𝐀 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 + tiana and romance

10 ~ watermelon sugar

~~~
Biana's POV

I was sitting in my room, in complete shock. It had been 3 days, but my heart still buzzed whenever I thought of him. I was completely shook, and had skipped work for the past 3 days. Tam had kissed me. Tam Song just kissed me. Worse, I didn't hate it! I felt my heart jump a few beats at the thought of kissing him. Suddenly, I my phone dinged loudly.

Linh_Song: DID U KISS MY BROTHER???

I gulped. Oh god...

Biana_Vacker: More like he kissed me 😬???

Linh_Song: Did u or did u not connect lips for a significant amount of time?

Biana_Vacker: It wasn't really a long time...

Linh_Song: So u did?

Biana_Vacker: ... Yeah, I did

I held my breath nervously while the little floating dots hovered over Linh's answer. What if she hated me? Oh, duh, of course she hated me! I kissed her brother! Well, technically I didn't even kiss him. He kissed me! This never would've happened if Tam hadn't kissed me! But at the same time... I really wished that we could somehow do it again. My brain went around in this train of thought, like, 80 times while I was waiting for Linh's reply.

Linh_Song: OMG YAY 🤩😆😁

Biana_Vacker: Wait, ur actually happy about that?

Linh_Song: Um, YES! 🤩! He's liked u since THE FIRST DAY, and I was trying to set u up with him since FOREVER!!! FINALLY!

Biana_Vacker: Okay, Linh, calm down lol

Linh_Song: There is NO way I will calm down, EVER!!! 😁

Biana_Vacker: Lmao

Linh_Song: What does that mean?

Biana_Vacker: Never mind. Bye, Linh. See u at school

Linh_Song: OK see u at school 😊

I sighed. This was going to suck. I'd been ditching school since "The Thing", and I felt horrible. Go put on your big-girl pants and go to school. I took a deep breath. 

Today, I chose my coziest clothes. Ratty jeans, a white tank-top, and a fuzzy grey sweater I haven't worn since 9th grade. I just put my hair up in a ponytail, hoping to get as far away from the image as Popular Biana, who was - I admit it - the most stuck-up, prissy, annoying person I'd ever met.

When I arrived at school, everyone stared at me. But Crystal and Kelly seemed thrilled. Kelly had become "Queen Bee" in my absence, and everyone quickly started avoiding me. It seemed they all knew about my fight and eventual breakup with The Royals, the group of popular kids at my school. And Kelly could make their lives miserable. Weirdly enough, she seemed to be the only one who was most decidedly not avoiding me. She went out of her way to bump into me in between periods, take the seat next to me in class, and see me at every chance possible. It gave me a chance to "admire" - or, let's admit it, gag at - her new look.

She'd curled her blonde hair and added brassy highlights. She'd also gotten a spray-tan that, sadly enough, did not turn her orange, but turned her skin an exotic tan. Kelly was dressed in super tight black Lululemon leggings, and wearing a light purple crop-top. She was also wearing tight black high-heeled boots that hitched up her ankle. She had a ton of mascara, perfectly applied blush, and super shiny lip gloss that made her pale pink lips seem extra exotic. Kelly was the only 17-year old I knew who'd gotten plastic surgery - a bunch of carefully done inflations to make her lips extra plump, her cheeks never sag, and because of said plastic surgery, she never looked anything less than bubbly and cheerful. However, her one failed plastic surgery had made her cheeks go WAAAAY to high, and it took her MONTHS to reverse it. Meanwhile, she ditched school for 6 months by pretending she had mono. It was the only dirt I had on her.

I thought all of this while I was standing at my locker, staring into space. "Heyyyyyy, Biana!" A familiar voice cried. I whirled around to find Kelly standing behind me, twirling a piece of her perfectly blonde hair, looking extra bubbly. Because that was what she was - extra. Extra pretty, extra dramatic, extra annoying, extra mean, extra PERFECT. Everything about her was perfect - that's what bugged me the most about Kelly Gardener. She never seemed to have a bad hair day, or seem tired or stressed out. She was always on. 

"What do you want, Kelly?" I demanded, slamming my locker closed.

Suddenly, Kelly's newest boyfriend, Asher McCarty, jumped out of nowhere and "accidentally" bumped into me - quite hard, and I almost toppled over. I was definitely going to get a bruise. "Don't be talking to her, babe." Asher sneered. "She's not worth you."

Before now, I'd always thought of Asher as a relatively polite person. He didn't really talk to me, but we exchanged friendly smiles and cheerful glances every now and then. We'd once been partners for a lab project in 10th grade, but that was the one thing I remembered about him.

"Jeez, thanks." I scoffed angrily. "What did I ever do to you?"

Asher ignored me. "Come on. I have a surprise."

Kelly exhaled angrily, and stamped her foot like a little girl. "Out of my way, Asher!" She huffed. "I'm doing something, you idiot!"

His face turned woefully depressed. "I'm s-sorry, Kelly."

"Yeah, you should be!" She snapped. "Get out of my sight!"

I might've enjoyed his miserable face, if it had not been delivered at the hands of my worst enemy.

"B-bye, babe." He stuttered, disappearing down the hall.

"Wow." I watched him go, and Kelly examined me with her piercing blue eyes. 

"You seem tired." Kelly finally observed. "You never looked tired before."

"What do you want, Kelly?" I sighed. "I'm not here to take back my crown. I just want to finish high school, and you're really not helping."

"Oh, I'm not here to bother you!" Kelly said, regaining her bubbly smirk. We both went quiet after that.

"So, what's up with Asher? I thought you said he was disgusting."

"I did." She examined her nails, as if bored. "I did say that."

"So Keefe turned you down again?" I felt slightly amused when Kelly's head jolted up. "You realize he's never going to say yes, right?"

"One day, Biana Vacker. One day." Kelly snarled. "Just, go away! Everything was perfect without you! And then you showed up, and everyone adooores you. Everyone forgets about me!"

I realized she was using past tense. She wasn't talking about me showing up today - she was talking about the day I dropped in, in the middle of 9th grade, and instantly became the most popular girl in the grade. I hadn't really thought about how people like Kelly might've felt, or who they might've been before I became Queen Bee. But she was seriously overreacting. Lost status was a sucky reason to ruin my life - especially since she'd dropped from Queen Bee to Queen Bee's best friend. It's not like she had to become one of the nerds, or I'd exiled her from the popular group. She was totally overreacting. So Kelly.

"Whatever." I sighed. "Can you go crawl back under your hole so I can get to class?"

"Mark my words, Biana. One day, I'll make you pay."

Then, with those words still echoing around the cavernous hallway, she flounced off. What a drama queen.