Stella awoke to the bright gleam of the sun hitting Oliver's white walls, the sudden light gave her a cause to immediately bury her face back into her pillow, groaning slightly.
After a few more moments she rose again, blinking over and over until she was finally adjusted to the bright summer morning. She never understood why Oliver left his blinds open, and how he always managed to sleep in anyways.
She leaned forward and grabbed her shoes from the floor of the bed. Her eyes scanned the furniture in the room until they landed on an alarm clock across from his bed. 5:23 AM. Just the perfect time for her to slip out of the house without waking anyone up.
With the shoes in her hand, she slowly climbed outside of the bed and adjusted the sheets before she proceeded outside of the door, stepping slowly down the staircase until the front door was in sight.
"Estella?" Oliver's mom, Janet, called from the living room. She had no need to worry about the volume of her voice because Oliver could sleep through a hurricane. A mug full of coffee was gripped tightly in her hands, an award winning smile on her face. As Stella got closer she noticed that no smile could hide the fact that Janet had definitely not slept the night before. "How are you feeling?"
"Better." She replied as she sat down on their worn down couch. "Not excited for school though."
"Oh nobody ever enjoys school, but you do miss it when you get older." Janet laughed slightly at her comment, "Say, I'm gonna make pancakes for breakfast this morning if you wanna come back over."
"I might take you up on that offer. I don't even know if I wanna see my parents right now."
"And that's totally okay." His mom interrupted, "It was a shock for all of us, take as much time as you need. And besides, this home is basically yours too."
A faint smile appeared on Stella's face. "Thank you, Janet." The brunette had no problem with calling Oliver's mom by her first name. It took years for her to get in the hang of it but it was always something his mom urged her to do, explaining that it made her feel young.
"No problem, now go and get ready." Janet shooed her, leaning back into the couch when Stella got up and left the couch. She took yet another sip of her coffee before she focused back on the tv.
Stella slowly stepped into her house, which was oddly quiet for the frenzy that happened the night before, but it all clicked together when she noticed her mom's keys and bag were out of their usual spot. She let out a small sigh and slowly tiptoed up the stairs until she reached her room at the top.
She set her shoes down and grabbed a towel that was shoved in the corner of her room, slinging it over her shoulder so that she could grab a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie.
The shower was unnecessarily cold, but it felt nice in a way that calmed her down from the stress of her own family crisis. She took her time and finally got out when she felt like a newer person. She quickly pulled on her sweatpants and hoodie and threw her sneakers on before she headed back downstairs.
Her father was still asleep, but maybe it was for the best. She didn't know what she would say to him because every conversation she had thought of in her head just turned to shit.
She slid through the creaky door and back towards Oliver's house, where she was immediately greeted by the smell of a home cooked breakfast.
"Mornin', Oli." Stella smiled, ruffling her best friend's hair as she made her way past him to the open seat at the table.
He made a small grumble at her actions. It was clear that he had just definitely gotten dragged out of bed. It was only about 6:15 in the morning, so he had lots of time to wake up and get ready for the first day.
She reached towards the giant stack of pancakes his mother was making and grabbed a few.
Oliver stood from his chair and walked towards the coffee maker, pouring the hot coffee into his mug for the second time that morning. He added a little bit of sugar and creamer before sitting back down at the table and eating his pancakes (which he specifically asked his mother to put chocolate chips in.)
"Did you sleep okay?" He asked once he had finished his first pancake. He knew what the answer would probably be, but he still wanted to make sure it was obvious that he cared.
Stella shrugged in response to his question, "I never sleep well on the last night of summer anyways, what about you?" She asked again, trying to avoid the conversation getting steered into the events of the previous night.
"I slept okay, I guess," he glanced at her with a slight frown on his face. "Hey, you know what we should do? I should do your makeup." A grin spread across his face as he continued eating his pancakes.
"I mean, sure. Is that your way of cheering me up?" She added with a small laugh, but in any case, she knew it would cheer her up. He always did.
"Obviously," he smiled. "Now hurry up and finish your pancakes, I'm breaking into your house to get all of your makeup and shit."
Oliver was not joking. He indeed returned to his own house after a few minutes with two makeup bags in hand. Stella blinked in surprise. "I'm going to cry if you make me look like a clown on the first day."
