Reputation

1

Summer wasn't over until Paige Scott threw her annual end-of-summer pool party. It was an event that had been happening since the seventh grade. Of course, it changed over the year but the fun stayed the same.

If you weren't there, you were definitely going to hear about it.

"Where are you going?" a woman with a slicked back curly burn and an overpriced matching questioned me as she stood in the doorway of my room.

"Paige I having her annual pool party." I reminded her. She still looked clueless. "Mom, I told you about this last week."

She shrugged, "I'm not saying you can't go."

"I'm just saying that the weekend before her senior year, Sloane was getting ready for college applications. Shawn was at a STEM camp. You should be writing essays and getting letters of recommendations, not going to pool parties." my mom brought up her golden children.

Sloane Mackenzie Carroway was my mother's pride and joy. Even if she wouldn't admit it, I knew Sloane was her favorite child. 

My sister was two years older than me. She got a 36 on the ACT, was a varsity volleyball player, and was a sophomore at Duke.

The only thing that I had over her was the fact that I won student body president. Probably because I wasn't a pretentious bitch.

My mom still wasn't impressed.  

"I'll start with school starts." I brushed down my edges.

There was nothing I wanted more than my parents' approval. 

My brother was on his way to becoming a doctor, Sloane was an honors Political science major, and then there was me just trying to get by.

Well, by my standard I was doing pretty good but nothing was good enough for my parents at this point. 

"When are you going to be home?" she wondered.

"Tomorrow morning. I'm probably going to stay the night at Ivy's." I informed her. "But I know you're having your brunch or whatever, so I'll be home before that." 

"Good." and then she walked away.

There was no 'have fun' or 'be safe.' Sometimes I thought that she just didn't know how to be affectionate. 

"Your ass is going to hang out of those shorts." Sloane pointed out.

I rolled my eyes. "Sloane, I'm going to a pool party, not bible study."

She threw her hand up in the air. "Excuse me. You look cute though. Although, this looks awfully familiar."

"What can I say? You have good taste." I winked. "Sometimes."

Sloane chuckled. "Bye, Rowan."

I had on a bright pink string bikini with a white cropped tank top and denim shorts over it. I wore my signature gold hoops and ring before I got in my car to meet my friends at Ivy's house.

I had my friends, but then there were my sisters, Ivy, Monet, and Bria. We'd been the best of friends since we were thirteen. They were some of my favorite people on this planet. 

"Someone got tan while they were away." Bria gave me a hug. "That pink is popping on you."

"The highlights really did your hair a favor." Bria added.

I loved being showered with compliments.

I grinned. "I try. I stole this swimsuit from Sloane."

"Not Sloane starting to show some skin." Ivy did an overdramatic gasp with her keys in her hands.