CHAPTER TWENTY THREE !
[ social media, real life ]

❝ WHAT THE FUCK? ❞

📂﹖﹕𓂃𐩐💻

ˢᵒᶜⁱᵃˡ ᵐᵉᵈⁱᵃ

officialsleepingbeauty

liked by oliviarodrigosbf, teentitansraven, and 709 others

officialsleepingbeauty i just.

tagged - ///

user okay!

user slay.......?

oliviarodrigosbf so you just.
↳ officialsleepingbeauty yeah i literally just.
↳ oliviarodrigosbf and then you just.
↳ officialsleepingbeauty and after that i just.
↳ oliviarodrigosbf yeah you literally just.

user Nice.

user this baby expresses my deepest and darkest insecurities with no words.

that1gaytriplet what the fuck.
↳ officialsleepingbeauty exactly.

user what.

📂﹖﹕𓂃𐩐💻

ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ

what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck.

all that's been going through auroras head this week has been a span of what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck. nothing else, just what the fuck.

she genuinely feels that she's never been so confused in her life — life. what even is life anymore? she feels like she's going through a literal crisis.

"hey," a whisper from next to her suddenly snaps her out of the trance she was in from staring at matt across the room. she glances at his unbothered figure as he just sneaks on his phone with his head down once more before turning to where the sound came from. once she faces the usually quiet guy next to her, he speaks again in another whisper. "your phones been vibrating rapidly for like two minutes."

"oh shit," she murmurs, grabbing her phone from where it — yeah, vibrates — on top of her notebook. "my bad," she says, him just nodding before glancing back at the teacher still talking about some dumb shit aurora could care less about.

once she sees her notifications, a frown comes to rest on her face automatically. someone please tell her why she stupidly assumed matt was secretly texting her from across the room. she's going insane.

she scrolls through the large group of imessage notifications with a sigh.

saturn 😟😟
yo
2m

saturn 😟😟
rory
2m

saturn 😟😟
come to the upstairs bathroom by mr taylors
2m

saturn 😟😟
NOW.
2m

saturn 😟😟
aurora hello
1m

saturn 😟😟
HELLO
1m

saturn 😟😟
bitch ur literally in business i know ur sneaking on ur phone
1m

saturn 😟😟
don't ignore me mf
1m

saturn 😟😟
AURORAAAAAAAAA
now

she types out and sends a '😟👍' before shoving her phone into her back jean pocket and raising her hand. it takes a bit for the teacher to notice her outstretched hand but when she does, she raises her eyebrows, "yes, aurora?"

"can i use the bathroom?" she asks, getting a few looks and a sigh from her teacher. she must've thought she was answering a question or something... awkward.

"go ahead."

she brings her hand down and nods, standing up from her seat and walking past the front of the class to leave. she doesn't glance back at anyone, not even matt even though it seems all she can do is look at him recently. she just opens the door and walks on out.

once she's out of the classroom, she does not hesitate to pull her phone back out and turn her airpods up to a higher volume. the small speakers in her ears are currently playing no role modelz by j. cole.

when she reaches the bathroom venus sent her to, she finds her waiting outside the bathroom with her arms crossed. once she sees her, she sighs. "goddamn, took you a whole year."

"shut up," aurora responds with a roll of her eyes, venus walking over to her and grabbing her arm. once she begins leading her off to mr. taylor's classroom, she furrows her eyebrows. "what-"

"shush," venus interrupts her. she opens the classroom door and when aurora steps inside, she instantly raises her eyebrows.

"what the fuck?" she automatically exclaims, glancing around the classroom with the lights off and completely vacant of any desks.

"they're using the desks for testing in the gym," venus answers her unspoken question, shutting the door behind them and locking it.

aurora begins walking over to nick sitting against a wall on the floor before instantly pausing once she notices a random guy carelessly hitting a vape behind the single desk in the room, the teachers desk. "who's this?" she asks.

"oh that's kingston," venus answers easily with a shrug, her walking over to her as he raises his hand in a small wave. aurora just turns to look at nick, him shrugging as well.

"he's skipping like us," he tells her, setting his phone down from where he was on it.

"okay..." aurora says hesitantly, glancing at the stranger one last time with an awkward pressing of her lips before letting it go.

"so," venus says, walking past her and sitting in front of her on the floor next to nick. "what's going on with you and matt?"

"woah, what?" aurora instantly raises her eyebrows. did matt tell them? she seriously wouldn't of expected him to.

"you guys have been completely silent. it's very concerning," nick tells her, continuing with a sigh as she just tilts her head at him. "no insults, no death glares, no name calling. i don't even think you guys have looked at each other actually."

