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amparocot Am I the only one who's noticed how absent Belinda Quincy's BFF @violadelm has been? We don't hear from her or see her on Fashionella like ever! It makes me wonder what's wrong.

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pinkangelcake I've noticed too babe!
|amparocot @pinkangelcake always you darling! X

"Well, have you tried calling?" Mrs. Quincy asked, standing from her place at the kitchen table, her phone pressed to her ear.

Bella tensed, stirring her cereal, her appetite lost—not that she had an appetite that morning, anyway.

Cody walked into the kitchen, then grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the table.

"What's up with Mom?" he asked, glancing at their worried-looking mother, who was now leaning against the sink.

"It has to do with big sis, I don't know."

"And what's up with you? You look like you missed the grand finale of your favorite show."

"It's worse, but I don't want to talk about it."

He sat beside her, taking a loud bite of his apple. "Does it have to do with Algernon?"

Bella froze for a while, before saying, "What part of 'I don't want to talk about it' don't you understand?"

"Oh, I know—he broke up with you."

She lifted an eyebrow at him. "We're not in a relationship."

"Aw," he gently held her chin and tipped it up, "no wonder you look so sour. He broke up with you without you even knowing you were in a relationship."

She gave him an incredulous look, then said, "You're useless."

He let go of her chin, a little too harshly. "Nah. I think you being almost sixteen when I'm going off to college next year makes you more useless. Let's face it—what use are you to me? You only add to my chores."

She stuck her tongue out at him, and he childishly blew a raspberry in her face.

"Ew, gross! Mom, Cody's spitting in my breakfast."

Mrs. Quincy looked in their direction, then shook a disapproving finger at Cody. "Sweetie, calm down, okay?" she said to her oldest daughter on the other end of the phone. "You don't have to cry."

Cody chuckled. "It definitely has to do with Jared." He looked into Bella's bowl, lifting an eyebrow at her bloated cereal. "Hey, hurry up. I have to get to school."

Her phone buzzed in her lap and, without, checking what the notification was about, she knew it was from Instagram. Amparo Cotton just had to choose today of all days to raise a Viola-not-included-on-Fashionella awareness, and she was being tagged in people's stories and posts. Didn't those kids have school to attend?

But when she reluctantly looked in her screen, she was surprised to see a text from Viola. She read it silently.

I'm outside. Have something for you

She almost jumped out of her chair, but she knew her mom wouldn't like that, so she put on a grin, then turned to her brother.

"What?" he asked, taking another bite of his apple.

"I'll be right back. Viola's outside."

He froze as she stood. "She is?"

"Yeah. I'll be right back," she repeated, then ran out of the kitchen, to the front door.

When she opened the door, the sight that greeted her was a bit shocking. Viola stood by the parked car on the driveway, holding hands with Jake and leaning into him, and Bella came out just in time to see Jake kiss the side of her head.

Viola looked sad, and her eyes were rimmed red, like she'd been crying, and it broke Bella's heart seeing how devastated she looked.

The smile she had on disappeared as she wondered what was really wrong with her, and Viola finally noticed her.

"Hey," Bella said, trying on a smile.

"Hey." Viola leaned away from Jake, then slowly let go of his hand so she could walk to her.

"I saw your text."

"Yeah." She took off her backpack on the way, then took out a transparent bag. "I didn't have much to do last night, so I went to finish this up. It's the Grim Reaper costume."

Bella's heart swelled. "Thanks, Viola."

"No problem. I just thought I'd fulfill that promise I made—that I'd always show you my designs no matter what."

Bella remembered that day. They were both leaning against the car and waiting for Cody to arrive.

Viola gave the bag to her, then took her sketchbook out of her backpack as well. She gestured to it. "You can just... give this back to me after school or whenever. I have to go."

"Cody and I were about leaving. We could ride together," she offered too quickly, not wanting the opportunity to just go.

"No. No need for that." She pushed her hair back, holding it there as she spoke. "I really need a walk right now. Thanks, though."

Bella gave a feeble nod, then glanced at Jake. "So... are the both of you...?" She trailed off, sensing Viola already got the question.

Viola looked at him, smiling a bit, and Jake averted his eyes awkwardly. "Um, not yet. But he's really nice." She looked down at her hands. "He really understands me, and he's the kind of person I need in my life right now."

The statement stung for some reason, but Bella ignored the feeling and nodded again. "All right. I'll see you later."

"Sure." She turned to leave, but paused as if remembering something. "Um," she turned back to Bella, "don't take this the wrong way. I might be here now, but don't think it means we're back to normal. You already ruined our friendship, and it'll take more than," she gestured between them, "this to take it back to the way it used to be. I just thought you should know that."

"Okay." Bella's voice came out as nothing more than a whisper, and disappointment hit her like an angry wave.

Viola walked back to Jake, who gave Bella a small nod, then they both walked away.

For some reason, Amparo's Instagram post came to her memory.

We don't hear about her or see her on Fashionella, like, ever!

And it was as that sentence played in her head that she realized Amparo was right. They might've been best friends, but Viola involved her in her life more than she did, and her YouTube channel and Viola's sketchbook proved just that.

