Rainbow's Pov

"Where have you been?" Morgan demanded, coming face to face with me.

"I've been in Opal's dorm."

"All afternoon?"

"How long does studying usually take you?" I asked, pushing past her. I tossed my purse onto my bed. "Besides, she's my friend. Can't I have a little free time?"

"But you guys haven't always been friends." She said smugly. I turned slowly to look at her, confused because I'd never mentioned my past relationship with Opal to her.

"I guess not, but nobody's friends with someone right away."

"But not everyone obsesses over someone before they're friends right away." I stared at her and gasped for air.

"Wh-what are you-"

"Don't play dumb, I do my research." I took a deep breath and shook my head.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't I? People put everything on Social Media these days." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dangled it in front of my face. I pushed it away.

"What the hell are you talking about, Morgan?" She grinned.

"Your so-called 'friends' from high school liked to post about you a lot. Holding your 'friendships' over everyone's heads."

"What do you mean so-called? Are you accusing my friends of being fake?" Morgan laughed.

"Oh please. Do you really think it was a friendship? They were using you to get more popular and you were using them to gain power and stay at the top. That exchange of power! It's amazing! Did you ever even realize that you could use all of those connections to get whatever you want?" Truth was, I had. I'd gotten in trouble for shoplifting once but got off free because I had dated the security guard's younger brother. But I'm sure the low-cut spaghetti strap didn't hurt either.

"You're freaking me out. I'm going to take a shower." I grabbed some pajamas and my toiletries and headed to the bathrooms down the hall.

Once I was in the shower, I started to think about what Morgen had said. That my friends were all just using me to get popular. I realized that it might've been true.

When I was a freshman, I had a few friends, but I wasn't popular by any means. Until I heard my parents arguing one night. I didn't know until then, but the tuition for Crystal Prep was expensive. So expensive that it started to put stress on my parents' marriage. I realized that if it would be too expensive for them to eventually pay for two kids to go to high school, then it would definitely be too expensive to send two kids to College. So I made a decision. Rose would be the one to go to college. And I'd just have to make a living for myself.

That's when I started to get popular. I started dressing "flirtier". Started wearing makeup. Joined the Cheer Squad. I started to get more glances in the halls, but it wasn't until I was a Sophomore that I got really popular.

In tenth grade, I started getting looks from older boys. Let's face it, I dressed nice, I wore makeup, I was developed, and I didn't swoon over them. I let them swoon over me. Then, I started dating a senior. Everybody flocked to me. Girls and guys alike were impressed that I could get the attention of seniors. 

So I made connections. I became the queen of an intricately spun social web. And I could control it all. And when Rose's grade finally joined us at Crystal Prep in my Junior year, I kept up my act. I captivated her friends.  And I made sure everybody knew who she was. She was Rainbow Quartz's sister. And nobody could mess with her.

Rose, of course, is how I got so attached to Opal in the first place. For years, we danced at the same studio. And Pearl quickly became drawn to Rose. They were inseparable. So our two families became one family. Opal and Pearl went to a different elementary school than we did, so they were like our cousins. Almost.

Pearl had a crush on Rose. Everyone could see it.  And admittedly, in sixth grade, I developed my crush on Opal. We didn't see each other much because we still went to different schools, but in my Freshman year, the crush exploded.

She and I stopped talking around the time Pearl had her accident. Rose went to see Pearl in the hospital all the time, but Opal started worrying about Pearl more and I started to worry about Rose more. We both did what we had to to ensure our sisters would be safe in the future, and that just happened to take us along different routes. She actually became fairly popular too, not that she ever noticed. I did all sorts of things to get her attention,  but we were practically the Romeo and Juliet of opposing groups of popular people, if Juliet hadn't noticed Romeo even existed.

I guess things just have a funny way of working out. It took my sister's death to make me realize that everything I did for her screwed up my life. Oh well.