He gasped dramatically. "I would never." She put her plate in the sink and followed him up to his room. He sat her on the floor and got out everything he would need. "Do I get a say in any of this?" Stella asked with a light chuckle.
"Nope!"
Oliver put everything he'd ever learned about makeup into his look for Stella. Neutrals and pinks were the safest option — especially for the first day. He set the base with translucent powder, smiling at his work. The only thing left was the eyes.
Nothing was too crazy, just a light brown and neutral pink with a little bit of glitter. He sat back and admired his work before gasping. His eyes immediately locked on a package still unopened in one of those makeup bags.
"No." Stella already knew what he was looking at. "Absolutely not. No falsies." Oliver shook his head. "Look! They're natural! It's not like they're literal feathers. Pleeease," he dragged out.
She groaned in defeat. "You win. Just don't make me look stupid." Oliver clapped happily and grabbed the set of lashes, trimming them in half. He was honestly grateful Stella had an applicator because he was sure he would've poked her in the eye if she didn't.
"Wait, one more thing," he dabbed some lip gloss onto his finger and patted it onto her lips. "Done! I'm an artist, Leo DiCaprio could never. Wait—"
Stella laughed at him before standing up and going to look in the mirror. "Oh my god, why does it actually look good?" Oli smiled. "See, you should've never doubted me. I did everyone's makeup in the play last year but you said it didn't count because it was a mental asylum and all I did was draw on eyebags. Look at me now, bitch!"
"Okay, okay. I'll take it back." She laughed, "Although that still definitely doesn't count because half the people in the show already had eye bags from all the long ass rehearsals." Stella turned around towards Oli, "Now, Mr. 'I'm so good at makeup' what should I do with my hair?"
Oliver thought for a moment. "It's just the first day, a blowout is probably the safest option. I'm gonna let you do that, though. I'll pick out an outfit for you," he grinned.
"Sounds like a deal. Can you wake up my brother while you're picking it out? I'll probably steal your mom's blow dryer again because she has the nice one." Stella responded. She reached towards the top of his dresser and stole his brush, beginning to work out the tangled knots in her hair from the shower.
"Yeah whatever, just don't break it. We don't need another 'hair straightener fiasco'" He told her, chuckling to himself at the memory. Oliver opened up the window, climbing down the rusty silver ladder that came up to his window.
Stella and Oliver's rooms were directly across from each other, something that strangely none of the other houses had. Once when they were kids, they believed that the houses were close enough to put a long board between their houses. Oliver was the one to fall and break his arm when the board slid out from one side. Since then, Oliver's mom settled for a ladder outside of his room, acknowledging the fact that he was probably going to figure out a less safe way to sneak out if he didn't have one.
There wasn't a ladder near Stella's house, her mom was always a bit stricter than Oliver's. Nevertheless, she scales down the brick wall of their house with ease from many years of sneaking over into Oliver's room, while Oliver chooses to take his time and grip onto each ledge with caution.
He slid open her window and pulled himself into the the colder room, heaving slightly. "Damn." He whispered, trying to stretch the pain away.
Oliver's first plan of action was to wake up Ethan, her eight year old brother who seemed to never get enough sleep.
He crept toward the room that sat a few doors down the hall, wincing when the door creaked. Oliver cussed out Estella's mom the night before, he didn't know if she was gonna show up and give him some payback. "Ethan? Ethan. Wake up, we're going to my house this morning."
The eight year old boy, with brown shining eyes filled with an innocence that made Oli's heart shatter woke up. "Five more minutes?" He whispered, pointing at the clock.
Oliver had to give in. "Okay, but that's it, you got that? I'll come back and wake you up but then we gotta go get you some breakfast." He watched the little boy curl back underneath his covers while he flipped the light back off, shutting the door.
A figure standing behind Oliver made him jump. He squinted in the darkness until he recognized the shape of the person's body. "Holy shit, Mr. Carter. You scared the hell out of me." He whispered.
"Sorry." Estella's father shrugged, leaning against the scuffed up wall. "Is Stella awake?"
"Um, yeah." He responded awkwardly, "She's at my house, if that's okay with you."
"That's fine, I was expecting that anyways." Mr. Carter frowned, but quickly covered up his feelings with another smile. "You tell her I love her, okay? And give her these."
