chapter two. mean.
"i think i'm going to tell everyone i can see when they're going to die above their heads," angelina said, entering lowell high school with ranboo by her side — their first day of senior year officially beginning. "i'll tell them all they're dying tomorrow."
ranboo nodded. "right. keep them on the edge of their seats."
"you just get me," she grinned. "can you get my schedule? i have to piss."
"already?" oliver furrowed his eyebrows, adjusting the single backpack strap on his shoulder. "didn't you go right before we left?"
angelina rolled her eyes. "sorry i can't control my bladder, ranboo. you try stepping in my shoes for once. then come and talk to me. freak." she emphasized his nickname.
"who're you calling freak?" he pushed her jokingly. "i'm not the one who goes pee literally every five seconds."
she only responded with a blank stare, before turning down a different hallway to find a bathroom. there were several familiar faces, some new — and some she'd seen since middle school.
the new freshmen looked around the school as though they'd never been in one before, and angelina smiled softly at the factor that she and ranboo had looked like that just four years ago.
"angie!" an oh so familiar irish tone shouted behind her in the hallway, and a smile crept onto angelina's face. "what the fuck? i've been looking for you everywhere!"
elodie o'connor was by far the funniest person you'll ever meet. and the accent only made her funnier — it was so strong, if you hadn't known her for a good amount of time, you'd be in dead confusion.
"ELLIE!" angelina wrapped her arms around elodie tightly. "my boy. how was summer? you didn't write me, you freakin' bozo."
elodie laughed for a short period of time. angelina didn't have access to a phone all summer — due to the ideas that campers could use their phones to cheat with instruments.
ranboo sent her about six dozen letters, before angelina got tired of all the mail being for her, she wrote back a simple few words.
hi rainbow,
leave me alone you fucking freak. what do you do all summer? go play more minecraft. you know how many letters i've gotten from you? thirty six. it's been two weeks, king. i know i'm awesome, but the mailmen are tired of saying "angelina phan" over and over again.
fuck you dearly,
lina.
she did receive thirteen more letters that were definitely out of spite, considering that they all had one letter of the alphabet each, and spelt out 'i h-a-t-e a-n-g-e-l-i-n-a'.
oliver swears he's so fucking funny.
"right, about that," elodie grinned. she walked into the bathroom aside angelina. "you know kasey camden, right?"
angelina furrowed her eyebrows as she allowed elodie to speak, walking into a stall and continuing the conversation. "yeah. cheer captain. they were in my home ec class last year."
she could hear the smile in elodie's face as the irish girl spoke.
"yeah. we totally hooked up this summer." she laughed.
luckily angelina was not drinking anything, because if she was, then she'd spit it out immediately. "WHAT?"
"I KNOW!" elodie yelled back excitedly. "it started end of june. i have no idea if they're going to act like anything happened — it's not official, or anything."
"i cannot believe you!" angelina flushed the toilet and walked out of the stall, a grin on her face anyways. "kasey camden. they're so nice. i love them."
elodie smiled. "yeah."
"lunch time," angelina cheered as she sat across ranboo, beside a tree that they've sat at since they were fourteen year old freshmen. "thank god. literally mrs anderson does not give you a break at band. she doesn't give a fuck what we did at summer, she assigns us something and is like — 'do it or leave'."
angelina's study hall has been the same since forever. mrs anderson, who is happy to see her each year when the girl returns for another year of playing on the saxophone.
"yeah. but you don't have miss dubois," oliver frowned. "she scares me. who teaches all grades, and ap chemistry? i'll tell you who, lina. psychopaths."
"you literally got her all four years," angelina laughed. "how do you manage that? also, why don't you just switch out? not to band though — the only song you know is how to play 'your new boyfriend' by what's-his-face on the interactive trumpet on youtube."
ranboo frowned. "it's wilbur soot. educate yourself."
angelina rolled her eyes. "it's wilbur soot, educate yourself." she mocked, causing ranboo to take off his sunglasses and show a clear look of offense.
"angelina! oliver!" a voice that only angelina dreaded more than anything else. she frowned at the sound. "nice spot you got here."
"thanks, hayden. we've only been sitting in it for the past four years." angelina seemed over the conversation, and it hadn't even started yet.
hayden was a classic blue eyed blondie. not that there was anything wrong with that, but she was more of the definition of those mean girls you'd see in movies.
angelina had hated hayden since the eighth grade. she'd been roped into some sort of all girls sleepover thing, and hayden had the stupid idea of playing spin the bottle except no one actually
makes out.
march thirteenth, 2016.
angelina sat in a circle after a softball game with girls that she'd grown to know over the years.
megan bridges, hayden lamrow, jaylnn quinn, ava mandy, and obviously herself — angelina phan.
she'd always thought megan was pretty. she had wonderful chestnut hair, that went down just to the top of her waist, and green eyes that might puncture you if you were to stare too long in them.
