ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʜᴀʀᴘ ᴛᴇᴀʀ ᴏꜰ ᴀ 'ᴘᴀᴅᴜᴀ ᴘʀᴏᴍ' ᴘᴏꜱᴛᴇʀ ʙᴇɢᴀɴ ᴍʏ ᴍᴏɴᴅᴀʏ ᴍᴏʀɴɪɴɢ, ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ ᴅᴀʏ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴇɴɪᴏʀ ʏᴇᴀʀ, ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴘʀɪɴɢ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋ.
Even at 7:30 on May 5th, my best friend still managed to bring down the patriarchy with her every move. Some girl yelled, "Hey!" She was holding the posters and tape, so I suppose she had just put that one up. I laughed loud, catching the attention of people around me. However, people were looking at me before I had brought attention to myself anyway. I had grown a lot over the break; between fixing my horrible posture and playing lacrosse for 6 hours a day, I'd gained about 5 inches in height and my body was, according to Kat, 'giving very much pear.' I waved my friend over and she beamed, running at me. We'd seen each other the day before and I was sleeping over at her house tonight, but we always acted as if it was the first time we had seen each other in a while at school. She squeezed me and I flew up a bit as I hugged her back. We had been best friends since kindergarten, when I kicked Joey Donner in the balls for trying to kiss her. She thought it was so amazing that she bought me a sugar cookie at lunch. When she pulled away, I noticed that she was actually wearing her matching outfit(if you don't like it, as always, you can put a link to whatever you chose!). She usually would never, 'align her actions with other people's ideas,' but I guess she had a soft spot for me.
"Why are you already starting shit, Stratford?" She shrugged, with a small grin. "I dunno, it's fun to rile people up, Verona." She turned my body towards the school, with her hands on my shoulders. "Speaking of riling people up, you're gonna get so many guys this year!" She laughed and I slapped her, dragging my friend into the school, arm in arm. "No, but I'm serious, Y/n! Virgin Mary #2 will have a date by the end of the year!" Everyone calls us the 'Virgin Maries' because we don't really date anyone. I ignored my friend again, walking to my locker. "Who knows, maybe we both will!" I finally reached my locker and Kat stood beside me. "Hey, Y/n!" I waved at my friend, Micheal, that was showing a new kid around today. I guess the kid hadn't shown up yet, because he was wandering around the halls, his head going left and right, looking like a lost underclassmen. At our school, you had the same locker for four years, the freshman replacing old lockers. I ran my hand over my name plaque, before putting in my code. Unfortunately, Donner also had the same locker for 4 years and it was right next to mine. "Of course not."
"You know me, I can't date and I don't want to!" Of course, her father's random-ass rule, that he kinda applied to me as well. I basically, Kat, and her little sister Bianca, couldn't date until we graduated. But me and Kat were pretty close to that mark, anyway. "Hey, beautiful." I froze in my spot, looking directly in Kat's eyes, instantly. I recognized that voice from anywhere: Joey Donner. He tapped me on the shoulder, lightly and I flinched at his touch. Both Kat and I hated him; he was a horrible flirt, and after he had rushed her into having sex with him, I hated him even more. Usually, he'd flirt with me in a joking way when Kat would reject his advances, but he had never spoken to me first.
I whipped around, seeing him hanging over my locker. I slammed it shut and he hurriedly moved his arm as the door swung away. When it was shut, he could fully see my face and I could see his. His eyes widen and his mouth hung low, before he exclaimed, "Holy shit, is that you Verona?" I looked away, my mouth forming a straight line. "Damn," he gave me his famous Joey Donner smirk, that made girls melt and some guys, too. But, I wasn't exactly feeling it. "You look cute, Y/n." He winked and continued, "Like, you got hot over the break, Verona!" I rolled my eyes, with a bitter laugh, and grabbed my things to walk away. "Hey, but really, Verona. Would you, I know it's like really early for this and all, but would you maybe wanna go to prom with me? Like, we could go on a few dates, get to know each other, and we could be king and queen?"
"Donner, I will go to prom with you when Bianca Stratford has her first kiss!" I grinned as the smirk fell off his face and his confidence was lost. Kat and I walked off, to our first class, as he gained it back, yelling from across the hall, "Oh, really Verona! You're gonna regret that! I'll go with Stratford!" He then ran off to go find Bianca. Kat and I high-fived as we walked into AP Environmental Science, feeling accomplished.
