Chapter One
Victorville, California
I couldn’t believe I was back here after spending the summer in one of the most beautiful places in the world, Greece. Baldwin Faith Academy. A private school for the children of some of the most powerful people in the world. Unlike other private schools, not just anybody with money can go to this school. This school was built for our safety from our parents enemies. What other school that you know have round the clock army guards patrolling. Also unlike other schools, ours is remotely off the map. It doesn’t exist. It’s like a secret society. Not many have heard of Baldwin Faith Academy, and you would get zero results for it if you searched for it on Google. A while back someone tried and in the end had the Secret Service at their doorstep searching their house.
Sighing, I pulled out my cellphone to check if I had any new messages. I had fifteen messages, but none were from my mom. It seems she was still avoiding me. Tossing my phone in my purse, I stepped out the car into the scorching heat of the desert. Ridiculous, I could already feel the sweat drops start to form. A couple of girls walked passed me gawking and gossiping behind their hands. I gave a roll of my eyes behind my designer shades. Usually it didn’t matter to me whether or not if they gawked, I loved the attention they gave me. Sadly, today I was not in the mood. I not only had to leave behind my summer fling in Greece, but Headmistress Blake had sent out letters stating that no more than ten suitcases could be brought back to campus this year, which really was a bummer since I had spent most of my summer trying to get rid of depressing thoughts by shopping. It’s been only two months since the death of my father and I was doing all I could to remain in control. I told myself I shouldn’t feel sad since he left a long time ago erasing all contact, but at the end of the day he was still my dad, and I missed him.
“Miss Jones”
I snapped out of my mental meltdown to see my butler James in front of me. He was struggling with the number of bags I had. Okay, so Headmaster Blake said we couldn’t bring too many suitcases, she didn’t say anything about bags. “I’m sorry James, what were you saying?”
“I was asking if everything was okay.” James had a look of worry on his face and I felt myself soften. James had been with my family since before I was born, and he had always been the parent after my father left, and after my mother simply stopped caring. He helped me with my homework, had tea parties with me when I was little, and when I hurt myself he didn’t brush it off like my father did, he’d clean it and tell me everything would be okay. Some people parents were their weakness, mine was my James, my butler.
“Everything is fine James. I just wished I could have gone to school somewhere where I don’t have to feel like a piece of bacon in a frying pan.”
James laughed which sounded more like a cough. “Yes well, at least your skin is glowing in this heat and you look quite dynamic if I may say so.”
I stared down at myself. I was dressed in a blue and black belted dress, a pair of Givenchy heels, and a pair of diamond studs in my ear and a diamond tennis bracelet on my right arm. I had decided to forgo straightening my hair this morning and instead left it into its natural curls. My dark brown skin was glowing in the sun thanks to the body crème I had applied earlier. James was right, I looked fabulous.
Feeling back to my normal self, I hitched my purse up on my shoulder and made my way through the string of arriving students. Most of them immediately got out of my way, and for the new ones, well it didn’t take long to catch on. My heels tapped along the stone walkway as James and I made our way through the campus towards my dorm. Despite our campus being in the middle of the desert surrounded by sharpshooters, it really was a beautiful place. The grass was exceptionally green, no browning marks here. There were trimmed bushes and colorful flowers despite the scorching heat. There were stone walkways around the campus and in the center a giant fountain which was usually the hang out spot after classes. There were no gremlins or Goth buildings like you read in stories. No our campus looked more like a palace, more fitting since it held royalty. Waving to a couple of people, I stopped when I noticed a blond head near the benches under the trees.
“James you go ahead, I’ll meet you there.”
James nodded and headed towards my dorm as I headed over to the blond. As I neared her, I noticed she was accompanied by a certain someone who I had certain distaste for. I almost turned around. Almost.
She looked up and smiled happily when she noticed me. “Autumn you’re finally here. I thought you’d ditch to stay in Greece.” Yuri was my roommate and above other things my best friend. We’d met when we were nine and both of our parents had to attend the same dinner party for charity. Unlike the other kids there, we didn’t prefer to sit still and listen to a bunch of adults chatter about useless stuff. Instead we’d snuck up stairs to Mrs. Edison’s room and tried on her jewelry and played with her perfume. We ended up getting caught when Mr. Edison and the Wilshire’s nanny busted into the room kissing. He’d given us both a hundred dollars and a promise not to tell our parents what we were doing. We’d taken the hundred dollars and didn’t promise not to tell his wife. Needless to say we weren’t invited to anymore of their dinner parties.
I gave Yuri a hug and stepped back giving her floral print dress and wedges a look of approval. “I thought about it. But it wouldn’t have been as fun without you Yuri.”
