─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"It's bad, isn't it? Like irreversible bad?" Amerie asked them.

Darren had called their two girlfriends to meet them at one of the rooftops near their diner. Because apparently, they were giving Amerie Waida a spontaneous haircut. Of course, Daisy rushed over at the mention of her name. So now, the girl was sitting in a shopping trolley, her long time crush on the other side.

"Nah, I shaved off both my eyebrows and they grew back." Darren reassured her. "Yeah, way less shit."

"More like heaps less shit, thanks." Amerie smiled to the mirror.

"Yeah, you look beautiful." Daisy couldn't even help herself from admiring Amerie. Quinni and Darren shared a look, nervous for Amerie's reply. When it seemed like the girl wasn't going to say anything, Darren quickly spoke up. "You'll have to forgive her, she just talks—"

"No, no." Amerie shook her head, glancing up to the girl. "Thank you, I appreciate it." Daisy blushed, glancing down at her words.

"So why did Harper punch you in the face?" Quinni asked out of the blue.

"I don't really know."

"Well, you must have done something." Darren told her.

"We went to a music festival last week. and after that, she just went ghost." Amerie explained to them.

"Did you get into a fight?"

"Yeah, but I can't remember what it was about. We always fight." amerie shrugged.

"When's Harper's birthday?" Darren questioned.

"November 21st." Amerie said.

"Uh-huh. Scorpio." Darren sighed, "Unsubscribe."

"What's yours?" Quinni asked the girl.

"I'm a Virgo." She said.

"Mmm. I'm an Aquarius. Quinni's a Libra. Daisy—" Darren started.

"Are we compatible?" Amerie asked. "Not all queer people are astrology experts." Darren spoke with a serious face, placing a piece of candy into Daisy's mouth.

"Oh. Sorry." Amerie frowned.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. We are." Darren smiled. "But you're most compatible with a Taurus or a Capricorn."

"Well, what are you?" Amerie asked the third member of their trio.

"A Taurus." The girl replied, glaring daggers into Darren, who knew exactly what they were doing.

"Perfect!" Amerie grinned, placing a hand on her knee. "We're most compatible."

"Yeah." Daisy nodded, nervously. The mere feeling of Amerie's fingers on her bare knees was enough to make her nervous. The girl bit her lip and rested back, her head looking up at the sky.

"But I'm going to need your time of birth because if you are a Leo moon. I'm not messing with you." Darren joked, but Amerie didn't smile.

"Do you feel sad?" Quinni asked her." She frowned in response. "Yeah."

"What do feel saddest about?" Quinni asked. "The fact that you were really popular, and now your not? The fact that Harper doesn't want to be your friend anymore or the fact that everyone knows you did the map. The fact that we're all currently in sex prison because of you or the fact—"

"Mhm, Quinni!" Darren sang out to interrupt her.

"You should try scream therapy!" Quinni suggested, climbing out of her trolly. "You scream your frustrations to the moon."

Amerie scrunched up her nose and shook her head. "No..."

"Yes! I think you should. It's helped me before." Quinni ordered. "Come on, let's go!"

Darren grabbed the handle of the two girl's trolley and pushed them over to the edge of the building. "Okay, we're doing it." Amerie chuckled. They climbed out of the trolley and leaned against the fence.

Amerie took a deep breath. "My best friend dumped me!" She yelled out. The girl paused, taking a deep breath. "Damn, that actually felt good."

"Told you."

"Oh, um... I'm a reject!" Darren screamed.

"And... I think I hate all men!" Daisy shouted, making Darren laugh.

"I have a Lazy Kebab vagina!" Quinni hollered.

"Right. I'm really sorry about that." Amerie apologised. "I should never have put it on the map. "Spider's a lying dick."

"Oh. It's okay." Quinni shook her head. "I'm not upset about it anymore. I just wanted to know if my flaps were too big."

"I don't think can't be too big."

"That's what my research led me to believe so too." Quinni nodded. "I'll still look at them if you want me to." Amerie offered.

"Nah, I'm good." Quinni shook her head, "Daise already took a peak." Amerie glanced at the girl, who saluted her.

"You know, I used to think you were a real bitch. I mean Daisy always tried to convince me otherwise." Darren spoke. "But getting knocked off your high horse really suits you."

"Make the most of it." Amerie smiled, "I'm definitely changing schools."

Darren gasped. "No, you can't just quit."

"Everyone hates me." Amerie reminded them. "We don't hate you." Quinni reassured her as she took her hand.

"Wait, what's the cemetery thing?" Darren asked, thinking back to the S.L.TS class.

"It's where everyone hangs out when our parents are home." The girl explained.

Darren grinned at the prospect. "Let's go."

