LIVIA WOKE UP THE NEXT DAY, HER eyes red and puffy, she barely wanted to get out of her bed.
Her father had shouted at her all night, so angrily that the entire staff had fled the house.
After he had slapped her in the face, she had not dared to say a word. Her body had been tense as she had sat on the couch, her hands fidgeted and she pressed her nails into her palms to keep from crying.

"DON'T YOU EVER DARE TO TALK BACK TO ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!" He had screamed.

"I MADE THIS COMPANY BIG! I WAS THE ONE YOU CAN THANK FOR THE BIG HOUSE YOU HAVE AND YOUR EXPENSIVE CLOTHES!" He had thrown his hands around and Livia had only winced and looked onto her hands.

"AND YOU THANK ME WITH YOUR ARROGANCE AND DOUBTING MY AUTHORITY, YOU SPOILED LITTLE BRAT!" He had screamed.

Standing in front of the mirror, putting on her usual make-up, Livia looked at herself sternly, seeing if the bruise in her cheek that her father gave her in the evening, was covered. Then she started breakfast and saw her father sitting at the table. She sat down in silence and began to make herself a sandwich.
Her head jerked up when she heard the unpleasant sound of something heavy being thrown in front of her.
Her father turned back to his cup of coffee without exchanging a single glance with her.
Liv glanced at the tablet that was now in front of her. It was a post on Instagram.

-

LIVIA ASHWAND AND JAMES BEAUFORT AT THE WADENT FESTIVAL

-

It was a picture of her and James dancing. Liv remembered the exact moment the picture was taken.
It was when she had turned away from James and he had pulled her back. In the picture she was looking up to the boy and grinned slightly.

Why the hell had she grinned at him?!

From this angle, the picture actually looked like they were close.
She also read a few comments underneath:

—

@light_ten: "Nah, there's no way! They hate each others guts!🤚🫡"

@techqueen_04: "Wait... are they dating orrrr 👀🔥"
 
@future_mogul23: "Plot twist: next year Ashwand x Beaufort collab 🤯"

@vibes_onlyy: "Whoa, didn't see THAT coming. Livia & James tho??"

@theo.ash_fanpage: "Livia deserves to be happy after everything 😢❤️"

—

Livia let out an annoyed breath. Of course someone had to take a picture of them. She looked at the post again and it was already at 300 views.

"I think I don't have to tell you again, what consequences your actions have. Keep away from that boy." Her father said, his dark eyes now suddenly pinned at her and pinching through her mind as if her father could see every thought.

Livia barely even took a bite from her bread and stood up. She felt like a whole bag of rocks got put onto her shoulders and found it hard to breathe.
She walked outside, where her driver was waiting for her.

•

Livia threw her bag on the bench in the cheerleaders' changing rooms.

"Livia? I thought you weren't allowed in the cheerleading team?" She heard Sophia, her co-captain, ask and turned around.

"You didn't seriously think Lexington could do this for long, did you?" She asked, tilting her head.
She knew that Sophia had always been eager to be team captain. 'You could smell her jealousy from ten miles away', is what Livias mother had always said about the blonde girl.
Sophia had probably just waited for Liv to leave the team, but the Ashwand girl would never let that happen. She'd talked to Lexington again and didn't even need much of her good coaxing to get back on board.

"N-no, I'm glad you're back." Sophia said, smiling tensely.

"Mmh." Livia scoffed at her, knowing full well who would be taking one of the bottom positions in the next choreography.

"Girls, I want you out in five minutes!" She said after putting on her uniform. She pulled her ponytail tighter and grabbed her bottle to head out onto the field.
She watched Sophia walk beside her, head bowed and lips pressed together.
As they stepped out of the booths, Livia scoffed in annoyance. The lacrosse team was back on the field.
She quickened her pace and walked toward them.

"Move boys, it's our practice time!" she growled and the players stopped.
One of them nodded and waved the others off.
They sat down on the tribunes, provoking another scoff from Liv.
She walked up to them, off the field.

