AVA'S POV
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Leslie, my gym partner, and childhood friend, spotted me first and shuffled over, her grayish blue eyes lighting up and an extra bounce in her step.
Dustings of gold and silver glitter twinkled on her flushed cheeks and hair.
"You also got rid of yours?!"
I nodded gleefully, and she stamped the floor in contagious excitement.
She looked ready to fly. "Us too!"
Was it strange that we had all managed to get rid of our guards? Yes, but I wasn't changing my mind.
"Whatever," Andia muttered behind me, her eyes downcast as she pushed by, marched through the screeching crowd, and slid into an aisle seat in the back.
Sighing, I tossed a weary smile at Leslie. She laughed and wrapped her arms around my shoulders in a warm embrace.
I melted. I lived for her fatigue-draining hugs.
"I missed hanging out at your place," I murmured, huffing.
She patted my back, "me too. We barely hang out after school anymore. Are you breaking up with me?"
I chuckled, pulling back with clasped her hands in mine, "Lance will kill me if I do."
"Being older than your twin means you can hold him back, you know."
Yeah, sure. "Tell him that."
Her eyes strayed to the floor dramatically. "Well, it's good to know Lance is the only reason we're still friends."
"You break my heart." I sniffed daintily, prolonging the charade, "To think mama wanted to invite you guys to Seychelles with us this weekend."
She beamed, breaking character, "no way."
"Yes, way. Don't tell Andy. I lied that we would visit my nana's grave, or she'll think I'm breaking up with her too."
She tugged me into another hug, and I heartily returned it.
I snickered as she wiggled from side to side, "ooooh, we have so much to discuss for the trip."
"Let's meet at my place tomorrow after school for that." I peered over at Andy, "I have to go. Bye!"
"Bye!"
I tightened my grip on my safety bag and found my way to my best friend. A couple of over-enthusiastic hi's and hey's were tossed over, and I cheerily returned them before slipping by Andia into the window seat.
I tugged on her arm. "Don't be so gloomy about it. At least Mr. Tee's not in the same car with us."
I loved Andy, but whenever she got into a mood, pulling her out of it was hard, and the afters of whatever she had been feeling was unpleasant to deal with. I hoped she wouldn't think this was something we'd all planned and deliberately left her out of it.
She pouted. Then the thin dimples in her cheeks stretched as she smiled.
Saved!
"Fine, but you can't rub it in my face."
"Not promising anything," I smirked.
The bus jerked forward, eliciting several eager shrieks before moving correctly.
"No way!" I heard Leslie guffaw and we watched her drag Jasmine, her best friend, over to us.
"What's up?" Andia chirped.
"Jasmine was telling me about Oliver, and you won't believe what he did!"
"It's not that big of a deal, Les," Jasmine said, but she couldn't stop her giddy grin.
Jasmine was the only daughter to her parents, and she'd always talked about how she hated being the only child until two years ago when her father had introduced Oliver to her.
He was her new sibling, an older brother.
An illegitimate child.
The news had sent waves across our social circles, circling like a moving train with no destination.
To say that it hurt Jasmine's family, the Binelys, was an understatement, but somehow, while facing the harsh gossip and ostracisation, they suddenly shot up again.
Those hiding their stabbing comments behind bowed hands started reaching out to support them again and stopped crossing out their names from invitation lists.
Oliver seized that chance and sent the profit his new family was making over the margin.
Now, no one could attempt to drag them through the mud, and the Binelys could confidently walk with their heads held high.
The only problem was the relationship between Oliver and Jasmine.
While Jasmine stared at Oliver with admiration, Oliver glared at her with disdain.
It was a pretty weird situation considering his existence had cost her some of her friends and a bad rep. She sometimes had to leave school with Les or me to avoid being laughed at, mocked, or, egged.
But since she'd always wanted a sibling, Oliver meant a lot to her, despite what he stood for.
Yet, he treated her like she was the illegitimate child that had ruined his life, as if she was in a position he was supposed to have been born in.
