It was a sunny day at Laurel. Being a proud new Laurel Preparatory student, Beth was singing and dancing as she walked into the campus. She even paid extra attention to the fresh scent of trees and lawns alongside the campus buildings.

Aww, are those little tulips and daisies nodding at me? She turned her head to the flowers. What about the birds that seem to be bathing in the sun? She then gave the treetop a subtle glimpse.

Everyone was gathering around their friends and talking about her holidays.

"Okay, need to find my homeroom now. Classroom 12A. Let me see..."

Beth's phone chimed. It was a message from Madison that read, 'don't forget to get hydrated and get along well with others!'

K mom. Gosh, I already know that I will do them!

Suddenly, Beth saw a tall girl standing in front of her. The girl had long blue hair. She was wearing a three-colored sweater, a pair of shorts, and orange-brown converse shoes. This girl seems to be walking alone. I should probably ask her if she knows where I can find my homeroom on this campus. Beth decided to tap the girl on the shoulder.

"Umm...do you know how to walk to classroom 12 A?"

"Yea, I am walking there as well."

"Wait...I suppose we are classmates! Shall we walk together?"

The girl nodded and answered with a 'sure thing'.

"Ah! By the way, I think your hair is pretty cool. I am very into fashion, so I am quick to spot cool hairstyles and clothing."

"Thank you. I got my hair dyed just last summer. I have heard that dyed hair needs a lot of care, so I stored some hair conditioner in advance. My hair is all good for now. Oh, I almost forgot to ask: what's your name?"

"Bethany Clementine. You can call me Beth. What about you?"

"Julianna Miller, but I often go by Jules. Why did you come to Laurel Prep, Beth?"

"I heard our school has a very interesting student body and an empowering school culture. Besides that, Laurel is a city with a lot of cultural events and stuff to do. I love it when I can try out different things!"

"Laurel is indeed an interesting place, although sometimes it could be noisy during the nights, and I feel like that disturbs me a bit." Julianna rolled her eyes, "That said, I enjoy the vast array of opportunities at Laurel—it's a place with the newest advanced technological development, but the technology is combined with the arts to preserve humanitarian values and culture."

"That's an eye-opener! I am really interested in the arts! How're the arts here at Laurel City? Anything interesting to do?"

"I suggest you check out the city museum here. Last time I went to an exhibition where they showcased conceptual models of historical cities based on translated ancient texts."

"The historical models sound so amazing! I would definitely like to go there sometime. Why did you come to our school, Jules?" Beth asked.

"Well, I am a Laurel local, and I got one of the spots to come to Laurel Prep from my previous middle school. My old school also helped put people into schools like Marie-Lisette Academy, but I chose Laurel because it has a laid-back environment compared to those schools."

"Marie-Lisette...wait! I heard that's one of the best high schools in this country..."

"Yes, but ranking doesn't directly equate to quality of teaching, or how successful the student will be in the long run." Julianna shrugged the reputation of Marie-Lisette off. Beth thought maybe it was time to diverge the topic.

"By the way, Jules, what did you do during the summer?"

"Me?" Julianna chuckled. "Umm...I studied the sea for a bit and learn about a lot of interesting creatures! You?"

"I had summer art classes and went traveling with friends!"

"That sounds great! Oh, class 12 A. Here it is. We need to get to the assembly soon with other people in our homeroom."

It was at the assembly did Beth realize that she had taken Julianna's words too literally. Yet she was not to blame. For the whole summer, she did go to art camp and went on a trip to a different place. However, that were some watercolor painting classes and crafting classes with her local community, and she simply went to the seaside in a different city. During the assembly, she sat in awe, exposing herself to 'student perspectives in volunteering, research, and innovation.' Suddenly, all of those accomplished young people she once saw on social media were right beside her. Starry-eyed young boys and girls came onto the stage, dressed elegantly. Queer rights. Ethical Photography. Information Technology In a Global Society. Beth's thoughts became saturated with those words. Then came Julianna, as one of the student representatives. Calm and confident, she made an introduction about her research at the Laurel Coastal Studies Center, about how she investigated the dissolve rates of different gases and the living environments of micro-organisms in the near ocean. Laurel can be a very stressful place. Owen's words started kicking in. Students work hard on everything, especially their academics and passions. The assembly gave Beth her first taste of stress culture at Laurel Preparatory.

