so precious, suspicious, and charming and vicious
¶ ¶ ¶

God, only a few more days, and then classes would begin. Students usually arrived a couple weeks before school began to settle into their dorms and catch up with their mates from prior years, purposefully overlooking the fact that they were back at school. But there was no avoiding it now – Arly had spent the last hour at the campus book store, purchasing the reading material on her book lists for that year; a textbook for American History, a copy of Romeo & Juliet for Comp. Lit., French III workbooks and a mother of a hardcover Algebra textbook, among others. She’d gone early, as soon as the shop had opened, to avoid the rush that came later in the day when all students decided to buy their books for the semester. And now summer was ending, with school was right around the corner. Arly had no clue where the time went – one week, her and Jamie were spiking volleyballs on the beach near their summer house in the Hamptons; the next, she’s back at America Town with a shitload of books practically dragging her arms to the floor.

Dumping the pile of manuscripts on her dorm room desk, Arly straightened and glanced around. Ever since she’d swapped from her lonely quad to move into a double with Blake, they’d been moving stuff around and trying to cram their things in places where they were the least likely to cause traffic. So far, all they’d managed to create was a big mess; one that looked like Teen Vogue and Dolce & Gabbana had thrown up on room 110. Brightly colored tubes of nail polish and lip gloss cluttered the surface of their respective dressers, clothing creeping in ominous piles from their closets on opposite sides of the room, while magazines and school books threatened to overtake any other space that happened to remain. They’d definitely have to get all Martha Stewart and overhaul the place eventually – but until then, Arly grabbed her compact, sleek Nokia phone and punched in Jamie’s number. When his voice mail picked up, she chirped into the receiver; “Hey J, I have no idea where you are, but call me. We should go out later, really, before we’re imprisoned in this place for the next ten months. You know you want to. See if anyone else wants in. Love ya, bye.”


Flipping closed her phone, Arly grabbed her small, pink suede purse and breezed out of the room and out of Madison. She had no clue where anyone was: it wasn’t even past eight o’clock yet. She really should be sleeping, like her brother was probably doing. But now that she was up and her books were taken care of, Arly figured it was time for her routine morning pick-me-up. Pulling her blonde locks into a loose ponytail, she soon reached the campus café and stepped inside. Immediately, the wave of coffee-smell and roasting bagels hit her, and she patted the pocket of her blue denim Joe’s Jeans for the five dollar bill she’d stuffed in there earlier. It wasn’t until she noticed the dark head of hair that she recognized Blake, seated at a nearby table. A smile spreading across her face, Arly made for the table.

“Hey there by-otch, fancy meeting you here,” She said good-humoredly, coming up next to her. Taking note of her friend’s sweaty face and jogging attire, Arly slid into the seat – she didn’t bother to ask; this was Blake we’re talking about – and tilted her head. “Have a nice run?” Brushing away a strand of hair that escaped from her ponytail, Arly dropped her bag on the table between them, awaiting Blake’s reply.