The Academy

My mother had arrived at Kloss early the morning Winter Break started. We arrived home in Beverly Hills at breakfast, which was the normal winter spread. Waffles, pancakes, toast, fruit salad, mimosas, and regular orange juice lined the table. Father had his nose buried deep in the entertainment section of the newspaper as usual, though he said a brief welcome home to me. Mother sat quietly next to him eating her usual fruit salad bowl; she never wanted to hurt her precious figure. Braden was nowhere to be seen, probably sleeping off a hangover as usual. My younger sister Brittney was eating her waffles and smiling at me, at least she showed she was happy I was home.

I felt sorry for her. When we were younger, Braden and I were pretty much her parents and that’s not something you want to be to your younger sibling. She was four years younger than me and she looked up to me like a daughter should a mother. Though, I will always secretly hope she doesn’t turn out like me. I could only blame myself at that point.

The rest of the morning went the same. It was normal for our household. My dad usually spent afternoons in his office working. My mom is always somewhere in the house, working on a script or cleaning; most likely cleaning today. Brittney was in her room getting ready for tonight’s Christmas party. Braden was still nowhere to be found.

I was enclosed in my bedroom getting ready for tonight. My bedroom was the second largest in the house. It was all white and elegant, as my mother had wanted it. The bed and the rest of the furniture was cherry wood. It had an adjoining bathroom and a door across from the bathroom led to another bedroom that was used for my closet, another one of my mother’s ideas. She believed every girl deserved a walk in closet and I guess I wasn’t one to fight that.

Since Winter wasn’t terribly cold in California, I wasn’t going to wear one of my long sleeved dresses. Instead, I opted for my red Elise Ryan dress that had sequins down to my waist and then changed into a chiffon skirt the stopped just below my thighs with my black stockings underneath. I loosely curled my hair which was parted mostly to the left side. I put on my double string of pearls and slipped into my Louboutin pumps.

I headed downstairs to find the foyer and most of the surrounding areas filled with familiar faces, mostly my parent’s work friends who had been coming to the party for years. They were family friends, people you were forced to be in the company of at things like this. All they usually cared about was business and money, mostly when they were together.

I stood in a corner trying to find a friendly face where dollarsigns weren’t their eyecolor. A waitor passed by and I grabbed a flute of strawberry champagne. I sighed and took a sip still trying to find someone to talk to.

“I guess boarding school hasn’t changed you too much,” I finally heard a familiar and friendly voice behind me. I turned to see my best friend, smiling from ear to ear, his brown hair still in its shaggy but classy state, wearing a suit without a tie, the top button undone.

“Wylan!” I squeaked his childhood nickname and threw my free arm around his neck, making sure not to spill any of my drink. “I’ve missed you! Are the others here? Nicki? Katie? Nick?”

“Of course,” He laughed. “They’re downstairs in the movie room, like every year.”

“Duh,” I laughed. Every year they would come and we would sneak off downstairs and have a little party of our own away from the adults and our parents. Dylan and I walked downstairs and I was greeted by two separate squeaks from Katie and Nicki. “Hey guys!”

“Riley, we’ve miss you!” Katie exclaimed. “BV has been so boring without you!”

“I’ve missed you guys too,” I hugged them both before walking over to sit in the recliner seats. I sipped on my champagne and smiled at my four best friends.

“So is boarding school, like, totally horrible?” Nicki laughed. She’d obviously been pre-gaming. She was always giggly when she was drunk.

“Not really,” I shrugged. “I mean of course I had an enemy on the second day but I made some great friends there and the guys are gorgeous. I mean it’s not all fun and games, there are still the horrible teachers but there are more nice ones. My roommate’s great though.” I took another sip on the champagne finishing it off, then taking the strawberry out of it and biting in. “Actually they’re coming to visit the day after Christmas. We’re staying in the Laguna House for break. You guys should come down for a day or two.”

“For sure,” Nicki giggled as Nick, Katie, and Dylan nodded in unison. I told them all about Michelle, along with my new friends, though I left out the fact I hooked up with two of them. We caught up more, they told me about what was going on at Beverly Hills which apparently isn’t much. They left around midnight though a lot of people were still at the house. I decided the party was over for me and went to bed. It was a nice sensation to sleep in my own bed, yet weird at the same time.

