Here's chapter 3 for you guys!
Chapter 3-
Scarlett was behind the school during her AP Economics class with Nick Carlton, Brielle, Aaron, Jen, and Andrew Jeffreys. Scarlett was happy Brielle was there. Brielle never did anything that was remotely against the rules. Scarlett knew she was only there because she had study hall that period, but it was still an improvement. Scarlett was smoking one of Andrew's Parliaments, and Jen held one in her hand, though she wasn't doing anything with it.
"Hey, take a look at this." Andrew said suddenly. He thrust it towards Scarlett, and she grabbed it, turning up the volume. It was bad quality video taken in a darkened room, but as she raised it closer to her eyes, she could make out that it was a guy and a girl making out…on a bamboo rug? "It's Alessa and Matt. They're a couple now, I guess." Andrew clarified as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. Scarlett hit replay, and if she squinted, she could make out Matt's tousled brown hair, and Alessa's fabulous gold Alexander McQueen heels.
"Where did you get this video?" Scarlett demanded, wondering why she hadn't gotten it first. Andrew shrugged and lit up a second cigarette.
"Winter sent it to me. She said she's going to post it on YouTube later." He explained. Scarlett scoffed angrily. It was no secret to her and the other girls that Winter had a thing for Andrew, and that wasn't particularly surprising. With his tan skin, deep brown eyes, and soccer-toned muscles, he was pretty cute. However, Scarlett thought they had an unwritten rule that gossip went to their group first, and the boys second. She turned to Brielle to see how she felt about this discovery, but she was in the middle of kissing Aaron Abeley intensely.
"Brielle." She hissed. Brielle started to look up, but Aaron started kissing her neck, and she closed her eyes, forgetting about Scarlett.
"Get a room." Laughed Nick. Aaron flipped him the finger without even looking up. Scarlett smiled, and looked at Jen to see what she was doing. Jen had long glossy brown curls, and warm amber eyes. She was gorgeous, but as far as Scarlett knew, Jen had never been involved with a boy. Scarlett decided to make it her personal mission to change that. Scarlett knew that Jen was wary of her, but Scarlett wanted them to be friends, and what better way than to set her up with a hot guy? At the moment, Jen was tapping away at her phone.
"Who're you texting?" she chirped in Jen's direction. Jennifer looked up, blinking her eyes as if to clarify that Scarlett was talking to her.
"Ruby. She's in Chem right now. Apparently, she's starting to think Alex Solomon is hot." Nick's head shot up from where he was pouring over his own cell phone.
"Solomon?" he asked, his mouth hanging open. "Are you serious?" Jennifer nodded and started texting again.
"Jen, if you aren't gonna smoke that, give it to me." Scarlett said, holding out her hand. "Don't let it go to waste." Jennifer lifted it to her mouth and took a drag, though it was probably mostly for show.
"I am smoking it." She said defensively. Scarlett snorted. Jen continued slowly smoking her cigarette, as if she was hoping it would burn up completely so she didn't have to continue. Aaron and Brielle finally peeled themselves off each other, and they sat down on the cement steps, Aaron sitting on a higher step than Brielle, and playing with her hair. Scarlett bit her lip. Aaron had dated a lot of girls, and it hadn't ended well for any of them. He claimed that he really liked Brielle, but he had said the same thing about almost all the girls he dated. Aaron pulled out a bag of weed and some paper. He started to roll a joint. Scarlett knew that Aaron rolled the best joints in school, and almost everybody bought from him, which meant he must have been making a shitload of cash. Not that anyone at their school actually needed any more cash than they already had. Aaron caught her watching him, and raised an eyebrow.
"Well, are you going to help me or not?" he demanded. Scarlett sat next to him and started rolling her own joint. Nick sat next to her, and wordlessly took the bag from her.
"So, how have you been liking Westchester?" she asked him. "I guess it must be really different from California." She had put too much weed in her joint and it wouldn't roll correctly. She cursed under her breath, and had to start again.
"It's nice here. The girls are way hotter than they are in California." He added with a crooked smile. Scarlett had a hard time believing him. California was known for it's gorgeous bikini-ready girls, but Nick's face seemed genuine. Scarlett wondered if he was talking about her, and she fluffed her shiny red curls, hoping he would say something else. Aaron finished his joint and lit it, filling the air with the sweet smell of marijuana. Nick finished his too, but instead of smoking it himself, he passed it to Scarlett. "It looks like you're having some trouble." He said kindly, plucking her unfinished blunt from her hands. Scarlett blushed. She didn't want to look "uncool" in front of Nick.
