I laugh at her as she pulls her phone from her pocket and calls for the pizza. Maybe this semester won’t suck quite so badly after all. Now I just have to figure out how to avoid Travis and co. for the next three years.
Easy, right?
* * *
After the pizza is demolished and the girls have gone back to their room, I grab the pillow from my bed and hold it to my chest, trying to go over the day. I still don’t really understand why Travis is being such an asshole, or why the others are just watching him act like a giant bag of dicks.
“You’re thinking real loud, girlie.” Penn saunters out of the bathroom and drops onto her bed. “Want to talk it out?”
I let out a deep sigh and shake my head. “I’m not sure there’s much to say, I just don’t understand any of it. But it’s not like I’m ever going to, so I need to just keep my head down and get on with what I can control.”
She tilts her head, chewing on her lip before nodding. “Okay, so you’re not from here so you don’t really understand how it all works, but Travis and his friends have been at the top of the social hierarchy forever. And while I’d love to say that Erica and the other whiny bitches that hover around them like flies on shit aren’t the queen bees of Serenity falls… well, I’d be lying.”
“I forget that you grew up with these guys.”
She shrugs and crosses her legs, getting more comfortable. “I mean, kind of. I grew up here, so I know who they are, but I don’t know them. Not really. They’re a year ahead of us. What Idoknow is that Cole Beckettthe second”—she puts a snarky emphasis on his name and I press my lips together so as not to laugh—“has been in the limelight since he was a toddler. His dad has been in politics forever, so the boy knows when to keep his mouth shut. He is very much his father’s son. The guy has game and he rocks a set of drums like a freaking god. The guys started their little band when I was a sophomore in high school, and they were the talk ofeveryone.”
I nod, but keep my mouth shut. Maybe this insight will help me understand them a little more.
“He’s a Law major, which is a crazy heavy workload considering the amount of time the team takes up, but from what I can tell, he never seems to struggle. I don’t know if he gets a pass because of who he is, or if he’s just that good.”
I have no idea what team she’s talking about, but I’m not about to interrupt her since she’s actually spilling the details on them all, and I’m not likely to get this info from the guys themselves.
“Travis is a whole other can of worms. I’m pretty sure he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Kensingtons are like, old new money, and I’m aware that doesn’t make much sense, but they’re not blue bloods. They’ve definitely got more money than I could spend in five lifetimes though. He’s a Business major, probably because of his dad, and he’s always been at the top of the food chain, but he’s also pretty elusive. Like, I couldn’t tell you what he actually does for fun, because outside of his friends and singing with them, he doesn’t really talk to anyone unless it’s needed. That’s what the St. Vincent twins are for.”
“Ah, yes, the twins. Sawyer, the bouncy people person, and Asher, the diplomat. That much I’ve worked out already.”
“Yeah, they’re actually both okay guys. Not that I’ve interacted with them a ton, but I think because they are new money—their mom is like, the top neurosurgeon in the country, and their dad is some hot shot defense attorney—Asher is studying pre-med, following after his mom, and Sawyer is a Business major like Travis. They don’t seem to have the same pressures on them that their friends do. Oh, and Asher totally doesn’t need those glasses he wears, I think he just likes the tattooed geek look. It goes with his whole guitar playing thing. But I guess Sawyer does that too, so who knows.”
I laugh at her last comment. “Well, that’s a little odd, but I guess we all have our own quirks.”
“Something like that. They were renowned in school for their parties. Theirs were the parties you wanted to be at, and if you weren’t, you were a pariah… and, obviously, I basically never went because I was an outcast and a year below them. But I know the summer before senior year they did a back to school party on their yacht, and it was all anyone talked about for months.” She pauses and purses her lips like she’s deciding whether or not to tell me something. “I know you’re part of their family now or whatever, but do you know about Travis’s mom?”
“No? What about her?”
“I don’t know all the details, but I remember it being a huge thing because she just kind of… fell off the face of the earth about eight years ago. No one knows where she went, and I remember Travis not saying a word about it to anyone despite the questions and rumors.”
I chew on my bottom lip. Yeah… that’s not weird at all. “Do you think I need to be worried?”
“I don’t think so,” she says, shaking her head. “But rich people do shitty things and get away with it everyday. I’m not saying Chase Kensington killed her, she could have just run the fuck away from their life. She must have signed divorce papers, because obviously Chase married your mom…”
“Yeah, I guess,” I respond, trying not to let my overthinker’s brain go right off the deep end and into worst-case scenario mode.
“Anyway, that’s enough about the boys. Ice cream?” She grins at me and I nod enthusiastically. I’ve never been the type to turn down ice cream and I am not about to start now.
* * *
My second day at Saints U was pretty quiet compared to the first. I managed to avoid Travis and his squad of sycophants. I spent more time with Serena, Charli, and Penn and found we all have a lot in common. Turns out bonding over bad wine, pizza, and a horror movie is a great way to make friends. They even helped me dye my bright red locks to a shade close to my natural chestnut, and it didn’t end in a disaster.
Got to love college.
It’s only day three, and, apparently, they want to drag me to a frat party tonight—yay me… I mean, who parties on a Wednesday?—but first I have my first Intro to Psych class this morning, then Abnormal Psych after lunch. It’s going to be a brain break kind of day, so maybe I’ll need the party tonight.
On the upside, my class tomorrow is mid-morning so I won’t have to wake up too early.
I head to the same coffee cart from Monday—despite my earlier embarrassment, the coffee was too good to pass up—Lighthouseby Loveless blasting in my headphones, hoping that today I don’t run into anyone. The coffee in my dorm was okay for yesterday, but considering my work load today, I have a feeling I'm going to need the good stuff.
The line isn’t too long, I guess we’ll call that a happy Hump Day win. Except I can’t help but feel uneasy when I notice it's the same guy working the cart as last time. The same one from my Psych class who seemed to know I was in his class and brought me coffee.