Scarred Hearts

1 | The bed you lie in at night

If there was one thing three years at Ivy Crest had thought Valeria, it was that money bought you the right to rudeness and robbed you of any drop of decency.

At the beginning of the senior year, Valeria had acquired a total of zero friends at that school. Her earlier attempts to fit in crumbled into pieces she never bothered picking back up. She gave up trying to connect with people who saw her as something less, something beneath, stopped treating her uniform like a wedding dress, and she certainly never fried her hair in the morning again.

The one thing that remained were the gold hoops. They graced Valeria's ears every day. The eagle eyes of that school condemned such repetition as try-hard-pathetic sooner than a sign of wealth, but that was irrelevant. She didn't wear those earrings for them.

The idea of taking them had felt like a betrayal of sorts. Valeria had never met her grandmother, but if there was one thing she knew about her, it was that she longed for a princess life more than anything. To live in a palace, wear the finest clothes, and be surrounded by people with class. Valeria didn't live in a palace but stepped on one regularly, wore a uniform that cost way too much and was surrounded by people with money every day (although they certainly lacked class).

Wearing those earrings was like bringing her grandmother along with her to the side where the grass was greener, bringing life to a dream that never had the chance to become anything more.

And Valeria would make sure to bring those earrings with her as she pursued her own dream of becoming a model. Modeling opportunities didn't come often, but when they did, Valeria made sure to grab them tight. Amelia, her mother, would always go with her to open casting calls close enough to town as long as she did well in school.

When there was a casting lurking around the corner, Amelia's motto was "No estudias, no hay casting." You don't study, there's no casting.

The words had grown more frequent with each passing day because there would be an opening call in less than two weeks and a chemistry quiz the next day. The school year had just started, so it was a small thing, only five percent of the grade, but still! Every correct answer, no matter how little, mattered, because Valeria had never been the most promising chemistry student.

If she wanted to go to the casting she needed a B. And the amount of pointless crap she still needed to fit into her brain until the next day was hovering over her head like a heavy cloud of anxiety and broken dreams.

Valeria moved swiftly through the school hallways with her manuals clutched against her chest. One wall was lined with lockers that appeared to have just been installed, while the other was floor-to-ceiling glass, flooding the place with natural light. Ivy Crest always looked spotless. Her mom would approve.

Her gaze remained unwavering as if her eyes were fixed exactly where she wanted to go, and it was her birthright to get there. She refused to look down while she walked among the other students of Ivy Crest.

All she needed to do was drop her manuals in her locker before she could run an errand for her mom and then finally go home and study. But there stood Lana, with her designer shoes, exclusive purse, and cruel tongue.

"Hi, little Stain," Lana said when she spotted Valeria walking too fast. "Oh, you finally bought a new pair of shoes. Well, as close to new as you can afford, anyway."

Valeria didn't care enough about Lana to feel self-conscious about her second-hand acquired pair of sneakers. They were a pretty good deal, probably the best she had found in a while. Cute and comfortable. Maybe a bit beaten down, but we all have a history. Plus, they were white, so they complemented the ivy green school uniform perfectly (unlike the purple pair her mom had gotten her before).