Stephoné leaned against her locker and looked through questions on the prom website. 'These are some deep questions but are they really necessary for prom?' She asked herself, her lips pursed and brows furrowed, concentrating on the phone.

Will approached his sister and crossed his arms, leaning his shoulder against his locker. "You look concentrated. What's up, Steph?" He asked, not infringing on her privacy and glancing at what she was looking at.

Stephoné looked startled at her brother's sudden presence. "How long were you standing there?" She asked, her eyes wide and she loved the phone and rested her arm at her sister.

Will shrugged his shoulders as the corner of his mouth turned up. "I just got here. You seemed to be concentrating on that phone - isn't that Ariana's old Blackberry?" He asked, pointing towards the beat-up-looking black touchscreen phone.

Stephoné looked up at Will and then turned her attention to the phone. "Oh, yeah. She gave it to me because apparently I need a phone for this whole prom thing." She sighed, shaking her head and turning around.

Will crossed his arms over his chest and pressed his lips together as he listened to his sister. "So, what were you looking at that caused the world around you to fade away?" He inquired, tilting his head to the side slightly.

Stephoné lifted the phone up and lightly rubbed her thumb across the screen. "I was just looking at some of the questions on the website. They're really deep, Will. What is your biggest regret? What would you call your most significant achievement? When in life have you felt most alone? When have you felt most alive? What is your favorite story about your parents? What year would you like to do over? What is your earliest memory?" She listed off while looking at the screen.

Will eyes' grew wide. His jaw went slack for a moment before he closed his mouth. "Dang, I did not realize some of our classmates are philosophers. Those are some deep questions and a few are infringing on privacy." He exclaimed, quite amazed at the questions she had listed off.

Stephoné chewed on her lip and nodded slowly. "They are deep and some are a bit personal. We only have to answer the ones Secretary Xena adds to the pages from the comments." She felt her chest tighten at the mere thought as she slumped her shoulders.

Will's expression softened as he watched his sister's demeanor change. "She probably won't do that until Thursday or maybe later today. She's the type that gives a lot of preparation time to do something." He flashed her a reassuring smile.

Stephoné sighed as she bounced her leg rapidly. "Should I really be doing this? I'm not exactly prom queen material. If Ariana didn't do prom the way she's doing it now, I wouldn't have a chance." She asked, looking up at him with soft eyes.

Will scratched the side of his head and sucked in a breath. "That might be true, but at least this way it's fair for everyone. Those who win prom queen and king deserve it based on their character, not by popularity or money." He suggested, the corner of his mouth turning up.

Stephoné simply sighed at her brother's words. She tugged at her sleeves and looked down at the floor, shifting on her feet. "I'm not prom queen material." She whispered, chewing on her lip.

Will reached his hand out and placed it on her shoulder. "Stephoné, you're every bit of prom queen material. You're a kind and sweet person, if anyone deserves to win based on character, it's certainly you."

Stephoné was touched by her brother's words, yet they didn't make her feel all warm and fuzzy. "You don't have to flatter me." She mumbled, meeting his eyes for a brief moment before looking down at the floor as she shoved her phone into her pocket.

"Oh, Steph," Will's expression turned a tad bit crestfallen. Hearing her say those words hurt because it was her self-doubt kicking in. "I'm not flattering you. It's true, and not because I'm biased as your brother, but anyone half decent would agree." He wrapped his arm around her tightly and pulled her close.

Ariana, dull of energy, bounced up to her friends. "Did you see all the questions?" She asked with a squeal of excitement clapping her hands. "I can't wait for Secretary Xena to pick the questions!"

Will shot her a glare, motioning with her eyes towards Stephoné and her demeanor. 'She can not take a hint can she? She needs to learn to read the room every now and again,' He thought to himself.

Ariana furrowed her brows not quite understanding what he was even doing. "Anyways, I have the lovely Grace to read for you, Stephoné," She beamed brightly, moving beside her bestie.

Stephoné took a deep breath and looked over at Ariana. She blinked a few times as she thought about the name Ariana had just said. "Grace? Grace Perkins, whose Dad works with my mom?" She inquired, hoping she was right.

Ariana nodded her head, confirming Stephoné's questions. "Yep." She replied, popping the 'P' with a smile. "I couldn't think of anyone else who would be better to read Cinderella's answers than the sweetest person in the world: Grace! Next to you, of course."

Will widened his eyes and tightened his jaw while slightly shaking his head. 'Man, she sometimes can't take a hint.' He thought to himself, glancing towards Stephoné out of the corner of her eye.

Stephoné chewed on the inside of her lip to the point where she could taste a faint trace of blood. "I don't know, Ariana. I know you tried to come up with a fair way for prom, but this is out of my element." She softly told her best friend, keeping her eyes on the floor.

