- Talk to someone you trust and/or are sure you can confide in.

- Pour your heart out, leaving nothing out.

- Ask them for ways they think it could be better.

- Put their advice into practice.

- If you feel like you're going back to square one, tell them immediately, so they can help. Or see a counselor (preferably at school).

I hope these help!

18:40 PM

Bella was a big, fat chicken.

What the hell? Just ring the doorbell already!

She bit her lower lip, nervously pulling her fingers, before reaching a shaky hand to the doorbell. She didn't know why, but the entire prospect of spending the night at Beau's house was making her stomach twist in ways she didn't know it could.

How could she forget about his eleventh grade sister? She was sixteen, a year older than her, and, heck, that didn't matter. She should've expected it.

Her index finger finally pushed the doorbell, and the sound seemed to echo in her ears. She tightened her eyes, mentally whispering, Please don't be the one to get the door. Please, please, please.

The idea was lovely—staying under the same roof as Beau Algernon for a whole night—but, at the same time, it was scary as hell.

"Hey!" The voice caused her heart to leap and her eyes to fling open. Frankie looked back into the house. "Hey, girls. Bella's here!" she shouted.

"Let her in!" a familiar voice shouted back.

Great! Just what she needed—a grand entrance. She walked in, having her breath immediately taken away.

The inside was a hundred times more beautiful than the outside. It was a simple plan house, but that didn't prevent it from looking amazing. There was a black, soft-looking sofa, a coffee table with various magazines—that didn't look like something a boy would read—strewn over it, a flat screen TV and living room furniture in all the right places.

She could see the kitchen from where she was standing, and she spotted movements, but before she could be sure her eyes were just playing tricks on her, Frankie spoke.

"Done looking around?" she asked.

"Um, yeah."

"Great! Let's go upstairs." She immediately turned to the stairs and headed towards it.

Viola came jogging down the stairs, a huge smile plastered on her face. "Bella!" She enveloped Bella in a hug she hadn't given in a long time, causing her eyes to momentarily widen as she hugged her back.

"Hey, what's up?" Bella asked as her best friend took her bag from her.

"A lot. Jessica was in the middle of telling us how she froze her mom's phone once, when you rang the doorbell."

"Jessica's here?" Obviously she didn't think Jun, Fleur and Frankie wouldn't invite more people, but Jessica being there was a surprise, and she wasn't sure if it was a pleasant one.

"Yeah. And Amora, and Amparo."

Bella froze at the mention of Amparo's name. Was she really going to spend the night with Amparo? She didn't know how the girl did it, but she knew she was scared of her. It was probably because she was the only one apart from Stephanie that knew what she said about Viola on the day of the beach party.

Viola headed up the stairs, and Bella followed, ignoring the racing of her heart. She followed Viola up the stairs and down a white hallway. They stopped in front of a white door, and Viola smiled, then jerked her thumb to the door behind them.

Leaning closer to Bella, she whispered, "Beau's room," and sent her friend's heart on a marathon.

Bella's heart was beating a million miles a second, and she put her hands together as Viola opened the door to Fleur's room.

What if he's in there? We're directly across from him and anything could happen. I could bump into him, or—

Excited squeals filled the air as she stepped in, and in the blink of an eye, a pair of arms were around her.

"Oh my God! I'm so glad you're here, Belle," the girl with brown hair and eyes similar to Beau's said, pulling away from her and grinning.

"Thanks for inviting me," Bella said, taking the room in. It looked like something out of Pinkalicious and Peterrific, with most of her things pink, excluding the vanity by one of the walls.

Jessica was setting up a camera on a sparkly purple tripod, which was definitely hand-painted, and she couldn't shake off the feeling that everything they did was going to be on camera.

Yep! Definitely not a pleasant surprise.

"Okay," Jun started just as Bella's eyes met with Amparo's mischievous-looking ones. "Before we begin, we're going to spin a chore wheel."

"Chore wheel?" Bella asked, taking her seat on Fleur's double bed, and keeping a good distance from Amparo.

"Yep!" She retrieved a round plastic thing from her backpack, on which various colored paper—with different chores messily painted on them—was taped.

On closer look, it looked like a plastic dish. One of those disposable ones.

"Don't laugh at it," Jun said, "my brother made it. It helps, though. Everyone is going to have a department tonight, and you'll all have to stick with whatever chore the wheel gives. Taken?"

"Taken!" they all responded in unison.

"Good. Everyone, take your position on the floor. We're sitting in a circle."

They immediately did as she said. Viola took the spot on the left of Bella, and Amparo intentionally took the spot on her right, sitting so close to her that their shoulders touched. Amora glanced awkwardly at them, but didn't say anything.

The events so far were enough to give Bella a complex.

"Hey, Bella," Amparo mumbled close to her ear, sending chills down her spine.

Bella didn't respond. She only moved closer to Viola and weirdly cleared her throat. A satisfied smirk went to settle on Amparo's face, not going unnoticed by Amora and, unfortunately, Jessica, too.

After all eight girls had sat in the circle, Jun placed the supposed chore wheel in the middle.

"Is this some occult thing?" Fleur asked. "Because I'm getting kind of freaked out." Everyone except Bella giggled in response.

"Yeah. It kinda looks like a disguised Ouija board," Frankie added, causing their giggles to get louder. "Without the wrong spelling of gardening, of course."

