A week later, promposal season was in full swing as couples were pairing up for the senior prom to be held in a month, on May 19th. Another nervous boy had asked his crush to be his prom date in spectacular fashion in the cafeteria, and the whole place was filled with raucous cheers as they kissed.

Amidst the cheers, Daniel leaned in to teasingly whisper to Yuna. "You sure you don't want a promposal?"

"Do that and I'll make sure you get stood up at prom," she whispered fiercely.

Daniel chuckled, the look of pure panic on Yuna's face just as adorable as he expected. They had already agreed that as the most popular couple in school, they were expected to go, so they went along with it. They drew the line at a big promposal, because neither of them wanted to be bothered with planning one and being the center of attention like that.

"But you are going to prom with me, right?" Daniel asked to make sure.

"Yeah, but I don't want to stay that long."

"Same. How about we leave halfway through? We'll get our pictures at the photo booth, hang out with the others, dance a few, then sneak out the back door after the Prom Court dances. What do you think?"

Yuna grinned. "Sounds good to me!"

The cafeteria finally resumed its usual chatter as the happy new couple left to celebrate alone. Influenced by the promposal, Daniel and Yuna's table also discussed prom, specifically who was going with whom, and who hadn't been asked yet.

"I can't wait until Colin asks me," Nuria gushed. "He hasn't said a word about it, but he's gonna ask me...right?" Suddenly she was unsure.

Colin Carreira was Nuria's boyfriend and captain of the boys soccer team. Yuna smiled to herself. She knew Colin was currently thinking up promposal ideas to ask Nuria. Everyone knew one of Nuria's biggest wishes for senior year was to have a public promposal to end high school with a bang. Yuna wanted to tell her, but Colin had sworn her to absolute secrecy.

"I'm sure he'll ask you, Nuri!" Yuna said, knowing that was all she could say without accidentally spilling the surprise. She pulled out her phone to send a text to Colin, who was sitting at another table today.

Yuna
How's the brainstorming going?

Colin
Good! But the venue...gym or cafeteria? The gym has more people before school starts…

Yuna
Agreed, but at 7:30am nobody would be awake enough to appreciate it. During lunch? Could take a video too. She can keep and send it to whoever she wants.

Colin
Sounds great! Thanks Yuna, glad I asked you.

Yuna
Anytime!

Yuna pocketed her phone before tuning into the current conversation.

"What's that about?" Anjali asked her, curious.

Yuna shook her head with a smile. "Nothing, just had to take care of something."

"Oh okay."

The conversation turned and Yuna breathed a sigh of relief, grateful she didn't ruin the surprise.

When the day ended, Yuna walked out the back door of the school to the student parking lot. She'd spent an hour talking to her AP Lit teacher during office hours to talk about improving her creative writing skills to do better on subsequent essays in college. She'd just gotten to her car when someone called her name. It was Colin, who was jogging over to her and waving. She waved back and waited for him to reach her.

"I didn't think you'd still be here," he said, huffing.

"Did you run all the way over here?" Yuna asked, looking behind him at the rest of the soccer players practicing on the field.

"Yeah," he said with a sheepish laugh. "I saw you and thought I'd catch you now instead of texting you later. Wanted to tell you I plan to order the Oriental Lily bouquet tonight when I get home."

"That's great! It took a lot of probing to find out her favorite flower, so I'm sure she'll love them!" Yuna replied.

"Now I just need to figure out how many," he said, pulling out his phone and showing her the order page.

Yuna thought for a moment. Nuria always wistfully looked at the large bouquet promposals.

"You could order the extra large bouquet, that one," she said, pointing at the second-largest option. "And there's an option to include a plastic lily to commemorate the occasion. I think she'd like that once the lilies wilt."

"Whoa, I didn't even think about that! Thanks," Colin said gratefully, taking a screenshot of the page about the commemorative lily. "Good thing I asked you to help! I'll let you know when I get the necklace, let's hope it comes in before her birthday."

"Sounds good to me, I can't wait to see her reaction! I'll see you later!"

"Yeah you too, thanks again," Colin replied with a wave.

Yuna nodded and smiled, waving goodbye as he jogged back to the field.

A video ended.

『••✎••』

"She's so shameless."

"Right? Even in public too!"

"Daniel doesn't even know he's dating a snake."

Yuna walked into the cafeteria the next day and sat down in her usual seat next to Daniel. Immediately, the entire table went quiet. She looked around, confused.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"No, nothing," one of the other cheerleaders said breezily, a mocking smile on her face.

Yuna felt something wasn't right, but shrugged it off. She began to eat, ignoring the pointed stares around her. Her phone pinged suddenly, twice.

Daniel
We should talk. Usual spot after school?

Yuna
Sure

She thought it odd, and looked over at Daniel. His face was an unreadable mask. She looked down to see the other text.

Colin
Ordered the bouquet, and the necklace should get here by the end of the week, just in time! Help me set up Monday before school? Tell no one.

Yuna
Glad to hear it! See ya and good luck on Friday.