How do these super-humans around me handle everything? Won't they snap? I am already doing so little compared to my classmates. Will it be hard surviving three years of Laurel Prep, let alone being accepted into Lisette Art?

After the assembly, Beth came to find Julianna.

"Beth, you don't need to be nervous about not having done research during the summer. It's my first time doing research, and it's a just part of what STEM people need to do. You have your strengths, and that is enough."

"Yea yea yea...thank you, Jules." Beth still couldn't help but feel nervous.

'We need to walk faster to our first class now. Gonna make sure that I have my books and notes ready for a good head start.'

As the two girls paced toward the classroom, Beth noticed a poster on the right side of the hallway.

It wrote 'Runway Competition'.

'Hey, Jules! Look at that poster. It seems like a fashion design competition! Have you heard about the competition before?'

'Uh, I guess no. Do you want to go and take a quick look?'

'Of course!' Beth turned to the poster, murmuring the words printed on it. 'Laurel high school association is running our annual runway competition to raise money for environmental awareness. This year's theme is 'a romantic night out.' Winners will be invited to a prom and runway show and have their clothes showcased at the giant stadium.'

"Fashion for environmental awareness! That sounds promising, and I hope they are really putting the raised money into good use. Beth, can you read how it says to join the runway show?'

"Sure! So it says 'you can join the competition by yourself only or with one friend as a team.'

What should I do? If my competitors are joining as teams, doing everything on my own would give me a disadvantage. On the other hand, I barely know all these people at Laurel to form a team.

Jules seems to be interested in the arts. She also just asked me how to join the runway show. Shall I just ask her, then? The worst outcome is simply having her reject the opportunity. However, she looks like someone who runs on a busy schedule. How much experience does she have with art, apart from going to gallery events?

'What's wrong, Beth? You were staring blankly at the poster just now.'

'Oh, I'm fine. Uhh, do you wanna join the runway competition together with me, Jules?'

'Umm...let me check my schedule real quick...' Julianna opened up a planner on her phone, 'Oh good! It seems that I can do it!'

'Let's sign up, then!'

Beth immediately took out a pen from her bag and wrote "Bethany Clementine & Julianna Miller" on the sign-up board.

Well, she was optimistic a little too early. A challenge was approaching her.

On the sign-up board, there was another name. Simone Chandler.

Simone was a little bit of an online influencer; Beth already knew that since she was in middle school. However, she was still in awe of how Simone rose to become a trendsetter so rapidly. Two years ago, Simone was still an ex-child star whose fame was buried. Then, her viral song 'Out in Space' came out on her online blog. It was like 'Fly Me to the Moon' but more modern, with catchy lyrics about the excitement of blossoming young love. Suddenly, her name was everywhere on the news.

Ex-child address in popular rom-com Always in My Heart releases viral music video.

Simone Chandler, the creator of Out in Space, speaks about diversity in love in her MV.

Simone's blog, which featured her acoustic covers, her daily outfit inspirations, and her make-up routines, gained a wave of new followers since the song came out. Every day when Beth arrived at school, she walked past people fanboying and fangirling on Simone's new hairstyle video. Some of Beth's friends expressed a crush on Simone and constantly nagged Beth to subscribe to her blog.

