CHAPTER NINE.
DARCY WILLIAMS

Principal Warren had been waiting at the gates for Angeline as soon as Mitch dropped her into the school that Monday morning. She groaned and rolled her eyes, throwing her head back as she forced herself out of the car and grabbed her backpack. Mitch had said something about keeping silent so she didn't get in trouble, but the brunette was already halfway out of the car and grumbling a goodbye.

The meeting had only taken ten minutes, but they were some of the most infuriating minutes of Angeline's entire life. Listening to Mr Warren drone on about how drugs would be the death of her made her want to, well, die, because Angeline had never even done anything but weed, and she didn't plan on snorting lines of coke anytime soon.

He'd also moved Angeline from her math class and into another one that Grace wasn't in, in an effort to separate the two girls. Angeline did as Mitch had briefly told her, sitting with her arms folded and her lips sealed shut. It took great effort, but she managed until the door finally closed behind her and she was free in the busy halls of Fair Hill High.

"Fucking bald-headed prick," Angeline muttered under her breath as she joined sides with Paige and Ciara. "I swear to God, Grace got off so lucky."

Paige rolled her bright blue eyes. "Enough about that snake," she sneered. "Grace is dead to us, so I want you guys to meet our new friend."

Ciara raised her brows as they passed by all the other students. "You've found someone else already?"

"Mhm," Paige hummed. "You guys know Darcy Williams, right?"

Angeline frowned, never having heard of the girl before. She listened to Ciara gasp and they started to talk about her, Paige leading them both in the direction where the mystery girl apparently was. The blonde pushed open the main doors to the school and the sun poured down on all of them, warming Angeline's shoulders and causing her to squint in the bright light.

"Darcy!"

A pale girl with blonde wavy hair glanced up from where she was texting somebody on her iPhone, her green eyes locking with the three girls' gaze. Angeline blinked; astonished simply by the sight of this teenage girl. She had no idea how she had never noticed her before, but Darcy Williams was one of the most beautiful girls that Angeline had ever laid eyes on before.

There was something about her-- maybe it was the black leather jacket over her tiny crop top, or the fishnets showing beneath her ripped mom jeans. She had a darker style in contrast to Paige's light aesthetic, and she was the complete opposite to Grace who had only ever worn pink. Maybe that was where Paige was going with Darcy.

"Hey, Paige," Darcy hummed, sliding her phone into her back pocket.

Her eyes scanned the other two girls either side of the blonde, Darcy's eyes gliding over Angeline's body a little longer than normal. Usually, Angeline didn't care when boys or girls stared at the plunged neckline of her dress, but Darcy was intimidating in a way that Angeline sort of liked.

"This is Ciara and this is Angel," Paige introduced them. "Guys, this is Darcy Williams. She transferred to Fair Hill High last week and her dad is high up in Google."

"Oh, sick," Ciara grinned.

"Angel, huh?" Darcy smirked, her bold lipstick making her angelic face seem so much more dangerous. "Never heard a name like that before."

Angeline swallowed thickly in an attempt to collect herself as quickly as possible. "My full name's Angeline, my friends just call me 'Angel', though."

"British, too... Love the accent," Darcy was clearly extremely confident, her tone slow and cocky as if to make sure people took the time to listen to whatever she had to say. "Angeline... You're the girl who got suspended for punching the girl that looks like Pinkie Pie threw up on her, right?"

The brunette nearly snorted at her joke. "Yeah... Yeah, that was me."

The school bell rang shrilly from the building a few feet away, making Paige groan and roll her eyes. "I'll catch you girls at lunch. Darcy, we always meet here, okay?"

Darcy did a careless salute with her cherry-painted nails and started to head towards the main building. Angeline stared after her, mouth slightly agape. Ciara nudged her with a grin.

"Did I just watch you fall in love?" Ciara snickered.

"Perhaps," Angeline squeaked as she came back to earth, shaking her head and tightening her grip on the bag thrown over her shoulder.

"She was totally into you too," Ciara linked their arms as they headed towards the art block where they shared their first class. "So... Did she make you want to let her run you over like Mitch does when he called you 'Angel?'"

Angeline swatted her friend. "Shh!" She giggled.

"All I'm saying is that I better still be your prom date."

"Of course, of course."

...

