As I made my way to my locker from English class, everything that happened yesterday flooded my mind. From going to prom with Tyler to sharing a kiss with him, I was looking forward to the days that awaited ahead of us.

Going to prom was one thing. Being with Tyler was another. Mere words can't express how much I adored him. Every day, I found a way to love him more and more. I know it sounds cheesy, but it's true.

The loud whispers of two familiar voices inches in front of me interrupted my thoughts. Morgan Allen and Bianca Stewart were gossiping, like usual. Who knew what they were rambling about?

This has probably been the millionth time I've found them gossiping in front of someone's locker, particularly mine. I have a feeling that they'll be there for a while.

Considering that I have to meet up with Lizzie, Tracey, Tyler, Landon, and Elijah in a few minutes, I don't have the time to wait.

"Excuse me," I said softly. "You two are standing in front of my locker. Can you please move over a bit?"

Morgan and Bianca stopped chatting instantly and turned to me. Morgan whispered something to Bianca, too inaudible for me to hear. Then, they plastered smiles across their faces.

"We're sorry about that. We'll move over," Bianca replied. "By the way, your name is Roselynn, right?"

"Yeah, it is," I answered with a raised eyebrow.

"That's cool," Morgan grinned, clasping her hands together. "We heard that you stood up to Millicent almost two months ago. That's like, one of the biggest things someone has done all year. You're so amazing."

"Yeah. Most people wouldn't dare to do that. Not even me," Bianca added, her hazel eyes twinkling.

I guess they were both right. Standing up to the queen bee is one daring thing to do. At least, at Westdale it is. Being popular just makes it more challenging, especially if you're one of Millicent's friends.

I chuckled. "Right."

"So, Bianca and I are gonna go now. See you later!" Morgan waved, smiling genuinely before walking off with Bianca.

They strutted down the hall, later vanishing into a large crowd of people. I turned to my locker and started to enter the code for my combination lock. After I managed to get it open, I placed a few textbooks on the shelf of my locker, causing a crumbled standard yellow sticky note to fall on the ground.

I bent down and snatched the sticky note off of the floor. I straightened it out, reading the words in black inik plastered across the note in my head.

The popular people are so nice. I wish I could be one of them, the note said.

I raised an eyebrow, then remembered that I wrote the note several months ago. It wasn't recently, but it was still me. Old me.

Now, I know that my statement from back then isn't true in some cases. There may be some good popular people, like Tyler, but there are a few rotten apples.

I closed my locker door shut and strutted to a nearby trash can. I shredded my sticky note into two and tossed it in there.

I let out a sigh and headed towards a stairway to go downstairs. I shuffled through a mob of students who stood still and chatted. After successfully making it down the stairs, I went to the exit doors of the school that led to the student parking lot.

Outside, there were a lot of people who were in groups. Giggles and howls were all I could hear as I searched for my friends.

"Rose, we're right here!" A familiar voice called out to me.

It was Tracey's voice. Because it was her, I knew that they were somewhere close to me. I looked ahead and saw Tyler wave his hand at me. Without hesitation, I smiled and treaded to the group.

"Hi, everyone," I gleamed. "I'm here!"

"That's awesome," Tyler proclaimed with a bright grin. "Let's go to the café that's down the street. We can hang out there."

"Great idea. I always hear people from cheer say that they have the best milkshakes," Tracey beamed.

"I used to go there sometimes after my chess club. The milkshakes are to die for," Lizzie

"Yeah," Landon agreed with a nod.

Milkshakes sounded mouthwatering, especially on a hot day like this. The weather in our city in late Spring is sweltering, hotter than my mother's tamales. Since we're walking to the café, we'll be so hot to the point that we're sweating.

Luckily, there was dense wind blowing through the air. It made the leaves on the trees dance back and forth, as well as the flowers that were planted neatly on the ground near the stop sign of the stop sign that we were about to approach.

Cars and trucks that drove on the road rushed by briskly, as if the drivers in them were late for something important. When the road finally cleared, we crossed it as fast as we could.

We walked down the street to the café. Everyone started chatting with each other to pass the time. Everyone but Tyler and I. We stood silently, hesitant on what to do until we reach the café.

"I overheard some popular people talking about you, especially the gossip girls," he said out of the blue.

"Yeah, I know. We talked a bit not too long ago," I replied, fanning my face with my hand. "But all of what happened related to this wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me confronting Millicent."

"People think that it's special because the truth is, Millicent has done similar things to what she did to you. No one had the guts to confront her about it, but you did," he explained briefly.

"Pretty much, I only did that because I thought that she was some type of friend to me after all. Her 'friendship' meant a lot to me," I sighed, shaking my head. "But when I found out that she used me, I just had to do something."

"I definitely would've done the same thing if I was in your place, too," Tyler agreed with a nod. "Do you think. . . that you'll ever forgive Millicent for what she's done to you? It doesn't have to be right now, though."

"I already have," I contemplated. "At least, I think I have."

Right now, I'm unsure if I have forgiven her or not. What she has done was wrong in all ways, but that doesn't mean that I hate her or anything.

I guess that it'll take some time to forgive her completely. I know it won't be long, but for now, I'm neutral.

"Whatever your decision will be, it's completely okay. If you're not, then that's fine. You just need time, if that's what you want," he wrapped an arm around my shoulder for a few moments.

I gradually met my hand with his, feeling an instant connection. I won't need to worry about Millicent and forgiving her right now. I won't need to worry about what anyone says about whatever. I won't need to worry about anything. I just need to focus on what's happening right now.

I'm grateful to have friends to hang out with whenever we want. Real friends. Ones who are intrigued by my likes and dislikes, the same I would be for them. Ones who don't use me for their benefit. Ones who aren't shallow inside and out.

In the beginning, I may have wanted to be popular. . . and noticed by someone out there. Maybe I thought about everything unrealistically. Not all popular people are friendly. Only some of them are genuine, like Tyler and his friends.

Being noticed by loads of people isn't necessary sometimes. When you have friends who adore you for who you are, that's all you need.

Even if I ended up wrong in a lot of cases, I still got to get close to Tyler. Way closer than I would ever think. We even shared a kiss the other day. It felt magical, like the feeling of visiting Disneyland as a child.

Life is full of many surprises, some that we don't expect to see at certain times. From Tyler and I's relationship to being with friends who care about me for who I am, I can't wait to see what other nice surprises will come along the way.

//

That's a wrap! We've finally reached the end. I'm getting a bit emotional right now. When I started this story, I never expected to get such wonderful readers and beautiful comments from you all.

Thank you to everyone who decided to click on the read button of this story. A double thank you to everyone who voted and left lovely comments and feedback to help me improve the quality of this book. This shows support to writers, like me, here on this platform and encourages them to keep writing.

Honestly, the two words "thank you" aren't enough to show how much I'm grateful for you all. So, I decided to start working on another Teen Fiction novel that will be released very soon. Its name is Behind The Books and the first chapter will come out soon. If you'd like to see the blurb and learn more information about it, go ahead and go there and check it out as soon as I publish it.

Again, thank you all for sticking with me during this journey of completing my very first novel.