Elyse Ryu had many things she disliked in her life. One of them was her mother, who actively cheated on her father. One was her father, who ignorantly allowed his wife to cheat on him while leaving massive credit card debts. She had spent most of her life since middle school keeping track of her mother's actions and cleaning up any messes. Elyse had yet to convince her father to divorce the whore. She disliked her younger sister, Gwendolen, because it appeared the young teen was beginning to follow in her mother's footsteps.
She, however, had several things she loved. She loved her older sister, who was attending Harvard. She loved her two best friends in the world. One of them being Angelica Yang. A spoilt brat who had a very sweet center. She had once believed the young heiress to be a bully like many of the snobbish kids at their private school but realized she was merely extremely dense and socially awkward.
It was with this in mind that she was scared stupid at the news spreading across the student body. Angelica had gotten into a fight with Veronica Shi and it ended with both girls being detained in holding cells while parents were called to collect them. Elyse knew that Angelica and Veronica were like oil and water, but she had never seen the dense girl cause such a mess. She was determined to find out what happened and felt a measure of relief when Angelica called her first.
Except, instead of her usually bubbly expression of obliviousness she was greeted by a blank face. One marred by shock and discomfort. When she proceeded to inquire into the matter she was rewarded with tears.
"What the hell is going on?!" she exclaimed and rose from her bed.
Angelica took a few more moments of blubbering nonsense like, "Never thought I'd see you again" and "You're the best friend a girl could have" before she calmed. The teen took a few calming breaths and began reciting Hermann Hesse's quotes which caused Elyse to feel even more unsettled.
"Angelica! What is with you?" She repeated.
Angelica wiped at her face and returned to a neutral state. Elyse took in her tear-stained eyes and soft smile which settled across her face. There was something different about her friend. Something more...controlled and graceful in the way she presented herself. The burst of tears had been on-brand for her best friend, but the swiftness in which she brought herself to a calmed state was different. What had happened between the last they spoke and now?
"I did something stupid," she stated and pursed her lips. "I mean they both deserved my fury. Lutz is such a fuckboy now that I say it out loud. The stupidity was I started a fight and ended up in jail for a few hours. Now my parents are overreacting. Thinking that I've gone off the deep end or something."
Elyse blinked her eyes. She hadn't expected a somewhat concise report of things. It would usually take some coaxing from her to get their conversations in the right direction when they discussed something serious. "And…" she trailed off.
"And…" Angelica breathed and a mocking smile spread across her face. "My dear, insightful parents have decided to ship me off to England. To some boarding school because I've refused to get my shit together." There was a righteous anger that made her brown eyes blaze and ridicule in her voice caused Elyse's heart rate to spike.
There was something really different about her friend. "Angelica, what else happened? You seem to be...upset," she asked carefully.
"I told you about Mrs. Kozel when I was in 4th grade, right?" Angelica abruptly mentioned and stared at her from her phone's screen.
"Hn," she confirmed with a nod. "She was an awful woman who hated you."
"She was an awful teacher. She failed to recognize what I needed wasn't a putdown but some help. She convinced my parents my poor grades were because I didn't apply myself. That everything relied solely upon me for my poor academic performance. Mrs. Kozel made me feel stupid. Made me feel like a failure. She helped push me down a path of stupidity which prevented anyone from looking past my facade," Angelica ranted and some more tears escaped her eyes. "I know you and Maikel care about me, but I still couldn't open up fully. Let anyone know my true thoughts. The anger, the fear, the levels of self-doubt I held."
Elyse felt like someone gutted her as she sat listening to her best friend. To the girl with the sweet center and airy attitude. It felt like someone dumped water over a cloud of cotton candy to reveal a storm cloud. A reality that seemed impossible. "Angelica, I'm sorry…" she lamented.
She wiped the tears off her cheeks and broke out into another smile. A smile that looked so much prettier than her usual ones. "Sometimes it takes a big mistake to make someone realize something. I think...I think I needed to cause that huge mess because I'm finished. I'm finished acting like only half of who I can be."