"Guys, we need to plan Angel's birthday party, ASAP."

Angeline sighed as she chucked her bag beneath the bench her friends sat on, including Darcy who was fiddling with one of the chains around her neck. The sun was sweltering, even for the petite brunette who was in one of her smallest summer dresses, so she wondered how on earth their new friend was wearing a leather jacket and jeans.

"I don't need a birthday party," Angeline rolled her eyes with an amused smile. "Maybe we could all just order pizza to mine and watch films on the projector outside."

Paige groaned loudly. "You're turning eighteen, not fifteen, Angel. We're having a party. Will your dad let us have it at yours?" She looked to Darcy and gasped loudly. "You should see Angel's house, it's huge. Her father's the CEO of NewsFlash and a bunch of other apps."

"NewsFlash?" Darcy raised her brows. "You must be rolling in money. Everyone and their grandma has that shit on their phone."

"Yeah, I guess," Angeline sighed. "But I don't think we could have it at mine. My dad would never let us."

"What's the point in having a huge house if you don't invite loads of people over?" Paige grumbled, but eventually she just rolled her eyes and released a sigh of exasperation. "I suppose we could have it at mine again."

"Or we could order pizza and--"

Angeline was cut off by a harsh glare from the blonde. Ciara snickered a little, shaking her head. The Lewis girl decided to just give in and let Paige plan whatever she wanted. Angeline liked partying, she loved to get drunk and waste the night away on the dancefloor with her friends, and Paige always did throw the best parties at Fair Hill...

"Okay, well, I think it's easier to discuss who's not invited and that's Grace and Levi," Ciara snapped, her brown eyes steering in the direction of the pair who were pressed against a brick wall, practically dry humping each other a few feet away from their group of friends.

"Who does that bitch even think she is?" Paige growled. "Darcy, here's another rule-- you don't talk to either of those two jerkoffs, right? They fucked Angel over, and none of us hang out with people that have fucked either of us over before."

Darcy pursed her lips and nodded. "Got it."

"Anybody on your death list that we should know about, Darcy?" Ciara questioned.

The green eyed girl shrugged as she finally peeled off her leather jacket, her black crop top now much more visible. Angeline didn't want to be a pervert, but Darcy had a nice body-- she was hot-- and Angeline hated herself for thinking Darcy was hot in a different way to how she always said Paige and Ciara was hot.

Darcy was hot in the way that Angeline was attracted to her, like a Mitch-Rapp-kind-of-hot. She wasn't sure how she was going to just be friends with this girl when before Darcy even opened her mouth Angeline already had her head in the gutter.

"Nobody yet," Darcy admitted. "I'll be sure to let you know if anyone does, though."

"Good," Paige said before she looked at Angeline. "Angel!" She snapped. "Why are you being so quiet today? It's weird."

Angeline seemed flustered for one of the first times ever, shaking her head as she pushed some of her straightened hair back behind her ear. She had been quiet for a number of reasons; her new friend was hot as fuck, Mitch was hiding something, and her family were obviously up to no good.

"Dunno," she sighed. "Lot on my mind, I guess."

Ciara frowned. "Well, don't stress!" She threw her arm around her shoulders. "You're eighteen this Friday. In four days you'll finally be able to get with Mitch."

"Stop!" Angeline laughed and swatted her friend for the second time that day. "God, Ciara. If you weren't as straight as a curly fry, I'd think you wanted to get with Mitch."

Ciara crinkled her nose at this whilst Darcy looked between them. "Who's Mitch?"

"Oh, Mitch is one of the super hot security guys that works for Angel's dad. He's, like, in his early twenties and we all think he has a thing for Angel," Paige said. "Which is too bad, 'cause otherwise I'd be totally over that man like a rash."

Angeline rolled her eyes a little. Whilst Paige and Ciara insisted Mitch was into her a little, Angeline liked to beg to differ. It was literally his job to look after her and besides, he always acted far too professional to catch feelings for her. They were complete opposites-- it would never work.

"You're straight, Angel?" Darcy looked Angeline dead in the eye.

Whilst she was caught a little off guard by the forward question, Angeline had sworn to herself in the few periods before their lunch break that she wasn't going to be putty in Darcy's hands like she was before the first period. Sure, the blonde girl was attractive, but being all weak and giggly wasn't Angeline and she had to get over it if they were going to be in the same friendship group now.