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??? POV
"To the left, we have the coffee kids." One of them screamed about his Costa-rican coffee blend being spilled, and the rest sipped quietly, while staring at the drama. "Very edgy, don't make any sudden movements around them." I watched as my sister's dorky friend showed around some person I couldn't see the face of. I thought the shit he was saying was funny, but I still thought Eckman was a loser, A/V nerd. If you couldn't tell, I am the Patrick Verona. If you go to my school, I have quite a few other names, including 'loner, loser, and punk.' But it wouldn't do well for you to call me any of those three. After I had gotten called into the office for my Bratwurst prank, I'd decided to walk around the school, now trying to find my sister for lunch. My twin, Y/n, only had one friend, but I had none, so pretty even. For the most part, at least today, she had a lot of followers and I don't even think she'll have room at the table, but I sit with her everyday, when Kat isn't there too. Only because I don't wanna be her loser brother that has to sit with her and her friends at lunch. Eckman claimed the 'Rastas' of our school to the boy, saying they thought they were black, kinda political and smoked a lot of weed. What could I say?? Pretty accurate, Eckman.
Next, they went to the cowboys, and then the MBA's, a group he recently got kicked out of. Lowenstein started a rumor that he buys, one dorky material, at outlet malls. I didn't see how that could be an issue, but okay, whatever. "They kicked you out?" The boy looked to Eckman and I swore his voice sounded so familiar. I needed to see his face. I started walking around them, when I heard Micheal point out my sister. "Those two, don't even belong in a group. That's Y/n Verona, and Kat Stratford, best friends, sisters, really. Stay away from Kat, she's scary, but Y/n is really nice, we're friends. And she's really pretty, right?" The boy nodded, with a slacked jaw, and I swore I had seen him before. I got closer to get a better look at his face. "Yeah, she-she is," he sounded and looked distracted as he said, "Verona, you said? Y/n, Verona?" Eckman nodded, staring at her too. And, like that, I realized who he was and jogged over to my sister, chewing on the sandwich she'd made me earlier today for lunch. When I reached her, I saw her own delicious-looking lunch. She'd made herself black pepper chicken and fried rice, still hot, due to the little heat pack she put in her bag. I would've eaten that too, but I usually walked around as I ate and I couldn't eat something in a bowl.
I put my hand on my sister's shoulder, making her aware of my presence. She smiled at me and beckoned me to sit down, saying it was nice to see me. "Protesting already, Verona?" I winked at her and Kat, but Stratford just rolled her eyes at me. "You know me so well. Terrorizing the school with your loneliness, Verona?" I nodded, with an 'mm-hmm!" We liked to mess with each other a bit, a little sibling rivalry. "Hey, um Y/n," I was a bit nervous about it, but she was smiling, so I said it anyway, "Isn't that your old best friend, Cameron James?" She, at first, frowned at me. I pointed in his direction and she followed my gaze. The girl essentially gasped when seeing his face and I grabbed a piece of chicken out of her bowl, while she wasn't looking. God damn, that shit was good. "It-it is."
We lived here our whole lives, but we moved for about a year, before my dad had us move back. We had gone to this camp in the city that we moved to since we were 11 to when we moved back in the end of 7th grade, basically two years. She met Cameron at camp when they were partnered up together for fishing, and they'd been attached at the hip since. When we went to his school, he was over the moon and they spent every day together. And he had cried for about two weeks when she left. I figured they had liked each other, but clearly nothing had happened, as we moved shortly after they really, really began to get closer, her wearing his sweaters to school everyday, and him just itching to be near her every five seconds. I thought he had noticed her too, but he was staring off into the distance, with a lovesick smile.
I used my fingers to follow his gaze, and I realized he was staring at Stratford. Shit, this wasn't gonna end well.
--
Kat got kicked out of English for the 30th time and I asked if I could leave as well; whenever she got kicked out, I came with her and just left the school. We always ended up having English at the end of the day. However, since Donner claimed Kat was a 'bitter, self-righteous hag, that has no friends,' and told her to take a Midol, I yelled in his face, my English quickly turning into Spanish. By the time I had called him a greasy, ugly, ass, I was more than welcome to leave. I thought our English teacher was great, and to be quite honest, I agreed with the fact that Mr. Morgan had kicked out Kat. Although I agree with her protests, the complaints of her stature in our community didn't make sense and were minor problems. I liked Mr. Morgan, and although he didn't like Kat, he liked me. I got an A in his class every year, and this year was not gonna be different. As I waked to the office, I thought of Cameron. He had been my second friend and best friend, and I really liked spending time with him. He was one of my favorite people. But don't get me wrong: I wasn't into him or anything. He was cute, thoughtful and sweet, but we were also friends when I was about 13, so I was not really thinking about dating anyone at the moment and I don't know if I am now.
