Scarred Hearts

4 | In the basket

The golden rays of the sunrise pierced through the trees, casting the perfect light on Valeria. She was in the woods near her house, wearing a sleeveless mini dress in a dramatic shade of pink with a layer of sheer black lace with spiderwebs designs.

Her lips were so dark they were almost black, exaggerated pink coated her cheeks, and her eyeliner branched into precisely drawn spider webs, all courtesy of her best friend, Kennedy.

Valeria stretched and positioned her limbs in awkward angles, inspired by the models in the last episode of America's Next Top Model she had seen. Noah, her other best friend, was before her, knee on the floor and eyes behind the digital camera he had received for his birthday.

The pink dress and makeup were a striking contrast to the natural surroundings, but in the eyes of the three friends, the entire thing looked very tasteful and reminiscent of high fashion.

"And, I think that's a..."  Noah paused, leaving his sentence hanging as he got one last shot.

"Wrap!" Kennedy said for him, applauding and cheering.

Noah looked at the freckled girl with a threatening uncovered eye. He kept his silk obsidian black fringe so long that his right eye was covered most of the time.

"Stop stealing my line, Scott," he said, annoyed.

"I wouldn't have to steal your line if you'd just finish it for once." She gestured dramatically with her hands as she spoke.

"Why do you guys always do this?" Valeria said as she walked to them.

"Because Kennedy doesn't let me finish my line, which I would do if she gave me a second." He clicked the gallery button on his camera, his black nail polish chipped like always.

"Let me see," Valeria begged, stretching her hands to the camera.

"You just stop midsentence!" Kennedy argued as Valeria took the camera and looked at herself on the small screen.

"I was taking one last picture, which, as you can see, was well worth it."

The three friends admired their work. The posing, the lighting, the makeup, the angles. It was such a perfect combination in their eyes.

They went to the same school before Valeria started to attend Ivy Crest. They had been inseparable then and still were in a way, but Valeria couldn't deny she felt a little left out at times. It wasn't their fault, and she didn't blame them. They simply got to spend every day in each other's company, while she had to go to the school of the rudest people on the planet all by herself.

"This is the best one," Kennedy said when a close-up of Valeria looking up appeared on the screen of the digital camera. The spider web eyeliner was perfectly on display.

Noah gave her a look.

"I think it might be my favorite one too," Valeria said, smiling proudly. "Meet later to edit?"

"We can't. Group project with other people. Sorry," Kennedy said, smiling weakly. She handed Valeria her bag so she could start wiping off her make-up.

"It's fine. Another time then." She sighed. "I wish I didn't have to go to that stupid school. I have zero patience for them lately, especially that idiot."

"Is he giving you a hard time?"

"He's being the entitled prick he always is. He's so insufferable!" Valeria snapped. She sighed heavily, and then, slowly, a wicked smile spread across her face as she remembered the anger on Nicholas's face after she'd thrown the pack of condoms at him and left her footprints all over the mat of his car.