◤ chapter one: ❛ toni was bored... ❜ ◢

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IF TONI HAD TO EXPLAIN HER ACTIONS FOR THE NIGHT IN ONE WORD IT WOULD COME DOWN TO THE FACT THAT SHE WAS BORED. Not the we aren't learning anything interesting in class bored or I'm trapped in my room for two weeks bored, but the kind where she should be excited and full of emotion and not even allowing herself a free moment kind. She shouldn't feel this way because tomorrow was a big day – as her mother claimed – and it was going to be full and she shouldn't be bored.

          But it's not tomorrow, it's tonight, and she's not interested in Netflix or Hulu and no matter how much she sucks the life out of the joint she's holding, nothing happens. She's still stuck with this feeling and she just needs something more; she needs a cure but the only cure she knows is sex.

          So, of course, she sighs to herself and gets out of her phone and scrolls through her contacts. Come over? She sends the text to her drug dealer because they have a fuck buddy relationship and he's enough to sate her and keep her from being so utterly bored and alone.

          give me thirty minutes

          She looks at the text from him and smirks. Toni would admit to anyone else that he wasn't the best guy and he definitely wasn't winning any awards for being an upstanding citizen, but he was good at sex and knew his place in her life and never overstepped anything. He was there for a short pleasure and to give her weed and nothing more. It was a good agreement for the both of them because she couldn't stand anything that came out of his mouth for more than a minute and he had other people to fuck so he wasn't chasing after her.

          It worked for them and Toni wouldn't have it any other way.

          Going out to balcony (because this is her pristine castle in Suburbia and that means the princess of the house got her own fucking balcony) she glanced at the bottle of whiskey she had taken from her dad's study and poured herself a glass. It wouldn't hurt to get a little bit tipsy before her boy toy got there. The alcohol would allow her to tolerate him a bit more.

          She sips at her glass before bringing the joint to her lips again and smoking it, watching the smoke in the air as she exhaled. Toni, the princess of the Alderson house, sat alone as she was sure her parents were asleep and looked out at the scenery with nothing more than a bored look.

          She was used to the nice flowers and perfectly cut bushes. Not done by her own neighbors, no, but those they employed to keep the yard perfect. Because here in Suburbia no one took care of their own pool (not that many had a pool, it was often too cold to go swimming) or their own garden, why would they when they all had enough money to pay someone else? And the Aldersons were just the same.

          Don't get Toni wrong; she knew she was privileged. And she knew that she sounded like just another rich girl cliché when she abused her status for drugs and alcohol constantly, going out to party most every night, and hating her parents for simultaneously never being around yet suffocating her too much. Really, it was an overbearing mother and an absentee father. No wonder she had such major daddy issues.

          Toni hadn't always disliked her parents so much. Well, ever since she was a pre-teen and her father missed her twelfth birthday party for a meeting, their relationship had been strained. He was always working and for one day – her birthday – she just wanted her father around but, of course, he didn't show. He never did.

          But her mother was recent. Toni was the spitting image of Eden Alderson when she was a teenager. Long light brunette locks with an addiction to drugs and alcohol, no care for the future, and an attraction to money. Of course, her mother grew out of that when she turned twenty and met her father, Jimmy, who wasn't rich or even close to it. Jimmy Parkinson, radically, changed his name to Alderson because that name meant money whereas Parkinson did not.

          Now, several years into the marriage with a sixteen-year-old girl, Jimmy was never around because he was working constantly while Eden was the stay-at-home mother and leader of a book club. As if her life couldn't look even more cliché.

          But because she was the spitting image of her mother at sixteen, Toni hated how her mother ridiculed her for her actions. Hated how her mother was trying to make her quit even though she still had four more years of fun before her father would make her sober up and be their perfect little Antoinette and it was all because of Finn.

          Finn Patterson, her cousin, was the entire reason her mother was trying to fuck up her life because the idiot became a drug dealer and got caught over summer. Of course, because of the same Patterson mixed with that of Alderson, he got out with just a warning instead of juvie and as now working at his older sister's old diner.

          Toni and Finn used to be close. Born in the same year with a father who didn't care and a stay-at-home mom, both with the pressure of the family name, they had to be close. When she was younger, she would have done anything for Finn, but times changed.

          Because now Finn ruined her life and now she couldn't even stand to look at him or her mother at all really.

          "Oh, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair," a voice said from below. Toni rolled her eyes and looked down to see her boy toy.

          "You know how to get up here, dumbass," she told Caden, drowning the rest of her whiskey before putting out the joint.

          Incidentally, she had met Caden through Finn, when the two used to be close friends. Caden was the one who actually got her cousin dealing in the first place, though he had to stop after her run in with the law.

          Caden winked at her before climbing in the ladder that was leaning against the house then jumping onto the balcony. Once he balanced himself, she walked up to him and grabbed a handful of his shirt to be bring his closer and kiss him.

          They made up for a minute before they pulled apart and Caden smirked at her. "Just couldn't wait, could you?" he cockily asked her.

          This was the reason why she couldn't stand talking to him for more than a minute. He was just so arrogant and she hated arrogance; it was never a good look. But Toni was bored and desperate and he was the only one she knew that would be willing to come this time of night.

          "Only a little," she teased back with him rather than tell him off, knowing that he would just get mad and her whole night could be ruined and her parents could wake up by his yelling. So, she flirted and led him inside as they kissed more.

          And suddenly, she wasn't so bored anymore.

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          If there was one thing that Toni never looked forward to, it was the return of school. Unsurprisingly, school was not Toni's favorite thing nor would it ever be. She didn't like her classes or the people in her grade very much, hated homework more than anything else in the whole wide world, and had never been the best test taker.

