"Miss Kennedy."

"Yes ma'am."

"Late again?"

"Yes ma'am."

"How many times has it been? Three?"

"Five, ma'am."

"Fiv— oh, Risa."

Casey and I made it to our first class, check. Casey got a smile from Mrs. Island and proceeded to his seat, check. I'm still by the door listening to a middle-aged woman lecture the crap out of me and not in my seat, to be checked.

I bit the inside of my cheeks as I flashed my teacher genuine pleading eyes. It might've been wrong on my part to not expose the incident earlier, but I'm sticking with being a forgiving person today. You know, once in a blue moon, you just have to not care and let things slide.

Like how this blue thing before me should let me skedaddle the fuck past her and stop blocking my lane. I've already handed over my tardy goods.

Mrs. Island drilled holes into my body as she eyed me in disappointment before shaking her head. She then caught the class watching the two of us converse like we were the most amusing show they've come across in years and her expression changed. "Detention after school, Risa. My class." Her firm tone and sudden declaration threw me off guard.

I raised my eyebrows.

I kid you not when I say the next thing I saw was a red spark of light from her eyes that reminded me of something you'd see from a horror movie. She looked absolutely terrifying, and I was absolutely giving into the look.

I admitted defeat and turned on my heels to get to my seat and start class. Cody, aware that I was coming to sit behind him, thrust out a note as I walked by. I glanced down and swooped the piece of paper into my palms out of everyone's sight and took my seat. Setting my backpack down and reaching with one hand to take out my stationaries, the other began unraveling the small sheet of paper.

It read:

Saw you sauntering in with the new kid. What's the new feat for today?

"New kid?" I scrunched up my face in confusion. Contemplating, I stole a glance to the far side of the classroom and spotted Casey across the room, head bent down doing his work diligently like how Risa Kennedy should be doing. But Risa Kennedy isn't in fact doing so because on top of being tardy Risa Kennedy also doesn't listen in class, hence she is infamously known for being a pain in the ass for teachers worldwide as well as being recognized as one of the top academic students in her country.

Doesn't mix well, I know.

I shook my head and softly planted my cheeks down on the wooden desk, sighing. I peered up at Cody's back and whispered, "Got any goods?"

Not even a few seconds later, Cody reached inside his backpack and produced out a bag of crackers. He sighed as he glanced to his left before bending down and tossing the bag underneath my desk. The snack flew into my territory and I caught it absentmindedly out of sight and brought it to my lap, opening the zipper to pop one cracker in my mouth, face still on the cold wood.

A grin appeared on my face as I finished one cracker and I instantly felt my stomach singing. Straightening up, I gently tapped my best guy friend's back and whispered, "I love you." I leaned to his left and looked at him earnestly, waiting for the boy to see me. Cody arched his head to the side and smirked as he caught me cheekily saving myself from starvation. Then he spoke in a hushed voice, "Crackers, in exchange for a story."

I popped a cracker in my mouth before I heard his proposal and held the cracker at the edge of my lips. Nodding, I smirked as I chimed in, "Lunch."

"Deal."
"Deal."

Little did I know, Casey had been watching us from his seat in surprise.

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I made a detour to the bathroom while the rest of the student body marched to the war-zone that was lunch. Backpack neglected on the ground against the wall, I stood to one side of the bathroom as I gazed at my phone intently.

Group Chat Name:
I smell awol-ers
Time:
1 3 : 0 0 pm

^ Scroll to see previous conversations from today ^

TheReflectiveSurfaceofMySoul: You know, I find it unfilial of us Errors for gathering here yet our commander-in-chief is neither here nor informed. This tells me something, fam.

M&M: That we're slightly crossing the boundary between work and personal life and we want to be rebellious and not include Beta because he's been pressuring us lately and we hate him like how children would with their parents when they get lectured? Possibly.

LO1: Errors' secret date, commence.

— Pooh entered the chatroom —

Pooh: :D

Venus: Pooh!

M&M: It's baby 💕

LO1: Poooooooh

TheReflectiveSurfaceofMySoul: Poohie, my little ray of sunshine.

Venus: Alright settle down. He was the one who called us for a meeting this time. Let's hear what you have to say.

TheReflectiveSurfaceofMySoul: Wait! Let me guess. Is it... :D?

Pooh: :D

LO1: Stop stealing the only two functions that work on all his devices. You're trying to appropriate his culture, aren't you? Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow.

M&M: Calm thy-selves. Pooh's mentioning our assignment from last week.

Venus: 'Where'... 'Blind.' The two words on the folder, why are you bringing it up again?

▂▂▂▂▂

Just then, I picked up small footsteps leading to the bathroom. Biting my lips, I turned to my backpack and tossed it on my back before slamming through the stall doors to be hidden. My backpack rested on the toilet's seat as I crouched on top of the lid, angling myself behind the slightly ajar stall door.

