"No Nami, don't."
"(Y/N)–"
"Nami, I'm serious."
Nami paused, looking at me with a sly & sheepish grin.
"You didn't."
"Yeah about that.."
Then I saw it.
It was me–my face–plastered on a school bulletin board. The words 'Homecoming 2020' in a jazzy font written under it.
"Nami please tell me this is a joke," I pleaded dreadfully.
"Come on (Y/N)! It'll be fun, you might even get to win and be on the Homecoming Court with someone special~" She sang the last part, nodding towards another poster of the one and only, bane of my existence, Kid.
I literally couldn't believe her right now.
...Who am I kidding, of course I did. She's been on my case about Kid tenfold since that party.
I don't even know why, we didn't even talk much that night. I was hanging out with Nami & her friends all night.
I didn't think she'd go this far though..
"Come on, I don't want any trouble. Isn't Bonney running too? This is just wrong." I sighed out as we arrived to the cafeteria.
"Yeah she is, but that doesn't mater! You still have a chance." Nami was cheerfully optimistic.
"You realize I've been at this school for not even 3 months, and I'm not exactly winning any popularity awards being in band and all.."
"Sure whatever, that would have been true a week ago, but everyone knows you now Birdie." She smirked.
"I will stab you with this spork."
"You know you like it, I see the way you roll your eyes~"
"Just eat, you're starting to give me a headache."
She finally gave it a rest, getting out whatever fruity concoction she brought for lunch. Something with tangerines probably.
I started eating as well, surveying the ever-filling cafeteria—as you do.
As I was glancing around the room, I saw another poster with my face again. I made a mental note to yell at Nami later because I noticed a certain pink-haired cheerleader looking at it. Her face was plastered on the wall nearby on another poster. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for something. When her target was acquired, I felt her cold gaze on me. She seemed to analyze me for a moment before putting on a smile and walking over to our table.
"You're running too? How fun!" Her voice was a sickening sweet tone.
"Yeah, a fun surprise for me too." I matched her tone, glaring at Nami.
Nami acted innocently, but her next statement shot my anxiety through the roof.
"What, you're not scared of loosing to (Y/N), are you?"
I stopped mid-bite of my food, looking at Nami warily.
Bonney reacted noticeably, but remained her sickly sweet demeanor, "Oh of course not, no offense (Y/N)."
I tried to compose myself the best I could, "N-No worries, I don't expect to win something as shallow as that."
Why did I say that—
Now it was Nami's turn to look at me warily. Bonnie just kept her sweet girl act up, but I could tell that one really got her.
"It's much more than just a popularity contest silly!," she stabbed at her salad, "You probably wouldn't get it because you've probably never been on the homecoming court before, but it's a big responsibility."
"I'm sure." I gave a strained smile, using all of my willpower not to roundhouse her in the middle of this heavily populated cafeteria. "I think I'm gonna start my free block early; we have that project due soon in anatomy and I'm way behind on my part."
Nami nodded and allowed me to leave, knowing full well of the tension.
There was hardly anyone in the library when I arrived.
It was the lunch period, what did I expect...
I found a desk in the back, pulled out my laptop, and started working on me and Law's anatomy project. It was a two part lab report and visual component on a system/organ in the human body.
Law insisted we take on the cardiovascular system, aka the heart. I wasn't opposed, and in theory I didn't even have to do a lot of work much at all.
He opted to do the lab report if I did the annotated bib and came up with a cool design for the poster or whatever we made.
However, when it comes to assignments outside of band class, I am an awful procrastinator. It's due like Monday and it's Friday afternoon before I'm even attempting to do any of it.
Law's already done with the whole report aspect of it.
I hope he doesn't make band extra hard for me if I tank this grade for him..
About halfway through the third or fourth source on the bib page, a familiar—annoyingly perfect—face assumed the chair next to mine.
"Hey birdie~"
"Hey kiddo, kinda busy right now—come bother me a little later?" I smiled at my screen, not even bothering to look at him.
He slumped onto the desk, putting his face next to my laptop, "Awh come on, it's not everyday you skip girl time at lunch for me and the library."
I rolled my eyes, "Well girl time today was interrupted by your girlfriend."
I noticed his cheek puff out as his tongue prodded against the inside in annoyance.
"You know she's not—I know Kid."
I finally looked down at him next to my hand. He looked back up at me, in silence.
Then, we kinda just looked at each other for a second.
He looked almost sad, like he wanted to say something. I wish he would say it. Whatever he was holding back. His rigid stare, the permanent scowl, his furrowed brows. I wish he would let down that guard, even for just a moment.
Maybe it was—no—it was definitely a thing of pride.
He still hadn't said anything, and I wasn't going to dare to speak on it either.
How long had we been staring at each other?
I tapped his face lightly with my palm, breaking the tension, "I just like messing with ya."
He rolled his eyes, that familiar smirk returning to his face.
Things were silent for another moment. This period was less tense, not a lot of things left up to interpretation.
Then he broke it this time, "So are the rumors true?"
