Freya Arsov sits on top of a world of diamonds and sports cars. Her father is a billionaire, head of a world-renown company, her mother, an esteemed lawyer. She attends the most prestigious boarding school in England. She has four amazing best frien...
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BY LUNCHTIME, RAINA WANTED nothing more than to disappear to Ebony House and not interact with her fellow peers. So, she did exactly that.
Straight out of Professor Kirkwall's Literature class, she fled across the campus, to where Ebony House nestled. She'd arrived around seven o'clock this morning and had just changed and dragged her bags upstairs without savouring the feel of the house enough. No one stopped to spark a conversation with her as she went and for that she was thankful. The entirety of Literature was filled with whispers about the new student who Freya had sat next to during French at first period. Anakin, or something.
The new piece of gossip was that she and Julian were broken up and Freya was all too eager to get with someone new. According to rumour, Freya had all but sat in the boy's lap. Raina knew this was all nonsense. Freya never flirted that way, even when she was broken up with Julian. And she's never had eyes for anyone else really either, far less for someone she would have only met at first period. Raina had sat through Literature rolling her eyes.
As she walked the long distance across Arrowsmith's sprawling compound, along the stone path because the grass was damp from a mid-morning shower that had occurred during Social Studies, she spotted Maye standing outside the Science building. The Science building was one of the more modern teaching buildings at Arrowsmith and a building which Raina hadn't stepped foot within in years. She'd dropped science subjects, much to her parent's disagreement, but they relented, at last, agreeing that Raina just didn't have an affinity for Biology and Chemistry一 what was unsaid, Raina just wasn't as smart as Saiid.
She stood on the steps, a Burberry overcoat above her uniform even though it wasn't that cold. Maye just had zero tolerance for English weather, sometimes Raina could agree. Her lips were drawn, a muted shade of plum, downwards as she conversed with one of the teachers. Mr. Desmond, Raina believed, by his greying hair and dress code of strictly long-sleeved button-ups in the strangest of colours. His lime green back was to Raina as he spoke with Maye, who looked as though she had seen better days.
They caught each other's eyes across the yard. Maye's eyes widened as though Raina was the last person she wished to see. Raina and Mayella Vance weren't the closest members of Ebony House, that was true. But they often had a reason to clash. Raina pretended to not notice the tension of Maye's situation and nonchalantly pointed down the stone path. Ebony House, she mouthed and resumed walking.
The chatter and babble that was Arrowsmith society was really starting to get to Raina. She was already tired of inhaling Chanel No. 5, which girls at this school seem to bathe in. She was already processing far too much gossip than she was capable of doing. Now, she had Mayella Vance on her mind. Raina didn't want Mayella on her mind.
All thoughts of Mayella flew from Raina's head though as she approached the bricked structure of Ebony House. All the windows were closed, curtains drawn, door shut, and on the front steps of the imposing house, stood Seth.