"okay, remember —" hayden began. they were at her house in the first place. perks to having a dad who was head of the girls softball team. "we're not actually doing anything, 'cause that's like, weird. we're preparing ourselves for the boys, you know?"
angelina shifted uncomfortably in her seat. all the other girls besides her and megan seemed excited for it, and angelina could only hope that they'd give up on this idea before she could be paired with someone.
"okay. eenie, meenie, minie . . . angelina," hayden stopped trying to go around and pick people non purposefully. she clearly sees how uncomfortable angelina is, but she sucks anyways, so. "spin."
for an eighth grader, she's fucking demanding. feel bad for whoever gets married to her.
"uh — okay," angelina muttered, taking a spin on the sparkling foyer bottle so it would point and spin in all different directions. it slowed down eventually, and finally landed on megan. "now what?"
if anything, she was pleased to be with megan. they understand each other in how they feel about this.
"go in the closet, duh!"
angelina subconsciously rolled her eyes and went into the semi-big closet with megan trailing behind her. they each sat on opposite sides and stared at each other blankly.
"this is so stupid." megan muttered.
"i know, right?" angelina seemed slightly relieved and moved into a more comfortable position. "i don't get why we're even doing this anyway."
megan smiled at the agreement between the two. "yeah. what if i don't even wanna date a boy when i go to high school? what if i wanna date a girl?"
this struck angelina by surprise slightly. she'd never thought about it that way. girls were awfully pretty — megan was super-duper pretty.
she'd always thought it was some sort of envying thing. but now, angelina found herself contemplating if she wanted to be like megan, or be with megan.
"have you ever dated a girl?" angelina blurted out. it can't be too bad to ask, right? hey — hayden's dated like, six hundred boys before.
what's the difference?
"no," megan frowned. "i think i want to, though."
angelina thought for a moment. "i think i want to, too."
they'd been moving closer to each other accidentally. and before either of them knew it, their lips were touching — and angelina couldn't believe it.
and she couldn't believe what happened next, either.
"ew!" the shrill voice of hayden interrupted the two, and sent both of them into dead shock. "megan and angie are kissing!"
fuck you, hayden lamrow. you never even actually played in the softball game. at least angelina was a good pitcher.
august seventeenth, 2021.
angelina didn't like thinking about it.
"well, good," hayden said. she still has that stupid same shrilly voice that she always has had. "then you can make room for one more."
she patted the ground uncomfortably and visibly judged angelina and oliver for being able to sit so casually on the dirt.
"can we help you?" ranboo furrowed his eyebrows.
"just wondering how your summers were!" hayden grinned. "angelina, you do anything interesting? you go to some camp every year, right? good for you. can't just relax for once, huh?"
angelina frowned.
"i like to keep my college applications interesting," she said. "new york university. gotta keep doing things, 'cause they won't do themselves."
her mom says that a lot. she uses it almost constantly, and angelina never thought she'd find herself quoting it in a conversation with a girl she hated.
"oh, new york?" the blonde girl said. "wow. i'm shooting for berkeley or ucla, you know. gotta stay local for the friends! and family, i guess."
angelina nodded with an awkward look on her face.
"what about you, oliver?" she turned to ranboo, who was picking at his food and ignoring the blonde girl purposefully. "anything fun?"
"no, i played video games all summer," he muttered. he didn't like hayden very much either, especially after what happened at that sleepover. "sucks, waiting for lina for two whole months."
he moved closer to angelina and wrapped an arm around her protectively. in a way to say i got you, don't worry.
hayden seemed upset with this and stood finally. "right. well, i'll see you two around. oh! i almost forgot."
she bent down and handed each of them a button. "vote for me for student council president, yeah?"
angelina looked down at the button with a sense of hate. it's the first fucking day of school, hayden. "i'll think about it." though a smile was on her face, there was far much worse on the inside.
the blonde girl walked off and ranboo's arm did not remove itself. angelina sighed and tilted her head so it rested on his shoulders.
"fuck that," she frowned. "i'm gonna run for president."
ranboo laughed. "you have my vote, lina."
☽˚⁀➷ AUTHOR NOTE . . . ⚘
AYO RANBOO IS ON ANGELINA'S
SIDE ⁉️⁉️ NOT HAYDEN'S ⁉️⁉️
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