One in A Bil~ion // B.E. agere

5

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~+~ Author's Note ~+~
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Hi, how are you guys?

———

To Billie's surprise, when she was in the presence of Blaire, people stopped calling her names. She felt like Blaire was her own personal body guard or shield in a way. If anyone so much as rudely glanced in Billie's direction, Blaire was sure to notice and do what Billie couldn't. Blaire would defend her.

Before they knew it, the end of the school day had finally arrived and the two girls walked out of their final class period. The pair discovered they had quite a bit of classes together. And Billie, for the first time in a while, felt optimistic.

"Hey Billie?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have a car?"

"Nope. Usually my brother drives me home but today he can't so I'm just gonna walk. I don't live too far from the school anyways."

"Oh cool! I'm walking today too." Blaire says.

An idea sparks in Billie's brain but she isn't fully sure of how to voice her thoughts. Instead... she word vomits.

"Really? Do you wanna walk together?
—I mean, only if you want to because it might be an inconvenience for you if our houses are in different directions because I'm not sure where you live and—"

"Billie."

"What?" Billie asks, feeling her face redden slightly out of embarrassment from her rambling.

"Of course I'll walk with you, if my house is out of the way I don't mind an extra walk. First we have to stop at the bathroom though."

"Wait why? ... Ohhh- never mind. " She says with a frown, remembering the incident from earlier in the day.

"Hey I said I'd handle it, no need for a frown, where's that pretty smile of yours?" Blaire asks in an attempt to make Billie cheer up. It works, as expected.

In the extremely short amount of time that she knew Billie, Blaire discovered that calling her pretty almost always instantly increased her mood.

Just as quickly as the frown had appeared, it had left and was replaced with a shy smile. Billie pulled the hood of Blaire's sweatshirt over her head and tightened the strings to hide her obvious blush. She was still adjusting to receiving compliments. At least that's the excuse she told herself but maybe it also had a little to do with the fact that Blaire was the one calling her pretty.

"I'm walking blind right now Blaire, take my hand while I recover." Billie announces to the clearly amused girl while holding her hand out in expectance.

Blaire laughs at her antics and grabs her hand. Yet Billie realizes that the hand grabbing produces a larger blush than being complimented and mentally face palms.

"Sorry to cut your recovery short but we are at the bathroom."

"Billie's head pokes out from the sweatshirt and Blaire laughs at her crazy hair, ruffling it up to make it even crazier."

"Heyyy" Billie complains while smiling at her her reflection in the mirror. She fixes her hair before rummaging through her bag and pulling out a garbage bag.