𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 5
[real life]
˚｡⋆౨ৎ˚⋆

madison moved back to her desk beside the window with her close friends. all of them were gorgeous, most dancers or influencers or even both. yesterday one of them posted a 12 second video of themselves  standing in front of a mirror and bobbing their head which got 90k likes, and was filled with comments begging to be adopted or run over by her porsche.

"by the way," madison called over her shoulder, "could you scan your notes in color and sort them by date and topic? and could you add in your practice essays too? just send it all over to my school email by tonight-"
"hey, could you send it to me too?" her friend, the head-bobbing influencer herself, asks.
"me too, please, while you're at it," her other friend chimes in.

alessia nodded weakly and they all turned their heads away, giggling at something on their phones.

"thanks" madison said, barely glancing up. "much love" alessia mumbled.

she made a mental note to run to the school printers after school before she headed to her moms bakery. it would push her busy schedule back by about 30minutes, but really it wasnt an issue.

she toook another deep breath, though it sounds strained to her own ears, and a little frantic, like someone who's been underwater too long coming up for air right before diving down again. no big deal at all.

alessia had just began to write down the date when aria williams strode into the class as if she wasnt already 7 minutes late. aria looked like she was out of gossip girl, with her bright blonde hair and rolled-up skirt and platform high heels. they thudded over the carpet as she made her way over to alessia.

ms. conklin had told her off multiple times for not wearing proper school shoes, but then aria had ended up writing a five page essay about why her heels did in fact meet all the requirements for school shoes, complete with a bibliography and everything. that was the most effort aria had put into any of her actual essays before.

"heyy" she announced to the class in general. ms. ortega glances up from her desk "take your seat aria" no other teacher would be so chill about it, but that's one of the reasons why ms. ortega is universally adored. the other reasons were that she's in her twenties and that she throws christmas themed pizza parties at the end of every school year.

"i'm giving you half of this period to work on your group projects" ms. ortega tells aria before returning back to her desk. aria offers the teacher a mock salute, then drops into the chair beside alessia.

"hey babe" she says. she had started calling people babe ironically last year, but it seems to have entered her permanent vocabulary.

alessia finished underlining the date with her ruler so it's perfectly straight. this was like her version of drugs. "hi," she said. "do I really want to know why you're late?"

"why else? my sister got into a fight with river again, so he canceled last minute. i had to walk two-point-five miles here in these heels." she kicks out her leg for emphasis.

"have you considered, i dont know, not relying on your sisters on and off boyfriend for your ride?"

"river drives a porsche ."
"so?"
"so I'm a fan of expensive cars." alessia snorted.

"you're such a capitalist."

"i like to think I'm supporting the people contributing to our economy."

"i rest my case. and it's not like he bought that car with his own money," alessia point out and then continued "but money aside, i just feel like hes sort of a red flag"

aria raises a hand in protest. "he is not-"
"he has a literal red flag hanging in his car."
"okay, but you say that about all men, everywhere," aria says. "you don't trust any of them."

she was definitely right, alessia didnt trust river but she thought should also give him some credit: he's the only reason aria and her were friends in the first place. when he started dropping aria off at school two years ago, someone had misunderstood the situation and spread the rumor that aria was dating a guy way older than her for money.

as with anything else at starline, it traveled to basically everyone including the receptionists by the end of second period. even though they'd never exchanged more than a few words with each other before, she hadn't been able to resist stopping by her locker during a break to ask if she was okay.

she was, in fact she found the whole thing super funny. alessia was suprised that someone could genuinely not care what other people thought of her when her situation was alessias very worst nightmare.

so they spent lunch chatting, and then the next period, and then the last hour of school, at which point it only made sense for them to exchange numbers and continue the conversation at home.

"i'm telling you, he's not a bad person. i have, like, perfect gut instincts when it comes to this stuff. i've correctly predicted the breakup of every couple in our year level so far, haven't I?" she's said while she rummages through her bag. "oh, how was the parents tour, by the way?"

"i lost" alessia say bitterly. she keept her voice as quiet as possible, because she'd rather die than let chris overhear her admitting defeat.
"you lost?" aria peats, laughing. "you can't lose a tour-"

"i can. i did. i have."

"you're so ridiculous," she says. "well, at least you don't have to worry about the group project anymore. you're done already?"

"of course. you know my policy." anytime she had receive a dead-line, she'll set herself my own deadline at least a week before it. the workload itself was stressful, yes, but she was only calm when she was ahead. "i just need my group to give me their summaries and then we can submit it."

aria glances up and points at alessias group members, lara lynch and nick diaz, who were coming over to their desk. "uhm they don't look like they're holding anything. should you be concerned?" aria asked. alessia frowned, they were both empty handed, and as they squeeze closer past the desks, she could make out the sheepish grin on lara's face.

a bad feeling digging into her gut.

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im actually so in love w this fic

- grace <3