Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

-Mahatma Gandhi

XXIII | GORGEOUS

"Bitch, what did you just say?" Ronnie asked, her jaw literally almost touched the table, Laurianne's facial expression was the same, while Chase bit his tongue to prevent himself from laughing. Asshole...

"Called it, pay up," Ocean said to Zoey, Zoey groaned and handed Ocean fifty bucks.

The rest of us stared at them with confusion, "wait, hold up, you knew and made a bet on it?" I questioned and both Ocean and Zoey laughed.

"Oh, come on, we've known Reece long enough to know he wouldn't just pick any girl to date after Brooke," Zoey wheezed.

"Plus, I've never seen you guys talk before, so that wouldn't have made any sense, and Reece can't keep secrets from us or I'd kill him," Ocean said, wiping some tears from her eyes.  "I mean, he didn't tell us you guys fake dated though," Ocean continued.

I opened my mouth then closed it, then opened it again. "Okay, so if you knew this was all a lie, why didn't you just expose us?" I asked and Ocean sighed.

"Because after all the romantic movies I've watched, when people fake date, they end up together in the end but um..." Ocean said sipping her milkshake and looking away.

"Well, that's fucked up," Laurianne sighed.

"We really thought you guys would end up together, so we didn't say anything, but unfortunately he still went back to that cheating skank," Zoey cursed, rolling her eyes in disgust.

"Plus, I'm still better than her in bed," Ronnie added and this time we all rolled our eyes while Chase mumbled something like 'girls are way too horny these days'.

"Dance dance evolution here I come," Ocean yelled as we walked into the arcade, it was after school when all four girls dragged me here, we haven't spoken about the whole fake dating thing anymore and frankly I was happy about that. Ocean made her way to the register and asked the female worker for some coins which she paid for.

She went back to us, dancing excitedly with a bunch of coins in a cup. "Let's get this party started," she shouted, handing us some coins each before she started walking over to the Dance, dance revolution machine.

"Help me," Zoey mouthed to us, we laughed as she sadly followed behind Ocean.

I turned to Ronnie and Laurianne. "What do you suggest we do?" I asked and Ronnie smirked.

"I don't know about you guys, but there are a lot of sexy guys here, so I'm just going to excuse myself," Ronnie said walking away from me and towards a group of guys.

I turned to Laurianne who was obviously already talking to Chase on the phone and giggling despite this being a girls day out. I rolled my eyes and walked away from her. Great, I'm the one who's going through a hard time and they all still do not focus their attention on their broken-hearted friend.

I sighed and looked at the few coins Ocean gave to me in my hand. I started making my way to the Pac-Man machine and entered a single coin. I watched as the game turned on and I quickly pressed play, my lip went into a straight line when I realized I'd actually never played this game before. I groaned, what's the point? I was about to leave the game when someone spoke.

"Don't tell me you're not even going to try?" I turn to see a guy with blonde curly hair and grey eyes. He's really cute. Gosh, what is my obsession with guys with blonde hair?

True, but he's not as cute as Reece with his dark brown locks.

Shut up conscience.

"Um, you okay?" He said and I cleared my throat.

"Erm, yeah...I'm so okay," I nervously chuckled.

Kris Jenner Voice: You're doing amazing sweetie.

Conscience didn't I just tell you to shut up.

Blocking my conscience from my head, I smiled at the boy and brought out my right hand to give him a handshake. "Violetta Maxwell," I greeted and he chuckled before shaking my hand.

"I know who you are," he said and I looked at him with confusion planted on my face.

"We go to the same school together. I'm in the art club, we have the same art class," he said, trying to jog my memory and I had a feeling his face felt familiar.

My eyes opened in realization. "Oh, Brandon Jackson right?" I asked, he smiled and shook his head yes.
I smiled back, he came closer and rested his elbow on the Pac-Man machine.

"So, what is a girl like you doing in an arcade. I've seen a lot of girls here and I'm pretty sure I've never seen you here before." He smirked and I chuckled.

"My friends dragged me here to have some fun," I said and he raised an eyebrow.

"May I ask why?" He said and I gave him a sad smile.

"My boyfriend broke up with me." I frowned.

Fake - cough - boyfriend.

I will strangle you conscience in my mind, I swear to God.

His eyes lit up in realization, "Oh you're the girl Reece dated for like a month, then dumped and got back together with Brooke," he said. I instantly frowned and bit my lip.

His emotion changed to sadness when he realized I didn't find it one bit funny, he scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry about that," he spoke, I took a deep breath and released it, giving him a small smile.

"It's okay, is that what everyone has been saying?" I said and he bit his lip. I rolled my eyes, of course, people would say that all of these people's lives revolved around gossip. Bunch of idiots.

He scratched his neck and looked away for a second before looking back at me. "Um, I know you just got out of a relationship, but I was wondering if we could hang out sometimes, not like a date, but just like friends - you know to get to know each other," Brandon said with a million dollar smile.

Violetta say yes, he's the perfect guy to fall for and get over Reece, so say yes.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I realized Brandon would think I'm rolling my eyes at him, so I decided not to. I gave him a smile. "Sure," I replied. We swapped phone numbers and he left after we did small talk. I smiled a little, at least I could move on and maybe start something with Brandon and hopefully get over Reece while doing so.

