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[color=slategray][sub]Collab Featuring:[/sub][/color] [color=f6c142][sub][b]Connor Prince[/b][@smarty0114][/sub][/color] [color=slategray][sub]&[/sub][/color] [color=ffb5fd][sub][b]Selena Sterling[/b][@Silent Observer][/sub][/color]
[color=slategray][sub]Location: Football field, after tryouts have ended[/sub][/color]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/QHqvEmC.png[/img][/center]
[indent]The BHHS cheer squad had gained a handful of new hopefuls this night, and a few of them even brought along some inherent talent. Selena had been quite impressed with the dual performance of True and Kit, though she was not nearly as vocal about it as Brynn and the other girls had been. [i]Brynn[/i]. Selena seethed internally about how her interactions with the brunette had gone earlier. She would be speaking with Hailey about how to handle the issue of maintaining an aura of respect from her subjects. Twas better to be feared than loved, and Selena still had a lot of learning to do if she was meant to successfully rule Beverly Hills High in the Hailstorm’s stead.

Ophelia seemed rather excited to get back to her house along with a bunch of the so-called Candies after tryouts had ended, for whatever reason. It was probably something cheesy and romantic, or a girls night, if Selena had to guess it. Sel acted like she didn’t care, but part of her was a little bit jealous. A small part. Selena offered to stay behind and clean up after tryouts so that they could get to doing whatever it was that they had to do. Really, she would be thankful for the moment alone to stew. She needed it.

Selena was stressed. She was only half a queen for half a day, and she was already exhausted. How did Hailey [i]do[/i] this? Maybe she didn’t have as much going on outside of school… like a depressed brother, or a family full of secrets. Or maybe she did… and that’s why she was taking a hiatus. After gathering the last of the papers off of the table and sliding them into her bag, Selena folded up a couple of chairs. She carried the metal folding chairs off to the sidelines to hang them up by the bleachers.

Connor had been meandering around the bottom of the bleachers for some time now, admiring the California sky that was slowly but surely changing from a brilliant violet to a pitch black. He was avoiding going back to his uncle’s house, but if someone didn’t come along soon, he’d be forced to resign out of boredom. Luckily, an opportunity presented itself.

The girl was blonde, beautiful, and a cheerleader. [color=f6c142][i]‘Perfect. She checks every box,’[/i][/color] he thought, grinning devilishly as she strolled up, carrying a couple of metal chairs. She had an aura of tension wafting off of her, and her face was stern. Anyone with eyes could see that. Connor pulled out a cigarette and lit up, taking a drag and exhaling before waltzing up the girl. [color=f6c142][b]“You look stressed, Blondie. How can I help?”[/b][/color] he asked, turning the charm on full blast.

Sel hefted the chairs up onto the hooks and pushed them flush with the others that were hanging there. She smoothed out her short skirt, which had hiked up even further when she reached up to get the chairs in place. Sighing, Selena looked at whoever just dared to speak to her. Of course she couldn’t just be [i]alone[/i] for a moment, the universe couldn’t be so kind. Her eyes found an unfamiliar face. A handsome one, if she was being honest.

Trailing her eyes slowly from his head to his toes, Selena assessed this stranger. He was refreshingly well-dressed. The eccentric print of his top screamed [i]Valentino[/i] design, and his pants had the tell-tale lines of [i]Versace[/i]. Very nice indeed. Her gaze halted at the cigarette hanging from his mouth and she curled her lip up in slight disgust. [color=ffb5fd][b]“Smoking kills, you know.”[/b][/color]

Connor couldn’t help but smirk. First this girl blatantly looks him up and down, then she comments on his cigarette. California girls. [color=f1c142][b]“Maybe that’s the point, Blondie,”[/b][/color] Connor retorted, taking a drag and blowing the smoke out in her direction. Not in her face or even very close, just near enough to show her that he didn’t give a fuck who her daddy was.

The blonde rolled her eyes at his second use of his not-so-cute, and certainly not clever, nickname for her. What he had said still held some weight, however. [i]“Maybe that’s the point.”[/i] Edgy, dangerous… intriguing. Selena cocked up a perfectly groomed eyebrow and otherwise had kept her facial expression even and cool. Wordlessly, she stepped towards Mr. Mysterious and held out her hand with her index and middle fingers poised in a ‘V’ shape to accept his cigarette. Selena had never smoked a single day in her entire life, yet she looked entirely comfortable and natural in this silent request. Or perhaps it was a challenge.