"No way." Amerie shook her head. Darren frowned at her refusal, "Why not? You just need to strut out there and own your shit!" Darren explained. "Oh come on, you've got both your eyebrows, a non-shit fringe. What else do you need?" They turned to the fence. "Let's get mad!" They screamed.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"And so that's why I'm never drinking beer again." Phoebe finalised, taking another sip of her beer. The three boys just blinked, glanced at each other before glancing at their friend. They had been silently listening to ten minutes of her talking nonsense.

See, Bee was a lightweight. After three shots of tequila at Dustin's house for pre-drinks and this bottle of beer, she was already slurring her words.

"Okayyy." Spider nodded as he grabbed the brown bottle from her hand. He finished the beverage himself and placed the empty glass on the ground.

"Hey!" Bee groaned.

"Look, you're clearly already drunk despite having plans to 'never have beer again'." Spider pointed out. "So, why don't you ease up on the drinks and try not to slip onto someone's dick tonight?"

"You know better than anyone that those rumours aren't true." Bee shook her head.

Spider shrugged. "Sure is fun pretending they are though."

"Hey, cunt." A voice greeted. Malakai had made his way over, his eyes on the only girl.

"You what?" Spider asked in her defence as Ant straightened up in surprise at his insult. Dusty just raised his eyebrow at the boy, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Did you just call me a cunt?" The girl questioned, her voice soft.

"No, it's just that you called me a cunt in that class so... I just—" The boy was growing stressed and the three boys' intimidating stare wasn't helping. "I'm—I'm Malakai."

"Bee." The girl introduced herself, the three boys behind her making the buzzing noise like an actual bee would. "Seems I've got myself a theme song." She joked and Malakai smiled at that. "And I wasn't calling you a cunt, I said Spider was a dog cunt."

"Now, that's just horrible." Spider shook his head.

"Love ya." Bee smiled before she pulled Malakai away. "It's hard to talk to cute boys when they're stood there like my bodyguards."

Malakai laughed. "They were definitely intimidating me."

"Don't be, they're all bark no bite." Bee reassured him.

"Wait... you think I'm cute?" The boy asked while he tilted his head to the side, smirking.

"That's the alcohol talking." Bee shook her head, his attempt at flirting being undetected by her. "Well, you're the one drinking it." Malakai shrugged.

"Anyways!" Bee turned back to the boys, pointing at them. "That's Ant, Spider and Dusty. People weirdly refer to us as The Insect Club. I kinda like it though. Insect, not incest. Don't be confused with that stupid map."

"So, you're obviously a bee, they're a spider and an ant... but what's Dusty?" Malakai questioned.

"Oh, he's actually like a—a dustbin." Bee explained. "Since like... most insects are attracted to trash.""

"Right." Malakai nodded, trying to repress his laugh at the stupidity of it.

"He came up with it himself." Bee chuckled. "It's okay, he's kinda an egg short of a dozen. At least that's what Daisy says."

Malakai gave her a toothy grin. "I get it. She really doesn't beat around the bush does she?"

"Never." Bee shook her head. "That's what I like about her, she—she's brutally honest. We're kind of Good Cop, Bad Cop." Bee paused. "Wait, you've met her already?"

"Yeah." Malakai nodded. "After the assembly. She was singing your praise."

Bee face palmed. "You'll have to ignore that, she—"

"No, it was sweet." Malakai interrupted her. "She talks about you like you're an angel sent directly from Heaven."

"She actually said that?" Bee giggled. "No." Malakai shook his head. "I interpreted it that way." He paused, "So did it hurt?"

"Huh?" Bee questioned, checking her bare arms and legs for any injury she may have gotten while intoxicated. "Did what hurt?"

"When you fell from heaven."

"I'm not doing this." Bee shook her head as she smiled, she took the beer bottle from Malakai's hand and walked away from him. "Get back to me when you're less corny!"

Malakai grinned, watching her stumble away from him and into a group of girls. He moved over to the cooler and grabbed another two beers, having seen more people he was familiar with.

"Hey, Daisy." The boy jogged over to group of four with two beers in his hands. Darren and Quinni walked off, wanting to do their own thing.

"Hey." Daisy gave him a smile. "Amerie, this is Malakai."

"We've met." The boy spoke. "Don't think she likes me very much."

"Sorry about that." The girl sighed, taking the beer bottle that he offered, "I've been having a hard time."

"Yeah." Malakai chuckled, "That's been hard to miss."

"I feel like everyone is staring at me." Amerie frowned. She wasn't wrong, nearly everyone was wondering why she was here.

"Um... No! No, they're staring at me." Malakai explained while he backed up onto the platform and began to weirdly move around. "What are you talking about?" He asked.

Daisy and Amerie looked at each other and laughed. People began to join in and dance with the boy and Quinni made her way over to them and pulled them over. "Come on!" She ordered.

Eventually, everyone was dancing all together and Daisy watched as Malakai gravitated towards her friend. The girl gave him two thumbs up and turned back to her own friends.

"I return in peace." The boy spoke, his hands up in defence.