"Bisexual," Angeline replied. "You?"

"Me too," the alternative girl hummed with a small smirk on her face and a glimmer behind her green eyes. "I can tell Ci is gay and you're straighter than a ruler, huh?" She looked to Paige.

Paige raised her brows as she nodded. "Yep."

"Paige is an imposter in our LGBTQ+ club," Ciara snickered, earning a small glare.

"Whatever. I have a theory that no girl can be a hundred percent straight," Darcy spoke, making all three girls look at her in interest. "Listen, girls are just too fucking attractive for that shit. Paige, you can't deny if... I don't know... fucking Rihanna was like 'come here, let's have a quickie in the bathroom' you wouldn't go off with her."

Paige opened her mouth to protest before she shut it and scoffed, shaking her head. "Fair enough."

Ciara and Angeline both chuckled a little, shaking their heads. That lunch period, the four girls went back and forth talking about whatever they felt like, Darcy contributing with ease. She had something about her that made all three girls accept her straight away, all sure that something good was going to come out of the new foursome.

...

Angeline waited outside Fair Hill High at four, ready to be picked up by Mitch after an hour of detentions held by Principal Warren himself. She had a week's worth of after schools to attend after being suspended. He'd decided to change them from lunch times to after schools so they could be a whole hour rather than forty-five minutes, much to Angeline's dismay.

The brunette groaned to herself, feeling the sweat starting to form around her hairline as she brushed it away. She'd had to pull her backpack off of her shoulders, feeling like it was making her even hotter under the harsh Californian sun. It was times like this where she thought maybe California wasn't worth it and some London weather might not be so bad.

"You look like you're about to cry," Darcy's voice came from beside Angeline.

Angeline jumped, holding a hand over her heart and chuckling a little when she realised it was just her new friend. The blonde hadn't even broken a sweat, though her leather jacket was now slung over her arm.

"Still not really used to the weather," Angeline admitted.

Darcy nodded in understanding. "I moved from Arizona, so I'm sort of used to it. When did you move here?"

"Sophomore year, so, like nearly three years ago," she replied. "But I do go back to London normally during breaks and stuff to see my mum."

"I've always wanted to go," Darcy hummed, leaning against the wall next to Angeline as she scanned the car park with squinted eyes. "Ever since my One Direction phase in the eighth grade."

Angeline's dark eyes nearly bulged out of her eyes. "You had a One Direction phase?"

"I didn't come out of the womb looking like the alt side of Tik Tok, you know," Darcy chuckled a little, making the girl next to her laugh too. "So... Do you need a ride home or are you waiting on somebody?"

"I'm waiting for Mitch," Angeline replied. "But thanks. I appreciate it."

"Looks like he's here," Darcy nodded in the direction of a black car pulling towards them.

Sure enough, the window rolled down to reveal the dark-haired man himself. His eyes flickered over Darcy for a second before they focused on Angeline and he jerked his head towards the passenger seat. Angeline gave her new friend a small smile as she moved back over to the car and slid in next to her security.

"How did your little meeting with your principal go?" Mitch asked casually as he pulled out of the carpark and onto the main road that led them back home.

"He's such a dick!" Angeline exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "He said I had to move math class because I was 'a threat to Grace' and that if I carried on with the drugs I was gonna end up six foot under like one of his old friends from high school."

Mitch hummed from where his gaze was focused on the road. "And how was your detention?"

"My DT made me want to commit," Angeline admitted. "No phones, nothing. I read the label on my water bottle thirteen times. Did you know Evian backwards is 'naive?' Also, why do you think they always put babies on the labels--"

"You're rambling," Mitch cut her off.

"You're boring," Angeline retaliated. "Okay, how about if I stop rambling, you start? Why don't you tell me who you were talking to on the phone on Friday? 'Cause I really can't get that out of my head when I'm supposed to be doing simultaneous equations--"

"I told you not to talk about that," Mitch nearly snapped. "It's best you don't know, okay? I thought you understood easily enough."

Angeline sighed, leaning her head back against the headrest behind her. She fiddled with the bottom of her summer dress, eyes trained on her tan thighs as she pursed her lips together.

"I know," she admitted glumly. "I'm sorry... I just-- I can't help wanting to know. I feel like I'm literally going to explode and it's all I can think about."

