04 - Pretty Regrets

Kassidy's POV

I left the house that morning without even eating my cereal. I needed air and distance and to be somewhere that wasn't that house. 

Quietly, I grabbed my bag, pushed my feet into my sneakers, and walked out the front door before anyone could say anything else to me.

Other college freshmen were already outside, waiting for the bus, which I appreciated. The crowd around kept me from doing something embarrassing, like crying on a public street on my first full day as a college student.

Terrible mistake, that was what he had called it. Not just last night, but me, by extension. My presence in his house and my presence in his life was a terrible mistake he had to live next door to.

I was so furious that my hands were shaking a little as I pushed through the campus gates thirty minutes later. But the anger was nothing compared to the heartbreak I felt.

Classes did not help.

I had three of them back to back: Introduction to Legal Studies, English Composition, and a general Political Science requirement that I had not been looking forward to even on a good day.

Piper wasn't here, so I was alone. I was surrounded by total strangers who didn't give a damn about somebody like me. 

By the time lunch came around, I was tired and starving and still feeling hurt by Eli's words. I found a table far away from everyone and immediately took a seat. 

Then I saw Celeste walking towards me.

"Oh, for the love of God!" I groaned and put my head in my hands.

Beside her was a girl with deep brown skin. They were heading toward the salad bar, which was unfortunately right beside where I was sitting.

I looked down at my tray and focused very hard on my food.

"Oh." Celeste's voice. "Look, Darcy! It's the freshman."

I kept my eyes on my plate.

"I'm talking to you." She stopped beside my table, and I looked up slowly.

"Celeste," I grunted.

"You know my name, that's cute." She pulled out the chair across from me and sat down without being invited, and her friend took the one beside her. "How was your first day?"

"It was fine," I muttered.

"Mhm." She picked up her fork and stabbed a piece of lettuce. "You know, I've seen your type before: a fresh-faced small town girl, shows up in a big-city campus and somehow ends up in Eli Deering's orbit within the first forty-eight hours."

I said nothing.

"They all think they're different." Her friend Darcy said this with a short laugh, shaking her head. "Every single time, they think they're The Special One."

"She does have that look though." Celeste inclined her head, looking at me more closely. "She's pretty, but that's all she has."

Something in me went very still. I was here on a pre-law track, I had driven five hundred miles on a near-empty tank with two hundred dollars in my account, I had walked into that campus this morning with three hours of sleep and a broken heart, and sat through three classes without falling apart. Pretty. That was all she had clocked. That was all she thought there was to see.

I didn't say any of that. I didn't have the energy, and she wouldn't have cared anyway. Somewhere between the second and third class, I remembered that I needed to find a job. The two hundred dollars in my account wasn't going to last the month, not if I wanted to eat anything other than dry cereals. 

"She's not as pretty as you, Cel," Darcy murmured. 

"I don't know what you're talking about." I snapped. " But I would appreciate it if you would leave me alone to enjoy my lunch!"

Celeste grabbed my tray and pushed it away from my reach. "Not until we're done with you. Let me just save you some time, because I'm generous like that. You're not the first freshman girl Eli has picked up at one of his parties, and you're not going to be the last. He's charming when he wants to be, he makes you feel like you're the only person he cares about, and then the next morning he acts like it never happened."

 My face felt very hot as I realised that he had done exactly that this morning.

"Sounds like you're speaking from personal experience." I countered, and I was proud of how calm my voice came out.

Celeste rolled her eyes. "I'm speaking from observation, because I lived in that house for a session last year. I've watched him do it over and over again."

She paused for a think. "Though I will say, you lasted less time than most. He usually waits until at least the second week."

Her friend pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. 

Celeste nudged her friend, then turned back to me. "You've been used, sweetheart, and I'd get ahead of it emotionally if I were you, before you end up crying in a bathroom somewhere and someone takes pictures of you. Trust me, you will never live that down."

I looked down at the empty space in front of me, where my tray was supposed to be. One tear slipped past my eyes, and I wiped it away quickly, before either of them could see it.

I didn't want to believe that Eli had told these girls what happened between us last night. But how else would Celeste and her friend have known? 

"Are you done?" I asked. "I would like to return to my lunch now."

Celeste pushed my tray back towards me. "I was just being helpful. Don't be an ungrateful little b"tch,"

Darcy gave me the stink eyes before both girls stood up and walked away.

I looked down at my tray. The lunch I had been looking forward to all through three miserable classes suddenly didn't look very appetising anymore. But God, I was so close to falling apart.