"And without the cringe jokes, I hope." Bee smiled.

"Don't act like you weren't laughing." Malakai reminded her. "Bee laughs at everything." Ant interrupted, slinging his arm around her shoulder. Malakai took note of how Bee naturally leaned into him and smiled.

The boy winced, Daisy should've said the girl had a boyfriend before giving him false hope.

"Malakai, right?" Ant questioned, tilting his head to the side as he looked at him up and down.

"Yeah."

"I'm Ant." The boy spoke, putting his other arm out for the boy to take. Spider and Dusty made their way over to them and Phoebe watched as the four became fast friends. The girl slowly pushed her way out of their conversation, trying to find another person to interact with.

"Daisy, my Silver Baby!" Bee exclaimed as she had her arms open for the girl.

"My Golden Lady!" Daisy smiled, accepting her embrace. That was their thing. Bee was obsessed with everything black and yellow, like bees. The yellow manifested itself into her love for golden jewellery. Daisy adored white and yellow, like a daisy flower. But she found herself gravitating towards silver jewellery as they grew older.

So they were Golden Lady and Silver Baby.

"Hey, Bee." Darren smiled at her, "How are you?" "I'm good, thank you." Bee grinned back at them.

"You reek of alcohol." Daisy laughed, trying to keep the stumbling girl balanced.

"They cut Amerie's bangs!" Quinni exclaimed, making sure she was the next to hug the girl. Bee laughed, she was a sucker for physical touch. "Did they?" She asked.

"I did." Darren nodded, proudly. "You like?"

Bee turned to look for the girl, but she seemed to have wandered off someplace else. "Oh yeah, I love. When my hair grows out, i'll be outside your house begging for a retrim."

"Can't wait." Darren smiled.

"Hey, Bee?" A voice questioned. The girl turned around to see amerie now stood behind them. "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure." Bee slowly nodded. The other three walked off together, probably going to get a drink. "What's up?" She queried.

"Look, I'm really sorry about the map. It was really stupid and immature and I hope you don't hate me." Amerie sighed.

"I don't hate you." Bee shook her head. "I just don't like how you reduced everyone to just their sexual activities. I mean, most of us are really genuine people, but now all anyone will be thinking when they look at us is 'Oh, she slept with Spider'— which I most definitely did not, by the way."

Amerie frowned, knowing the girl was completely right. "I'm so sorry."

"None of it's true, you know?" Bee told her, she was very talkative and had no boundaries when she was intoxicated. "I mean, some of the other stuff kind of is. But I've only ever been with one guy."

"Shit. I'm really—" "You don't have to apologise anymore, the first one was all I actually needed." Bee told her. "Also I needed to get that off my chest."

"Well, I'm glad you did." Amerie sighed, her eyes glancing over to Harper. Bee turned around to see who she was looking at. "Everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah." Amerie nodded, "I'm gonna go."

"Okay." Bee nodded, she watched the girl sadly walk over to the trio. They all exchanged a few words before waving at Bee, who cutely waved back at them.

Then, Amerie took Daisy and Quinni's hands and they exited the party. "Yeah, no, He's so stupid." Sasha said, making Missy and Harper laugh.

Bee moved over to them. "Hey Harps, is everything okay with you and Amerie?" Harper's face fell at the question, making Bee wince. "I don't mean to pry, I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"Oh, um..." Harper took a deep breath. She pulled Bee to the side, away from everything else. "No, she's just... not who I thought she was."

"Ah." Bee nodded. "Well, it sucks that you guys have fallen out, I hope you can make up soon."

"Yeah, I doubt it." Harper scoffed. Bee frowned. "Well... are you okay?" She asked her, tilting her head as she did.

Th girl seemed to be lost in thought, not hearing the question. When Bee repeated it, she finally paid attention. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks, Bee."

"Of course." Bee smiled at her. "I'm always here if—"

"Cops!" Ant shouted. He rushed back over to the gathering, a flashing police car a few miles behind him. Everyone panicked, shouting as they grabbed their bags and started run.

Sasha paused, trying to pick up all the cans and bottles from the ground but Harper quickly ushered her away. Malakai seized Bee's arm and dragged her away from the scene. Together, they started to run until they reached a locked gate. Spider quickly and effortlessly jumped over it, and Malakai was prepared to as well. But he noticed Bee's lack of motor control and quickly dropped to one knee.

"You proposing, already?" She asked. The boy laughed, shaking his head and patting his knee, "Come on." Bee stepped on it, gently, not wanting to hurt him. The boy then placed his hands over her waist and helped her to the top. From there, Bee pushed herself over and Spider caught her before she stumbled to the ground.

"My knight in shining armour." She joked, knowing it would tick him off. Spider quickly let go of her, gently shoving her away. Once Malakai was over, the two held onto each other's hands and began to run again.

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
the insect club before the boys turn into complete assholes>>>>