"I, uh, usually buy them pre-rolled." She admitted, tugging on the hem of her plum-colored skirt. He turned his head away from her, but she could see him smiling. She hoped she was coming off as charming, instead of a clueless loser. Aaron passed her his sleek Aston Martin lighter. She lit her joint and took a long drag. Scarlett appreciated the fact that Aaron wasn't the type of guy to use a plastic Bic lighter from the corner store. Other people would consider it a waste of money to buy a personalized lighter, but Scarlett liked it. She liked the heavy feel of the metal in her palm, and the way the sun reflected off it's shiny surface. Scarlett took another drag from her joint. She examined the lighter more closely, sliding her thumb over the initials engraved in the metal: A.A., which stood for Aaron Abeley.
"Have I ever told you how much I love your lighter?" she asked Aaron in awe, clutching it to her chest. He laughed and wrenched it out of her hands.
"You're high." He snickered. She laughed too, grabbing onto Nick's arm. Nick pried her fingers off his arm, and she saw that her finger nails left crescent-shaped marks in his skin.
"Maybe a little." She said to Aaron. "But you're higher." Scarlett cackled to herself, thinking it was the funniest thing ever, and not pausing to realize how much of a fool she was making out of herself in front of Nick. Luckily, as she came back into her right mind, she realized he didn't look annoyed; in fact he looked rather amused.
"Do you like Natalie?" she asked him. She normally wasn't this forward with guys, but the weed had loosened her up, and she wanted to know if she had a chance with him. She felt like there was something between them, but she didn't want it to be spoiled by Natalie. To Scarlett, it seemed that ever since she could remember, Natalie Ryan had been the cause of her inner turmoil. There was that time in first grade when Scarlett wouldn't let her use the green crayon, and Natalie burst into tears and told the teacher that Scarlett hit her. That was a total lie, of course, but Scarlett was banned from story time, and forced into a time out. Then, in sixth grade, Natalie had stolen Scarlett's first crush, and kissed him outside school right where Scarlett could see them. The most recent altercation Scarlett had had with Natalie was at the end of freshmen year, when Natalie told their Home Ec teacher that Scarlett had a bottle of prescription pills in her handbag after they got in a fight over whether they should use black or blue thread. That time, she wasn't lying, but she did fail to mention the three pills she herself had popped that morning before class.
"Natalie…Ryan?" asked Nick thoughtfully. "Long hair, green eyes?" Scarlett nodded, narrowing her own eyes and waiting for his answer. "She's cool, I guess, but I'm not, like, into her." Scarlett sighed in relief.
"Thank God. That bitch has got most of the school wrapped around her little finger. It's good to finally meet someone with some common sense." Scarlett noticed no one else commented on her little rant. It wasn't abnormal for one of the girls to lose it and start talking shit about one of the other girls in their group. The unspoken rule was that none of the other girls were to say anything about it. The guys had picked up on the strained relationships in the girls' group, and no longer paid much attention to any gossip going around between them.
"Hey," Nick nudged her with his shoulder. "I've been meaning to ask you, are you free tonight?" he asked, without looking up. Scarlett felt a flutter in the pit of her stomach that she hadn't felt since Will Lyons had brought her a bouquet of roses and asked her out to the Valentine's Day Dance in eighth grade. It wasn't that she hadn't been with other guys since then, she just didn't feel the same way about them.
"Why?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. She crossed her fingers discreetly, hoping that no one else was aware of her thoughts. Andrew was still smoking (seriously, that boy smoked way too much), and Jen was asking him about their shared AP Literature class. Aaron and Brielle were making out again, oblivious to their surroundings. Nick lifted his right shoulder in a crooked shrug.
"Well, my dad is the owner of Le Lys Blanc. I mean, you probably don't know what that is-" he began. Scarlett interrupted him, unable to resist.
"Oh my God! Your dad owns Le Lys Blanc? I can't believe it. That is the spot to be these days!" Scarlett squealed. She was dying to eat at Le Lys Blanc. It had just opened and was the most popular new restaurant in town. Unfortunately, the waiting list was a mile long, and Scarlett hadn't even set up a reservation yet. Nick grinned sheepishly.
"Well, Matt texted me last period and asked me to get him and Alessa a reservation for tonight at seven. He wanted me to come along too, and I figured I should get a date, you know, so I won't be third-wheeling."
"A date." Scarlett repeated, raising her eyebrows. When Jen heard her say that, her eyes darted over to Scarlett and then to Nick. Scarlett smiled back at her and nodded.
"Yeah, a date." He looked her directly in the eye. "If that's cool with you." He said. Scarlett got shivers when she met his green-eyed stare. It had been ages since a guy had looked at her that straightforwardly.
"It's cool with me. I'll see you at seven?" She made herself meet his gaze, just as he had done to her. She refused to seem shy and incompetent of a normal conversation. A smile spread across his lips.
"Seven." He agreed.
Review please :3 Waffles for all the reviewers!