The shit-eating grin that was ever present on the rebel without a cause’s face only grew when the cheerleader made a silent gesture, asking for his cigarette. Silently he placed the cig into her awaiting fingers, with more care than one might expect from the ruffian. [color=f1c142][b]“So, the princess has a dark side,”[/b][/color] Connor remarked. This girl was transparent, at least to him. The way she wore her hair, the way she strutted, the way she looked at him, it all screamed entitlement. He kinda liked it.

[color=ffb5fd][b]“It’s Selena.”[/b][/color] Selena said and then actually [i]smiled[/i] at the man. That was a rarity that few people in BHHS ever got to see, at least in a genuine sense. Such moments were reserved for shopping trips and frozen yogurt dates with Jamie, or when she was around her cousin Trixie — back when Trix was in better spirits — yet, somehow this stranger had managed to crack through Sel’s prickly exterior. But how… and what for? [color=ffb5fd][b]“Not Blondie, nor Princess.”[/b][/color] Sel felt her cheeks get hot at that, and she quickly continued on as coolly and aloof as possible. 

[color=ffb5fd][b]“Selena Sterling. You’d do well to remember it if you plan to stick around here for very long.”[/b][/color] At that, Sel turned her attention to the cigarette that was nestled between her fingers. Smoking helped people that felt stressed, right? Why else would someone do something that knowingly risked their health, if not to relieve themselves in some way? She’d come this far, so she had to do [i]something[/i]. Who knows, maybe it would help her feel a little better... So, Selena took a long, hard drag from the cigarette.

[i]A fatal mistake.[/i]

The smoke snaked like fire, burning it’s way through her throat and lungs as she breathed it in. Jesus, was she not supposed to inhale? Water welled up in her eyes as she attempted to fight off the cough that was clawing at her throat. Much to her chagrin, she failed, and the petite blonde was helplessly reduced to a horrid coughing fit. Having caught her breath, Selena attempted to recover by daintily clearing her throat. [color=ffb5fd][b]“Ahem… no thank you.”[/b][/color] She said in a light, raspy voice as she passed the offending cancer stick back to him.

Connor couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his lips, pushing it’s way past and into the smoky air that lay between him and Selena. [color=f6c142][b]“Don’t worry, [i]Selena[/i],”[/b][/color] Connor said, putting emphasis on her name to prove that he could say it, [color=f6c142][b]“First hits are always a mess. So, what is there to do around here, other than max out daddy’s credit card and do fun cheer routines?”[/b][/color] Connor continued, the snark clear in his tone. For someone whose father was being considered for a presidential bid, Connor held a lot of disdain for the upper class that so densely populated the Hills. Well, less a disdain of them, and more a disdain of what they, and people like his father, stood for. Rules and structure and elitism. Three of his least favorite things. 

Selena’s smile shifted into something that would better be described as a crooked grin. Silly boy, Pearce Sterling’s credit cards didn’t have a max. [color=ffb5fd][b]“Such big talk for a man dressed in… Valentino and Versace, is it? I’m assuming the shoes are brand as well, and the jacket. You dress quite nicely, so what exactly makes you and I so different, hmm, tough guy?”[/b][/color]

Connor cocked his head, and smirked. She knew Valentino and Versace. Maybe he was just as transparent to her as she was to him. [color=f6c142][b]“You’ve caught me,”[/b][/color] Connor said, feigning surrender and rolling his eyes. [color=f6c142][b]“And here I was thinking you were just like every other blonde I’ve met, but no. You’ve got brains. I like that. I dress nicely because I was born into it, but I don’t deserve a cent of the money I spend. Neither do you, and neither do ninety nine percent of the douche bags at this school. But we all spend it up anyways. Why? Because we can. So maybe, there isn’t much difference between us. Other than the fact that I can smoke without coughing,”[/b][/color] Connor said, winking with his last remark. 

Smug. Selena looked positively smug at his response. He was damn right she caught him, she made a living out of her observation (see also: judging) skills. The jab at the end, punctuated with a wink, had her feeling a different type of way, though. A bad way… no, a good way. Somewhere in between. She liked it. Selena turned on her heel to head back to the field to get more chairs. Expecting that he would know enough to follow her, she continued to speak as she started to walk away. [color=ffb5fd][b]“That, and I have a name. Do you have one, or shall I also give you a nickname based on face value alone? Rebel? … [i]Hypocrite[/i]?”[/b][/color] Sel smirked over her shoulder at the last word.