Ariana's eyes went wide "I know. I just want you to at least have a good time before we graduate. School wasn't fun for you, for any of us for that matter. We should at least try and make the best of these last few months." She softly said, reaching her hand out and placing it on Stephoné's shoulder.

Stephoné mustered up a small smile as her eyes hazel met her friend's brown ones. "It means a lot, Ari. I'll warm up to the idea later and I'm not upset that you enrolled me because I know you had my best interest at heart." Her tone came out a little softer than it had been.

Ariana sighed softly, the corner of her lip turning upward. "I shouldn't have done it without your permission, and I'm so sorry about that." She apologized, an apologetic expression growing on her face.

Stephoné snaked her arms around her best friend and gently hugged her. "You've always tried to nudge me out of my comfort zone and it never went badly." She commented, closing her eyes.

Ariana wrapped her arms around Stephoné and smiled. "Someone has got to be the mama bird. Besides, I'd do it for anyone, not just you and Will." She flashed a smile and she tightened her grip on Stephoné. "How about this? Tonight we order pizza and chill out at my house? I've got some new movies we can watch or we can play knock-off Wii sports?"

Will could taste the pizza and could almost smell it. "I could really go for a garden veggie pizza with extra peppers." He could feel his mouth watering as he pictured peppers on his pizza.

ÇBarbecue pizza sounds good too . . . let me just check if it's okay with my mom first. I don't know if she's working late or not." Stephoné said, going to have to call her mom on her break at lunch

Ariana nodded, having not a single problem with that. "Sure. Just get back to me before school ends." She flashed a smile and threw Stephoné a thumbs up. "I'll order the pizza shortly before you come so it can be delivered when you arrive."

Stephoné nodded and turned around, grabbing her books from her locker. "I better gather my books and get to science. I want to get a back seat and I don't want to get stuck beside Jerry." She shuddered at the thought.

Ariana scoffed, putting her hands on her hips. "I think Mr. Julian is a little too relaxed to allow Jerry to chew gum in class. It's a distraction! And I don't care if Jerry is his twice-removed nephew, it's unfair." She huffed, her tone indifferent.

Stephoné nodded, closing her locker and locking it back. "I'll see you guys at lunch." She waved to Ariana and Will before pivoting on her heels and scurrying to her next class, passing Kiki in the process.

Kiki frowned as she stopped in the middle of the hall and turned towards Sabrina and Lacy. "I don't want to be pushy! Let me approach Kwan in my own time, okay? I'm going to look desperate and that won't benefit anyone, will it?" She exclaimed, completely exasperated.

Sabrina sighed softly, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm just reminding you since you've ignored me every time I bring it up. I need you to do this for me, Kiki," She pushed out her lip, turning it into a pouty lip.

Kiki frowned and narrowed her eyes a little at Sabrina's actions. It annoyed her to no end. "I will! Just let me do it in my own time, please? They haven't been here for three days, I don't want to seem pushy." She asked once again, her eyes pleading with the brown-haired girl.

Sabrina sucked in a deep breath and held it for the duration while Kiki spoke. She let it out slowly, turning her exhale into a sigh. "Fine." She huffed, uncrossing her arms and letting them fall to her side. "Just don't disappoint me. He's my ticket to get close to Cooper."

Lacy rolled her eyes. 'Classic Sabrina. Always thinking about herself rather than adding me in.' She thought to herself with an unimpressed frown. "I don't think Kiki would ever want to disappoint you, or me, right?" She turned her attention towards the black-haired girl.

Kiki clenched her jaw and mustered up the sweetest smile she could find inside her. "Of course! I wouldn't want to disappoint each of you. You're my only friend and how could I do that to you?" She cringed at her own words, despite them being true.

Sabrina carefully pushed her hair away from her eyes. "Well, I suppose I could be lenient with the time frame." She sighed, figuring it was best to not pressure Kiki into doing something beyond her comfort zone.

Kiki didn't feel any better because Sabrina's words were empty. It was just what Sabrina thought she wanted to hear and not add any feelings. "Thanks." She flashed a smile, flipping one of her pigtails to her back.

Lacy was growing bored, especially with how much Kiki was dancing around the task Sabrina entrusted her. "Should we still sit with them during lunch?" She asked, wanting more than anything to get close to Cooper.

Sabrina held up her hand and shook her head. "No, we should let them come to us. I will make sure that there is no open table but the one for us." She had the upper hand when it came to the school. Her father was one of the school's biggest contributors.

Lacy grinned when Sabrina brought out this side of her. "Ooh, manipulative. I like that. They would have no choice but to sit with us and then Kiki could take her sweet time getting close to Kwan." She excitedly exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

Kiki perked up when Lacy brought that up. "But wouldn't that help you get close to them and I wouldn't have to get close to Kwan?" She asked, her voice a little hopeful.