"huh," she says simply. "that's crazy."

aurora is decidedly not telling them about what happened friday night. she doesn't know if matt's told anybody and although he won't even glance in her direction, she doesn't wanna go around shouting their business to everyone.

venus and nick both look at each other before looking back at aurora, this time with narrowed eyes. "the last time you guys were like this was because you were with cameron," nick brings up, accusing the girl subtly.

venus instantly groans. "please tell me you're not with cameron again."

aurora rolls her eyes and crosses her arms defensively. she'd told them about how cameron was too touchy and they were quick to start hating on him. she also hasn't even talked to the guy since matt picked her up from his house. "gross. i'm not talking to him again."

"thank fuck," venus sighs, leaning her head against the wall behind her as nick chuckles slightly from next to her.

"for real though," nick says after his small laughter dies off, speaking pointedly. "what's up? do you guys love each other or hate each other even more now?"

aurora sighs so ridiculously loudly. "nothing happened. we hate each other just the same, you weirdos."

nick and venus just stare at her before venus suddenly points a finger at her. "liar," she accuses simply.

"fuck you guys. i'm going to talk to this 'kingston' guy," she tells them, narrowing her eyes at them as they both scoff at her, offended. she gives them a sarcastic tight-lipped smile before turning around and actually walking to the teachers desk he sits behind.

when she steps into his view, he's not so surprisingly taking a hit from his vape. he slowly looks up to the girl, pulling the vape from his mouth and nodding. "yo," he greets, smoke blowing out of his mouth from saying the single word.

"hey," she responds simply, sighing once before coming down to sit a couple feet away from him against the same wall. when she's sat on the ground, he raises his eyebrows and offers his vape to her. "nah." she just shakes her head.

he nods his head in response, not hesitating to take the vape back and take another hit. she watches as he does a ghost trick this time before he turns to her with raised eyebrows. "so," he says. "what's going on with this — fuck. uh... matt was it?"

"oh my god," she instantly groans, throwing her head back against the wall behind her. "not you too."

"woahhh," he responds in a stretched out voice, raising his hands in mock surrender but lazily not moving them any further than above his chest. "i don't even know you or the guy."

"exactly." aurora narrows her eyes at him.

"and," he continues his statement to prove he wasn't finished with whatever point he's making. "that's why i'm the perfect person to tell what's going on."

she pauses for a moment, thinking on it, before just shaking her head. "no."

"but there is something going on, righttt?" he says, raising his eyebrows at the girl as he stretches out the last word.

"no."

"okay but if there wasn't something then there wouldn't be anything for you to not tell me," he tells her, pausing for a second once he's done speaking and squinting his eyes to think on whether it makes sense or not. he can't tell but goes with it anyway.

"why do you even wanna know so bad?" she asks, ignoring his last statement as it made no sense in her ears.

"bro," he groans. "i'm so bored. i'm also so buzzed right now i probably won't remember your name in like an hour."

"you don't even know my name," she points out, his eyebrows raising.

"see? point proven," he scoots further back on the ground and begins to lay back against the wall more. "you've got nothing to worry about. just spill the beanstalk or whatever."

"spill the fucking what?" aurora instantly responds, beginning to laugh because for the fiftieth time today, what the fuck?

"shit, i meant beans sorry," he sighs, shaking his head slightly as if he's disappointed in himself. "the words just jumble for me sometimes."

"okay..." aurora says, slightly questioningly because there's no way he's this fucked in the brain from a vape. the guy is definitely high or just a little slow.

"now let's hear about matt," he demands, sighing and trying to get cozy against the uncomfortable, stern wall behind him.

"no," aurora deadpans.

"why!" he exclaims like a whiny child, pausing for a second and beginning to narrow his eyes when she doesn't respond. "you definitely have a crush on the guy, don't ya?"

"what!" aurora instantly exclaims. "absolutely not."

"huh," he says simply in response, shrugging as if he's taking a note in his head.

"what?" aurora narrows her eyes at the noise that came from his mouth.

"nothing," he shrugs again, answering honestly when she squints her eyes at him intimidatingly. "just a quick answer."

"yeah because it's a ridiculous question." she rolls her eyes.

"okay but the answer was almost... too quick," he accuses, her immediately scoffing.

"um, no. it was a perfectly reasonable time," she defends.

"nah," he sighs and shakes his head. "it was definitely too fast."