          But she did like her school. It was good and prestigious, not public at all, and everyone there had to have some part of genius in them, especially her best friend Sabrina Montgomery.

          Walking through the hallway, Toni kept her head held high as she came to the sophomore hallway with all their lockers. Already there was Sabrina, who was leaning against some of them while staring at her phone. Immediately, Toni smiled when she saw her friend.

          "Hey, stranger," she greeted her friend, leaning against the lockers which didn't belong to her. Those who they did belong to could suck it for all she cared.

          Sabrina looked up from her phone and immediately brightened at the sight of her friend. "Toni!" the girl cheered, pulling her into a hug, "Ugh, I missed you so much!"

          Toni laughed as they pulled apart. "You saw me, like, two days ago," she reminded her.

          "Yeah, well, it's been a long two days, alright?" Sabrina defended herself, "And now I get to see you at least five days a week for a whole year – isn't it a wonderful?"

          "The best," Toni agreed, a teasing tone in her voice that wasn't sincere. She loved her friend, Sabrina was quite possibly the greatest thing to ever happen her, she just liked to tease her friend.

          Sabrina rolled her eyes and lightly hit the girl's shoulder. "Shut up, you love me," and it was true; Toni did.

          Still, the thought of having to actually go to school every day make her sick. She wasn't the smartest person there that belonged to either Sabrina, Liz Allan, or Peter Parker and she didn't like to do her work either. There was no reason to go above and beyond (or to actually meet the requirements of her classes) when she was going to be handed so much money when she turned twenty-one. At least, that's what she thought.

          "Oh, by the way, I told Eden," Toni couldn't keep the disgust out of her voice as she said her mother's name, not even daring to ever call her mom now, "that I'm going over to your place after school."

          Sabrina hummed and raised an eyebrow, "Are you actually coming over or is this a cover to go drinking with Atlas?"

          At the mention of Atlas, Sabrina made a small face. While Toni was friends with Atlas Wilder and his gang of stoners, Sabrina was not. Unlike her, Sabrina wasn't an alcoholic or druggie – in fact, Sabrina never did those things. However, Toni still liked them, and they were a good group to get high with.

          The best thing about Atlas, though, had to be his ignorance at Caden and Finn's existence. Caden would infect Atlas like a poison and anyone who knew Finn (other than Finn) was as good as dead in her book.

          "Hanging out with Atlas," at the look Sabrina gave her, Toni felt the need to explain herself, "What? I haven't seen in like a week!"

          "But you could be hanging out with me instead," Sabrina whined and Toni gave her a smile because her friend was adorable and how could she not?

          "How about this; we'll hang out tomorrow because I already told Atlas that I was done to go to Nix' with him after school. Alright?" Toni proposed.

          Sabrina sighed before begrudgingly nodding. "I guess that's alright, but I expect to be treated to pizza or something tomorrow night."

          "Anything you want," Toni promised, having no problem with paying for dinner. It wasn't like she was short on cash or anything, so what did it matter? Her mother never looked at the bank account and her father wouldn't care if a bit of money was spent. He never cared unless she spent too much money splurging on Gucci or something.

          "Good," Sabrina smiled at her before looking at around and saying, "Man, isn't it weird that we're sophomores now? Like, I remember coming her last year and being so fucking scared cause I didn't know anyone or where anything was."

          "And now we know where everything is and who everyone is," Toni finished off, "And I, for one, and am extremely happy that we are done with Miss Kim's class and that I never have to see her face ever again in a classroom."

          "Ugh, same," Toni agreed, "She was the worst. Like, if your short was just a little shorter than what dress code says, she'd give you detention without hesitation. And her tests...God, they were way too hard."

          "Says the girl who always aced them," Toni snorted, shaking her head.

          Sabrina frowned, "Just because I did good on them doesn't mean I still didn't think they were hard as fuck and that her class majorly sucked."

          "Can't argue with that," Toni shrugged, "But I can't wait to see all the new hot guys. Well, at least I hope that there's new hot guys."

          "Shit!" Sabrina cursed, eyes sparking as if she had just remembered something, "Fuck, I gotta get to the office."

          Toni frowned at her friend who was beginning to walk away. Of course, she followed. "Why? What's going on?"

          "I forget that I'm showing around a new student!" Sabrina explained.

          "You are? But doesn't Liz always show around the new students?" Toni asked.

          Sabrina nodded, "Usually, but at the end of last year she asked me if I could do it instead since this is her last year and she needs someone to take over her mantle."

          "And she chose you?" Toni asked before correcting herself, "Sorry, that sounds rude. I just – I didn't expect her to already know who she wants to be her replacement."

          "Believe me, I know, but one look at her and I couldn't help but say yes," Sabrina said, "She can make God bend to her will if she wanted."

          "Well, you're not wrong," Toni shrugged as they turned a corner, "She tell you who you're showing around?"

          "I don't think so? At least, I don't remember," Sabrina said after a moment of thinking, "I think it's only one guy and she's taking the rest. You know, just to help me get an idea of what it's like and everything."

          "Yeah, of course," Toni said, though she didn't understand at all. But it's whatever. She was used to that with Sabrina when the girl talked about some of her more advanced classes that Toni wasn't in.

          They reached the front office and Sabrina went in to show the student around. Knowing that it would take Sabrina's full attention, Toni didn't follow her in and instead staying in the lobby area right outside the office. Peering in, she froze for a second as she caught a glimpse at who Sabrina was going to be showing around.

          Shit, she thought, Harry Osborn looked hotter in person – fuck.