Sabrina glared at Kiki, pressing her fingers into her temples. "Kiki, Kiki, Kiki, sweet dear Kiki, spending a little time during lunch won't get us any closer than we already are. There is only so much we can talk about since we only have slotted time to have lunch." She condescendingly explained with a frown.

Lacy threw her hands in the air. "Duh!" She exclaimed, feeling a bit exasperated with Kiki. "Come on Kiki, you're smarter than that. We need opportunities away from school and right now, they aren't exactly fond of us."

Sabrina turned her head towards Lacy with an unimpressed expression. "And I wonder who's fault it is?" She asked, condescendingly adding an eye roll. "Only time will tell and the sooner we get them into our circle the better."

Kiki couldn't stand staying there any longer and the listening scheme. "Now, I've got to get to class. I do not want to be stuck behind Jerry Smith again, I can not take his gum chewing." She waved towards her friends and scurried off before they could get a chance to say anything else.

She slipped into her classroom and made a beeline for the back corner seat which happened to be right beside Stephoné, who was by the window. She slipped off her backpack and set it on the floor beside her.

Kiki bent down and unzipped her backpack, getting out her books and setting them on the table. "Hey, Stephoné?" She whispered, getting the girl's attention. "Is Kwan going to be in our class? Sabrina said that the principal couldn't keep having all three boys in the same class so they will only have their morning class together."

Stephoné lifted her head off her folded arms and turned her attention towards the black-haired girl. "Um, I'm not sure. Sorry," She replied, sending her a sympathetic look. 'Why would Kiki ask me? I wouldn't know who is in the classes.'

Kiki sighed, resting her elbow on the table then resting her cheek in her palm. "Okay, thanks anyway." She sighed, feeling a bit jaded. 'So, there's a 50/50 chance I could attend any of my classes with Kwan and I'd have no excuse to avoid him.' She thought letting a sigh escape her lips.

Stephoné tilted her head as she watched Kiki's reaction. It seemed she didn't want to be in the same room with him. "Do you not want him to be in our class?"

Kiki's eyes widened in surprise, her brows furrowing. "It's not that I don't want him, it's just I want to avoid him at all costs." She replied, keeping her voice in a hushed tone.

Stephoné couldn't believe that Kiki wanted to avoid him. "You want to avoid him?" She asked skeptically, her eyes searching for her reaction.

Kiki nodded, confirming she was indeed avoiding him. "Yeah. I normally wouldn't, but Sabrina has this big ask and I don't want to be put in a rock and a hard place, so I figured avoiding him would be best." She admitted, feeling better that she was telling someone.

Stephoné noted she relaxed a little more each time she replied. "Why don't you just tell her the reason?" She asked carefully as she chewed on her lip. She bounced her foot on the floor to keep her busy while she waited for Kiki to reply.

Kiki hesitated with her response. It was a bit of a loaded question. "When has that ever gone well? You should know firsthand how Sabrina doesn't take anyone not going along with her ideas. I don't have a choice." She frowned, feeling her heart grow heavy.

Stephoné felt bad for Kiki. Despite being Sabrina's friend, she was the opposite of her. "I'm sorry you have to go through that." She softly said, meaning every word.

Kiki couldn't tell anyone how good she felt that someone had sympathy for what she was going through. "I am too. I hate this. I just wish I never met Sabrina, better yet, I wish she never went to our school. You wouldn't have a miserable school life and I wouldn't be manipulated and gaslighted into doing things for her."

Stephoné felt a sharp pain in her body at Kiki's words. 'It is true, Sabrina does make my life miserable. I don't understand what I did for her to treat me that way and turn people against me.' She thought to herself, tugging at her sleeves.

Kiki recoiled, realizing that her words might have been a little harsh especially with all Stephoné had gone through. "I didn't mean it like that -" She started to say, only to be cut off by Stephoné.

"It's true though. The whole school is terrified of her because of how much power her family holds, especially since they practically own the school." Stephoné reassured her, sending her a slightly understanding smile.

Kiki took a deep breath as the rest of her classmates filed in, not a single one of them was Kwan, Cooper, or Daniel. 'I can rest easy and focus on class,' She thought to herself, opening her textbook and notebook, picking up her pen, and looking up at the teacher.

〰️♛〰♛〰♛〰♛〰♛〰♛〰

A/N:
Sorry. I've had some writer's block and been very busy. I haven't had much time to write. But I won't forget about this book and I'm still going to finish it.

Chapter Talk:
Kiki is a sweet person and I wanted to show that, especially towards Stephoné. There will be more interactions with Stephoné and Kiki in the future.

I also wanted to show how Ariana wanted the best for Stephoné, anyone in her shoes would want that for her.

Also, Sabrina and Lacy are quite pushy when it comes to getting their way.

Thanks for reading!