"But I really wanted to go to the restaurant," Ronnie whined.

"Too bad, I'm in the mood for a movie, Slender Man just came out and I'm watching it," Ocean playfully snapped if that is a thing.

"Wait, what?" I asked halting in my tracts, all four girls stopped walking, they turned around to look at me.

Ronnie groaned again. "Violetta can't even handle scary movies, so let's just all go to the all you can eat buffet, yeah? Good, I'll go start the car," before Ronnie could even move an inch ocean grabbed her wrist.

"No, and Violetta you're watching that movie," Ocean glared at me. I gulped, even though I haven't known Ocean for very long, I knew she wasn't someone you wanted to mess with, that was something her and Gwen had in common.

I sighed and nodded, at least Ronnie had warned Ocean. We quickly bought our tickets and food and went inside the movie theatre room, the movie would begin in about five minutes. I prayed to God it wouldn't be that scary.

-OCEAN POV-

The commercials popped up on the movie screen. We all sat on the middle row of the lowly lit room. I slowly ate my nachos while staring at the screen, waiting for the movie to start. I had to remind myself to visit Reece later, I couldn't at the weekend because I was very sure I would have broken his nose if I did.

How could he do that to Violetta? I knew they both liked each other, I wasn't dumb. So why get back with Brooke?

I silently sighed, I will force it out of him whether he likes it or not. I rested comfortably on my seat as the movie began to play. To be honest, I'm not really scared of horror movies, even the true story ones. They just always seemed funny to me, yes, I sometimes laughed while watching scary movies, especially Amityville horror or The Exorcist which were both based off of true stories, I still found them funny.

Thirty minutes into the movie, Violetta started to scream, everyone kept telling her to be quiet, she would mumble a sorry to them and remain silent then start screaming again.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance, I should have listened to Ronnie in the first place when she said Violetta was afraid of scary movies.

One part, in particular, I have to admit was kind of terrifying, caused Violetta to stand up and start running towards the exit, she started flinging people's popcorn everywhere as she passed them, heck, she even accidentally spilt a guys coke on himself.

She finally ran towards the exit of the theatre room and everyone glared at us. "Erm, we don't know her," Zoey chuckled nervously.

They still continued to glare at us.

"I think we better go," Ronnie whispered

"Good idea," Laurianne whispered back as all four of us quickly left the theatre as people insulted us as we left.

I stood in front of a white mansion gate, it was the biggest mansion I've ever seen in my entire life, heck, it might even be the biggest mansion here in Orlando, Florida.

I looked at the gate, a big gold crusted W stood in the middle. Even after all the times, I've been to this mansion, it is like my second home, I still get lost sometimes.

I entered the code and the gate opened as I drove my car inside, the pathway was kind of long but seeing these beautiful trees made it worth it. I parked my car in front of the large water fountain and stepped out closing the car door behind me.

I knocked on the door and waited a few minutes before the door opened to reveal a butler.

"Hello, Charles," I greeted him with a smile, he returned it back and he quickly hugged me before releasing me.

"Ah Miss Cardel, still gorgeous as ever," he said and my smile brightened.

"Charles, I said to call me Ocean, remember," I said with a laugh and he rolled his eyes.

"I keep forgetting," he replied. He stepped aside. I thanked him as I entered the beautiful house, from expensive paintings, gold and silver artifacts, this house screamed beauty and expense.

I rested my handbag on the gold coffee table that was near the door. "Is Mr and Mrs West home?" I asked Charles, shook his head no.

"No Mr and Mrs West left an hour ago for a charity event, they won't be back until nightfall," he said and I nodded my head in understanding.

"Okay, well I hope Reece is home, I would have called, but my phone died and I forgot to buy a charger for my car because the other one broke," I replied.

"Yes, Reece is in his room," he said, I thanked him before going up the stairs.

"Miss Car-- I mean Ocean, would you like anything to eat?" Charles asked.

I turned to look at him with a smile. "Tell Gretchen I miss her chocolate chip cookies and would be delighted for some, please," I replied. He nodded and made his way towards the kitchen to tell Gretchen, the assistant chef, what I told him.

I walked up the long stairwell, I don't know why, I could have just used the elevator, but I love looking at this amazing mansion more and more each time I visited. I finally reached the second floor and made my way down the hall, the windows were large since the whole house was basically made of glass, I could easily see the city lights and buildings up high.

I walked towards Reece's room and knocked, there wasn't any answer so I knocked again. I heard a come in and I entered to see Reece putting a shirt over his head.

His hair was wet and it was obvious he just came out of the shower. He turned to look at me, confusion obvious on his face.

"Ocean what are you doin' here?" He questioned.

His room theme was black and white and very, very huge and spacious, I sat down on his king sized bed and glared at him. "We need to talk Reecy," I said with anger obviously hinted in my voice, he glared at me, he hated when I called him that.

"Okay, about what?" he asked, crossing his arms, looking at me impatiently, he obviously didn't want me here.  His skanky Girlfriend is coming over I bet.

If looks could kill, he would have been six feet under from the glare I was giving him.

"Oh, I think you know Reecy, and I'm not leaving until I get some answers, rich boy."