"There. Her," Sarah says, nodding over to the lunch table next to them.

Mallory raises an eyebrow. "Who?"

Connie grins. "Nice, Sarah. Excellent choice."

Mallory looks between the table next to them and her friends. "Wait. Surely you don't mean Claudiya Lins?"

Sarah smiles. 

"She's not even gay. That's not a good date."

"She is too a good date," Connie says, "it's a challenge. Besides, I don't recall her ever having a boyfriend."

"Are you accusing Claudiya fucking Lins of being closeted?"

Connie shrugs. "Perhaps."

"Even if she's not, you should still try," Sarah tells her. 

Mallory rolls her eyes. "No. No way."

Sarah and Connie exchange glances. 

"I'll pay you twenty bucks," Connie says, smirking.

Mal studies her for a moment. "Fine."

"Yes!" Connie and Sarah chant.

"Oh, the things I'll do for twenty bucks," Mallory sighs.

Sarah giggles. "As if you had a date anyways."

"Actually, I was planning on going with Erin."

"Aaron Turf? Isn't he- er, she- into guys?" Sarah asks.

"As friends," Mal continued.

"Hey." Connie looks up and sees her boyfriend, Charlie, standing over her. He smiles. 

"Hey, babe," Connie murmurs, standing up. She looks back at Mal and winks. "See ya guys next hour," she says and her and Charlie walk off, hand-in-hand.

"They are so adorable," Sarah coos.

Mal smiles. They were.

--

"Hey, Bishop," Erin says, sitting at their lunch table. 

Bishop softly smiles.

"Hello," Vincent says, scooting his chair in. He brushes his dark brown hair out of his face. "How are you?"

"I'm alright," Erin says, shrugging. She eyes Bishop.

Bishop looks up suddenly and stands. "I have to go," she says quietly. She walks out of the cafeteria.

"Where were you yesterday?"

Bishop turns around. "Owen," she breathes.

Owen Briggs. Captain of the football team. He smiles. "I missed you."

She looks away. "Why? You had company."

He scrunches his eyebrows together. "What are you talking about?"

She sighs. "I don't want to deal with this."

Owen pulls her to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She looks into his eyes- one brown, one blue. "Everything. I don't know."

He kisses her forehead. "Want to talk about it?"

You could tell by the look on her face she wanted to open up so much. She was dying to tell him. But she was scared of the rejection. So she shook her head, her waist-length blue-black hair shaking with it. She backed away.

Owens eyebrows scrunch together.  "I'm always here. Why can't you see I'm not going to leave you?"

"And Sage?" Bishop responded. She bit her tongue. She didn't mean to say that.

"Sage? That's what you're on about? Well, I can't exactly close myself off and get my heart broken by you. You haven't even left me and you're killing me Bishop. It's like you're twisting a knife in my heart," his voice broke and he looked at the ground. 

Bishop felt awful. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "If you were sorry, you would fix it."

Her mouth opened. "Owen, you don't mean that."

"Don't I?" he said thoughtfully, a faraway look on his face.

She bit her lip, tears spring to her eyes. "Owen," she breathed. 

His eyes snapped back into focus.

Bishop stiffened. It was much easier to talk to someone when they weren't really paying attention.

"Whatever," he hissed, turning on his heel. "I didn't want you anyway."

"But I love you," Bishop barely whispered.

Owen was already gone.

--

"You following me?" Derek asked without looking back at Vincent.

"No," Vincent said.

"Then what are you doing?"

Vincent was silent for a moment, then replied with, "Yearbook."

Derek turned around quickly, pinning Vincent up against the fence. They were underneath the football field bleachers. "Yearbook, huh?"

Vincent studied him. "Mm." His confidence struck him in that moment. It had been months since he had last kissed a boy, and who better to kiss than a handsome jock? Then he leaned in, eyes closing slowly. 

Derek didn't respond for a moment, then kissed him back. He wrapped his arms around Vincents waist while Vinent tangled his fingers in Dereks hair. 

All of a sudden, Derek ripped away. "What have you done?" he gasped, a terrified look in his eyes. Then he ran away, leaving Vincent breathless.

--

Sage was in the bathroom that no one went to anymore. The one by the A gym, at the top of the school. The one right behind the locker room. There was old writing on the stalls and one of the mirrors was cracked. She was gagging herself. 

The only thing in her stomach was a salad from lunch. 

It didn't matter. It was too much. She wasn't skinny enough. She unlocked the stall slowly and walked out, towards the mirror. She rested her hands on the counter and leaned against it. She was growing weak. A small shimmer of sweat grazed her forehead. Tears pooled in Sage's eyes. Sage Liza, queen of the school. She bit her lip to keep from crying. 

She fell to the floor, cradling her head, and she screamed. 

--

Mallory smiled as she saw Claudiya Lins on the way to her car. Claudiya kept looking around and standing on her tippy-toes, her pink hair dancing in the wind. 

"I don't think that helps," Mallory calls out.

She whips around to look at Mal, a baffled look on her face.

"Standing up taller," Mallory continues. "If you're going to see them, you'll see them."

She smiles. "I know. It just feels like it does."

Mallory nods and she returns looking for her driver. 

"You need a ride?" Mal asks.

She turns back and studies her with light blue eyes. "Who are you again?"

Mallory flashes a grin. "Mallory. Nice to formally meet you, Claudiya."

"Wait," she says, "Mallory what?"

Mallory's smile falters for a second. She was waiting for the comments. "Dyke, lesbo, freak"... the list goes on. "Simms. Mallory Simms."

Claudiya squints her eyes. "Aren't you the-" she stops. "I would love a ride."

Mallory smiles. "Awesome. My car is over here."

And that is how Mallory Simms came to be acquainted with Claudiya Lins. A bet and a car ride.