Yuri and I shared a laugh until a certain someone sighed with annoyance. I turned my attention to the over built figure under the tree. Mark McEachron, the school’s “it” guy, but to me he was an egotistical jerk who loved to mentally abused Yuri. He was tall and way too overbuilt for a teenager. His hair was a deep color brown with two strands hanging over his eyes. It drove the girls at this school gaga. His eyes were that piercing blue that drew people in but instead revolted me. He knew he was gorgeous and so everyone knew as well. They loved him. I hated him, and of course the feeling was mutual.
“If you don’t mind Autumn, Yuri and I were talking.” He said his eyes arched in that threatening way that usually scared the underclassmen, but it made me smirk.
“Why Mark, it’s 103 degrees out here, so why add your breath to the mix?” I said smiling sweetly.
Mark gave me a look of pure outrage and Yuri snorted with laughter. Looping my arm through Yuri’s, I gave Mark a wiggle of my fingers as I led us off towards our dorm.
“You really shouldn’t have done that.” She said once she had calmed down. “I’m going to have to be the one to deal with him later.”
“You shouldn’t have to!” I pointed out. Mark was a jerk and Yuri needed to learn how to stand up for herself. I wouldn’t always be here to do that for her.
“I know.” She sighed brushing a piece of hair back into place. She had gotten rid of her long hair this summer and settled for this super cute short haircut. I loved it. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you, did you take care of Perkins?”
My lips thinned as I thought about the guy who had helped us out on our small heist this summer. We’d taken him from his boring job at a plant factory and willingly gave him twenty thousand dollars just to be a distraction in our heist, only he’d gotten greedy and wanted more money. Luckily, I had planned for this certain mishap. Perkins had a thing for the guys. Considering he was a married man, I’m pretty sure his wife didn’t know about it. After showing him the disturbing photos, he’d fallen back into place and disappeared quietly from the scene.
Opening the main door to our dorm, I breathed in the cool air feeling my skin beginning to cool. “I took care of it. Besides even if he does decide to come back for more money, who will he contact? As far as the world is concern, Ashley and Maya don’t exist.”
Yuri and I had been at this heist things for two years now, only scheduling robberies every few months or so. We never hit the same type of places, always switched it up. One day it’ll be clothes, the next diamonds. Nothing too big, since we were a two woman s
how. Our disguises, names, and resources were endless. After we got finished with one job, we’d burned the evidence. Besides, who would suspect two daughters of politicians to be the thieves they’d heard about on the local news? It was the perfect cover.
I opened our room door to see our room as neat and tidy as we left it. Our two queen size beds were already decorated with the bedding we had sent over ahead of time. Last year our room’s color theme had been a light yellow, now it was light a purple. The contractors had redone our wallpaper to match our bedspreads, and even redid our carpeting. Yuri and I preferred our carpet to be soft, so when we walk across it, the carpet would tickle our feet. To the front of the room sat our desks and bookcases, and off to the sides were our bathroom, closets and dressers. In the middle room sat our flat screen television and our sofa we’d had since we first started here at Baldwin Faith Academy. It was a matter of significance to Yuri and me so it had to stay the same. James was seated on our sofa, his work uniform out of place among the purple and white pillows. My bed was empty of suitcases except for one. Thank God, I had talked to him early on in my years about not putting away my underwear. Some things should just be private.
“James!!!” Yuri yelled excitedly running over to James tackling him into the mess of pillows. Smiling I headed over to my bed tossing down my purse.
“Miss Hopkins.” James said politely removing himself from Yuri’s tight hold. “A pleasure to see you as always.”
Yuri gave her a roll of her eyes. “James how many times do I have to say you can call me Yuri? I mean it’s only been what eight years.” She finished sarcastically.
“My apologies, Miss Hopkins.” James said his mouth twitching with a smile. Turning to me, he gave me a fond smile. “I’ve put away everything in your closets except for one suitcase. I’ve also sent the kitchen a copy of things you would like to have in the common room.”
“Thank you for that James. Lord knows I don’t want any more skin covered pudding.”
“Eek I hate it when the pudding has skin!” Yuri voiced squeak imitating Britney from Daria.
I popped Yuri on the shoulder and turned back to James. “You’re heading out?”
“Yes mam, I need to be getting back before dark.”
Smiling, I walked closer to James and gave him a hug. As bad as I didn’t want him to go, secretly a part of me did. James being here reminded me how imperfect my life was. Leaning down, he placed a kiss on my forehead, before whispering into my ear. “Your mother will call.”