* * *

Belinda Quincy was a mess.

All day, she walked around school, wishing she had a protective film around her. People were staring and pointing fingers in her direction, whispering to each other like they didn't have better things to do.

It was quite clear Amparo's plan worked; this was what she wanted. And what was worse? Beau wasn't in school to help her take her mind off things.

She hadn't realized how dependent on his beautiful smile and assuring words she had become until now.

She had looked around for him, texted him, and even gone through the trouble of asking Cody before chemistry if he knew where he was—at school, running into Cody was as likely as running into the president in a high school hallway.

"I had two classes with him today, and he was in neither of them," he had said. "But he always misses school on this day every year, so you don't have to worry."

"He does?" she'd asked just before Kyra arrived.

"Yeah. He's been doing so since sophomore year." He had paused to tell Kyra something about his next class, then Kyra had said hi to her with a smile, before Cody continued. "But don't disturb him with texts—he won't reply to those."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, honestly. He's never told anyone. Private stuff, obviously."

Now she stood in front of her locker before her last period, staring anxiously into it. Beau's absence worried her, Amparo's awareness program worried her, the fact that she had been a bad friend for years and didn't realize it worried her. She was worried about everything.

She just had to try focusing in her next class and reserve worrying for later. She took the books out of her backpack, then replaced them with some from her locker.

"Oh, there you are!"

At the sound of the voice, she froze. What the heck did she want now?

"Did you see how just one courageous act got people to open up?" Amparo placed a hand on her shoulder, then used it to turn her around. "Hey, I'm talking to you."

"What do you want?"

She put on a faux grin. "Oh, nothing. I just wanted to see your face. It looks epic, by the way." She lifted her phone, then took a photo of Bella's face, like she had the camera on standby.

"Just leave me alone, Amparo."

"In a minute. You should really give an answer to your mad fans, or they'll just desert you. Take it as friendly advice from yours truly."

Bella almost laughed. Amparo was anything but friendly. "Like you care about that."

"Oh, I don't. Fashionella's just a trending topic and, just so you know, it's not trending in an oh-my-God way. It's more in a this-used-to-be-awesome-but-is-now-a-time-sponge way."

"Okay." Bella shut her locker, then turned back to her. "What do you have against me?"

Amparo smiled, a bit mischievously, but more out of surprise. "Aw, you finally asked. Honestly? I don't have anything to say to you right now. Just follow my advice and maybe it'll make this a fair fight." With that, she walked away.

* * *

Hey guys! Long time, I know. So this post is just to inform you guys about Fashionella's update. I'm really grateful to those who have been patient and to those who threatened to hurt me through DMs. Ha ha! I'll try my best to take Fashionella back to the way it used to be. Here's to trying! I'll be (hopefully) uploading two videos this weekend. One will be addressing the Viola issue and the other will be normal Fashionella stuff with a little math magic. Till then, love you! #fashionella

Immediately she posted the long caption, along with a selfie of herself blowing a kiss to the camera, Bella let out a heavy sigh, feeling like a thousand anvils had been lifted from her shoulders.

She leaned back in her window seat, then released another sigh—this one softer than the first. That selfie was just a façade and she knew it; it was just something to assure people she was still alive.

Never in her life did she think she would listen to Amparo's advice, but she found herself doing that.

That aside, she was very worried. On the one hand, she had Beau to worry about, and on the other, she had Viola.

Another sigh escaped her, and a knock sounded on her door. "It's open!" she called out, glancing at Viola's sketchbook beside her. She was going to return that on Monday. Right now she needed it.

The door slightly opened and her mom peeked in, before pushing it back wider.

"Hey, honey," she said.

"Hey, Mom."

"Are you okay? You look exhausted."

"I am exhausted, Mom. Just," she massaged her temple, "school stuff."

Her mom's eyebrows lifted. "When did you start worrying about school stuff? Your sitting position screams boy!"

Bella stared at her mom for a few seconds. She could be such a teenager sometimes. "Is it that obvious?"

Mrs. Quincy tilted her head, as if wanting to view her daughter's face from a different angle. "Mm, if I see the stress lines."

Bella almost released a laugh for the second time that day. So Beau was right. She did have stress lines. Honestly she thought he was just saying that to tease her.

Oh, how much she missed that boy!

Before she started groaning in pain, she decided to change the topic. "Do you need me to do anything for you?"

"I just wanted to tell you to call Adele."

"Why?" She had almost forgotten about her. "Is she okay?"

"Not entirely. Jared broke up with her."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

Her mom lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "That's how I see it. She was crying on the phone this morning."

Bella wondered what went wrong. Adele had never been as excited about any boy as she was about Jared.

"Okay. I'll call her. I hope she's okay."

"I hope she'll just do a dress up attack on her roommate and not do anything stupid," her mom added, turning back to the door, and Bella giggled.

"I hope so, too."

Her mom gave her one last smile before turning to the door. She paused just as her hand was about meeting the doorknob, then looked at her. "You know, whatever's happening between you and Viola is a phase. It'll pass. And I think that boy's really special to make you have that many lines on your forehead."