I'd begged Jasmine to let me greet his face with a chair, but she seemed so over the moon about having a big brother that I couldn't make the request a second time.
She deserved a better big brother.
"So," Jasmine started, swaying on her toes, "Ollie got me a Tiffany Aria Wire bracelet."
She lifted her hand to show the gift.
We all spoke at once.
"It's so pretty, Jaz."
"Oliver got that for you? It wasn't his doppelgänger?"
"If he's playing any tricks, I call shotgun on the punches."
"Guys," Jasmine laughed, "relax. It's a gift, and he didn't throw it at me. He sat me down, apologised for his behavior, and explained why he acted like that. Then he gave it to me and said he hoped we'd grow closer and that there was more to come."
My smile strained. "That's...nice."
"I know you guys don't trust him but give him a chance. It didn't justify his actions when he told me what he'd been through, but I could understand where he was coming from."
"And you're sure it's not just 'cause you got a brother?" Andia asked.
"Yes, yes, I'm sure. Come on, guys."
Leslie butted in. "She could be right, you know. Lance got me this last year." She pulled out her favourite diamond jewelry, an infinity-shaped necklace, from her hair and held it out. "I still hate his guts sometimes, but that's how siblings can be. You may feel like you're best friends today and want to rip them apart the next day. It happens."
Andia and I exchanged a look and then decided to concede.
"Fine, you're right," Andia said. "We're happy for you, Jaz, and honestly, I do hope there's more to come he says. Maybe we can hang out with him and get to know him better."
"You guys," Jaz moaned, then engulfed us in a tight hug, "thanks. Seriously, it means a lot."
"Now, you're making me feel bad for hating him first." I joked.
We laughed, then Leslie pulled away, saying, "Okay, since we're going out without any guards today, I'm getting the closest thing to diabetes before I have to switch back to 'eating right.'"
I groaned, "ugh, don't remind me. My mom stuffed my face with oats and celery before I could escape the house."
"Who got the candy?"
Jasmine inclined her head to the front. "Lucia. I don't know how she manages to get her hands on everything, but she snuck loads of candy here. It's a miracle that she made it past the checks will that ungodly amount on her."
"The school nurse was standing there!" I said, amazed. "How in the world did she let her go?"
Leslie shrugged. "Probably because she came on with Remmie."
"Remmie?"
"The Korean newbie."
Andia beamed. "The pretty one with pretty eyes?"
Leslie blinked, "yeah, her...Andy, if you want to be friends that much, why don't you say hi? She's nice. I spoke to her earlier."
"Not yet."
"Okay, whatever, we're going," Leslie pulled Jasmine as the bus rocked, "can't spend the entire ride gossiping."
"Bye!"
"Bye!"
I nudged Andia, "Go talk to Remmie."
She shook her head, brushing her silky hair over our arms, "I want to wait a bit before I do that. She seems pretty shy, and I don't want to overwhelm her. Our society can be brutal."
She wasn't wrong.
The group or 'society' we found ourselves in treated everything like the theme of our lives was the-1800s-upper-class-meets-the-21st-century.
Everything we did had rules attached to it, which were pretty harsh on those of us who weren't legal yet.
We couldn't go out without guards.
We had to attend these boring events where everyone had to dress fancy and pretend to like it. Most people only went for the gossip.
It was highly 'recommended' -more like enforced- that we married within our society or from a similar society. Marriage with 'poor' -normal- people was frowned upon.
Everything felt so forced and structured that as soon as most people turned 18, they rebelled. They didn't care about what the rules said. But after some years, they'd come back.
As if they'd understood why the rules were in place and couldn't live under their means. I'd never understood why. Was money everything?
And another thing about our society?
It was all fuelled by the majority.
It made me realise that the only thing we could be sure of in the world was that truths, lies, rights, and wrongs didn't exist.
The verdict belonged to the reaction of the majority surrounding us.