Playing Perfect

01. Début

01. Début

Beginning

Alice Travers was born perfect, and everyone knew it.

Wherever she walked, heads turned, and students whispered, but she paid no attention to the never-ending rumour mill. She was Sierra Grammar's residential beauty and brains. Everywhere she went, a trail of whispers followed.

She waltzed down the stone hallway, her plaid skirt swishing against her thighs at the perfect length. A golden prefect badge shone brightly on the lapel of her perfectly pressed blazer, pinned just above the embroidered Sierra Grammar crest. With each step, her inky hair swayed at her waist, long and impeccably straight, not a strand out of place.

Echoes of "Hi Alice!" and, "You look pretty today, Alice!", and "How's your day, Alice?" followed her through the halls. Alice sent polite grins to each student as she passed. She was half-way down the corridor when a voice called out.

"Alice!"

She spun at the call of her name on the tongue of a familiar voice, pausing at the sight of Emily, her best friend, as she ran up to her.

Emily was a head shorter than Alice. She'd had a sudden growth spurt in middle school and had stopped growing ever since. She was curvier than Alice, filling out her uniform in a way Alice could never, and her long, blonde curls had been pulled into a neat bun atop her head.

She was the embodiment of a cherub from a renaissance painting and the sun seemed to know it, following her so that her hair glowed in a halo around her head. She belonged in the Louvre.

"No running in the hallways," Alice chided as Emily came to a stop beside her.

"Sorry, Miss Prefect." Emily rolled her eyes, a smirk pulling at her rosy cheeks. "Where were you last period?"

Alice gestured to the pile of papers clutched to her chest. "Mrs Andrews asked me to photocopy some worksheets for her."

Emily quirked a knowing brow at her and stuck her tongue out in a faux gag. "Mrs Andrews is a total hag. She knew you had a class. We have our trials coming up. You could have said no."

"I know," Alice replied with a sigh, turning to continue her walk to Mrs Andrews' office. "But it looked like she really needed help. And I'm—"

"Reliable. Dependable. Responsible," Emily replied, her voice droning on. "I know. The whole school knows. The Headmaster won't let us forget."

"I was going to say that I'm bad at saying no," Alice said pointedly. She shrugged nonchalantly, clutching the papers closer to her chest. "Besides, I like being helpful."

"I know," Emily said, sending her a cheeky grin. She was practically vibrating with excitement, and Alice could feel that she was anxious to change the subject. "Speaking of help, I still have no idea what I'm going to wear tonight. Would you lend me one of your dresses?"

Alice furrowed her brow. "Tonight?"

Emily paused, her blue eyes growing wide, white eyelashes lining the edges. "Don't tell me you forgot!"

"Forgot what?"

"Your parents' soirée?" Emily said, shaking her head with disbelief. "I've been looking forward to it all week!"

"Right," Alice muttered, suddenly remembering. "That was this week."

She fought back a groan at the idea of attending another one of her parents' stuffy social gatherings tonight when all she really wanted to do was curl up in bed and revise her study notes.