[ ngl kinda forgot about lilian up until this point ] 

Your POV 

"Once you borrow your textbooks, feel free to skim through them for the rest of the lesson. We have the whole library to ourselves, so don't waste this opportunity," our English teacher declares her instructions before leaving the library for Ms. Caprit's office to discuss Ashley's consequences. 

Textbooks in hand, the class disperses into groups that then resides in the bay windows, curtains fully drawn so that others, like the librarians, can't hear or see the conservations about today's gossip. 

My group heads for one of the bigger bay windows to accommodate all six of us, and as son as the curtains touch each other, Esme blurts out and ruins the silence of the library. "Can you believe Ashley lied to practically everyone?"

"Calm down, Esme," Brittany replies coolly. "We still don't know that for sure."

Celeste looks at Brittany as if she's crazy. "Still don't know that for sure? Why else would her parents show up looking like that? The only possible explanation is that she lied."

"And that would explain why she rarely bought designer items when she goes shopping with us!" Lilian exclaims excitedly. "Not to mention her lack of make-up."

"Good point," Brittany admits. "But then how would she have the money to throw her sixteenth party on such a big scale? It just doesn't add up."

Everyone else is quiet as they ponder this. But Chanel breaks her silence quietly, "You're all ignoring something major here." She points and looks directly at me. "(y/n) knows the answer."

"Chanel's right," I take a deep breath. "I do know the answer to Ashley's confusing wealth status. And I have known it for quite a while. Because...because her parents work for mine. I don't know know what exactly they do, but I do know that they are amongst the lowest paid employees of CSIRO."

"And as for the sixteenth party, and all her additional dresses and outfits, well, she's extremely intelligent. She herself admitted to me that she hacked into my parents' bank account. But she did it in a way that didn't leave any footprints, just in case I took the case to court. Her parents...her parents don't know anything about this."

I pause to see shock written on everyone's face, that Ashley had indeed been lying this whole time, that I had lied for her benefit too. 

"Is that why..." Esme begins slowly, still processing the information. "Is that why she was bullying you?"

"Yeah," I say bitterly, looking down. "I would've never revealed personal information like that, but perhaps Ashley is just extra cautious that she took measures to keep me quiet."

"But wouldn't you be even more angry at her because of that?" Celeste says in agitation. "Wouldn't you have even more motivation to demote her to the lowest levels of this school?"

I wonder about this. "I did get extremely angry. I did tell Chanel, Layla and Harper. And it did spread as a rumor, but it was quickly diminished before the other Elites were told. Harper kept quiet out of loyalty to Ashley, her best friend. Layla probably kept quiet because she doesn't really care about people's financial status in the first place. And Chanel...actually, I don't know what she decided to keep Ashley's secret to herself."

All eyes go to the tan Asian, poised and beautiful in a way that made the Darlington gene obvious. 

"I..." Chanel trails off, unusual for someone as strongly spoken as her. She averts her gaze from everyone else. "S-Same as Harper."

I smile sadly as Chanel voices what I had expected. 

You still consider Ashley your best friend, huh?

"How?" Esme asks immediately, her cheeks slowly being tinted scarlet from fury. "How can Ashley still be your best friend after she lied? After she hacked? After she bullied (y/n)? How can you stand being best friends with someone as corrupted as her?"

"I-I..." Chanel stammers for once and we make eye-contact. 

Everyone else glances at me and I know they expect me to by angry or sad or disappointed, tears deciding to fall down my cheeks.

But for some reason, I don't feel angry or sad or disappointed and I don't cry.

I just feel empty.

"Ashley isn't corrupted!" Chanel suddenly exclaims. "Not fully, anyways. You all don't know Ashley like I do. You don't know how much pressure she's under from her parents and you don't know how bad her mental health is right now!"

"That doesn't mean she has a right to crush (y/n)'s mental health," Lilian responds in my defense. "You can't justify her actions, Chanel."

"I..." Chanel nearly yells, but then drops her voice down to a whisper. "I know that. I just...wish Ashley isn't the antagonist."