Elyse didn't realize when she started crying until she sniffled loudly. "I guess I can't keep calling you stupid all the time," she let out a harsh laugh. She felt so stupid. Doubts were sitting in her chest about multiple things around her in regards to Angelica, but she felt better.
"That's not allowed anymore, no," She confirmed and tossed back her silky hair. "And now," she announced as loud knocking could be heard. "I need you to meet me at the corner down from my house."
Elyse blinked her caramel eyes and tilted her head. "The party corner?"
It was a corner that was located outside the fence of the back corner of Angelica's house. Angelica and her would frequently use that spot for late-night meetups or whenever they wanted to sneak out at night. Elyse had been surprised at how adept Angelica became at climbing down from her second-story bedroom and hopping the fence in all manner of heeled shoes.
"That exact corner!" Angelica exclaimed with joy in her eyes. "Have your car running and ready to drive! We have a last-ditch plan to enact."
"What kind of plan?" Elyse inquired as she began to think back to the various mostly successful plans Angelica had concocted.
"A plan to convince my brother and grandparents to keep me in Illinois," she determined with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I need to prove myself to my parents, especially my father. There are four main phases to this plan."
Elyse suddenly felt like she needed to be taking notes.
"Phase one, we go shopping."
"Shopping?" How would going on a shopping spree convince her parents she'd changed?
"Yes. My usual wardrobe is…" Angelica blushed and looked like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "I actually hate those clothes. A lot of girls especially those which surrounded Veronica had me convinced I had to dress like that to make friends."
"Wait? You hate those clothes? All the Channel and the tight black "fuck me" dresses?" The blush grew worse the more Elyse listed off.
"I hate it. The first time I wore something like that out it took me hours to convince myself it was fine. I look alright, but I felt like...like your mother for example."
Elyse frowned at that. "You're a nice person, unlike my mother."
"But I acted shallow like her too often to count. I...I have a secret Pinterest page. Filled with things I wish I could wear. I want to wear them now. Something to show my brother that I have it in me to change. You know how I acted whenever they would try to make me change to a more "respectable" style."
She nodded solemnly in response to her friend. "You threw a tantrum and ended up throwing a heeled shoe at your brother's head. Your accuracy was astonishing."
Angelica let out a groan as she remembered that moment. "And that's why phase one includes shopping."
"Alright. What else?"
"Phase two, we ambush my brother at his college. In phase three, we have him call my maternal grandparents asking for help. Phase four, we use the other three successes to open negotiations with my father regarding an alternative to boarding school."
"What is the alternative?"
"I volunteer to shadow my grandparents for the rest of the school year. First, I have to prove myself to be a good student and have promise as a successful member of society. I can accomplish this by interning at my grandfather's company which can be coordinated with a private school they help sponsor. Second, I have to prove myself to be a young socialite. I would prefer to leave the social scene behind, but I already have a notorious reputation amongst our generation and our parents. I can accomplish this by accompanying my grandmother around town. She is still the crème de la crème of the Chicago elites despite my mother taking her place. My grandmother loves me dearly, but she had sent me nothing but letter after letter of disapproval since 8th grade. If I present myself flawlessly at my grandmother's spring gala…"
Elyse was busy jotting down notes and she felt some excitement in her chest. "Do...I have another thing to request then!"
Angelica blinked back at her with the tilt of her head. "What?"
"Let me join you! My sister is more focused on helping with the business and my mother is making a mess of our reputation. If I can establish myself with a stamp of approval from Annissa Tan then I'll have the chance to separate my siblings and me from our mother," She requested with determination in her eyes. Elyse felt inspired listening to her best friend charge ahead. Listening to her be determined to change the things around her.
Angelica was stunned for a few moments before she burst into laughter. "Alright! It will make it more plausible to my father as well. He doubts I have the brains for something like this."
"Then it's a deal?"
"It's a deal. We'll take Chicago by storm!"