"What do you think you're doing? Piss off!" she demanded, but the boys didn't budge.

"We thought you could use some cheering!" Said one of them and the others started laughing. They made howling noises and whistled as the other girls arrived on the field.
Livia wrinkled her nose in disgust.

The brunette girl opened her mouth to say something, but she was caught off guard.

"Get your ass up or-.."

"Leave them alone, Terry." she heard a voice say and looked behind her.
The person standing behind her, hands in the pockets of his hoodie, was none other than James.

"James! Wha-.. what are you doing here, er?" said Marlon Terry between small, awkward laughs.

"Your training time is over, come on." said the
Beaufort boy and Liv was too stunned to speak.

Had he just defended her?

"Come on, man! We were just joking." Terry said, spreading his arms.

"You want to sit on the bench again, Terry? Go change, I don't want to get scolded by coach again." James said, seemingly annoyed.
Terry looked at him for a moment, as if they were just dueling looks, before tapping his fingers on his nose and beckoning the others to go into the locker room. The boy kept his head down as he walked past James and out the doors under the tribunes.

Once they were gone, Livia turned to James.

"Look at you, it almost seems like you actually have a few brain cells." She scoffed, but James didn't say anything back. He didn't even give her a glance and simply walked off the pitch.

Liv looked after him, confused.

•

When Livia later entered the school building or more castle, the first thing that caught her eye was a big poster with two people on it. One a girl with brown hair and a beautiful violet dress and the other one a blonde guy that looked all too familiar to her. It took Livia a second look to realize that the girl in the poster was Ruby Bell and she figured that the picture must have been taken yesterday.
James kept his word.

There was something awfully off about James Beaufort because he suddenly ignored Livia where he could. He didn't provoke her anymore, he had sent the lacrosse team away and he had kept his word about not only showing Ruby the dresses but also making the effort of creating good looking posters for the gala.

What it the world was wrong with him?

The next moment, when Livia lifted her eyes off the poster, someone bumped into her. She stumbled slightly and glared at the person who turned out to be THE exact Ruby Bell.

"I see you're trying to make yourself a name here." She grinned at the girl, who looked anything but happy.
Her eyes were filled with tears and her lips dry, as she stared at Liv in shock.

"I- I'm so sorry!" She said and wanted to continue on running but the Ashwand girl stopped her from doing so.

"Be grateful! You don't wanna know what I've put myself through, just so Beaufort would show you these dresses!" She hissed and Ruby looked even more intimidated.

"I want this Gala to go perfect! So we'll meet this afternoon to discuss and prepare again." She said in a strict tone. Livia didn't even know herself, why she reacted that way. It just slightly got to the girl, that Ruby and James looked perfect together on that poster.

"Yeah." Ruby said quietly and continued walking. Liv was about to follow her, when two arms were put around her from behind.

"Livia Ashwand, exactly the girl I was looking for." A strange voice said. Liv got herself out of the embrace and turned around.

"Jeez Cyril!" She hissed and the blonde boy laughed.

"Relax! Just wanna make you're coming to the party on Saturday." The boy said and again, laid an arm around the brunette girl as they walked in the same direction Ruby was walking.
Cyril never cared about people's personal space.

"What party?" She asked, tilting her head.

"My party." The blonde boy answered. And Liv shook her head.

"We'll see. Now get off Vega!" She said, her tone low and seductive. She leaned a bit upwards to his face, making the boy grin stupidly.

"Oh you see that look James? That face needs a gun license!" She heard one of Cyril's friends say and bumped into someone the next second.

"You don't say Cyri." She heard James voice and turned to him. The boy simply looked over her head, shoving her out of the way gently.

"Come one we're gonna be late." He then said, pulling Cyril with him.

Livia scoffed at his ignoring behavior and walked to her next class, not knowing that James had looked back at her as she walked away.

—
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