It was the musketeers, minus the drumstick. Serena and Vanessa filed into the space I once occupied and began hoarding the only mirror that existed in the ladies' room. Make-up kit check, hair brush check, change of clothes... oddly check.

Did they have to choose now of all times to audition back into the circus? I groaned, burning up in the stall. I flapped the collar of my shirt as I waited.

"You know," Serena suddenly said, "That girl in our group. Risa. Something about her is bothering me."

"Mhm, love these two," I sarcastically sang under my breath as I peeked a glimpse of Serena's dark hair, "I won't go to hell for eavesdropping then." Time to get some juicy gossip about me, I could hardly wait another second.

Vanessa stopped midway with her eyeliner and posed, "Yeah, me too. She's so different this year. Why is she even hanging with us?"

Serena shook her head and snorted out a sigh. "Because she was the shit last year. Girl was all about partying and living life."

Excuse me... I do breathe, so I believe I am, in a matter of fact, living, by scientific standards, and I still am 'the shit.' Literally. Your girl's frog-crouching on a toilet how much shittier can I get?

Annd we're done hearing Risa's thoughts.

Vanessa shrugged. "Seems to me like we don't even know her anymore. I say we give her one more chance. Go with that. The Risa we know would be hands down."

The quick, smug look on Serena's face made my stomach uncomfortable and I found myself narrowing my eyes as if that would help with my hearing.

What? What was... 'that?'

I arched my head further and could now see the both of them clearly, who were looking to the side at the mirror and oblivious of me.

Serena began laughing as she resumed her make-up. "Of course. Let's see if she passes the test. The test from the Queen herself." I saw the girl pull out her phone and wave it at Vanessa like it was some limited-edition lipstick on the line.

"Serenity." Serena mouthed, which gave the two girls a good duck cackle before they bent down to get their spare change of clothes for the day.

My eyes widened as I realized they were going to go into one of the stalls. Checking my toilet seat for no apparent reason, I remembered that I was hiding in the furthest stall from the two.

Just don't be extra today and take the extra steps to get to the last stall, we all know your legs are weaker than your persona, I muttered to myself, tapping my fingers on my knees while I held my breath in my crouching position.

Suddenly, my phone got a notification and light blared from its screen. Cursing to myself, I shut it off as quickly as it came on and leaned my head back from the crack I was peeking through. I couldn't see anything at the moment but I could tell the odd silence just now was the two girls speculating what they just saw.

"Was that... a phone?" Vanessa croaked, scrunching up her face in confusion as she looked at Serena, who was split between not seeing what just happened and believing her friend.

"Is someone there?" Serena raised her voice and I shut my eyes in irritation, sweat literally sliding down the side of my face.

With my no response, Serena sighed and gestured Vanessa forward. "Just go open the stall and see. Not like there's a ghost or anything, stop being a pussy."

Vanessa started inching closer and closer to where I was stationed. I pressed myself alongside the wall and kept my eyes on the door. The footsteps became louder and soon she was standing right in front of my stall.

The door swung open.

Serena's phone started ringing.

Both girls stopped in place as Serena picked up her call. I let out a deep breath and shut my eyes in relief.

"Hello?" she said, "Oh, it's you... Does it matter where I am? You can't come here either way... Oh... new kid? Strange that he'd come to us for friends... alright, be there in a minute."

Soon, I heard Vanessa sighing and the two girls abandoned their plan of changing, getting last minute touch-ups done before leaving the bathroom after what felt like an era.

I dropped my legs and it fell to the ground with a thud as I stretched my body after crippling up for that long, finally exiting the unsanitary stall and washing my hands. I snapped my head towards the exit and put up a fist like I was ready to pound a fist at the two girls who weren't there anymore, scrunching my face in annoyance.

"'Serenity,' huh..." I recited their conversation absentmindedly before I turned off the faucet with a paper towel, tossing the towel in the bin.

Serenity. A well-known term amongst our school for one of the hottest thrown parties of all time. Outdoes homecoming and prom from highschool like that, no collective school effort could beat a Serenity. It's been in the news quite a handful and you're living in the wrong timeline if you even get invited, it's become that big. The '90s kids could tell you where the term originated from: Serena's Party. Serenity. Get it?

That's where I have to give the girl her credit. She's not called the queen of the school for nothing. Obviously there's a reputation to hold that she's garnering the attention of our student body and other schools collectively.

More to my sudden amusement, what was she going to do with a measly party against Risa Kennedy, king of not going to Serenity because coke and TV in pajamas was more worthy of my weekend?

But I'd be lying if I said I'm not up for a little challenge, it's in my nature anyway.

So game on.

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