"Well stop thinking about it."

"As if it's that easy!" Angeline threw her hands in the air again, glancing over to Mitch with an incredulous expression written across her face. "It's just like how I can't keep my mouth shut! Sometimes I feel like I will literally die if I don't say whatever's on my mind. That's why I have two and a half friends."

There was a moment of silence where Mitch didn't seem phased by her small outburst. "A half?"

"Yeah," Angeline mumbled. "The girl I was standing with... I only met her today, so it's only a matter of time before I say something that will piss her off or make her cringe."

Mitch could sense that Angeline was genuinely upset with herself, she wasn't just making a passing comment. He sighed, tapping his slender fingers on the wheel they were wrapped around until the car slowed to a stop in a line full of traffic.

"Angeline... Have you ever been tested for ADHD?" Mitch asked quietly after a little hesitation.

She seemed offended for a second, quickly shaking her head. "No! I don't have... I mean..." Angeline started to stumble on her words, a small frown on her face. "Do you think I have ADHD?"

"Maybe," Mitch admitted. "The way you act and how you describe feeling sure sounds like it, but I'm not a doctor."

The teenage girl sat in silence for a few minutes, her fingers moving to her mouth as she stared out the window. The car started to move again, getting closer and closer to the Lewis household. What Mitch had said had seemed to open a new door in Angeline's mind, and she considered it a possibility. It would explain her inability to shut her mouth.

"Thanks," she murmured once they had made it home.

Angeline opened the door to the car, grabbed her bag and started to head towards the front door. As soon as she got upstairs, Angeline was stripping down and putting on her mustard yellow bikini top and bottoms, grabbing a towel on the way back downstairs. It was too hot to just lounge about in her room, she wanted to be in the pool where it was cooler.

Mitch was standing talking to the gardener by the edge of the pool when Angeline pushed open the glass doors, his back turned to her. A sly smirk crossed the brunette's face and she dropped her towel and phone, doing a run up. There was a splash as Angeline did a cannonball into the water, the liquid managing to spray Mitch's back.

He released a small yell at the cold sensation and whirled around, glaring a little at the girl who was emerging from the pool. She sent him a small wave and a shit-eating grin.

"Did it cool you down?" She asked.

"No."

Angeline frowned at his blunt tone as he finished talking to the gardener. She swam over to the edge of the pool and rested her arms and chin against it, waiting for Mitch to turn and look at her which he did seconds later.

"I'm going on break for a few hours," he said. "Winston's somewhere inside."

"Where are you going?" Angeline asked curiously.

"To the gym," Mitch replied in his usual monotone voice.

"You could get in the pool with me," the petite girl suggested with a small smirk as she swam backwards, gliding through the water effortlessly. "Swimming is one of the best workouts there is."

The dark-haired man stared at her for a few seconds as if he was wondering whether she was all there or not. Mitch scoffed and shook his head.

"Workout as in punching bags and weights, not swimming," he corrected her, and Angeline raised her brows, subtly scanning his body which was clad in a black tank top and Nike gym shorts.

To be honest, Angeline wouldn't mind hanging around the gym and watching Mitch workout, but that would be way too inappropriate. Even asking him to get in the pool with her sounded bad enough, even if it was a joke and deep down Mitch understood that.

Angeline sighed dramatically. "Okay, Mitch. I get it. You can't swim. It's okay, one out of three adults in the UK can't swim either--"

"I can swim," Mitch practically growled with a small glare. "I know you're just trying to annoy me."

"And it's working," Angeline giggled, swimming back towards him. "Fine, whatever. Go punch some bags and lift some weights, I'll just swim around all by myself, so lonely."

Angeline didn't quite realise how sexual and suggestive that would sound until the words left her lips in the tone that it did. Mitch's eyes seemed to widen a little and he turned his face away from her, as if he had only just realised that she was in a bikini or something-- a bikini that did wonders for the curves of her petite figure.

"Right. Have fun by yourself." Mitch cleared his throat and wandered off.

Angeline smiled to herself as she floated on her back. He was totally checking her out.

...

so darcy williams is played by lili reinhart but like that one flashback episode of riverdale where she played alice :))

within the next three or so chapters everything is gonna blow up soooo yeah be prepared for that i guess lmaoo