Harlow – "Shine is my favourite colour." – Marc Jacobs
Ugh. They expect me to sleep in those… tiny beds? Please, it's bad enough I broke a nail, now this? Still, it's so different from back home, they're so much freer, it's weird. They can dress however they want!
As I change into my pink pyjamas, I realise I have to take my makeup off. Oh god. I hate taking my makeup off in front of people. Still, I give into my tiredness and quickly wipe it off. I tuck my head under the disgusting blanket and fall asleep after a few hours.
I wake to sunlight. I forget for a second my butler isn't here to wake me up. I sit up slowly and see everyone staring oddly at me. Uh oh, I snatch my make up and start undoing the concealer as fast as possible.
"Wait- stop." Says Max and leaps to her feet. The others stare at her, eyes wide.
"It doesn't matter here, everyone's got scars. Don't worry about it." She says, surprised at the sudden kindness I put my concealer down. No one back home has seen me without makeup since I go the scar. Stretching from eyebrow to nose. I don't say anything as I start to get ready. As soon as I'm done, dressed in a dress and small heels, Nakia walks in.
"Harlow, you're a bit over dressed, don't you think?" they chuckle. I look round and realise everyone's wearing jeans and t-shirts. I've never seen such… scruffiness.
"But… I'm not… sick?" I say in disbelief. Being sick is the only excuse not to dress up. Even then it has to be a serious illness.
"Seriously Har?" scoffs Raven. My name is not Har.
"Well, I don't even have anything to change into so." I say defensively and fold my arms.
"Wear this." Max sighs and throw me a pair of black jeans and hoodie. I realise with a shock; her knuckles are purple and torn with scars and cuts. I look at the clothes in disgust. Still, I give in and change.
"I feel ridiculous." I say, annoyed.
"Well, you look like you're not going to the Oscars so be grateful," retorts Dara.
"Ok, today I have to show you around or whatever. Or we can train." Max says, leaning against a wall lazily.
"I can train!" chirps Bee. At this we all roll our eyes.
"Ok, who else wants to train." Everyone sticks their hands up. As we walk into the gym, or the 'pit' as Max and Raven keeps calling it, I realise I've never fought a day in my life. This isn't going to end well.
"Wrap your hands, then meet me in the ring." Says max, her hands already wrapped in record time. Only Raven doesn't look at her in confusion. She sighs and starts walking us through it. Finally. The six of us enter the 'ring' as Max calls it.
She tells us to partner up and shows us how to block and throw a simple punch. She's a surprisingly good teacher, even if she's a bit impatient. Bee bounds up to me first, so I'm stuck with her.
I was surprisingly not that terrible, once I got over the fact, I'm so underdressed. Bee on the other hand, was terrified to throw punches, she kept squealing and tapping my hand instead of punching it. She was pretty good at blocking, though. Halfway through, Max tells us to switch partners. Thank god.
"Hey, can I work with you?" mutters Raven. I roll my eyes but get ready none the less. He actually was pretty good at this.
"Not bad." He says grinning. I roll my eyes and stalk out to the dorms.
Resisting the urge to change again, I lie down, exhausted on my bed. Everyone else does the same, except Max who keeps training. About six hours later, I start becoming concerned as Max still hadn't come back.
Dara sat flicking furiously over pages and pages of maths and other geeky stuff. Eventually, Nakia seemed to get weary of the silence.
"So, how old are you guys?" they say awkwardly. Everyone looks up, seemingly relived.
"Seventeen." Says Max as she finally walks in, drenched in sweat.
"Same." Says Dara, finally looking up from his books.
"Sixteen!" chirps Bee.
"Eighteen." I croak when I realise everyone is staring at me.
"Seventeen." Says Raven and flicks his hair back.
"Sixteen." Finishes Nakia.
"oooohhhh! I almost forgot! Presents! Here!" shrills Bee. She starts handing round small black boxes, each tied with a different coloured ribbon.
I open mine and feel myself getting tearful. Ridiculous, I tell myself, it must be the exhaustion. In each of our boxes, lies a neatly made friendship bracelet, each a different colour.
Dara smiles as he puts on his blue one, Nakia hides a smirk as they put on their black and white one, Raven is obviously more grateful then us, he hasn't had a present in a while, I assume. He puts on his brown bracelet. Bee puts on her own yellow one and looks expectedly at me. Sometimes, you can choose not to be an asshole. I grin and slide on my emerald green one, I have to give it to her, the colour really looks good on me. Max rolls her eyes and tosses her red one on her table and walks away.