Giving him a brave smile, I stepped back and allowed him to make his way out the door. Locking it back, I made my way to my bed and started to unpack my underwear bag. Opening my suitcase, I smiled at the cute underwear I had purchased on my way here from Victoria Secret. My mother would just die if she saw the type of underwear I wore, but then that means she would have to take a personal interest in something besides her job.
Yuri kicked off her shoes, snatched up a magazine out her basket and laid across her bed. “I take it Justine didn’t pay you a phone call this morning.”
“When does she ever?” I folded a pair of boy shorts and slipped them in my dresser drawer. “What about Caroline and Michael?”
“Caroline sent a text while she was boarding a plane to Madrid or Thailand. Michael had his secretary fax me a booklet of what he will and will not accept this year from me, including expenses.”
I laughed. Yuri’s father Michael was so serious about everything, but at least they contacted her. My suitcase was now empty, as I tossed it in the closet with the rest of them where they will sit until Thanksgiving break.
Walking over to the window, I stared out at all the new students who were just arriving. Gucci, Prada, and Dolce & Gabbana suitcases rolled across the stone walkways as students made their way to their assigned dorms and conversed with friends. A couple of freshmen were holding onto their parents for dear life while some parents stared around the campus faces filled with awe and fear. Surprisingly the fear didn’t come from the trained army guards, but more so from the group of seniors who had taken it upon themselves to place one of the new kids on the flag pole. I shook my head in disgust. Some people could be such a cliché.
A knock at the door came from the door. Yuri bounced up to answer it. She opened the door and said something to somebody before stepping aside.
Karen Sawyers, our dorm monitor and chief kiss ass, entered the room already dressed in her school uniform. The sight of her always made me frown. She was our age, but yet she dressed as if she was way older. I’m talking Soccer Moms of America older.
“Hello ladies, I’ve just come to review with you the dorm rules, and a couple new ones I suggested myself.”
Yuri and I shared a glance as Karen sat on the end of my bed.
“Rule Number One: All Students must be in their dorm for curfew at 10:00 p.m. Yuri, I wanted to make sure I went over this one with you, because last year I notice you coming in late a couple of times even though you wrote down you were here at ten.”
Yuri started towards Karen her fist raise, “I’ll give you something to notice.”
I quickly jumped up latching onto Yuri as Karen threw her hands up to cover her face. “Down champ!” I turned to Karen fighting a laugh at how she was balled up. “Karen, we already know the rules. So why don’t you go inform some of the other ladies the rules for the new school year.”
Karen opened her mouth to object but I gave her a look. She quickly stood up and flew out the door. I walked over and locked it back as Yuri sat down on her bed fuming.
“I really can’t stand that girl.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I can’t either, but I don’t let her know it. She’s our dorm monitor and Blake’s mole. It’s best to stay on her good side.”
I plopped down on my bed and removed a paperback from the shelf behind me. There was silence in our room for a while, only the flipping of my book and Yuri’s magazine.
“Hey so, do we have any new exciting adventures to look forward to.” Yuri asked suddenly sitting up.
“I told you I was done with that lifestyle.” After my dad died, the whole robbing scene had seemed wrong to me. I knew that if my dad had ever found out about me and the things I had been doing, he wouldn’t have been too happy with me. I never wanted to be a disappointment to him.
Yuri sighed. “I know. I was just seeing if you had changed your mind. To be honest the whole scene was getting boring, plus it’s getting harder to trust George.” George was our forger. He made okay I.D.s and passports so people would maybe give us a glance, but he wasn’t the best. “He blows through the money we give him like crazy. It won’t be long before he spends it all and have to come to us for more or worst turn us in.”
I shook my head at the thought of George. “Can you believe he had the audacity to ask me for another loan? Why would I give him money when I’m not purchasing anything?”
“I heard he’s been betting it all away as well. That he owes some pretty bad guys a lot of money. The way he’s going he might lead them to us.”
“I agree. For now on, we erase him from our lives as well. Hand me your stuff.” I said rambling through my own purse. I removed the things George had made for me as Yuri handed me hers. Walking over to the shredder, I powered it on before dropping the I.D.’s in and ripping the pages to our passports and dropping them in as well. I emptied them from the shredder into a wastebasket. Yuri climbed up on a chair to remove the batteries from the smoke detector. Rambling through my desk drawer, I removed the box of matches and struck one.
“Goodbye Maya.” I said staring down at my now shredded I.D.
“Goodbye Ashley.” Yuri said wiping a fake tear as she stared down at hers. I dropped the match as the trash can lit up with flames.
Grinning Yuri stared over at me. “Now what?”
“Well we get ready for orientation.” I said walking over to my closet for the gift I brought along
from Greece. Turning around I held the champagne bottle up high for Yuri to see. “And then we celebrate.”
The Bonnies Page 2