𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝘄𝗼: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿

"𝖠𝗋𝖾 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖿𝖾𝖾𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗇 𝖺𝗋𝗆𝗒?"

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The blowing breeze of Tuesday morning left Serena feeling ready as she walked through the front doors of her high school.

Looking at the faces she's seen her entire life, she noticed the change, and how mature some people looked. Even though none of them were even close to maturity.

"Morning Madam President."

A voice said from beside Serena as she placed her backpack into her locker.

"Zach, I told you to stop calling me that."

"Sorry, force of habit."

Serena looks at the tall boy standing next to her. He was about 6'1 and he has 60 pounds of pure muscle. His brown curly hair was cut short for the upcoming football season.

"What is it you need?"

"I'm going to get straight to the point. The football team needs more funding for college tryouts. Last year we barely were able to make it to the state championship."

Zach chases Serena down the hall as she heads to the Student Council Meeting Hall.

"Like I've been telling you for the past two years, there is nothing I can do about that. The school board decides the funding for sports and academic divisions."

"The dance team always has more than enough money, I wonder why."

Serena stops at the door, her hand gripping the handle.

"The dance team has sponsors. Maybe as the Captain of the Football team, you should spend more time looking for sponsors rather than arguing with me."

"You know you were a lot more pleasant to be around when we were together."

Serena bites her tongue and takes a deep breath.

"Have a nice day, Zachary."

Serena enters the classroom, closing the door behind her, leaving Zach standing behind the door.

Serena lets a tear far from her eye, but she quickly wipes it away as she takes her seat at the head of the round table in the center of the classroom, waiting for everyone else.

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Later on, into the day, Serena entered her 2nd period class and sat down in her usual seat waiting for Naomi to get there.

After the bell rings, Naomi enters the classroom, her long black braids swaying as she takes a seat next to Serena.

"Okay, so me and Shawn are done."

"You said that yesterday, and the day before."

"Yeah, but I mean it this time."

"What has he done now?"

"He's just so horny all the time. At first our relationship was sweet and now all he wants is s*x."

"That's what you get for trying to date an older man from Brooklyn." 

Naomi rolls her eyes

"So, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Have you found somebody?"

Serena paused for a second and thought of the connection she felt with Leonardo the night before.

"No, not really."

"Girl, you and Zach have been broken up for 2 months."

''We were together for 2 years, Naomi. It takes time to heal."

"Zach's had like, 3 girls already since you've been broken up."

"Everyone has their ways of coping. Plus, school ends in a month. There's no point in trying to date a month before the end of senior year."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Naomi says sarcastically, she then continues to pull out her textbook to do the warm-up.

Serena sat and thought about Naomi's words. Naomi had always envied Serena and Zach's relationship, and Serena knew that.

Serena let out a deep breath and pushed the hateful thoughts of Naomi to the back of her mind. Naomi has been her best friend since kindergarten, and she wasn't about to get upset about a relationship that obviously wasn't meant to be.

But that didn't make Serena feel any less secure with her love life. How something so beautiful and perfect could crack and shatter with one mistake.

Serena spent the rest of the class trying to get her mind off of Zach.

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As the bell rang for 3rd Period, Serena found her seat at the top of the auditorium. Sitting in the chair beside her was a good friend of hers, Harper Young. Harpers' light brown hair fell to her shoulders of her black tank top; her deep brown eyes were currently busy reading a message from the phone in front of her.

"Hey" Serena says as she takes her seat

"Hey." Harper says not looking up from her phone.

A moment of silence passes, and Serena begins to pull out her pen and paper for the lecture.

"I heard about your run in with Zach this morning." Harper says, placing her phone in her pocket

"Word gets around fast."

"How are you doing?"

Serena takes a breath before answering

"It hurt for a little while afterwards, but I got over it."

"Naomi didn't say anything, did she?" Harper asked seriously

Serena instantly detected the tone of her voice. Ever since Sophomore Year, when Naomi had started to spread rumors about Serena and Zach out of jealousy, Harper had despised her.

"Only that I should move on."

"Of course, she did, because everyone should be a hoe like her."

Serena looked up from her paper and gave Harper a 'Really' look.

"I'm just saying."

A silence breaks out again and the girls fall into quiet fits of laughter.

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After class, Harper follows Serena to the parking lot and gets into the passenger seat of her BMW Convertible.

"What's for lunch?" Amber asked

"Uh, I'm in the mood for Mexican."

"Of course, you are."

Before Serena can respond, her phone begins to ring. She notices the caller id says O'Neil.

"Hey April." Serena says putting the phone up to her ear

"Hey Serena, are you going to get food today."

Serena puts her car in drive and begins to head for the exit, while Harper plays on her phone.

"Uh, yeah. Me and Harper are actually pulling out of the parking lot."

"Am I on speaker?"

"No." Serena replies as she puts her car to a steady stop at the red light in front of her. She glances over at Harper who is still on her phone.

"Where are you going to eat?"

"Uh, Mexican."

"Could you get like 3-dozen tacos and drop them off at my apartment?"

"Are you feeding an army?" Serena asked

"4 mutant turtles."

Serena looks over to Harper who was mirroring her look

"Okay. I got to go; I'll be there in like 30 minutes."

Serena turns to Harper

"I have to drop off food for April, so I'm going to drop you off at the restaurant, go to Taco Bell and get her order, drop it off with her, and come back and eat with you."

"Okay." Harper says

Serena rolls her eyes, and she laughs

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Serena's impatient knocking leads April to quickly unlock the door. When she opens the door, Serena is standing there with three huge boxes with the Taco Bell Logo on them.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, are they here?"

"No, they only come at night. I'm bring it to them."

"Oh, well...tell them I said hello." Serena said, slightly disappointed

"I will, oh and how much do I owe you?"

Serena went to pull out the receipt, looking at the total price she says

"Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure? I kind of feel bad."

"Oh don't, it was no problem really."

"Thank you, I appreciate that Serena, really." April says

"You're welcome, I got to go. I dropped Harper off for lunch."

Serena says putting the receipt in her back pocket.

"Alright, I'll see you tonight?" April asked as Serena begins to walk away

"Yeah, but it'll be around 7, I'm going over to Kai's place this afternoon to help out Violet."

"Alright, sounds good. Oh, the boys will be here tonight though."

Serena smiles and nods her head before exiting the building.