The Wang's Toyota Corolla

Westchester, NY

Wednesday, September 1

7:55 a.m.

"This year, I'm expecting you to maintain you GPA so it still continues to stay higher than a 4.0, and I also want to see no Bs or lower on your tests or report cards."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Verity Wang says in a bored voice from the backseat of the Wang's silver Toyota Corolla as she carefully used a wand to swipe From Rags to Riches MAC lipglass dazzleglass to her lips.

It wasn't that she didn't care about her grades; it's just that school has always been too easy for her. From when she can remember, Verity had always gotten straight As without even trying. After all, she had the brain (with a crystal clear photographic memory) of a genius with an IQ of 162. I mean, what kid knows all the states and their capitals at age 5? And what 2nd grader remembered all 88 constellations and knew exactly when and where each one appears? Or how about remembering your 100s times table and learning all the Chinese characters, simplified and traditional, taught to kids in elementary to high school by the time you reach 6th grade? That was exactly the kind of thing that people like Albert Einstein do. And Verity was a prodigy whose IQ matched that of Albert Einstein's.

"Verity! How many times must I tell you to answer me properly?"

"Yes, mom," Verity said more politely this time but then muttered under her breath. "As if I care."

Seeming like her mom didn't hear her rude comment, she continued talking. "Just remember that if you keep trying and getting good grades, then you might be accepted into Yale or Harvard or maybe even Princeton."

As if she even needed to try for the good grades.

"Can't I go to Columbia University? Its closer," Verity whined for like oh, maybe the thousandths time. But it was like the millionths time that her mom had brought up the topic of college.

Her mom stared at her with an expression that was a combination of disgust mixed with disbelief through the car mirror. "Why would you go to Columbia University when you have the chance to go to a better college? Princeton is pretty close too." Her mom was really strict on getting into a good college. That was why her grades mattered so much. And that was also the reason why her mom had said she needed to sacrifice to save up for a good college.

She only got an expensive shirt and a maybe a pair of jeans at most every month while kids around here got new clothes from a shopping spree at least once every month. And only 10% of her wardrobe had designer labels. That was 90% less than the average wardrobe around here.

Verity didn't get any birthday parties after she graduated from preschool. She didn't even get a shopping spree on her birthday. All she received every year is $200 worth of birthday money to last her until next year. And most of those $200 dollars were used to buy jewelry because buying even just one piece of designer wear would chunk off too much of the $200.

She also had to ask for all her year's worth of makeup on Christmas. Verity would ask each relative for a small amount of makeup or a piece of designer clothing. Every time, Verity would make sure that she didn't ask each relative for too much. That was when math came in. But then again, for Verity, the girl who can memorize her 100s times table, dividing makeup and clothes between relatives is a piece of cake.

Her mom worked her hardest so that she could send Verity to Briarwood Octavian Country Day, also known as BOCD, which was a good but expensive private school. She barely had any exotic vacations since the time her dad died in a car crash and left her mom to provide all the money. It wasn't that Verity's family was poor. They were just sort of leaning on the middle class side compared to other rich people around. If her family was on a scale of 1 to 10 with 9 being the average families here, 10 being a millionaire, and 5 being a middle class family, Verity's family would be a 7.

Plus, most of the "extra" money her mother saved up (which Verity desperately needed so she could upgrade her wardrobe) was planned for payment to the college that Verity gets in. Would it hurt her mother just to give her a shopping spree once a year? They weren't that needy of money if there was so much extra saved up. After all, why save when you can spend? But her mother didn't seem to have ever heard that saying before.

The only vacations she got while other kids in this rich neighborhood were away for break were going skiing every other year with the Lees, carpooling with the Lees to the beach once every summer, going camping with the Lees every alternating August of the ski trip for two days and one night, and watching fireworks on the fourth of July on the roof of the Lees' house with their only child, Aaron (but technically, it wasn't a vacation because it was next door and she had snuck up there every time with Aaron). She was forced to waste her spring break every year since fourth grade to take enrichment classes that prepare you for college. And there was no feast on Thanksgiving. Only sharing a turkey with the Lee family.

But Verity would choose these little moments over exotic vacations in a heartbeat. Because being there with Aaron Lee made these little moments into priceless memories. Memories that rich kids can't buy and you can't earn on a lonely exotic vacation.

Verity had known Aaron since she was born, because her mother and father (before he died) were good friends with the Lees. Verity had discovered after some eavesdropping that her mother and father had went to the same school as Aaron's parents. Her mother and Aaron's mother were best friends and the fathers were too. Then they eventually fell in love and decided that the four of them would be inseparable. Well, at least they were until Verity's father had died.