"no it wasn't," she disagrees again, crossing her arms before she gives her excuse. "i've literally hated the guy since the fifth grade. it's definitely reasonable."

he pauses for a long few seconds, aurora beginning to smile just a tad smugly as she thinks she's proved her point successfully. when he speaks though, it's with a chuckle. "oh, dope."

"what?" she furrows her eyebrows, feeling as if he'd want to defend his accusation more.

"i think i heard about a book like that once," he tells her with a lazy smile.

"like what?" she questions, not knowing where this is going.

"where they like 'hate,' each other or whatever," he makes fake quotes with his fingers. "but they've really just totally got it bad for each other."

"what!" aurora is taken aback once again, instantly beginning to defend herself yet again 'too fast' for it to not be suspicious to kingston. "you don't even know us! we do not have it 'bad for each other.'"

"uh yeah you do," kingston rolls his eyes like this is completely obvious. "you like totally love him."

"no i don't," aurora denies again. she's not sure why she cares so much what a random buzzed guy thinks but she just needs him to know that this is not the case between her and matt.

"you do," he says again, beginning to sigh. "i can just tell, yknow? like i can totally sense it."

"your senses are off," she tells him pointedly.

"nah because what's that one quote?" he speaks in a questioning tone as he forgets how the saying he's thinking of goes. he frowns for a moment, trying to recall the words before looking back up at the girl. "the line thingy."

"what line thingy?" she narrows her eyes at him and raises her eyebrows a tad, having no clue what the guys talking about.

he just groans loudly, going silent and not saying anything for a while as he desperately tries to remember what he's talking about. after almost thirty seconds, he finally turns back to her with a pointed finger and a grin. "there's a thin line between love and hate!"

aurora is instantly frowning. a thin line between love and hate? sure. the same thin line between her and matt? no way. definitely no way. but...

"with me and matt? no." she begins to force a small laugh, pausing for a second once her laughter dies off and trying to question him nonchalantly. "but i mean... what would even be considered crossing the line... or whatever?"

kingstons eyes are narrowed at her immediately. "why?..." he questions her suspiciously.

"just uh... just wondering, yknow?"

he stares at her wordlessly for a few seconds before looking down and beginning to chuckle quietly with a shake of his head.

"no stop. why are you laughing?" she groans, already knowing where he's gonna take her question.

"the fact that you're even asking, tells me that you have definitely already crossed it, bro," he tells her with a laugh, watching as her face scrunches up.

"no i haven't," she denies him for what feels like the millionth time. she totally hasn't crossed any line with matt, there's no line to even cross with him. there's literally just hate.

right?

sharing a kiss is totally not crossing any line. she still definitely hates him.

but... she kinda, sort of, maybe, might've liked the feeling she got when they kissed. it's a kiss though, you're always gonna like how a kiss makes you feel... well, unless it's with cameron. cameron totally doesn't count though. you can like a kiss and still hate the person it was with!

right?...

aurora frowns.

"i uh... i need to get back to class now," she says suddenly, already standing up from where she was sat on the floor and sliding her phone back into her back jean pocket.

"alright," kingston nods, about to let her go on but speaking up again with a raise of his eyebrows before she turns around. "actually, i'm going to this chill party tonight and you're pretty chill so you should come if you want."

"it's a thursday," she says blankly.

kingston pauses for a moment before saying anything, "oh." aurora literally blinks at him. "i thought it was wednesday, i can't even lie."

she just sighs. "what would i even contact you on?"

he shrugs. "venus has my number."

she's definitely not going to the party but she still nods anyway. "okay."

he just nods back before aurora finally turns around. she bids a goodbye to venus and nick before exiting the empty classroom and making her way back to the class she's supposed to be in. although she was gone for too long, the teacher doesn't say anything when she returns late. on her way back to her seat, matt again doesn't even spare a glance at her. she sits down with a sigh.

throughout the rest of school, she tries to completely forget about the conversation she had with kingston.

there's just one thing he said that stays with her.

💌

kingston doing gods work from talking to aurora ab matt fr 🙏🙏

kingston is actually based on my younger brothers irl friend who randomly comes in my house without knocking to steal sharpies and always walks around with his nipples out so.

also aurora slander last chapter made me giggle bc u guys think she randomly stopped being friends with matt for no reason? 🤨🤨 when u guys know how much i write the miscommunication trope???... you'll get flashbacks in her perspective later 🙏

and i'm sorry this update took so long. i've literally been at my friends, went to a mgk concert just to sing emo girl (it was worth it for avril lavigne at the opener🫶🏻), and saw family for the first time in years earlier today??? but i'm finally home so next update should come out sooner

<3
jaden