Beth, initially apathetic towards the whole Simone fever, ignored their request. Do simple things like dressing up and singing songs deserve this much attention? She's probably just like any other cheesy teenage blogger who acts cutesy all day. However, Beth's attraction to the fashionable eventually got her. One day after school, she marched straight into her room, tossed her backpack to the side, opened up Simone's blog, and took out a box of colorful makeup and accessories she bought with lunch money she saved. Simone, who appeared in pink hair and cute tees in her new makeup video, became Beth's unofficial mentor in 'expressing her true self'. 'Today we are creating a sunset look that works well with late-night disco parties!' With Simone's soothing voice playing in the background, Beth awkwardly blended golden, purple, and blue glitter on her eyelids, red and gold on her cheeks. She struggled when reverse painting flowers and patterns on her cheeks. Then, she moved on to coating her nails with glossy scarlet and purple. Her heart stopped a beat when she saw herself in the mirror with 'droopy' eyes and 'red claws', her cheek glowing golden under the setting sunlight. That night, she had the whole makeup on and wore a black satin dress for special occasions to bed. There are no late-night parties in the small town, but honestly, who cares?

Ever since that day, Simone had been a vital virtual presence in Beth's life. A day after Beth received her Laurel acceptance letter, Simone posted on her blog that she had been accepted to Laurel along with some visual arts high schools. A week later, she confirmed her new student status at Laurel.

When Beth heard that Simone was going to be a Laurel student, she couldn't help but be excited. What if I become friends with Simone one day? We can go shopping and explore interesting places in Laurel City! However, whenever she saw people ignoring her message to greet Simone in the class group chat, she felt her heart tickle again. She decided that she had to see Simone in real life one day, to see what Simone really is made of.

And the 'one day' occurs to be today.

As Beth finished signing up, she heard some people chattering behind her.

They were just talking about Simone.

"Have you heard about that? There's this new student at Laurel, Simone Chandler. She's so fashionable and cool!"

"Wait, THAT Simone? I heard that she also starred in a popular sitcom when she was young. Besides, is she also an online singer?"

"Oh, yea! She sings a lot of songs and has her own channel. She also does fashion hauls. Look here." The freshman opened up a picture of Simone on her phone and passed it to her friend, "The hoodie and skirt she wore look so cute!"

Simone appeared just after these two people walked away. Hell, Beth thought, the IRL Simone is coming my way! Simone looked more three-dimensional in real life in comparison to her online persona. The new dyed dash of mint at the tip of her pink hair made her bright eyes and rosy cheeks look extra spirited. As Beth had expected, she was all dolled up in pink. Just look at her pink hair, dark pink hoodie with a cartoon cactus, and rose plaid skirt.

Next to her were two girls with elaborate makeup who dressed smartly. On the left side, she had this taller blondie with a high ponytail. The blondie clearly loved the emerald color--she wore an emerald coat, an emerald leather skirt, and a round-shaped emerald brooch on her sweater. On the left side, she had a shorter brunette in a pastel-colored shirt and long skirt, with a wicked smile.

The blondie turned to Simone. "Simone, are you going to do the runway show for this year?"

"Yee! I plan on doing the runway so that I may have a new outfit for a music video that I wanna shoot. I will start working on my clothing today after school in the art studio."

"I'm sure it will be great! Simone, I guarantee that you are the one going to the runway show and no one's going to challenge you. You are talented and amazing, and we want to make sure you know that." the brunette laughed.

"Absolutely! People who challenge you will be too stupid to actually do so!"

Beth felt a little bit jealous inside. She stared at Simone's pink hair and frowned. Simone and her group's presence was a walking mockery to her, and she couldn't help but blush and bite her lips. She tried to brush her jealousy off her sleeves, but she felt like an ugly duckling in front of those three elegant swans.

A silent war against Simone and her crew had started for Beth.

"Beth?" Julianna pulled Beth out of her thoughts.

"Ah, nothing, Jules! Anyways, we must be productive and do our best for the competition!"

"Are you sure about that? You just turned all red.'

"Ay...okay! It's Simone and her friends! They will be competing against us in the runway competition. If you don't know, Simone is an online influencer who focuses on acoustic songs and cute fashion. One of her

"I see. Why do we have to be afraid of a generic music blogger? None of the three girls' vibes seem sophisticated. You seem very nervous and concerned about Simone."

"No, I am not.' Beth gave Simone and her crew a dirty look as her face turned into a giant peach. 'Let me show you Simone's blog. We can't let them crash the runway competition single-handedly!'