"Come on, cut it out," Jun warned, then placed a hand on top of the faux wheel. "I'll spin first."

They fell quiet as she spun the dish around, then watched in anticipation as it slowed. Finally, the wheel stopped, and a chore faced her.

"Entertinment," Jessica read aloud. "Gosh, I wonder what that means."

Frankie nudged her in the ribs, stifling another giggle, and Jun glared at them.

"It's entertainment. Come on, he's six." She gestured to the dish. "Admire the artwork at least. He ruined his favorite shirt doing this."

"Hey, at least he learned a lesson."

Bella couldn't help smiling at that, and Jun stood. "Whatever. I'll go start work. Viola, go next."

Viola positioned herself closer to the dish, then spun it. It spun and spun and spun, then—dishes.

"Wait. What if two people have the same chore?" Amparo asked, glancing at Bella.

"Yeah," Viola added.

"Just spin the thing and forget about that," Jun replied, and Bella moved forward for her turn.

She spun the dish, but hers took longer than Jun's and Viola's to stop. Then, food.

"Get going!" Jun shouted at her, glancing up from the notebook in her lap.

Amazing! Look who was going downstairs alone. Just amazing.

Bella stood, hesitating a bit, and Amparo watched her, hunter-like.

"I would've come with you, but no dishes yet. Sorry," Viola said to her.

"No problem. I'll manage," she replied, despite knowing she wouldn't manage. She would just go with it.

As she slowly opened the door, she thought about her fans' reaction to her finally getting to hang out with Jun, Fleur and Frankie. A hashtag 'dreams come true' and a few questions would spark a conversation in the Fashionella universe.

When she saw Beau's door closed, she quietly let out a sigh, then stepped out, shutting the door behind her.

Maybe he's crashing at a friend's place. Maybe he went out for a ride on his bike and won't be home until way later, she thought, even though a part of her wanted to see him.

She walked down the hallway, then stairs, taking deep breaths and trying to calm her speedy heart. She was so confident in herself that she assumed everything was okay. She didn't expect to see him sitting on the kitchen island with a guitar in his lap, and a notepad and pen beside him.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed, immediately turning to leave, and he looked up at her.

"It's okay," he said in a calm voice, a corner of his lips lifting.

She shut her eyes as she stopped, then reopened them after a while.

Strawberry shortcake! she thought, then put on her best not-nervous smile, and finally turned back to the kitchen. "Hey," she said, walking to the refrigerator, which happened to be directly in front of him.

She heard him get down from the island behind her, and her heartbeat picked up pace. Honestly, she wasn't sure why she was that nervous, but maybe it had more to do with him than his house.

"Hey," he finally responded, going to lean against the counter beside her.

She opened the fridge, then stared into it, trying hard to identify what she was seeing, because the only item she could name was turkey wrap. Beau smiled, staring at her, then folded his arms.

"Looking for something? You look confused," he said, and she glanced at him, before looking back in the refrigerator.

"Yeah," she answered, finally spotting similar bottles of soda, "it's this—this chore dish... wheel thing Jun introduced and..." She began taking the bottles out and placing them on the countertop without looking.

When she placed the fourth bottle down—or thought she did—she felt a strange warmth around her hand, and it was after looking at it that she realized Beau had his hand over hers, holding the soda bottle to prevent it from falling.

He lifted an eyebrow, and she mentally spanked herself.

"Sorry. Thanks. I wasn't looking."

"You weren't," he said, moving the soda further back, but not taking his hand off hers.

She tried pulling her hand from under his, but his grip tightened, trapping her already burning hand. "I—I have to get back to the girls."

"I know, but they can wait—they have you for the whole night. I want to talk to you."

"About?"

"Something."

This boy needed to release her hand immediately. "We can't talk. Really, Beau, I need to go."

Her breathing increased with each passing second, but she managed to keep it under control—at least to an extent.

"Not even for a minute?" he asked, stepping closer to her.

Their eyes locked, and she felt all these emotions go through her. What was he even doing in the kitchen?

He took her hand off the soda bottle, but didn't let it go.

"What if—" she started, but her voice caught in her throat.

"What if what?" he asked softly.

"What if I hadn't come here?"

He shrugged. "I didn't think about that. You're here now, that's what matters." He let his thumb brush over the back of her hand, then looked down at it. "You still owe me an explanation."

She felt his thumb move again and, before he could say anything else, she wiggled her hand from his, then turned back to the refrigerator, momentarily staring into it, before remembering what she was doing before the very intense interruption. Shouldn't that have been illegal?

"I'm serious, Belle," he said, leaning back against the counter.

She glanced at him, noticing a French door a few feet behind him. "I know."

"But you still don't want to tell me, right?"

She took out four more bottles of soda, then placed them beside him.

"Am I the reason for—"

"No," she cut him off, then corrected herself. "Not exactly."

"Kind of?"

"Maybe. Look, forget what I said. I say things—"

"I know where that's going, so please don't." He looked weirdly concerned about the issue, but she couldn't place her finger on why.

"Why do you care about it so much?"

Beau looked away, and she thought he wouldn't respond, but he eventually said, "I've had a bad experience similar to this, and I just want to know my fault in what's going on."

She stared at him, feeling bad she made him blame himself. She didn't know he would think about it that way, and, thinking back, she realized she actually promised to tell him everything. "Okay," she said, "but if the girls hate me for this, I'll never forgive you."

Beau only smiled.