Prepsworth Academy

Chapter 4 - "See you losers later, I've got a party to get to."

Rose

I studied myself in my floor-length mirror. I was wearing a short black dress with a sweetheart neckline and slightly puffed out skirt that stopped a little above my knees. I was also wearing black stilettos and and my honey blonde hair in waves down my back with a couple of curls positioned over my shoulder. The dress was sequinned, and the sequins swirled into an elaborate pattern near my neckline. It reminded me of a flapper dress from the nineteen twenties, and I smiled at the overall effect: classic, fun and a little wild. I flicked a curl back over my shoulder and studied my make-up in a mirror. The whole outfit and make-up combined was a touch more vintage than I'd anticipated, but it had its own charm. One of my best friends, Katie, walked into my dorm and eyed my outfit.

"Oh my god! That outfit looks so good on you!" Katie exclaimed, and I twirled around to give her the full effect. Katie clapped her hands together.

"Lukas is going to love that look." She continued and I bit back a smirk.

"I'd hope so. He bought me it." I answered, walking to the window without looking at her shocked face.

"I'm so jealous. I wish he was my boyfriend." Katie giggled, and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Katie was fun to be around, but she was so obviously jealous of me that it was almost laughable.

"Yeah, but he's not, so hands off sweetie!" I exclaimed, tossing her a fake smile. My other best friend, Saya, walked into the room, and recognised the sarcasm in my tone.

"Yeah Katie, hands off!" She said, mimicking my over-the-top air. We fell about laughing as Katie looked on, unperturbed. Katie, Saya and I all loved to mock the stereotype of popular, dumb cheerleader, and did it almost constantly, to hilarious results. To be honest, I was already aware that most of the student body thought I was some beautiful, but dumb cheerleader, who maybe had a penchant for teasing people, and yeah, maybe it hurt me a little bit, but it was mostly fun to make fun off.

I slumped down on Katie's bed beside Saya and Katie, leaning back on her doona.

"Did you see that nerd girl Elle and Dylan looking at each other all of the assembly? Oh my god, it was so obvious." Katie exclaimed.

"Do you think they murdered someone together?" Saya asked, smirking.

"Ooh, or maybe they're secretly dating." Katie added. I stayed quiet, thinking, but noticed Saya and Katie staring at me expectantly.

"I'll go with the murder one – more believable." I joked and Saya smiled smugly at Katie. Katie inspected her nails.

"Well, in that case, I think I'll ask Dylan out at the party tonight." Katie said, and I raised my eyebrows.

"Hey, I've gone one full day without a boyfriend. This is a record." Katie joked indignantly and I laughed again.

"You're just upset you can't date Lukas." Saya teased, and Katie shrugged.

"When you two break up, I'll be waiting. And then, I'll finally be reunited with my true love." Katie said, waggling her eyebrows, but I knew it was just light-hearted teasing. Everyone who wanted to be friends with us had a rule – no dating Lukas until at least one week after we'd broken up. Then, Lukas and I would either be bored of dating someone else, or would grow bored of dating someone else quickly enough. Only one girl had broken this rule – a vapid social climber called Eve, and I'd kicked her out of the group. I still remembered a party I'd held during the summer where Lukas had started to dance with me out of nowhere, and Eve was been left bright red and fuming. It was hilarious, so of course Lukas and I laughed about it later, as did Saya and Katie. Sure, it was a little mean, and maybe I was a little mean, but who wasn't? I never bullied anyone, only harmless teasing. I would never bully anyone, not after what I'd seen. But – that was a different story, a thought I didn't want to get into.