I had gotten to the office, when Kat waltzed out, with a grin. "What's got you lookin' all happy?" She shrugged, with a bright smile, one she'd only reserved for me. "Well, she called me a heinous bitch." My brows furrowed, and she added, "She was writing a romance novel and I told her to get back to Reginald's quivering member." I looped my arm around her, as we did earlier, laughing at how nosy she could be. We raced outside, to get to the car, but my only other friend waved in my face, putting himself in front of me. I fell into him, and he laughed, holding me back up, with a blush. "Hey, Micheal!" He smiled at my enthusiasm and Mandella found us, talking to Kat quietly behind us; we hung out with her a lot, but we didn't really establish her as an official friend, because we didn't hang out with her outside of school. She was a school friend. "Y/n?" I turned to the guy standing next to Micheal. His hands was in his pockets, like he did usually when he was nervous, and he smiled weakly. "Hey, Cam!" I threw my arms around him and he laughed, as he hugged back. He squeezed me hard and I could feel that he had gotten a bit stronger than he was the last time I saw him. He was really shrimpy then. "How are you?" I told him I was great and he said the same. We still had about half an hour before the busses came and left, so I dragged him off so we could talk, telling Micheal briefly that we were already friends. We spoke about everything, from sports, to how we'd changed, to what we had done over the summer. He commented that I looked as pretty as I did the last time he saw me and my faced turned a light shade of red, that I don't think he noticed.
"Wow, you've done so much! Do you have a boyfriend yet?" This question caused me to feel a bit tingly and I looked to the ground as I shook my head, no. "Do you, um, have a girlfriend?" He shook his head, "No, I don't," my butterflies increased until he said, "but I saw this girl today that I thought was so pretty." My mood changed quickly, and my stomach started to feel twisted, in an odd way. "Oh." I didn't know what the feeling was exactly, but I didn't like it. "Maybe you know her? Bianca Stratford? I think you're friends with her cousin, or something." I rolled my eyes, internally sighing. Of course he liked Stratford. I didn't really like her. As Micheal put it, perfectly, she was a 'vapid airhead,' and I didn't care whether she was my best friend's sister. Bianca didn't like me either, so it was definitely not one-sided. "Oh, uh, yeah. I do." He looked as though he wanted me to continue, "And...? What's your opinion of her?" I shrugged, "You want me to be honest?" he nodded, eagerly, so I laid my opinion flat out. "I don't like her. She's am imbecile, she's always flirting with Donner, and she's rude. And I honestly wish people," I looked dead at him, "would see her on the outside how she is on the inside." I felt uncomfortable and I didn't really want to be near him anymore. "I have to leave, or I'm not gonna have a ride. Bye." I got up from my spot and left, jogging over to Kat, and telling her I'm ready to leave.
We walked over to the parking lot with Mandella, and a red, expensive, but nice, car stopped in front of us. "Heyy, you're little Rambo look is out, Kat. Didn't you read last month's Cosmo?" I was gonna respond, but Kat snapped back, "Run along," she rolled her eyes, waving him away and he just blinked in her direction, upset that he did not get a reaction. "Why were you reading last month's Cosmo, Donner? You're either really weird, or a virgin, at this point." I walked away too, and he followed me with the car, yelling, "Oh, come on, Verona! What's it gonna take for you to go out with me!" Kat, Mandella and I got into her car and she turned the engine on, roaring over his annoying yelling. "Stratford's first kiss?? I can work with that!" Kat laughed at me and I muttered that I hated her, which amplified her laughter. He drove up next to Bianca and her friend, Chance, or something. They drove off at high speed, when Mandella scoffed. "That's a new development." Kat sighed, replying, "It's disgusting!" I nodded, agreeing, and got comfy, rolling down the window. "Why is he obsessed with you, Y/n?" I scoffed, "He is not!" The both nodded, saying at the same time, "Yes, he, is!" Kat exclaimed, "He literally embarrassed himself in the middle of the street for you and he drove my sister home to make you jealous!"
"That's literally not my problem, nor do I care." She smiled at me and drove off, playing one of her favorite songs, by Joan Jett. She yelled at a motorcyclist, that I think is Micheal, and he, in turn, drove off, talking to Cameron and almost hit someone else, driving off the road and falling off his bike. Everyone cheered for him as we pulled out of the driveway.