"Got it. Thanks, Mr. Carter." Oliver gripped the cold metal of Estella's car keys. "I'll see you later." Her dad gave him a curt nod and turned back towards the stairs.
— — —
"Got your clothes, bitch." Oliver announced, tossing the clothing options onto her bed. "I know what you're gonna say, but I don't care."
Estella looked at the two clothing options, "I don't know about these." She muttered, mostly to herself.
"You always say that. Just try it out, I swear you'll look so hot." He told her. Oliver shot her a bright smile before he grabbed the clothes that he laid out next to his bed for himself. "Okay, get out. Go get ready in Mom's room."
Oliver quickly shooed his best friend out of his room and sighed deeply, letting himself fall back on to his bed. He knew this year would be rough, and with all of the classes he signed up for that year, he knew he would be swamped. Almost dreadfully, he stood back up and grabbed his clothes, adjusting his hair in the mirror before he pulled them on.
His sock drawer was a mess, could he even find any matching pairs? He did, near the bottom, they were two longer white socks but he knew they would have to work with his converse.
He stood silently in the mirror when his outfit was complete, not knowing what to do next. Some part of himself felt like it was missing something, he shrugged and continued out of the room.
Stella finished a few minutes before him, yet he wasn't surprised when he saw his mom obsessing over her outfit. A smile on her face that only a mother could smile once she saw her radiant daughter.
He cleared his throat. "Ready to go?"
"Oh yes." Stella smiled.
"My beautiful boy!" His mother exclaimed, running over to scoop him into a hug, "It's your junior year! I remember when you two were so little and I—"
"Okay, mom." Oliver blushed, embarrassed. "We gotta go."
"Whatever." She teased, "Have fun!"
— — —
The parking lot of the school was already packed with students that loitered around their cars with the hopes of one of their friends coming to chat with them.
"This year is so going to be my year." Magnolia sighed, leaning backwards against the side of Mateo's car. He glanced up at her.
"You said that last year." He muttered, "And now look where we are."
"Nothing bad happened." She shrugged. She chose to busy herself by using her compact mirror to inspect her makeup for the day.
"Well if it isn't my favorite losers." Jay walked over to the car, his blonde hair a bit messy, but somehow all of the girls absolutely loved that.
"Says the one who's so desperate to hang out with us every day." Mateo laughed, walking over to his best friend. The two embraced each other. "Ready for another shitty year?"
"Hell yeah. We're halfway done. And it's prom years for us, think of all the bitches." Jay commented, walking over to stand next to Magnolia. "Oh come on, don't make that face. You're not that innocent."
The blonde scoffed and pushed him away. "You're so lucky that I've known you. Or else I would have totally just beaten your ass."
"Oh yeah? Show me that jab then." Jay curled his hands in fists and pretended to jab at her. She turned her back to him with a faint smile, hidden from him. "Aw, don't ruin the fun." He groaned.
Mateo opened the door to the passenger side of his car, grabbing his backpack. As he walked back around, a shorter boy with glasses ran into him. Like he was on fire, Mateo whipped around and shoved him back. "Watch it." He hissed.
Jay chuckled, "Look at him go." He told Magnolia, watching as the boy, probably a freshman, scurried away as fast as he could. "I'll bet five bucks that he's gonna go cry in the bathroom."
"That's mean. I'll bet twenty." She responded.
The bell rang loudly across the parking lot, announcing to the students that class was about to start. The last few students in the parking lot began to walk inside.
The hallways were crowded, perhaps too crowded for the likes of Ilana. She scurried as fast as she could with her books clenched tightly against her chest. She took the opportunity to ditch her backpack inside of her locker for a less heavy alternative.
A quick shove from a quicker girl sent Ilana tumbling into the side of another guy. "Whoa there." He laughed.
"Sorry." She exclaimed, gripping her books so tight that they could practically break. She looked up to meet the eyes of Jaewoon, one of her closest friends. "Oh, it's you."
"Yep." His eyebrows furrowed once they stopped at a specific door. "Ms. Fawn?"
"Yeah." Ilana sighed, "Don't say anything. I know she sucks."
"Sucks? No, she's just a bitch. I'd change my schedule if I were you. Waking up to her first period will fuck you up."
"I'll think about it. What class do you have?"