The bell rings, signaling the end of English. I hear rustling as curtains to other bay windows are drawn open and the class begins to move to the next lesson. 

"Let's go," Brittany says grimly, throwing a dirty look towards Chanel. She leaves the bay window, and everyone besides Chanel and I follows suit.

Before I can exit, Chanel grabs my wrist.

"Wait," she says urgently. "Stay here. We need to talk."

"What about our next lesson, Chanel?"

"Who cares about that?" Chanel scoffs, her eyes slowly beginning to resemble acid. "Like I said, we need to talk."

So I sit opposite her, half-expecting an apology. So I'm surprised at the question she asks.

"Do you like Shu Kurenai?"

I open my mouth to say a lie, to deny it, when I realize that there's no point in lying. Instead, I ask, "How do you know?"

"You should be asking the others how they don't know," Chanel shrugs, starting to inspect her nails closely. "In the video sent by Brittany's brother, Jack did mention that you like Shu. And don't you think that I forgot that you ditched class today to go to Amare. As far as I know, Jack isn't the person you would rely on. So that leaves only Kurenai."

"Okay, you got me," I reply. 

She frowns. "No. No, I don't. These aren't the only signs that you like Shu. The first sign appeared long ago, before Shu even gatecrashed the social. It was at Ashley's sixteenth. Remember when Ashley said that Jack heard you talking about some guy called Shu that you liked? That happened before you two even met. That confuses me even more than anything."

Her eyes are bright with determination, a complete switch around from this morning.

I take a deep breath. "Chanel, I already answered your first question. What else do I need to say? Do I have to explain my entire life to you? To someone who still considers a bully their best friend?"

It's silent, and Chanel opens her mouth in shock before closing it again. Her eyes dull. "You're right. I apologize for crossing privacy barriers."

"Thank you," I nod, ready to leave the bay window. "I'll see you in class."

I start walking towards the library's exit when Chanel calls me yet again. "(y/n)!"

"Yes?" I glance behind as she approaches me. 

She fiddles with her uniform behind her back, where she thinks nobody can see her sign of nervousness. "I also wanted to apologize for siding with Ashley and trying to justify her behavior. I know that it's wrong, and I'm not going to make up excuses after all you've done to support me. I'm sorry. I mean it."

I open my mouth but before I can say anything, Chanel blushes slightly in embarrassment and adds, "A-And about you and Shu! I wanted to let you know that I'm rooting for you! Let me know whenever you want to confess! I can give you tips! Do you plan on confessing?"

I consider this. "Yes, I think I do."

"When?" Chanel tries to play it cool, but I can see her starting to get excited at the possibility of a new relationship.

I smile widely.

"After school."

-----------------------

School ends and I confidently walk out of the school grounds. Out of the corner of my eye I see Ashley, look extremely miserable and glum, walking with her parents. However, something is off. 

Despite everyone in my class figuring out Ashley's true wealth status, nothing has changed to her popularity status. Elites passing bye still nod and wave to her, and Ashley seems to be texting furiously with someone on the phone. Caprice, I presume. 

Then I remember that the Elites in my class are all of Ashley's inner circle; majority being average students before Ashley took the Queen Bee position. With the exception of Layla, all of the inner circle had financial issues, or at least wealth nowhere near what is expected of a high class Elite. 

With Ashley's wealth status revealed to them, they must all have agreed to cover up their wealth and stop it from leaking to other Elites of this school and outside this school, especially Caprice. 

But I pay no more attention to that matter, not when I'm about to confess to Shu. 

"(y/n), slow down!" Chanel walks besides me. "Are you sure you're ready to confess to Kurenai?"

"More than ready," I grin, starting to walk to the bus stop. 

I know I need to do this.

I should've done this earlier. The universe gave me a miraculous chance to be with Shu who belongs to a whole other dimension. And instead, I've been wasting it, involving myself in trivial and petty highschool popularity matters.

