One - An Important Announcement (Pt.1)

As the sun began setting and the sports center closed its doors, many of the people in the building started to abandon it. It was early in the evening, just that moment where the sun meets the horizon and the sky turns of a vibrant orange, the late summer breeze was gentle and chill, announcing with its blowing the soon-to-come autumn, perfect after a day of working out.

Two girls were exiting the stadium, they were dressing casual, light clothes, although from the brand trademarks some of the pieces had you could tell they were actually expensive; and they carried hockey sticks tucked up in cases on their shoulders. One had olive skin and dark blue eyes, the other one was a befreckled redhead; both had long hair tied up in a ponytail, both had french manicure, both of them were exchanging a depthless, banal teenage chat, laughing at nonsense and whining about the end of the summer vacation.

"Ugh, I'll need your help this semester again, Jules." The redheaded girl said, placing a delicate hand on her friend's shoulder.

Jules' heart throbbed.

"Having trouble with your grades again?" The blue-eyed girl asked, mischievously, almost in a flirtatious way, but Jules and Cassie's relationship was always like that, none of them freaked out at each other's occasional suggestive banters.

But lately, Jules was starting to get fonder of those suggestive banters…

"Yeah, like, it's our last year, they're not gonna make it easy on us!" Cassie exclaimed, her worry made her overreact a bit.

"No problem, I can help, what do you need help with? Maths?" Jules offered her aid, knowing by heart which subject was her best friend's worst nightmare.

"Yes, and Chemistry, Literature, Physics, History and Economics." The befreckled one added.

"Cassie, do you realize that's practically the entire program excluding Physical Education and Art?"

"Oh, Art too!" Cassie remembered out loud, making Jules let out a loud laugh, "Hey, don't laugh at me!".

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Jules struggled to suppress the laughter, covering her mouth with her hand. Breathing deeply, she chuckled, "I think your brains went down to your biceps or something."

"That's rude." Cassie said, making emphasis on the 'u', then, she let out a sigh, "I just wanna get rid of all of those stupid nerdy classes and focus on my athletic career…"

Jules' heart waned at the thought of ending school and stopping seeing her best friend. Cassie and Jules had built up a beautiful friendship throughout part of middle school and the entire high school, she really appreciated Cassie, she loved her, maybe too much; the redhead popping up on Jules' thoughts a lot lately. It was a recent fact that had began to worry the blue-eyed girl a bit, but for some reason she liked thinking of her, of her gorgeous smile, of her own fingers brushing the strands of fiery red hair away from her face when doing her makeup (Cassie was the worst at doing makeup), of falling asleep next to her on warm summer nights after a party and waking up next to her heavenly visage with the sunbeams illuminating the room, attempting to count each freckle on her face… Having to be separated from her best friend was surely going to break Jules' heart, she wanted to discover the why of her intrusive, almost romantic thoughts, but one year was simply too little to find out…

"Aren't you gonna miss me? Have you decided which university you are going to go to yet?" Jules asked, licking and biting her own lips a bit.

"I applied for a scholarship at the University of Queensland in Australia, they have a good sports program."

Jules couldn't help opening her eyes widely, she could almost hear her heart shattering.

"O-Oh…" She stuttered, "That's far away…".

"Yeah, it is." Cassie said with a bitter voice tone, "I'll try and call you each weekend, okay? You're my best friend, I'm gonna miss you." She smiled apologetically and caressed her friend's arm, "Don't be sad, nothing will break our friendship, you'll be a great forensic medic and you're gonna have a worldwide known hockey player as your best friend." She tried to cheer her up.

Jules smiled with melancholy. And the honking of a car interrupted her sadness, just a slight bit.

"Seems your ride is here." Cassie said with a low voice tone.

The man on the driver seat of the black Cadillac Escalade rolled down the window.

"Want me to drive you home?" Jules offered, still dejected.

"Nah, got a house party to attend." Cassie explained, "There's gonna be weed, you can sneak out your house to go with me if you want."

Jules laughed out loud.

"You never change!" She exclaimed, her hand reached Cassie's and the redhead squeezed it, making Jules blush a tad, "I'm sorry, but I'll have to turn that tempting invitation down, my grandparents are visiting us today, family reunions, you know, they'll notice if I sneak out." She answered.

"Yeah, Riga is far away from Hartford, I'd stay with them too, wouldn't like to be a bad granddaughter or something." Cassie smiled a gorgeous, wicked smile, letting go of her friend's hand, "Well, wish you good luck, see you on Monday?"

"Of course, see you when the last year of torture begins." Jules waved goodbye, approaching the vehicle without further ado, "Bring the cup home, you hockey star!" She bantered for the last time.

She could hear Cassie's charming laugh fading away as she closed the car's door and her best friend walked away.

The interior of the vehicle was spotless and the heavy scent of leather and pine filled the ambience. Jules got comfortable and adjusted the seatbelt on the backseat. Her parents changed the car every two years, but the driver, Xavier, never changed, and that applied both in his job and in his looks. He had been Jules' personal chauffeur since she was five. Now, twelve years after, he still looked the same, sometimes she thought he was a vampire in disguise or something.

"Good evening, m'lady, how was today's training?" Xavier inquired with a strong British accent.

"You'll never get tired of that old joke, right?" Jules chuckled.

The driver smirked, letting out muffled guffaws.

"Now really, aren't you going to tell me how your day was? I could have sworn I heard you and Miss Cassandra talking about illegal substances." He said, now making use of his natural French accent.

Jules rolled her eyes and let out a small graceful nasal laugh.

"My day was good, I managed to beat Cassie's team once, but she's too good for anyone, honestly." She answered, looking up to the driver's mirror, seeing as Xavier raised an eyebrow, "And I don't consume those things, just for your information." She shook her head, acting haughty.

"I'm really glad to hear that, no good girl would be involved in that." He joked once more.

Jules rolled her eyes and chuckled, "Xavier and his overly-good manners jokes" she thought. Then, the driver cleared his throat.

"I'd recommend you to put on your purple party sundress for tonight, it matches well with your hair and skin tone." Xavier suggested.

"Thanks Xavi, I was thinking the same, plus it's one of my grandmother's presents for my sixteenth birthday." Jules added, grabbing her phone from the case and unlocking it.

"Don't tell your father I said this, but I heard him talking with your grandfather before heading to the sports center. He said he wanted to make an important announcement during the dinner." He added.

Jules locked her phone again to stare at the driver's mirror, Xavier was looking at the traffic. An important announcement?