"Which ones, the ones about you and I? The ones about me and Heat? About you-know-who?" I replied, in between sentences of annotation.
"You'll have to fill me in on those a little later," he put an arm around my shoulder, in a weird, chummy way, "but when were you gonna tell me you were running for homecoming court?"
I left my head fall, pushing my laptop away momentarily.
"See, I thought that—It's not–It's not like that."
I interrupted him before he could say anything else on the matter.
He retracted his arm to face me, "Oh so your face isn't plastered all over the walls of the school?"
I could see he was eating this up. He's always been a tease. Just couldn't pass up any opportunity to jump all over my nerves.
"I'm hurt Kid," I put a hand to my chest, assuming a sad demeanor, "I can't believe you'd peg me as the type to willingly participate in such a shallow display of a popularity contest."
"So you're not running?"
"Don't sound too sad kiddo, I wouldn't want to get in the way of Bonney after all," I scoffed and stifled a laugh at his displeasure.
"Well now you have to run and beat her; sure, you're not my 1st choice, but you're a better option than that bitch."
I had completely forgotten about the project at this point, "How flattering, but what makes you think I want to be her replacement? What part of 'shallow display' made you think I was down for any of this."
"Come on birdie, is it because you don't think you'll win?"
"Alright,
A. It's a popularity contest and I've literally been at this school for less than 3 months,
B. I have no interest in winning; Nami entered me in the 1st place,
And C. Why would I want to spend anymore time with you than I already have to?," I teased with the last point, watching him smile in disbelief.
"You're a real piece of work birdie."
"I know." I chime quickly, pulling my laptop closer again to distract myself from the warmth that bubbled in my abdomen.
"(Y/N) (L/N)!"
A voice calls out to me from across the library. I look up to the source and see Usopp a fair amount of shelves away. A not so quiet wave of 'shhhh's rang towards long-nose as he all but stomped towards me.
"Wha–What? What did I do, why am I in trouble?" I was so taken aback by the tone in which he used my first AND last name.
He whispered harshly, "Don't act like you don't know," he slammed his bag onto the desk, sitting across the surface from me.
I closed my laptop defeatedly. Wouldn't get any work done with these two around...
"The least you could do is tell me what charges you're pressing against me," I mirrored his look, in a more questioning way.
"How come you didn't tell me you were running on the homecoming court! Tell me why I, your best friend, had to find out on some cheaply produced poster in the hallway!," he whisper-yelled this time, wary of the other library goers spilling in for their free period.
I rolled my eyes in genuine annoyance, "I'm glad you thought they were tacky too—but anyway, you can thank dear ol' Nami for that stunt."
"So you're not running?"
"Oh, she definitely is," Kid chimes in, to which I grimace at.
"Helllllll no! I was actually thinking about asking you to help me take them all down Usopp," I returned my attention to the pondering drummer in front of me.
"Well well not so hasty (Y/N), we could rework this, we could work with this..."
"Now you too?!"
"See birdie? Maybe this isn't that bad."
Kid punched my shoulder lightly, eating up my suffering. I pulled out my phone to text Law. Hopefully he wouldn't be too mad at me for waiting this late..
=====𝚝𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝙻𝚊𝚠 ♥︎♪=====
Me:
can't focus today, wanna come over this weekend?
I have all the stuff
we just need to do it
Law♥︎♪:
that's fine
I'll let you know when I'm free at practice
=====𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍=====
Since I couldn't stop Nami, and now Usopp, I decided to entertain their idea to make me homecoming queen. There's no shot in hell I would even come close to winning, so why not play along for my friends? I'm honestly just most surprised Nami didn't want the spot herself. Kid was oddly supportive of the "movement" as well; whether it was fueled by his dislike for Bonney or... something else... I would have to figure out later.
English was a blur. In between bits and pieces of conversations between Nami, Luffy, Ace, & Sabo, I was just trying make it through the day with as little drama as possible. Seems to follow me everywhere at Grand Line..
"I guess that's the price I have to pay for a great music program.." I sighed out as I entered the locker room. I took my clothes to the bathroom to change, hopefully no unwanted visitors would break into my stall...
I got there late, Nami and Usopp totally left me in the dust after English. I'll make a mental note to pretend to be mad at them in a few minutes.
I changed and waited until I heard commotion in the gym to exit my stall. Time to slip into the crowd..
"What the hell is your problem?!"
Nevermind.
It was Bonney, unsurprisingly. She was waiting for me right outside my stall, like a crazy person.
"I could ask you the same thing."
I tried to act unaffected and tough at her tone, but if I'm being honest she kinda scared me.
"I don't know who you think you are, but i'm going to need you to back off of what's mine."
"Are you serious?"
It flew from my mouth before I couldn't even think of anything else. Words seem to be escaping me like that as of late.
I mean, I guess I've already pissed her off. It can't get that much worse..
"Okay, let's imagine that I am trying to steal what's yours,"
I step past her, closer to the exit of the locker room,
"1. If Kid was 'yours', you wouldn't have broken his heart by 'claiming' the rest of the football team with your throat and he would still have something to do with your sorry ass.
