Meanwhile, just when Beth was thinking about Simone, Simone was laying inside piles of blankets at her home. Giant blobs appeared outside of her bedroom.

The outside world started to dim down as Simone curled up inside her blankets. She was feeling fuzzy and numb in her own heat. With her eyes closed, it seemed that she was just about to sleep. However, she was not entirely asleep yet. Her mind was drifting in and out of her own emotions and the overwhelming darkness outside of her little blanket fort. Right beside her lay her smartphone, with notifications popping out from 'Laurel Class of 2019' on the lock screen. Those notifications were from students wishing her well. When can I return to school to see everyone? How had they been? Not wanting to roll over her body, she extended her arms and grabbed the phone. She slowly read those messages and smiled back at the phone, as if everyone could see her expressing gratitude towards the senders.

Paige and Jade haven't sent her any get-well messages yet, which led her to wonder what had happened. Weren't we friends? Friends should care about each other. Frustrated, she thought to herself. Yet after a while, a feeling of guilt and hesitation rose in her heart. Maybe they were just too busy. I shouldn't ask much. They were already finishing most of the runway project on top of their busy Laurel academics since I was not at school.

Her phone chimed again.

It was a message from Paige and Jade, and she swiped on the notification, ready to read the message from them. It was a happy message, but it was not what she had anticipated seeing.

'Simone, guess what, WE GOT ONE OF THE PLACES FOR THE RUNWAY SHOW!' Paige's excitement clearly showed up in her text.

It's not a get-well message.

'That's great!' Simone texted. 'Um, what do I need to do for the show?'

'We are waiting for you to come back, Simone! I will get all the things set up for you to prepare you for the runway show!" Jade said.

I should not blame Paige and Jade...they had already done so much.

"Unfortunately, there's one piece of bad news: Beth and Julianna's project got the first place! Their work was atrocious at the start of the semester. Ever since they changed their design and materials, everyone started advocating for their work. We are suspecting they might have been cheating." Paige added.

"Beth seems so suspicious. She has no idea about social manners, and I have no idea why she got into Laurel Prep in the first place for her abilities. As for Julianna, one of the students from our grade attended the same middle school as her. She said that Julianna is a nerd and a loner." Jade sent this via voice text.

"Hey guys, I think they seem like good people. Also, Beth must have her strengths as well to be a Laurel student."

"You know nothing about Laurel Prep. The student quality here is declining these years. Besides, Beth having her strengths doesn't mean that she is necessarily qualified."

Paige's dislike for Beth reminded Simone to stop talking about this topic now.

"Umm, guys...I will come by Wednesday, but I am not sure if I can come by tomorrow..." Simone coughed and mentioned her cold in the group chat.

There was no reply for a whole five minutes in the group chat. After the five minutes, Jade popped out a message written with annoyance.

"What does it mean that you cannot come tomorrow? We almost prepared everything for you. The runway show is basically a week away. We are all counting on you, Simone."

Simone couldn't help but feel a little down inside.

Maybe my instinct is right. I gradually don't feel like hanging out with Paige and Jade these days. It's sweet that they have been making sure that the dress works well for me, but I don't know if they care about my well-being.

However, if I don't hang out with Paige and Jade, who am I going to be close to?

I already screwed up once...

There was another girl in her memory. Felicity Florence.

A redhead who always had a happy face. Who was always brave and assertive. Who always wore a ponytail to school. Who loved playing basketball and jive to rock music.

She and Simone were classmates during middle school, where she was Simone's upperclassman. Usually, students hang around their own groups, and there was not a lot of mingling between the different grades. However, the Gods of fate decided that they should meet each other one day. And that decision worked. Their mutual love for music pushed them toward each other. During a school band recruit, they became friends despite their polar differences. Simone, being the sensitive and shy one, always clung to Felicity by her side in school. They'd eat together, hang out together, go shopping together, and whisper their deepest secrets to each other.

What Simone admired most about Felicity was her zest and dedication to making music and everything she cares about. She was nicknamed 'Ferocious Fifi' by her bandmates since she always darted into band practices as the first person there. When she was on stage, she always held her base guitar steadily, running her fingers up and down according to the rapid rhythm, driving her body alongside the beat of the music, as if her whole soul had been consumed by the music. Even after the band practice ended, she was the last one to put away the sheet music and leave her guitar. Simone, enchanted by the passion that Felicity had for making music, decided to ask her if she wanted to sing acoustic covers for fun and post them on her blog.

Time flies.

One day during the last middle school year for Felicity, they went skating as usual. After they walked out of the rink at late night, she held Simone's hand and told her that she would apply for Laurel Prep in the early round. It's an excellent school! I hope we can go there together someday!

Her words left Simone with simultaneous happiness, sadness, and emptiness. Simone was happy that Felicity was finally growing up to become an adult and move on to the next stage of achieving her aspiration. Yet that sadness also broke her apart. High school was not at all what Simone was thinking. All she knew was Felicity leaving, and she didn't want that. Tears began rolling down her cheeks, blurring Felicity's smile in front of her eyes. I should be happy for her, but why am I crying? Why couldn't the tears be gone? She tried rubbing her eyes to stop her tears. Seeing Simone crying, Felicity walked towards and hugged Simone, but she cried even harder, collapsing on Felicity's shoulders and filling it with her tears.

It's okay. I will always be there for you.

That's the last thing Simone remembered that Felicity said that day.

Umm! Let's continue playing music along with each other!

Nonetheless, they were all bittersweet memories now.

Before Felicity got her acceptance from Laurel Prep, the two girls decided to play for a few music festivals as young, amateur artists. They had already written some songs fans of the blog considered good, and it was time for them to show their masterpieces to more eager listeners. Things were going well until a failed performance happened. After that, Felicity quit band, graduated, and was never seen again.

The two people hadn't been talking for a long time since. Now that Simone had become a Laurel Prep student, where had Felicity been?

What Simone didn't realize that night was that weird color blobs started popping outside of her windows.

'Jade.' Simone remembered that she had to reply to Jade, 'I will get back to school very soon. Please don't freak out about anything.'