"English. Ms. Delaney." Jae responded with a proud grin. "I've been her favorite since freshman year. It's basically a free period."
"It's like that for everyone." His friend laughed back. "Well, have fun with that. I'll see ya later."
Jae gave Ilana a quick side hug before he dashed down the halls, giving a high five to one of his friends who began to walk down the halls with guns
Ilana fixed her hair, her face a rosy pink from the interaction. Her crush on Jae was a crush that began on her first day of freshman year. She had nowhere to sit at lunch, and instead of finding a group, she sat down at an empty table. Jae walked over and introduced himself to her, and the rest was history.
— — —
"So. I'm sure you all have heard the same boring talk that you hear every year. So..." The US history teacher told the class, passing out the class syllabus. "I'm still required to do it. I'm not getting fired today." He turned back to the front of the class, walking back.
"I'm shocked he hasn't retired yet." Scarlet said to the nearest person next to her, which happened to be Hunter Morales, who groaned in return.
"First rule. Follow the dress code. No explanation needed."
"Probably because he hasn't paid off his student loans yet." A girl behind Scarlet snickered.
"My student loans are paid off, Miss Saénz. Rule number two. Respect this property. That means no graffiti, no breaking, etc."
"Sure they are, Mr. Abrams." Reign responded, mostly to herself. "Or maybe you just love making our lives miserable." She added to herself.
"Rule number three. Respect others. No fighting and definitely no bullying."
"Hunter, wake the fuck up." Wade hit his best friend across the arm. "It's the first day of school, man."
"Rule number four. No PDA. I'm looking at you, Mr. Hart."
"Huh?" Hunter jolted awake. "Sorry."
"Rule number five. Do not disrespect your teachers. I have and will use my power to send you to the principal's office."
"You going to the party tonight?" Wade whispered down to Hunter. "It's gonna be..."
"Look at that, a great example." Mr. Abrams interrupted. "Mr. Jenson, up to the office you go."
"Come on, Mr. A. It's the first day." Wade responded. "Today's supposed to be the grace day."
"Grace day is for freshmen. Not seniors who failed my class last year." Mr. Abrams responded, his voice sounding very restrained, as it always did when a student ticked him off. "I hope you learned your lesson from last year." He added, pointing down at the paper in front of Wade.
"Yes sir." Wade playfully saluted his teacher, which prompted a younger girl in the back to giggle to herself, which only added a cockier smirk to his face.
— — —
Stella didn't appreciate having to wait almost ten minutes for an open stall while her nostrils were overwhelmed with every fruity flowery scent there was. After what felt like an eternity, she was finally able to use the bathroom in (mostly) peace. As the unnecessarily loud flush of the toilet echoed throughout the bathroom, she unlocked the stall door and started washing her hands.
A blonde girl entered the bathroom, walking to the sink next to her. The girl brought out a makeup bag, which caused Stella to tilt her head slightly. The blonde noticed her gaze and smiled. "Oh, I'm just touching up. I swear, this school is so hot I'm basically sweating everything off," she laughed.
Stella just nodded and smiled as she reached for the paper towels. Realizing the dispenser was out, she sighed. The blonde looked up again. "Oh, I have tissues in my bag. Would that work?" The girl was already pulling them out, so Stella figured it was better than nothing. They shared a smile. "Thanks," she said as she threw the tissue in the trash after drying her hands the best she could. "No problem. I'm Magnolia, by the way."
"I'm Stella," she nodded. Magnolia stared at her face for a moment. "Your makeup is so pretty! How'd you do it? It's literally on perfectly." With wide eyes and a smile, Stella shrugged. "I'm not sure, my friend did it."
Magnolia nodded. "Well, send her my way," she joked. Stella just laughed. "Actually, it was my friend Oliver." Magnolia smiled. "That's cool. Well, I'll see you around, girlie. Gotta get to class," she waved and walked out of the bathroom, the door closing gently behind her. Stella looked into the mirror again, a large smile on her face. She made her way back to class with her head held just a little higher.
The bell rang the exact moment that Stella arrived back into the classroom, each student letting out a sigh of relief that they didn't even know they were holding. Lunch marked that half of the day was over, except for the lucky students who had their last periods off.
