(A/N: do you want this to be a short story or a long one? I have a finale in mind but I can make one 2000 word chapter into two 1000 word chapters for example)
Julian POV
I couldn't help but watch Sean and Josh seemingly have the most fun with Kaycee and the other girl I haven't met
Was I jealous?
No
Did I wish Josh would stop fighting me on what felt like every little thing nowadays?
Yes
I just want him to just shut up and follow my lead, I'm not perfect but I don't want all my choices questioned and argued with by my bestfriend
Do I want Sean to side with me for once instead of Josh all the time?
Yes
Look I know Sean knew Josh longer than he knows me but Josh isn't right all the time and to have the one person who is the most level headed out of the three of us not picking favorites would be nice
Flashback
It was the second week of school and our team just won the first game of the season and everyone wanted a basketball player no matter how good they were
Weirdly all the starters were single with exception to Leon as he was clearly talking to Tahani
But I think I found a girl I would like
"What about that girl?" I said to Sean and Josh as we chilled at our lockers "She is really pretty"
"I mean yeah but do you even know her?" Josh said
"That's Chloe East I spoke to her a few times afterschool she's nice" Sean told me
"Should I make my move?" I said as her and her friends were looking at us
"I don't know what if you just wait and get to know the girl or even pick a girl you already know?" Josh said
"A girl I already know?"
"I mean you and Tati were close at her party friday" Josh added
"...Yeah but I mean that was just because I was at a party with people I didn't know yet besides you two" Julian said "And I knew her from dance so it made sense to at least introduce myself properly"
"Makes sense" Sean said
"So what's the move Sean? You're our point guard you make the decision" I said as I see Chloe moving her finger towards her telling me to come here
"You both make good points, she obviously wants you and you want her but I do agree with Josh in that maybe you should get to know her a little better" Sean said as I rolled my eyes as he obviously agreed with Josh "I'm just saying keep your options open"
"Appreciate that but I'm going in" I said as I walked towards her
"Hey I'm Julian whats your name beautiful?"
Flashback end
"Babe did you hear me?" Chloe said
"Sorry Chloe what did you say?"
"Are you ready for our history test on Tuesday?" She repeated to me
"Test?"
"Yeah you know the big first test of the class that she talked about repeatedly yesterday" Chloe said to me as I was confused
"I must have been focusing on the game..." I said as I can only really focus on one thing on gameday
"You need to get a tutor so you can pass it if you missed all the info yesterday" she told me
"You too?" Leon said overhearing us
"What, are you struggling in history too?" I asked him
"No, but Tahani is" he said pointing to Tahani gaining her attention
"I messed up on the quiz it doesn't mean I'm struggling" Tahani said
"I told her to get Tati to tutor her but she keeps saying no" Leon said
"I'll ask if she can tutor us both" I said as I got up
"Wait don't!" Tahani said but I was already moving "Don't use my name!"
I heard her and approached the table Tati and her friends were at, the girls were smiling at me except for Tati who just looked as if I had hurt her before
"Hey ladies!" I introduced myself
"Hi Julian!" 3 of the 4 girls said
"What do you want Julian?" Tati said with a eyebrow raised
"I was hoping you could tutor me and a friend for the history test coming up?" I said as nicely as I could as for whatever reason she was being defensive towards me
"What's in it for me?" Tati said as now we're apparently negotiating
"Um... free tickets to the next big game?!" I suggested which got her to raise an eyebrow "Unless theirs something specific you want?"
"How about you owe me a favor" Tati said with a smirk that I already didn't like
"What kind of favor?"
"No worries its nothing horrible, it might not even come up but I just want to make sure I get something as tickets are already free for students remember?" Tati said as I forgot that only parents and opponent schools students pay for games
"...Fine I'll owe you a favor so when should we meet up?" I said as I have to take her word on it not being horrible
"...Tomorrow if that's okay with you and your friend" Tati said after some thinking
"Saturday should be fine, I'll text you!" I said as I have her number from old dance stuff
"Alright bye Julian" Tati said as I walked back to my table
"So what did she say?" Leon asked as I sat back down
"She said she would do it I'll just owe her something" I said "We are going to meet up tomorrow okay?"
"Yeah... fine..." Tahani said obviously not happy "I'm going to go to the bathroom"
"Something wrong with her?" Chloe asked Leon
"I honestly don't know, I think her and Tati might have some bad history or something" Leon said
"That's... strange..." I said quietly as they used to be close back in the dance days with Kaycee
"What's so strange?" Lexee asked me as she overheard me speaking out loud
"Nothing" I said as I took note of how even Kaycee and Tati weren't by each other "Just girls can be weird"
"Agreed!" Leon said
"Hey!" the girls said
The bell ringed and it was time for everyone to go to their next class which for me was Science
I sat down in my seat next to Chloe and I never really paid too much attention before but Tati and the girl Sean and Josh sat with at lunch today who after attendance I now know is named Bailey
I couldn't help but steal glances at Tati as the situation with her and Tahani and possibly Kaycee just made me curious
It was probably nothing, I should focus on class so I won't have two classes to worry about
Tati POV
Science was boring but something felt different than usual...