After we dropped Mandella off, we got to her house and she read, while I organized our halloween costumes. "Hello, Katerina, Y/n. Make anyone cry today?" He went through mail as she spoke. "Sadly, no. But it's only 4:30." He smiled down at her and she grinned the same. Bianca walked up behind her father, with a sneaky little smile, as though she was throwing on her 'perfect, little girl' act again. "Hi, daddy." She kissed him on the cheek, and he said, "Hello, precious." Another reason I hated Bianca. She was a little suck-up. "Now, what's this? It says Sarah Lawrence." Kat grabbed the paper out of his hand, standing up to read it. After a tearing and quick once-over she started jumping and screaming, "I got in, I got in!" This started my jumping and screaming of, "You got it! You got in!" We had made a plan to go to together when she expressed her want to go away from her family, and go to arts school. SL had given me a full-ride scholarship for Equestrian, as I was surprisingly really good on a horse. I had just gotten on for fun when I visited the school, and by the end of the day, I had a scholarship and lessons lined up for the next week. I was really into fashion and they didn't have my major, so they dual-enrolled me into NYU, so I could still be a fashion major. "That's great, honey, but isn't Sarah Lawrence on the other side of the country?" She nodded with a laugh, reading through the booklet they'd sent her, "I mean, yeah, that's a part of the appeal!" He shook his head, coming closer. "But, I thought we had talked about staying here for school and going to school, UDub, like me, and be a Husky." Bianca looked between them, as if she had some authority on the situation. He 'grred' like an animal and Kat defended her decision, claiming, "No, you decided."
"So what, you were just gonna pack up and leave?" I sat down next to her and Bianca sarcastically replied, "I hope so!" I scoffed, rolling my eyes, at her adding herself into this conversation. She saw me and crossed her arms, pouting. "Ask Bianca who drove her home." I chuckled and Kat smiled back at me, before looking at her again. "Kat, don't change the-drove? Who drove you home?" She turned to him, with a sly smile, trying to win his favor again. "Now, don't get mad, daddy, but there's this boy-" Kat cut her off, "who is a flaming imbecile," I added 'facts.' "Please, please-" She went to yell at Kat, "And I think he might ask me-" Mr. Stratford grabbed her shoulders, telling her, "Please, I think I think what he's going to ask you. And I think I know the answer: No," he said firmly, "It's always no! What are the two house rules? One, no dating till you graduate, two, no dating until you graduate." She sat down next to us, arguing, "But, daddy that's so unfair." He then went on to rant about the set of twins he delivered that day to a 15 year old girl. Bianca called her a crack whore, and he turned it into a learning moment. Bianca turned it into being about her, saying she was the only person in the school who is not dating. Her father said, "Your sister doesn't date and neither does Y/n." Kat added that she didn't intend to. "Also, Mandella doesn't date, your friend Cathy doesn't either, a lot of people at our school don't date."
"And why is that, again?"
"Have you seen the unwashed miscreants at that school?"
"Where did you come from, planet loser?"
"As opposed to planet, 'look at me, look at me!'" I laughed, "There's a difference between like and love." Kat beamed and continued,"I like my Sketchers, but I love my Prada backpack," I switched over, with a fake, confused look. "But, I love my Sketchers?" Kat yelled, "Because you don't have a Prada backpack!" We both laughed loudly as Kat's dad spoke again. "Okay, here's how we solve this one. Old rule, out, new rule, Bianca can date, when she does." He left the room, leaving a yelling Bianca and a cackling Katerina. I was laughing too, and we hugged each other as our bodies shook, dying laughing. Annoying hag yelled at us as we walked up the steps, finally gaining composure. "Can't you just find some blind, dumb retard to take you to the movies, so I can go on one date!" She shrugged, not smiling, "I'm sorry, looks like you'll just have to miss out on the witty reparte of Joey "eat me" Donner." They both said, "you suck!" and we walked up the steps. "But, can you ever just be 'whelmed?'" She smirked, responding, "I think you can in Europe!" We came into her room, dropping all of our stuff. I never needed to pack a bag because half my stuff was in here anyway.
We started on and finished our homework in a matter of minutes, as we got most of it done at school. And after I told her who Cameron was, I asked her something, quietly. She didn't hear me, so I repeated my question. "I wanna try out for spring cheer, this year." She held up a hand to her ear and said, "I don't think I heard you right. You wanna go out for cheer?" I nodded, standing up. "Don't you think it'd be cool to try, just once? Something new? We both used to be on gymnastics and we were the best on the team!" She got up too, saying, "We don't build up the patriarchy, we tear it down."
"But, this is a chance to do it from the inside." I heard a soft 'hm,' and I put on some music, as she thought about it quietly. I changed into my pajamas and laid on her bed, looking up at the ceiling.