She swung her backpack over her shoulder and made her way slowly to the door, making sure that Wade would be able to catch up with her as he always took his time in putting his stuff away. "I'm coming Stelly-Belly." He told her, taking her hint. "It's not like it's lunch or anything." Estella responded back with a sarcastic smile, "But seriously, you need to hurry up. Oliver's gonna flip if he's the only one at the table.
Oliver indeed flipped out, going on a dramatic rant about how he had to sit for five excruciating minutes all alone at their table. "It was humiliating!" He groaned, "You guys make me look like I have no friends. But hey! I guess I do now." He added at the end sharply.
"Hey, people don't give a shit if you have friends or not. As long as you keep a smile on that pretty little face." Stella teased, sitting on the top of the table with her legs dangling off of the edge.
Her curly-haired friend scowled and let his head slump onto the table. "Fuck you."
"Look! There's Cora! Cora!" Wade stood up and waved his arms in the air, almost like a lunatic. "Cor-a! Cor-a!" He yelled, causing multiple heads to turn in their direction. Her head shot up like a deer caught in headlights, her face turning a bright shade of pink— so bright, in fact, that they could see from across the room.
Cora scurried over, trying to keep her head kept down from all of the students that were watching the interaction. Her hand reached forward to swat at Wade when she got close enough.
Wade stepped out of the way with a small chuckle. "I thought you liked attention, little miss theatre kid."
"Oh yeah, I definitely loved that." She responded sarcastically. "What's up with Oli?"
"We showed up to lunch late. He had to fight off dozens and dozens of kids to maintain our table, he's just sooo exhausted." Wade exaggerated, dragging out his words. "Our poor little boy almost died."
Estella slid off of the table to sit next to her best friend, wrapping a gentle arm around his shoulders. "You know we love you, Oli."
"I know, it's not you guys. It's my fucking classes. Who knew I'd have the most annoying teachers all lined up."
"Well let's go get it changed after school, maybe you can switch into my math period?" Stella suggested with a soft smile on her face. "Look at the bright side, at least you have theatre last, what a great way to end the day."
"You're right. Maybe this year won't be so bad." Oliver sat up, fixing his hair as he did so. The rest of the group showed up as lunch continued.
Estella looked up from the table, taking note of all of her friends. Jaewoon especially stood out to her. He stood with a smiling grin as he talked with Ilana— a new addition to the group. Soft, yet incredibly chatty, Ilana easily fit in with his friends.
"I'm serious, lana. You should really join the band. I swear it's not bad, all the crazy people left last year." Jae begged, "We're losing members and it's a really nice place."
"Nice offer, but no thanks. I'll gladly cheer you on during your competitions, though. First one is next Saturday, right?" Jaewoon spent the last week of his summer at the school's band camp— a time where they learned the majority of their works for the school's competition time, which usually continued on until the semester's end. Jaewoon, a junior, has already accepted the role as assistant drum major, which made him next in line to be the drum major for his senior year.
"Really? I'm shocked that you even know what day it's on. Usually nobody knows." Jae responded, a hint of shock in his voice.
"Well you guys are good, and you told me that like last week. Remember? The other time you tried to get me to join." Ilana reminded him with a soft smile, of course she remembered. She remembers everything that Jaewoon tells her.
"That's sweet. You should totally come. You can probably even come and sit up with the band while we watch all the other performances."
"Yeah? I think I'm free that day. It would be cool." She pretended to check the time, trying to hide the excited smile that shone across her face.
"Great! Then it's a date!" And then an awkward pause surrounded the two after his words, and in a desperate attempt to fix it, Jaewoon let his hand playfully punch into Iliana's shoulder, "As friends."
Ilana's smile didn't falter at once as he very clearly friendzoned her, don't lose your cool, she told herself. "As friends." She smiled back.
Cora slid into the seat next to Estella and hugged the brunette tightly. "My favorite musician! I was thinking, we haven't hung out in so long. But then I realize that I saw you like last week."
"Cora!" Stella hugged her back. "I know, the last week of summer was hectic, you know, procrastination on all my homework."
"Can't relate. I rarely had any, and most of my teachers collect their summer work on the second day of school."
"Well lucky you, I just had to get it done. Who knows what could happen today." Stella shrugged and poked at the food on her plate, she most definitely did not miss the cafeteria food.