Maybe that Julian was stealing glances at me that he probably thinks I don't notice because of my hair covering my eyes but I saw him each time, and if I didn't know any better I would be blushing
But It was probably that Bailey was giving me death glares from behind me
"Alright class since we made it through the week's lesson faster than we thought, use the rest of class time to talk quietly" our science teacher said
"Tatiana" Bailey said from behind me as I had to roll my eyes after hearing my full name when literally everyone knows to call me Tati
"Whats wrong Bailey"
"I have to ask but why do you hate Kaycee?" Bailey asked as I froze "She's so sweet! And the fact that you of all people used to be her friend still confuses me"
"None of your business what happened between us but I don't hate Kaycee" I told her
"Yeah and you're not a bitch to everyone that isn't your three friends!" Bailey said as I already have a history of being mean to others
"Look you can say all you want about me but you don't know me!" I said as I had to refrain myself from slapping this female
"I know enough! You came into the school year with the mindset that 'I'm the baddest bitch and everyone else even your best friends don't matter, it was get on board with what you say or get out the way' right" Bailey said "I mean didn't you have the first party just to let people know 'Hey I'm going to be the popular girl in the school!' "
"Whatever" I can't admit that she was partially right
"Yeah you're right its whatever! Because everyone knows the most popular people are the basketball players and cheerleaders" Bailey said which she wasn't wrong... "It must hurt to also push away your other best friend Tahani because now she's more liked than you as she did it the right way by being kind and fun, and now you're just known as the schools bitch"
"Teacher may I go to bathroom?" I asked my teacher as I'm tired of this conversation and the teacher nodded yes
"Yeah you might as well leave just like you left Kaycee" Bailey continued
I made my way out the classroom and went to my locker, I wanted to get my headphones so I can listen to music for the rest of the day, I made it their and couldn't help but look at Kaycee's locker
Flashback
Day after I texted Kaycee the weird text
We were both at our lockers with only one locker in between as we left the space for Tahani originally...
"Um... Tati about yesterday" Kaycee started but I rolled my eyes as she was always sensitive about these things "Why didn't you try to convince your friends to have me and Bailey sit with you?"
"I didn't want to"
"W-why not?" Kaycee asked
"Look Kaycee you're a weirdo you know that, I know that, you're not going to be like by everybody and my friends don't think your cool enough" I told her as she started to get sad again which I ignored and I started to walk to my next class
"They don't know me, you know me so how are you just going to let them talk about me like that" Kaycee said
"Look I get along with them so well, so why can't you just let it go and be with Bailey"
"So they already matter more to you than I do... after all these years..." She said which made me pause but I kept walking
Flashback end
I thought I was doing it for her benefit as letting her know that its not me its my friends that don't like her that much
but when she said that last sentence I had a feeling that our friendship was basically over
Its been a little over a month since KayHanAti separated and over the course of that month my persepction of how I wanted my high school years to go changed
Unfortunately Bailey was right I wanted to be known as THAT girl, the smart, pretty girl, who was very popular with everyone, had a football boyfriend and threw the best parties
However, parties were fun but several people threw better parties as I didn't allow things like alcohol at mine
Football was not a thing at this school as we don't even have a field and the basketball players got taken quick
The cheerleaders were literally perfect, they were nice, pretty, smart and friendly, who needs someone like me when they were cheerleaders would gladly date guys ranging from losers to jocks
I still had my intelligence but with a few exceptions the classes were easy and multiple people had straight A's which didn't help my case for being the smart girl
I wanted to be Sharpay before Gabriella got to East High in High School Musical but when I got here they were already multiple Gabriella's...
So I've been trying to ease up on my 'bitchy' tendencies but they still seep through
And people like Bailey trying me doesn't help that
In KayHanAti
I was the closest thing to what you would call a leader for us three as I would always find stuff for us to do and motivated the other two whenever they had trouble but I was still seen as the mean tough one
But Kaycee's niceness balanced that out, as well as being the most understanding with any of our problems and disagreements, as her natural sweetness didn't cause many issues but
Tahani was the glue, I wouldn't have met Kaycee without Tahani, and among the many differences Kaycee and I had ranging from large things to small things like make up, Tahani was the happy medium that made all of us click as a unit
We were the trio and I pretty much ruined us in one day...