The girls had practically dragged Coheed and Claudio back from the pool so they could spend the rest of the day preparing for their night out. Everyone else was ready to go except for Seiko and Holly. Yusun was getting annoyed because they had spent at least 30 minutes in the bathroom preening themselves and redoing little bits of their makeup. “Guys can we go? We’ve been in here forever and Ali has been ready since we got home! We’re going to miss the party at this rate!” Seiko twisted herself around in the mirror, “Perfection takes time dear sister.” Yusun shook her head. How hard is it to just throw on a nice shirt and pants for crying out loud. At least another hour passed and Coheed and Claudio were becoming very impatient. It was already going on eight and they wanted to stay there quite late. Coheed knocked on the door but it was drowned out by the girls arguing inside, so he ended up having to raise his voice to get their attention. “Guys if you don’t come out you’re going to miss the cab and me and Claudio are leaving you!” Coheed heard the door knob click and out walked Seiko and Holly, who both had a nasty look on their face, probably because of the fact that they didn’t think they perfect. Yusun and Alessandra on the other hand both mouthed “Thank you” as they passed him. The club they arrived at was on the waterfront and had the prettiest views any of them had ever seen. If it was up to all of them they would go back in time and ask to study abroad for high school. The first thing Claudio noticed when they arrived, other than the view, was Clara leaning against the side of the building with the light from her phone illuminating her face. He felt butterflies in his stomach as he saw her lift her head and smile when she saw him. “You came! I was beginning to worry there for a bit.” Claudio rolled his eyes, “Yea I’m really sorry about that. You can blame my cousins. They’ve spent all day getting ready and somehow still managed to make us late.” Clara giggled and grabbed his hand, “Well now we have to make up for all that lost time! Let’s go dance!” As Clara was dragging Claudio up the steps into the club he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. He’d had girlfriends before, none that were worth mentioning, but this girl was different. She was open and carefree and wasn’t being nice to him just because he was a legacy boy. That thought caused him to wince. What would happen if he told her who he really was. Would she change like the rest of them? Meanwhile in the club, Holly was dancing with her cousins but could feel the gaze of someone lingering on her for far too long. She mad a sidelong glance over her shoulder and saw a guy around her age. When he caught her staring they made eye contact and Holly could see a smirk form on his face. Something about that smirk rubbed Holly the wrong way so she turned her heel and walked straight towards him. “Why are you staring at me?” “It’s hard to not stare at somebody that is so beautiful.” Holly’s eyes got big and she blushed. She wasn’t expecting such a straightforward answer like that and didn’t really know how to respond. “I-I...uh..thank you.” The man chuckled and reached out his hand, “The name is Gavrill Wells. Pleased to meet you.” Holly gently took his outstretched hand and shook it, “Holly Belle. Are you with Clara’s group?” Gavrill nodded his head and sighed, “Unfortunately yes. I was dragged out here tonight against my will but it looks like my luck has changed since I’ve met you.” Coheed was grinning from ear to ear. He’d been on the dance floor the entire night observing everything. His brother and Clara couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other no matter where they went in the room. Holly had been talking to the same guy for a while now and he’d never seen her so happy. Even Alessandra was mingling and dancing! The only person that seemed out of sorts was a girl Coheed saw out of the corner of his eye. She had honey blonde hair that was tied up in a short ponytail and she looked extremely nervous. Her green eyes flitted nervously around the room as if she couldn’t fully take in her surroundings. Coheed felt bad for the poor girl. She didn’t look like she was having fun and no one was talking to her. He decided to remedy the situation. “Excuse me, miss? I don’t mean to sound rude but you don’t seem to be having much fun.” The girl laughed nervously, “Is it that obvious? I’d rather be at home with my plants and my books than being in this loud place.” “Well it isn’t that bad. Wait, are you with Clara’s group of friends?” The girl rolled her eyes, “Yes. She made us all come out tonight because she said she knew of a group of kids vacationing like us.” She motioned her head towards Claudio and Clara who were sharing a joke over something, “Obviously we know the real reason was she was to chicken to ask him out on a date so she had us come along to make it look like a group thing.” Coheed laughed and shook his head, “If you only knew how awkward my brother has been around her you would question why she even asked us to come. By the way, my name is Coheed Belle sorry for not introducing myself sooner.” “Oh! I’m sorry I should have said something when you walked up to me! My name is Margot Levitt.” “Well Margot. Since we’re already talking why don’t you tell me a little about the girl behind the pretty face?” Margot giggled and blushed, “Well as your brother probably told you, me and my friends are studying abroad in Monte Vista and came here for our spring break. Um...I have a small garden back at my dorm there that is probably in dire need of attention and I have an unhealthy obsession with books.” “Oh really? Then you might have read some of my Mom’s stuff! Her name is Harley Belle and if I remember correctly her best selling books series is Game of Thorns?” Margot’s mouth dropped open and her eyes grew wide, “Your Mom is Harley Belle?! The Harley Belle?! I’ve read her books since they first came out! She was the most highly anticipated author of that year! Oh my gosh I remember buying that book and carrying it around with me for days, reading it at every moment I got!” Coheed burst out laughing. He’d never met one of his Mom’s fans before and didn’t know she had such a ravenous following. “Well if you’re ever in Newcrest just find the biggest house and I’m sure my Mom wouldn’t mind meeting one of her biggest fans.” Alessandra needed to get away from the people for a while. Her thoughts were swimming and her legs felt like lead from dancing all night. She made her way to the bar upstairs but accidentally bumped into somebody. When she raised her head to say sorry her words never formed. She had stopped in her tracks and so had he. They stood there with their eyes locked for what seemed like forever and Alessandra could swear there was electricity shooting off between them. The tension was broken when the man spoke in a deep gruff voice, “Excuse me.” As he moved past her down the stairs she started to ascend again but she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was watching her. So Alessandra did something she’d never done in her life. She took a chance and walked right back down those stairs and towards him. “I’m sorry I bumped into you. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” The man cocked his head to the side, “You came all the way back down here to tell me that?” Ali blushed from embarrassment and stuttered out a response, “I- no. I mean yes? I mean. What’s your name?” The man chuckled to himself and sat down in the seat beside her, “Richard Kovic. And you are?” “Alessandra Belle. I’m sorry I’m so awkward. I don’t usually talk to people outside of my family…” Richard leaned closer to her, “Well I’m glad you’ve made the exception then.” The night drew to a close quicker than anyone expected. Coheed and Margot hadn’t stopped talking since he walked up to her. Gavrill and Holly had been dancing the night away, and Richard and Alessandra had stayed talking in the corner of the club for the rest of the night. Of course Claudio and Clara stuck to each others sides without probably even noticing. They kept gravitating to each other all night and couldn’t help it. Claudio brought Clara in for a hug, “I’m really glad that you invited us out. Now I just have to tuck my cousins into bed since they seemed to drink a little bit too much juice.” Claudio glanced over at Yusun and Seiko who had fallen asleep sitting up and were leaning against each other. If any of them had partied hard it was those two. Clara laughed, “Yea tonight was crazy. If anything I’m glad you decided to approach me at the pool. Guess it was fate, huh?” Claudio shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his phone.
“Well if it was, how about we take a picture together to commemorate it?” After the camera flash had snapped the picture Clara quickly turned her head and kissed Claudio’s cheek. Before he could respond she had already made her way up to her friends and the taxi waiting for them. Just when Claudio was getting used to being around her and the constant butterflies had finally stopped, she made them start back up again. Claudio’s cheeks were burning red as he raised his hand to the place where she kissed him. Is this was love actually felt like?
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