— — —
The next class began with Oliver and Cora heading over to their theatre class. The theatre itself was a smaller building on the outside of the school's prosperity, with barely enough seats to provide any sort of revenue for the shows that they put on. Therefore, the class usually performs in the auditorium and uses that theatre for other activities.
His hand landed on top of the handle, and it was almost like a new day had started for him. A bright smile appeared on his face and he pulled the door open. His favorite class of the day, his family. Oliver loves theatre. He loves the way that anybody could pretend to be someone else, he loves the way that for once he could be some popular jock that everybody loved, and most importantly, He could feel somebody loving him— even if it's just on a stage.
Cora followed after him, her voice was to be envious of, but her stage fright always limited her to the smaller side parts that nobody else in the class would want. They both sat down in two of the seats while they waited for their teacher to arrive.
Ms. Amy strutted onto the stage and dramatically opened her arms. "My class." She announced. "I hope you all had an amazing summer, but now we have work to do."
The class let out a groan as the teacher hopped off of the stage and began to pass out various packets among the students. "I'm sure you are all aware of the play that we will be doing this semester. Auditions are next Friday. Please fill out these packets and turn them on by Monday. Do you understand?"
A few murmured agreements were enough to prompt Ms. Amy to keep talking. "As my highest class, I expect not to be disappointed. Now, onto the play itself," she smiled.
Oliver nudged Cora with a grin as he looked at the packet. "I think you should try and go for a bigger role. You're literally incredible, and it's a small cast anyway."
Cora looked unsure. "I don't know, I might just go for Caitlin. It's small, but still necessary. I might even just do tech." Oliver crossed his arms. "Cora, come on. At least look at the other characters. This show is great, and so are you. It would be a shame for you to not have a big part."
As if to add on to what he said, Ms. Amy then started talking about casting. "I know the capabilities of each and every one of you. Why settle for good when you aspire to be great? Don't be afraid to branch out and try new things. At least then you'd have tried, right?"
Cora looked down at the packet once again. Then, she pulled out her phone and typed in Over the River and Through the Woods script.
— — —
Alessio sat in the back row of his English class, the seat next to him empty as the rest of the seats began to fill. He sighed, nobody wanted to sit next to him in his math class either, probably because it was harder to cheat off of a foreign exchange student who barely knew what the word 'addition' meant. Of course, he knew how to do math, just like how he knows how to write an essay, but the small blanks in his head between the two languages cause him to stumble and mess up easier than others. For example, when he stood up in his history class and he introduced himself completely in Italian.
The bell rang and the foreign exchange student lost hope. He began scribbling down random words in his notebook until they formed an English sentence. Not yet pleased with himself, he slowly tried to find a way to add the word 'addition' to it. He barely noticed the blond boy slide into the seat next to him. "Do you think the teacher noticed that I'm late?" He asked, causing Alessio to look up in his seat.
"Oh, no. Not really."
"Are you new here? I haven't seen you around." Jay reached next to him and pulled out a black notebook, opening it up.
Alessio nodded. "Yeah. Foreign exchange student, actually." He leaned back in his chair, tossing his pencil onto the table in front of him. The desk was small, but sat two people comfortably, maybe even three people if they really squished— which happened to the unlucky group next to them.
"Oh that's sick, man. Your English is pretty good." The blond grinned.
"Good enough to not qualify for the senior English class." He muttered underneath his breath. "I failed the test to get inside. Accidentally wrote 'fuck' instead of 'fast'" Alessio explained with a small frown.
"And she failed you for that? What a bitch." Jay chuckled dryly. "I'm sorry. That must suck."
"You should've seen my dad's face when he found out. Practically shoved me out the door." Alessio joked, although the truth of his sentence showed in his eyes. "It's okay though, I already have my english credits, this is just to help me out in college."
"Ohh. So that's why you're here? You wanna go to a college here." As though it almost clicked in Jay's head, he nodded and leaned back on his seat. "That's pretty smart."
"It's my dad's idea. But thanks." Alessio shrugged like it was no big deal and glanced up at the teacher, who was passing out the syllabus for the class. Once the teacher reached them, the bell rang. Miss Delaney scoffed and set the rest of the stack on their desk. "You two be a hoot and pass those out for me, okay?" And without furthermore, she turned around and left.
