✰✰

"𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐲"

College equals early mornings, and early mornings equal shitty Arabella.

I scowled at myself in the mirror, my attempts to clip my bra on was not cooperating. Normally, I am good with this, but life has a habit of pushing me off on the most crucial days.

I hurriedly pulled on my short skirt and then lunged on my crop top after finally clipping the bastard on.

"Bella, hurry up!" From behind my door, Nicolo shouts.

"Okay!" I respond.

I sprayed on some perfume before slipping on my white Nikes. I double-checked that my MacBook was inside my bag and then zipped it up and walked out the door.

I dashed down the staircase, stumbling a few times but making it down safely.

Nicolo stood outside the front door, his phone in his hand. When I got close enough, his attention was drawn to me, and he tucked his phone away, replacing it with his keys as he turned around and headed outside.

"Bye, mum and dad." I shout through the quiet house and without waiting for their reply I closed the door behind me.

Nicolo shifted to his side, while I moved to mine. Once we were comfortable I linked my phone to his Bluetooth and started playing my playlist.

Then we were on our way to the city.

✰

"Good morning, and welcome back, students."

As my business professor began his lecture, I crossed my right leg over my left and sat back in my seat.

My gaze swept the room, taking in all of the students present. We had a few newcomers, but the rest of the group was essentially the same as last year.

Nicolo and I, as well as Aydan, were in this class. We both took business. Kara doesn't because her profession is more on modelling and photography, whereas I prefer art, particularly painting. At home, I even have my own art studio.

Nicolo and I both decided to attend a business course since we both planned on one day running our own businesses, mostly our father's and all he owns in the United States and other countries.

Aydan and Nicolo sat on my right, and there were two empty seats on my left.

The class door unexpectedly opened, drawing everyone's attention to it. As they walked through, the professor didn't stop talking.

The first boy through had platinum blonde hair that was naturally dishevelled and fell down his forehead. Striking blue eyes and a fair skin complexion. He seems to have a devilish look to his features and a strong bone structure.

I'm not going to lie, he was really attractive, but my eyes widened as I noticed who was behind the blonde boy. Roman Agnello in all his glory.

Blondie didn't stand a chance standing next to Roman. Roman was arguably the most attractive male out there.

Blondie apologetically smiled at the teacher and walked up the steps, looking for a seat. Fortunately, he made eye contact with me and smiled as he walked over.

Oh goodness.

I averted my glance, aware of his focus on me and shifted slightly in my seat. Someone sat next to me, making me groan internally.

"No ones sitting here right?" A voice with a deep British accent said from beside me.

"No," I say, looking to my left and up into blondie's eyes.

He gives me a charming smile, before taking out his laptop and laying it on the desk.

My gaze then moved to the boy's side, where Roman sat.

I began to suspect that his favourite colour was black, given he wore a basic black sweatshirt and black jeans.

A silver chain dangled from his neck, and his intense gaze was contrasted on the sight in front of him as he sat all the way back with his legs spread as if he were at home relaxing.

I scoff and shake my head, averting my gaze from him; he seems to be everywhere these days.

I'm not complaining, but it seemed like I couldn't think straight whenever he was near me or in the same room as me. Which irritated me to the fucking core.

"By the way, my name is Theo Cameron."

I looked over at blondie and gave him a small smile.

"Arabella Malik," He shakes my hand and throws me another charming smile, this time featuring dimples on his cheeks.

"Are you new here?" I ask quietly.

"Yeah, my friend and I just transferred,"

"Oh, really? Where from?" I shifted my focus to Roman, who was still looking to the front.

"University of California." He responds.

"Oh, Berkeley?"

He responded with a hum and began taking notes. I followed suit, giving a brief note of whatever was necessary.

My gaze kept moving to Roman, who appeared to be seated and listening to the lecture.

His head was slightly tilted, and his jaw muscle was clenched tightly as if this was a common thing for him. He was holding a pen between his middle and index fingers and twirling it around.

I averted my gaze from him, shook my head to clear my mind from my haze, and resumed the lecture.

The class came to an end after some time had passed.

Everyone, including myself, packed our belongings and left the area.

"Do you have any more classes today, Bella?" Aydan asked from beside me.

"Three, you?" I murmur as I struggle to repack my laptop into my bag.

"Yep, I got the same."

I sigh and pat my skirt down as I tossed my bag over my shoulder and followed blondie and Roman down the staircase.