Oh, she was good at this. He dropped his burnt out cigarette on the ground and stamped it out before following her. [color=f6c142][b]“Connor. Connor Prince,”[/b][/color] he said, smirking. [color=f6c142][b]“I’m from New York, but I’m staying here with my uncle for an… indefinite amount of time,”[/b][/color] he said, rolling his eyes when he mentioned his uncle. That was still a bit of a sore spot, but he figured he had to give her some info about himself. Girls didn’t want to sleep with shadows. They wanted to sleep with shadows that they thought they knew. 

[color=ffb5fd][b]“Prince?”[/b][/color] Selena responded almost incredulously. Was he still toying with her? Surely that wasn’t the actual surname of someone that just accused her of being a princess not moments ago. He wasn’t wrong in his assumption, actually he was amusingly spot on. [color=ffb5fd][b]“A mysterious new transplant, how alluring.”[/b][/color] She mused aloud, whether or not that was sarcastic was too be determined, and went to work folding up some remaining chairs now that they were back out on the field.  [color=ffb5fd][b]“To answer your previous question, there’s not much worthwhile to do around here… but, you did offer to help me.”[/b][/color] Sel gestured towards the table that remained to be broken down and carried to the the sidelines. And then she walked away from him… again.

Connor smirked. She had a point. He followed her over to the field where he folded up the table that the judges had been seated at earlier and hefted it under his arm. [color=f6c142][b]“You never did tell me what had your panties in a twist earlier. It couldn’t have been me, seeing as how I hadn’t even graced you with my presence yet. Don’t tell me it’s a boyfriend,”[/b][/color] Connor inquired, sarcasm rampant in his tone, masking his genuine curiosity about this mysterious bombshell he’d stumbled upon. For once, someone was keeping up with him. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed.

[color=ffb5fd][b]“Ha. I don’t do relationships.”[/b][/color] Well, that was one way to put it. It came off as sounding cool, and non-committal, which might have been her intent? Selena honestly responded before thinking about her words, which she was usually very careful [i]not[/i] to do. It wasn’t exactly a lie, per se, she [i]didn’t[/i] do relationships… because she’s never had one. Despite Brynn’s knowledgeable sex coaching and promise to be a wingwoman, Sel had still never even gotten close to having something resembling romance. She’d kissed a boy once in fifth grade, and that was it, but Connor Prince didn’t need to know that. [color=ffb5fd][b]“It’s nothing, just some of those silly one percenter stresses. I’m sure you know the type.”[/b][/color] That statement was more of a direct lie than the first, but this stranger had no rights to her personal business.

[color=f6c142][b]“Well that’s great because neither do I,”[/b][/color] Connor said, flashing a toothy grin at Selena. Where as the blonde had been fudging the truth a bit about her and her relationship with commitment, Connor was not. He had dined and dashed at many a girl’s home, but he was not one for commitment. He’d been taught by one of his friends in New York that commitment this young was a trap, to keep you from experiencing the pleasures of life. So far, he’d yet to find a girl that could prove that statement wrong. [color=f6c142][b]“God damn the world and all that one percenter stress,”[/b][/color] Connor said, chuckling a bit as he carted the table over to the bleachers. Once he’d placed the table down he spun around to face Selena, smirking. [color=f6c142][b]“So, when were you going to invite me over? I was hoping today, but I understand if one percenter stress has you busy.”[/b][/color]

Selena was not prepared for that. Really, she should have been, because she was laying on whatever alternate universe femme fatale Selena persona this was fairly thick. It was a fun distraction, but the proposition of this man wanting to go to her home, most likely to sleep with her, snapped her back to reality. [color=ffb5fd][b]“How… [i]bold[/i]. You really do have a lot to learn while you’re here.”[/b][/color]

She reached up to hang the last of the chairs now, having recovered from her momentarily stunned state. Sel adjusted the strap of her pale pink [i]Fendi[/i] bag over her shoulder and met his gaze head on. [color=ffb5fd][b]“Thanks for the help, but I am a bit busy, I guess I’ll have to see you around, [i]Prince[/i].”[/b][/color]

Connor smirked. It was worth a shot. [color=f6c142][b]“See ya around, Princess.”[/b][/color][/indent]