The two boys exchanged a glance and reluctantly stood up, the rest of the class was already scattering out, so they left the stack of papers alone and rushed out of the classroom before Miss Delaney could notice.
"What's your next class?" Jay asked in the hallway, leaning against one of the lockers.
"Um, home ec." Alessio responded. "I know, but I had to get an extracurricular to be able to go here. This one seems easier."
"No judgment. I heard that class is an easy A." The blond grinned before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Here's my number. Maybe you can come hang out with me and my friends sometime."
"That is... What do you guys call it?" Alessio took the paper. "Oh yeah. That is sick." Jay gave him one last smile before he turned around and walked away, leaving the foreign exchange student to go and find his next class.
— — —
The school day ended with little amounts of joy for any of the students. The school erupted with loud noises as the bell rang, releasing them for the rest of the day. A large majority of the students lingered around the front of the school until they could say their goodbyes to their friends. Including Estella, who waited patiently for Oliver to meet her at their usual spot. Oliver didn't have a car, but she always drove him and even sometimes let him use hers when she knew she wouldn't need it.
She checked her watch. Approximately twenty minutes until she would have to be at her little brother's elementary school to pick him up. A faint smile played at her lips while she watched all of the students join each other. This year was going to be different, she could feel it. This year, she was going to go out and no longer hide in the comfort of her own home. She needed to have fun.
"Hey, I remember you." A voice spoke from behind her, to which Estella turned around quickly. She was met with the beautiful eyes of Magnolia Palmer.
"Oh, hey." Stella tried to play it off cooly, as though she didn't care about the status of the person she was talking to. But she did. Magnolia was probably the most perfect girl in the entire school, with her perfect blonde hair— and not to mention her popularity.
"Your makeup didn't even smudge." The blonde laughed, "I'm so jealous. I had to go back into the bathroom during English to add some more powder."
"I doubt you even need it." Stella shrugged. "I mean, you're insanely gorgeous."
"You're so sweet!" Magnolia laughed, "I'm shocked we haven't met sooner." A genuine compliment, something that Estella did not expect to receive from her. From a far distance, Magnolia seemed intimidating, but as Estella talked to her more, she began to realize why everyone loves her.
"Probably because we haven't had any classes together, and with Tennis after school—"
"You play tennis?" Magnolia interrupted. "That's so cool. I wish I knew how to play."
"Oh yeah?" Estella laughed sheepishly. "Well thanks. Maybe I could teach you some day."
"I would love that!" The blonde was soon interrupted by a car honking at her, "Well that's my ride. I'm sure I'll see you sometime soon. Bye!" She gave Estella a quick wave before she turned around and walked over to the car. She said something to the driver and climbed into the passenger seat, letting the car drive her away.
Estella was too wrapped up in watching the car drive out of eyesore that she didn't even notice her best friend walking up to stand behind her.
"I didn't know you and Magnolia were friends." Oliver commented, but it wasn't a statement. A question lingered in his voice.
"I- um. We're not. I mean, we weren't?" She responded, turning around to meet his tired gaze. "Do you wanna head home? Ethan is gonna get out in like five minutes anyway."
Oliver forced a small smile on his face. "Okay." He linked his arm through her's and let Estella lead him out to her car, cracking a few senseless jokes every now and then to make him laugh.
And in the blink of an eye, the first day of school was over. Each student found themselves home or with their friends to celebrate the survival of a whole new year of hell.
— — —
NOTE FROM THE WRITERS
chapter one is finally out! it's taken so long because it has been very difficult to try and get to know each character and write them they way we want them to be written. the first chapter is always the hardest to write. some characters have not been included in the chapter, not because we don't like your ocs, but because we chose a very large cast — and that means that sometimes your character won't be mentioned for awhile. some characters have been removed due to a lack of activity from their creator (such as opinions) so the replacement ocs (if any) will be up be next chapter.
please join the discord too! ashe and i will be announcing a lot of important things on there (plus it does help us get to know your oc which WILL give your character more writing time)
thank you so much for the wait and thank you for reading. we love you so much
love,
ashe and janie
dedications: niziyours- , erytophobia , boyproblems_ , saviorsuns , koogrlf , -----selene , taylorsera , simplybunniesx , sinfuIkisses , liana98769 , mylittle_island