She put her phone away to see that everyone was looking at her strangely. "Is...there something on my face?"

"Yeah, shamelessness," someone mumbled.

"No, you're good!" a cheerleader named Maya replied, elbowing the girl next to her who had whispered.

Yuna heard the whisper but thought nothing of it. That girl was friends with Aurelia and had never liked Yuna, especially when she and Daniel started dating.

Yuna endured the whispers for the entirety of the school day, unsure why they seemed particularly ferocious today. She changed into her cheer practice clothes after school and headed to the field before anyone else as usual, stretching to loosen her limbs. As the others trickled in, the whispers continued. She waited until everyone had arrived before clapping her hands and leading the stretching like usual. Except this time, Nuria and about half of the others scoffed and crossed their arms, refusing to join.

"Is there a reason why you all aren't joining in?" Yuna asked, her leader mode on.

"Actually, yeah," Nuria said testily, walking closer until she stood above Yuna. "I don't want to take orders from a cheating snake."

"What?" Yuna asked, confused.

"Colin's been so secretive lately, and yet somehow instead of hanging out with me, his girlfriend, he's been hanging out with you!"

Yuna finally realized what was going on. It was clear someone must have seen her and Colin together, so it was futile to refute it. She sighed and stood up, her posture placating.

"I'm not cheating with or on anyone. I can't really explain what's going on because it's not my secret to tell, but I'm not interested in your boyfriend, or anyone else besides Daniel. There's nothing wrong with talking to a classmate, is there?"

"Oh, that's how you wanna spin it?" Nuria spat out. "I wanted to believe you until I saw you guys in the parking lot just yesterday! You were standing close and smiling at each other!"

Sensing a possible escalation, Raven stood up as well and got between the two. "Chill out you guys. Nuria, you ought to know Yuna isn't like that-"

"Seriously? You're defending her?" Nuria yelled, looking out at the sea of awkward faces. She began to cry silently, angry tears dripping down her face. She looked at Yuna, hurt and betrayal crossing her features. "I also thought you couldn't possibly do this when Aurelia showed me a picture of you two walking into a florist last week. But I saw that video of you two yesterday, everyone did!"

She turned to the other cheerleaders. "Despite this you're still defending her? It's like Yuna has this...angel halo effect where apparently no one thinks she can do anything wrong, but who knows if she's really a scheming snake!"

Yuna staggered back as if shot, hurt and shocked. Feeling her façade slipping, she tried to salvage the rest of it as she resisted the urge to run away and cry. She looked down at the grass for a long moment. When she looked up, her face startled everyone around. Tears brimmed in her eyes, stubbornly refusing to fall as she stared fiercely at Nuria. No one had ever seen Yuna angry, so it was a shock to them all, even Nuria.

"A halo effect? I wish! That would make it easier to defend myself! Have you been paying attention to any of the rumors lately? Everyone seems to think I'm a witch, a snake, you name it. But I thought at the very least, I could count on the cheer squad to see right through it! I spend more time with you guys than I do my own family sometimes! I thought you would know that cheating is my biggest no-no, and that I would never steal anyone's boyfriend! Why would I do what I hate the most?"

She turned to Nuria, disappointment etched on her features. "Can't you see someone is trying to pit us against each other? You said Aurelia showed you the picture. But you never wondered why Aurelia was there. Even if that was a coincidence, is her taking a video of me yesterday also a coincidence?"

"Maybe she followed you because she knew you were a snake," Nuria bit back.

Yuna sighed, hurt. "Even so, we're teammates, Nuria. And I thought we were friends-"

"Yeah I thought so too until you stabbed me in the back!"

"You could've TALKED to me, Nuria!" Yuna shot back angrily. "Instead of this stupid confrontation that's doing nothing but splitting up the team, you could've talked to me like friends do! Ask me privately, confront me however you like when it's just us! We can communicate! You could have even called me last night! I'm even willing to bet you haven't spoken to Colin yet, but here you are accusing me without basis!"

"There's a video, Yuna! I wanted to believe you but I can't! And you're not even explaining whatever your dumb excuse is! What's there to talk about?!"

Yuna sighed, the fight suddenly leaving her body. She looked around at the faces before her. Half the cheerleaders were openly hostile, while others were beginning to be unsure, whispering among themselves.

"It's clear at least half, if not most of you don't believe me," she said in a defeated tone. "It's also clear that as long as the truth isn't out yet, you don't want me here."

Raven stepped up to her. "For what it's worth, I believe you. Let's all cool off a bit first."

Yuna nodded. "If you want to practice or not, it's your own prerogative. But I won't tolerate a messy routine for Friday's game. Nuria, I suggest you leave your problems with me or anyone else at home and be ready, as I will be. I know when I'm not welcome, so I'll leave. Have a good day, everyone."

With that, she walked past everyone to the locker room, catching sight of Aurelia standing under the bleachers. Aurelia was smiling again, her dimples cheerful despite her eyes shining with something sinister.

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