Verity remembered her and Aaron crawling together when they were toddlers and playing on the play structures together in preschool. In fact, Aaron had been with her on every vacation that she could remember. Plus he lived next door on the second floor like her, so they could jump into each other's room through the window every night if they wanted. Jumping through windows two meter apart was a tasked that risked you life, but Verity and Aaron had done it so many times it was as easy as breathing.

Verity couldn't remember a time when he wasn't there for her. She had grown up with him. It was impossible for Verity to imagine a life without Aaron. He was also the only person that Verity trusted and considered an actual friend.

You would think that a genius like her would never be friendless, but she was. That was because Verity had grown a habit of lying and using people. But whenever a "friend" strays away, Verity would just tell herself that her intelligence didn't deserve someone as crappy as the ditcher. But deep inside, she would cry. Her habit had developed from not trusting anyone but Aaron when her so-called friend in fourth grade said that Verity was a show off and skipped away to some other girls to giggle and whisper. Then the girl and her group of friends teased her daily and spread rumors about Verity until Verity started cutting herself then attempted suicide.

One night, she had snuck out to the roof of the school. Standing at the edge, she had closed her eyes had let her body tip forward until it fell. But instead of feeling her feet lose its connection with the surface, she had felt someone grab her hand. When she opened her eyes in surprise, she found out that is was Aaron.

Aaron was mad at her and made her spill why she had wanted to suicide. He had followed her to the school when he saw Verity sneak out of her house suspiciously. Verity ended up crying and telling Aaron all her fourth grade horror stories. In the end, Aaron hugged Verity and said that he would be there for her and protect her forever. That was the moment her crush had developed on Aaron. The next day, Aaron insisted that they both get their ears pierced and each wear a diamond stud on one year to symbolize this promise. He also gave her a Pandora winged guardian angel charm that afternoon. And to this day, Verity still treasures the earring and charm.

But even now, those scary memories still haunted her. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't forget about them.

Even last night, she had stayed awake tossing and turning, worrying about the girls that she would meet in 7th grade. Would she finally make some real friends that were girls?

Verity had hoped that she could have a real friend who was a girl to gossip with and share secrets with. Even though Aaron knew her so well and could read her thoughts and lies like an open book, Verity still wanted a friend who could be her sister. Aaron is a good friend, but I mean c'mon, who tells their best-friend-who-is-a-boy-but-not-a-boyfriend-although-you-hope-he-will-be who your crush is? That would just be weird and embarrassing. And if you don't have a female friend, who do you talk to for fashion advice? Certainly not your friend-who-is-a-boy-and-don't-care-about-clothes-even-though-he-is-the-only-person-that-truly-gets-you.

But not making a friend is still better than meeting your long lost ex-friend who made you attempt suicide after 3 years. Verity hoped that her ex-friend didn't recognize her. She had grew out her bangs and straightened her hair the summer after 4th grade. She also used to wear glasses with thick black frames in 4th grade but then changed to contacts the year after when her ex-friend teased her for the ugly glasses. The only thing that could give her away was the scars left from cutting herself on the otherwise perfect skin of her forearm.

For protection against more mean girls, Verity had decided to keep an air of perfection around her since the beginning of fifth grade when she asked her mom to transfer her from the A wing where her old "friends" were to the B wing along with Aaron. That meant she had to be smart and pretty. But that also meant that she needed to act cold and distant to strangers and had to look bored often.

The "smart" part was easy for her, but the "pretty" part was a little harder. Not all people appreciated Chinese people to be pretty. So to prove that she was, last summer, Verity had washed away all her acne and waxed her arms and legs. She had also spent the last two weeks before school started to starve herself until she was barely 90 pounds. Her height of 5'3" was pretty normal, so height was not a problem.

It was the first day of middle school, and she had to make a good impression. Today, she had chosen a simple 'seaside' stripe drawstring neck tee from Ella Moss over dark gray ultra stretch jeans from Uniqlo paired with black 'Chaos Chain' manolo sandals. Too bad she didn't have enough time to save up her budget to get a cool bag, so she was stuck with her black city scout Jansport backpack with the laptop compartment which she had slung on one shoulder. Inside the laptop compartment was her silver MacBook Air which matched the silver iPhone 5s in her jean pocket.

A silver Pandora charm bracelet hung from her bony wrist as the guardian angel charm dangled next to a Scorpio charm, the former for a sense of protection and the latter as a good luck charm. The Scorpio charm also was a reminder that she herself as a Scorpio would always keep secrets locked up from others. On her right ear was the single diamond stud.

"Honey, we're here." Her mom's voice interrupts her chain of thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, Okay! Bye mom!" Verity hopped off the car with her backpack. She just kept telling herself, "Keep lying to everyone. If all they see is your perfection, then you can keep hiding."

So yeah, I got a few people thinking that Verity is too extreme and exaggerated, but she is supposed to be like this. More details about her will be revealed throughout the story so bear with me pwease:)