Manhattan Wishes (GirlxGirl)

Chapter Three

  Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

- Seneca

"Yes, I got Mr Mitchell for Chemistry!" Lydia said happily. They were sitting in Thompson's spacious courtyard, reviewing their timetables.

" Yeah, just don't sleep with him like your last chemistry teacher."  Alyssa smirked.

They continued to talk about boys and all that bullshit- bullshit as far as Harmony was concerned. It wasn't like she wasn't into guys or anything, she would remind them, it just got old after a while. While Lydia cruelly made fun of Sean Grace's new hairstyle, Harmony instead decided to scan through her timetable. Double french on a Monday, but she got Ms Sullivan for English, her favorite teacher. Ms Sullivan was cool and young. Lydia said she heard she was a lesbian, which spread around and ever since Alyssa had always made a point of sliding her essay across the table instead of directly handing it to Ms Sullivan because gasp- if she touched her she might fall in love with her!
"Harmony, are you even listening to me?"
Alyssa's shrill voice cut through her train of thought.
"Um yeah?" She mumbled. Alyssa rolled her eyes as Harmony wondered if she rolled her pretty eyes anymore would they fall out of her dense head.

"Me and Lyd were just saying how it is totally over Brandon is into you."

Brandon Garcia- lacrosse captain and the second hottest (obviously Alyssa was dating the hottest, James Chase) guy in the school. Harmony let her eyes follow him as he walked across the courtyard to meet with his friends. Tall with a face as chiseled as his body, he knew he was good looking. But Harmony wasn't into dating. It always felt fake for some reason.

Lydia squeezed Harmony's arm. She, too, was not fond of dating, but it wasn't because of the lack of chemistry or attraction. It was more a commitment thing.
"Oh my gosh, he's looking at you! Isn't he Mexican?"
"No you generalizing idiot, he's Puerto Rican. And-" Alyssa smiled devilishly, "his girlfriend just left for Princeton so he's definitely looking for a new girlfriend!"
Harmony shuffled awkwardly. She always felt embarrassed when the subject was her and boys. Alyssa grinned at her and burst out laughing.
"Aw, you're blushing! Adorbs."

As if Satan himself decided it was time to victimize Harmony, Brandon started walking towards them.

"Shit." Harmony muttered as her friends giggled. Brandon was nice enough, they had trig and french together, but now she knew he was into her (according to her friends) it made her feel stupid.
"Sit up straight," Alyssa hissed in her ear, her breath hot, "and be nice."
"Hey, Brandon." Harmony flashed a smile that she hoped he thought was genuine.
"Hey Harmony..and Lydia and Alyssa!" He smiled back. "So I'm having a sort of back to school party this Friday. You guys wanna come?"
"Well ah-" Harmony jumped when she received a sharp elbow in her ribs from Lydia.
"I'd-" another elbow in the ribs, this time from Alyssa. "We'd love to. Thanks for the invite, Brandon."
"Perfect. See you in double French!" He laughed as he walked away,
"Can't wait!" Harmony called back. As soon as he was out of earshot Lydia gave a squeal that could probably shatter glass.
"Ugh you are definitely gonna be on him on Friday!"
As much as she was used to Lydia's crude humor, the joke made her cringe. She rolled her eyes and tried to play it off like she didn't care. Talking about relationships and sex just made Harmony kind of bored. Thankfully, she was literally saved by the bell. Senior Year wasn't that different so far- just the way she had planned.

***

The best part of being popular, Harmony decided on her way to English, was how people parted like she was Moses and they were the Red Sea. Freshmen nudged each other and stared while jealous Juniors admired her long, albeit pale, legs. That was the worst part- the constant need to look perfect as so many eyes were always trained on you. 

Harmony sauntered into the spacious, open classroom and chose a seat in the middle. She took out her cell to text Melody. She still felt bad about snubbing her baby sister so she decided to check up on her. She was interrupted by Grace Liu, one of Thompson's finest gossip-mongers, tapping her on the shoulder with a pen with a devilish grin that meant one thing- something juicy had happened. Harmony put away her phone and turned to Grace, smiling.

"Grace, I know that face! What is it?" 

"Oh Harmony, you know if I knew something, I'd tell you straight away."

"C'mon." Harmony pestered, frustrated. "Spit it out!"

The downside about dealing with Grace, was you never knew if was going to be something about you- also the fact that you had to nearly beg on you knees for her to tell you sometimes, she liked the power.

"We're getting a new girl." 

"Wow, call TMZ Grace!" Harmony rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her phone. Grace hooted with fake laughter.

"No, it's not any businessman's daughter. She's pretty weird seemingly."

Finally catching Harmony's attention, Grace went on.

"Yeah, she's like the epitome of everything we're not. I heard she got expelled from her last school because she did this huge protest, or some other bat shit thing." she paused and snapped her gum.

"Also, I think she's on crack. Or LSD, whatever."

They were interrupted by the noisy entrance of Ms Sullivan. She eventually made it to her desk after dropping her books twice. 

"Hello class! As you know I am Ms Sullivan-"

Harmony drifted off as Ms Sullivan launched into a "senior year is so important" speech. She thought about Brandon, and if she did like him. Sure, he was hot, and nice but she didn't feel anything. Just like it was with her last boyfriend, Mark. He broke up with her that May, when he moved to London. The weird part was, Harmony was almost relieved when he left. Spending time with him felt like a chore, and it all just felt boring. 

"Our new student- Maya Grey!"

Harmony snapped out of her thoughts, and turned to see Grace flash her a knowing, wise smile. She looked up and her mouth dropped open as she saw the girl. Dark-skinned, gorgeous.

The girl.

The girl that spilled coffee all over her.

The girl she was a complete bitch to.

Maya realized too, Harmony concluded, judging by the judging stare she got as Maya took her seat, far away from Harmony's. She heard choruses of "Hi Maya!" and "Damn, she's hot", but Harmony turned as red as her hair. Shit.

 It looked like it was going to be an interesting year.