So today, I plan to tell him everything. And I mean everything.

I see him, standing against the bus stop and chatting casually with a student dressed in the same uniform as him, laughing occasionally and grinning often.

The sight is so normal it makes my heart ache.

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation," I interject sheepishly. "Would you mind if I steal Shu for a moment?"

The Amare boy looks surprised but then sends Shu a sly smile. "No, I wouldn't mind at all."

And so Amare boy and Chanel exchange small talk as Shu and I distance ourselves from the bus stop, careful to make sure that we won't get eavesdropped on.

Eventually we find a large tree with willowy leaves swaying in the wind, providing shade to a small wooden bench underneath. As we sit on the bench together, it almost seems as though it was built for this moment. It fits both of us perfectly.

"So..." I chuckled awkwardly as I can feel my confidence beginning to fade. I place my bag on the ground and Shu follows suit. I find myself wishing that I asked for Chanel's advice on confessing.

How do I start a confession? Do I just...say I like him straight away?

"Did you know that you were on a TV show?" I ask. It's random, but it's better than being blunt about the confession so I take it. 

"Yeah," he nods and then smiles. "It's crazy, huh?"

"Totally," I sigh. "To think that our lives are being broadcasted in a different reality. It really is crazy. Did you...by any chance, happen to watch IREL? The show I was in?"

It's silence for a moment until Shu turns away and murmurs, "No."

"Oh," I bit on my lip, heart sinking in disappointment. If we both knew each other and maybe both fell in love with each other through our respective TV shows, it would be awesome. But it would also be something from the movies, something from wistful dreams that I have. 

I don't even know if he returns my feelings in the first place.

"Well," I take a deep breath. "I actually was a huge fan of the show you were in. Beyblade Burst."

"You watched...me?" Shu asks, his eyes wide in shock.

I nodded, smiling. "Yeah, you. And Valt. And Honcho. And the rest of the Beigoma Academy Bey Club. I loved everything. But maybe not Lui. Definitely not him."

"Wow. I really was on a TV show," Shu breaths out softly before laughing lightly. "You don't like Lui?"

"As every sane person would, hell yeah," I return his laugh. "Okay, maybe I'm overreacting a bit. He's just so annoying to you. What a jerk. Especially when he cracked your bey! I was so mad. But for some reason, I was more sad than angry. I even cried for you, somebody who I didn't even know existed."

"You did?"

I smile faintly, remembering that night. "Yeah. That's how I found that I like...uh, Spryzen?"

Shu blinks in confusion. "Spryzen is pretty great."

"You know, what I'm going to say next is going to sound super weird," my hands grip each other and I will for my heart to slow down, but it disobeys. "But even though you were just a 2D, non-existent character to me, I somehow developed feelings for you. I don't know how, I don't know why and I don't know when, I just know that it happened."

"And I'm not complaining about it," I continue on, ignoring his shock reactions. "I think falling in love with you is the best thing that ever happened to me. No, actually the best thing was finding out that you are real. That I could actually have a love story with you. And maybe this was the universe's way of correcting an error. So I'm not going to waste it. I really like you Shu.

Before he can say anything I hastily stand up. "I know it's a lot to take in, so I'll give you some time to come up with an answer. Just don't keep me waiting too long." 

I smile, and with a skip in my step, I head towards the bus stop where Chanel is waiting for me. The smile doesn't disappear, not until its late at night and I'm inside a comfortable duvet. 

So many things has happened today. Finding out the Darlingtons are going bankrupt, Esme repairing her friendship with Georgia, Ashley confronting me and confirming that she is planning something against me, me skipping school to be with Shu for a short time, Ashley getting caught by Ms. Caprit, Ashley's wealth status getting revealed to my class and Chanel's true feelings also revealed.

And the confession. 

After a major confession, I don't know how I should be feeling. Especially when Shu hasn't given his response. Should I be feeling happy? Nervous? Anxious?

But right now, I'm not feeling any of those things.

I just feel free.

[ word count: 2418 ]