Christmas came and went and I found myself in the back of a limo waiting for Cassie, Claire, and Audrina at LAX. Today we would head to the Laguna house and tomorrow Danny, Ben, Cam, Sam, James would be joining us and the day after that Devin, Jeff, Jimmy, Brent, Andrew, and Zach. We didn’t want anyone to arrive on the same day so it wouldn’t be overcrowded on the way over.

I got a text from Cassie that they had landed, conveniently they were all from New York though different parts. I climbed out of the car and walked into the airport, deciding to wait with the family members that are picking up their loved ones. I saw three girls looking very lost and laughed, starting to wave my hands. They ran over and hugged me, all looking extremely happy.

“I can’t believe we’re in California!” Audrina exclaimed as we stepped outside into the brisk California air. I laughed as I walked toward the limo suddenly walking alone.

“We’re taking a limo?” Claire asked, the confusion oozing in her voice.

“Well, yeah,” I laughed. “I have to get you to the house some way.” The driver got out and grabbed their bags and put them in the trunk then opened the door as we all climbed in. I threw them bottles of Voss and settled back as the limo started on.

“So we finally get to see where Riley Williams comes from,” Cassie laughed. Even to her, where I’m from is a mystery. Believe me, it’s hard to keep any secrets from your roommates.

“Sort of, I guess,” I laughed. “But it’s an hour long ride so you have time to prepare yourselves.” I took a sip of water and relaxed more. “And you guys will get to meet some of my California friends soon. I told them to come and visit when they can.”

“Are they anything like you, Riley?” Claire giggled.

“They’re the ones who made me the way I am.”

The car ride was filled with them begging me for hints but when they saw us drive for the Laguna Beach exit, their faces filled with awe. I laughed and took a sip of water when they looked at me. I had the driver leave us off at a little outdoor restaurant that was within walking distance to the house and directed him to take the luggage to the house then. We sat at a table with an umbrella for shade and ordered what I believed to be the best drink there, virgin strawberry daiquiris since this place carded, and simple salads.

“This place is beautiful!” Claire beamed. “You’re so lucky you get to live here.”

“Actually…I don’t live here…” They all looked confused. “Not year round at least. This is my family’s vacation home.”

“So your family can afford to live somewhere else, have a vacation home here, and send you to Kloss…all at the same time?” Cassie questioned.

I laughed a bit nervously and the suspiciousness on their faces grew. “I guess I should tell you guys the truth. If I trust you enough to bring you here I can trust you guys to know who I really am. My mom’s a script writer and my dad’s a music producer. We have a house in Beverly Hills, Laguna Beach, and the Hamptons, and a penthouse in New York.”

“S-so, you’re like…rich?” Audrina asked.

“I think ‘rich’ is an understatement, Audrina,” Claire said. “The girl has four bedrooms for crying out loud and each one is probably more glamorous than the last.”

“Holy shit,” Cassie whispered. I awkwardly smiled as the drinks were brought to the table and I took a sip of mine. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Being rich isn’t something I like to brag about. I wanted to, I just thought I would let you guys get to know me before revealing where I’m from and how I have so many houses, so I could avoid the assumptions.”

“Are we the only people you’ve told out of the group so far?” Audrina inquired.

“So far,” I lied, deciding not to tell them that I told Sam. “I’ll tell everyone else when they arrive at the house.”

We finished our lunch and I paid the bill. We started on our way to the house which was fifteen minutes from the restaurant. I watched the girls as we passed the houses in the neighborhood and inched closer to the beach. Their faces dropped more and more with each house which to them, seemed to grow more and more beautiful with each passing property. They looked at me at each one and when I shook my head they looked on more. When we finally reached my house, I didn’t think their mouths could drop anymore. As I walked up to the house with a sort of triumphant smile on my face, they just stood in the driveway in a sort of trance until they ran inside and through the back door onto the deck that overlooked the beach.