what we saw at brunch yesterday. You were tucked under his arm, giggling your head off."

"Again, we're just friends," Adrianna said, wanting this damn conversation to end, as she opened her mouth to take a bite off of the muffin.

"Before you eat that whole thing, Adrianna," her mother said, finally looking up from Vogue, "I'd suggest a low-fat yogurt, you don't want to lose your swimsuit figure." She reached across the table to take... more like snatch it away from her.

The jet black haired girl paused and pursed her lips into an annoyed frown, "Actually, I'm not even that hungry," she said as Audrey instantly came over so that Camille could set the muffin back down, "I will see you later." She headed for the front door, outside towards her white Ferrari.

END OF FLASHBACK-

"Anyway, yeah, she has me fucked up... and I want a damn chocolate chip muffin. I'm going to my favorite bakery. See y'all tonight." Adrianna pulls the keys to her FERRARI 812 SUPERFAST out of her purse and exits the building. Brandon runs after her, needing a ride because just like Justin, he too was dropped off at school by his father.

"Anybody need a ride home?" Kingsley inquires, pulling the keys to his matte black BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT MULLINER out of his pants pocket. "Avalon?"

She nods, putting her phone away. "My father refuses to let me drive. He's holding my PORSCHE PANAMERA hostage. He's acting like he bought the damn thing."

Kingsley nods, understanding all too well. "Earlier, Brandon mentioned that he wished he could have parents like Aurora's or Justin's. Honestly, I couldn't agree more. Anyway, let's go."

They leave too.

Autumn and Mario walk down the hallway. She's giggling at a story he's telling her about Bora Bora- the group spent the day on this giant ass yacht. Brandon laid on the deck (he dozed off). Wanting to be evil, Mario and Kingsley stood over him, lifted his Dior aviator shades up, and poured a big ass bucket of water on him.

"He was pissed for like an hour but then he ended up doing the same shit to us. He was like, 'now we're even, assholes.' Then he drank like three glasses of scotch and fell asleep again."

Autumn shakes her head, still giggling. "It's never a dull moment when we hang out."

"Never. I remember you saying you wanted to ride in a Rolls Royce one day. Still want to?" He's holding up the keys to his ROLLS ROYCE WRAITH, causing her to smile brightly.

"Yes, let's go!"

They continue their walk down the hallway.

Aurora is curled up under Justin's arm as they trek to the parking lot. As they walk, eyes wander in their direction. A lot of them, as usual, are staring and/or thirsting over Justin.

She can see why'd they get hot for him. The boy is gorgeous, standing tall at six foot three, with broad shoulders, and defined muscles. His brown hair has natural streaks of blonde from time in the sun that seems to make his hazel eyes pop even more and he has a jawline that could cut diamonds. He looks like a living Calvin Klein ad.

But they need to remember one thing though. Justin is her boyfriend and she'll raise hell if anyone tries to come between them.

Once they arrive at the sleek ASTON MARTIN, she's passing him the keys. This is a normal thing between these two, even before they started dating. She would give him the keys and sit back in the passenger seat, staring at him as he's driving.

Before they would just make eye contact and smile at each other but now, of now, she can lean over the console and kiss him.

Yeah, life is great.