Nicolo and Aydan were not far behind me. I was thinking about what to get for lunch as I headed down the stairs; we had a few options, but it really depended on what I felt at the time.

When I got to the last step, my foot tripped over somebody's foot that was dangling from the stair, causing me to drop everything and fall into the person in front of me.

A shriek escaped my lips and I gripped onto their arm to stabilise myself.

Someone's arm was placed around my waist, securing me. I looked up at the person once I had composed myself, my eyes meeting amber ones.

I sighed defeatedly and felt my face flush slightly; his arm let go of me almost abruptly, though he wrapped his fingers around my arm to keep me from falling.

"Thanks." I whisper, completely embarrassed.

I turned to see the person who had carelessly left their foot out, and was met with a boy with glasses and a crimson face looking up at me.

"Sorry." He says sheepishly, I sigh and tell him it's fine.

I went to pick up my bag from the floor, only to notice it was gone. When I looked up, I frowned and saw the bag in someone's hand.

I took it from Roman, who had it in one hand and was holding it out to me. I mumbled another thank you before throwing it over my shoulder.

I started heading towards the exit, and I could feel Roman following closely behind me.

As they met my gaze, Aydan and Nicolo stood just outside the exit with a little grin on their faces.

"You know, you could have helped me." I shake my head at them.

"Roman helped you." Aydan smirks.

Nicolo frowns a little before his gaze falls on something behind me.

When I looked around, I saw Roman and Theo walking away in the opposite direction. His tall figure stared down on everyone, oblivious to the desperate college females, who were ogling him from every aspect, including myself.

✰

The remainder of the day whizzed by, and before I knew it, all of my classes were over.

Kara and I were the only ones going to lunch because Aydan and Nicolo were still in class. We decided to go to a cafe on campus, where we had eaten a couple of times the previous year and found the food to be pretty good.

Kara went to place our order as I secured a seat for us.

I chose the two-seater table closest to the window, we got a regular view of the front of the school while students passed by.

"Jesus, that lady was so rude," Kara mumbled slumping down in her seat.

I frowned and looked away from the window and towards her.

"What happened?" I ask.

She shrugs, "Cranky old lady."

I giggle and shake my head.

We easily begun to converse, she told me about some new guy that had arrived in one of her classes, apparently, he was flirting with her the entire time, though she wasn't complaining and gave him her number.

Our lunch arrived, and I couldn't have been more pleased. My go-to meal was fries and a regular cheeseburger.

Kara and I fell silent as we began to eat; we were generally quiet while we ate, we both enormously had a love for food.

"Do you want to do something tonight with the boys?" Kara asked me.

I nod while I took a large bite into my juicy burger.

"Aydan finishes practice at four, so we could all do something after that?" She suggests looking up at me.

"Sounds good, I'll let Nicolo know."

We spoke and ate for the remainder of the time until it was time to leave.

I said a quick goodbye to Kara and made my way to Nicolo.

He leant against his car in the parking lot, his phone to his ear.

Just as I started heading over to him my steps came to a halt as someone had tapped my shoulder. When I turned around, I was greeted by a stunning blonde girl.

Her brown eyes stared sympathetically into mine "Hi, I'm sorry for bothering you. It's my first day here, and I just need some directions to," She pauses and looks down at her schedule and pointing to one of the classes, "Professor Matthew's class,"

"Sure, if you walk through the front doors, there will be a set of stairs to your left, walk up those, and it's the first door on the right," I say with a smile.

"Thank you so much!"

"I tried asking this group and they just walked away from me." She gives me a half-smile as she returns her gaze to her paper.

"You'll find a lot of them here, simply a bunch of prissy's," I mumble.

She laughs as she refolds the paper and stuffs it back into her jacket pocket.

"My name is Arabella by the way, and if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask me." I give her a warm smile.

"Thank you so much, I appreciate it, my name is Haley." She says holding her hand out and I shake it.

"Well, I'll get going, I'll see you around." She says this while clutching her backpack straps.

"See you, Haley." I smile gently and turn back to face my brother.

When I arrive at his car, he leans forward and opens the door for me.

"Who was that?" He asks looking at me through his ray bans.

"Some student that got lost." I shrug and settle into the seat.

He gets in on his side and starts the car almost immediately, pulling out of the parking lot.

"We're meeting with the group tonight." I tell him, looking out the window and watching the cars we fly past.

"Where at?"

I shrug, "Not sure. Kara will text the group chat, it'll be after Aydan's finished practice."

He nods and we both start talking about our day for the rest of the ride.