Ghost of You ✧ jordan baker [2]

6. first day

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After many more clubs and parties, Stacey decided it was time to finally settle down as her NYU summer program started in a few hours. It was an early start to the morning, six a.m to be exact, and Stacey was brewing her coffee in hopes it'd keep her awake for the tour today.

She sat at the counter and glanced at the other room where Darnell used to be. They hadn't talked in a couple of days since her launch party and he was busy with his New York Giants internship. Their stadium was in East Rutherford so it wasn't like she could visit him easily. As weird as it was, she missed him. It was a stupid argument they had and she was being the stubborn one by not apologizing for how she reacted.

She was alone in a big city and by fate, Darnell has been with her since summer started. Of course she had Hayden, but he was so busy living his young adult life that she barely saw him anymore. In a way, she missed the crush he had on her because at least he spent time with her.

Now, she was truly by herself. She'd have to call Darnell after her tour to invite him over. To just talk things out.

Stacey finished her coffee and got ready to go to the school. It was a couple of blocks away, but a car was already sent outside her building when she got outside.

"Ms.Adams?" The driver opened the car door for her with a smile on his face. "Your car to NYU is here."

"Thanks, but who sent this?" Stacey asked. She had no problem walking and didn't know that this program offered these things to potential students.

"Jonathan Williams. Dean of admission."

Stacey recognized the name as it was signed in the emails sent to her. She looked at her watch and knew she didn't have time for anymore questions before she'd be late. The car ride was quick as suspected and Stacey made her way to the Undergraduate Admissions building where everyone was meeting.

There were minimal students on campus for their summer courses, but Stacey slowly felt everyone's eyes landing on her. She kept her head high and focused on what she was here for. This was her normal life, something she hasn't experienced in a few weeks. Groups of teenagers stood in front of the building when she arrived. They all gave her one glance, a couple of them staring a bit too long. Stacey gave them all a polite smile, not wanting to cause any trouble already.

"Hi guys!" A girl came up to them, most likely their student leader, and waved to everyone. "I'm Claire, I'll be your guide today as we tour NYU. We'll then go to a room where you'll be given a presentation about this program. It's one of the hardest to get into." The girl looked over at Stacey, motioning towards her. "And we have a special person in our group today. Stacey Adams!"

Some of them clapped in the group who were impressed with her young success, some stayed silent as her name didn't ring a bell, and then in the front of the group one girl rolled her eyes. "It's one person, can we get on with the tour?"

Claire was shocked by the small outburst and looked down at her. "You are...?"

"Katie," she answered.

"Well Katie, lets try and keep a positive attitude around here." Claire led the group along, not wanting to fuel this feud more than it should be.

Katie glanced back at Stacey one more time before walking towards the front of the group.

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Lunch came quick and Stacey found a bench to sit on at Washington Square Park. This was one of her favorite places to go to and relax during her stay here. She opened her lunch that was provided to them from a cafe down the street. It was a pressed sandwich with chips, nothing special, but it still tasted amazing after walking around for a couple of hours.

Claire talked to some of the teens a couple of benches down, but a small group made their way over to Stacey. She moved her bag and let them sit around her.

"We love your company. It's so cool how a seventeen year old is that fucking wealthy!"

"Damian." One of the girls warned him. She gave Stacey a small smile and stuck out her hand. "Sorry about him, he's a bit forward. I'm Nikki."

Stacey shook Nikki's hand and glanced at everyone else who introduced themselves. Noah, Kennedy, and Savannah made up the rest of the group. They all seemed pretty nice and genuine.

"How do you guys all know each other?" Stacey asked. They were all close already, making her feel a little left out from everything.

"All of us got here at the beginning of the summer and decided to meet up to get to know each other," Noah answered.

"We like to think we're a very elite group," Kennedy chuckled. "By elite I mean managing to get into every club at seventeen in the city."

Stacey giggled, remembering her nights partying like there was no tomorrow. "Yeah, I had my crazy nights as well."

Damian scoffed. "Well yeah, you're best friends with Hayden Combs. He's hot and twenty two."

Nikki rolled her eyes. "My god Damian stop talking."

Stacey waved her off. "No no it's fine. I like the no filter. I'm just glad people are actually talking to me.

"Did anyone come here with you?" Savannah asked.

"Just one friend, but he has an internship with the Giants so I haven't seen him lately." Stacey thought about texting Darnell to see how his first day was. Would that be weird? Did she need to apologize first? "His name's Darnell Hayes."

Noah's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh, I recognize that name! He transferred to South Crenshaw in LA, right? I heard he's a stud at quarterback."

Stacey nodded, but Kennedy already started speaking. "Hm, a quarterback? That's a win for you."

"We're not a thing," Stacey clarified. "Just a good friend."

"We'd love to get to know you more," Nikki offered. "I know it's getting harder to make friends with your growing fame, but you seem really cool and since we'll all be going here in a year, why not become friends right now?"

Stacey's heart warmed at the offer. She didn't expect to make any new friends as she had her group back in Beverly Hills, but this was good for her. Just this morning she was thinking about how lonely she was and now, five people wanted to be friends with her. Maybe New York wouldn't be so bad.

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i don't have face claims for the new characters, they won't be main ones, so you can envision them however you want

and just to clarify, i want to put spencer in this story so bad, but i don't know what they're going to do with his shoulder injury so i'm trying to stay away from that. for right now, i'm acting like spencer and olivia are the only ones who know and they're going to keep it like that

-brooke