2. If Nami was 'yours', you wouldn't be so insecure that a silly little band girl who just moved here was stealing her away from you.
And 3. if you were so sure that you have a secure spot as the homecoming queen, you wouldn't be so threatened by a girl who has been attending this school for 3 months."
I reached for the door handle, feeling like I've made mistakes, but in too deep to stop now,
"Please let me know if I can do anything to make you less insecure, it's important for girls to look after other girls."
I left her there with a smile. As soon as the door behind me shut, I was in full blown panic mode.
"Why did I say all that stuff, why did I say all that stuff, why did I.."
I was stuck in a trance; floating around the chaotic happenings of a high school gym, and repeating a petrified mantra to myself.
"(Y/N)..? (Y/N).... (Y/N)!"
I distant voice and a hand to my shoulder brought me up for air.
"Heat?"
He stood beside me, a concerned look plastered on his face.
"You okay? You look like you're about to pass out."
"I... I-I'll be fine, just didn't eat today..."
I came up with whatever lie I could think of fastest.
"Well.. you should eat before practice at least," Heat didn't seem fully convinced, "Anyway, I wanted to say that you've got our votes for homecoming."
He gave a little thumbs up, trying to lighten the mood.
"Oh, you saw those?"
I cringed a little. Everyone probably has at this point, and the worst part about it now is the overall poster design. I think Usopp's going to rework it this weekend.
"Yeah, we all did. We didn't think you'd go for something like that, but we're glad Kid did a good job at convincing you."
"Wait, huh?"
All my panic and cringe was gone, now I just had that to chew on.
"Yeah, Kid got you to run, right?"
"No, I found out I was running at lunch. Nami entered me."
Heat's mouth formed a silent 'o'.
"Ah.. well, in any case, good luck."
He smiled before he returned to Killer, Wire, and Kid himself.
I watched him walk back to their spots on the bleachers, and I watched them acknowledge his arrival. Heat turned back to me briefly and pointed. They all looked at me briefly, and Kid and I met eyes for a moment.
My stomach felt light. From the lack of food, sure, but Kid wanted me to run?
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ⏳ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
"I can come over tomorrow around 5, is that okay?"
"Yeah totally, I'll see you tomorrow."
I left Law at the podium to go get my instrument and find Kid. Luckily, Law is not mad at me and our project should be done tomorrow. Kid was sitting on the bleachers next to my instrument, like usual. When I got close enough, he picked up my instrument and we started towards his Jeep.
"So what were you and Law talking about?"
I took note of his tone,
"Nothing important, why do you ask?"
Kid kind of huffed,
"You know, I'm kind of getting tired of waiting an extra 15 minutes after your practice for you to talk to Law everyday."
Ah, so that's what it was.
"If you must know kiddo," I grinned at his tone, "I was asking him what time he'll be over tomorrow so we can finish our anatomy project."
I saw him twitch when "anatomy" left my lips.
"You'd really let that Dr. Giggles wannabe in your house?"
He gave me a questioning look before he started the Jeep up.
"You're just jealous you've never been invited over," I scoffed at his 'Dr. Giggles' remark, "Like I said, it's for our anatomy project. I'd rather not tank this grade for him and have him take it out on me on the field later this season.."
He seemed to brood over the steering wheel, as he barely spoke the rest of the ride home. I mostly ignored his mood and talked about whatever I wanted to. Eventually he'd respond enough and get over his little mood.
"I think I'm gonna ask him if he knows anything about trig after we finish our project."
Kid seemed to perk up as I spoke.
"I asked Usopp, but he's about as useless as me. I figured he'd have a better grasp considering his dad teaches the stuff.."
"Why didn't you ask me?"
"Why would I ask you? You rip on the demographic that would be good at trig like daily."
"Maybe because I'm taking calculus and physics this year for fun? I could do trig in my sleep."
I looked him up and down skeptically. That's the man I have to get help from in order to pass math this year?
"Okay, so where do we go from here?"
I mean, spending a little more time with Kid wouldn't be so bad...
"Well I'm not helping you if there's nothing in it for me."
His familiar smug face didn't annoy me as much anymore.
I hate it.
"So spending time with me isn't good enough for you?"
"Don't kid yourself, you know the only reason I take you to school and back is because of my old man."
"Oh so your dad makes you carry my books and my instrument everyday," he handed my instrument out the back seat, "and I suppose he's the reason you bother me everyday in the library? Hm?"
Kid rolled his eyes.
"I'd never hear the end of it from Heat if I was mean to you, so thank my thorny friend."
I made a small 'ah' noise.
"If it helps you sleep at night kiddo."
I chuckle, leaning on my case a little.
"But for real, if you can help me with some music appreciation class I have to take, I can teach you trig."
"Music appreciation? That's it?"
I stifle a laugh.
"Do you wanna pass trig or not?"
I give a defeated look, holding out my hand,
"Fineeee! You got a deal."
We shook on it and we each turned to go to our respective houses.
As the cool air of my room hit my warm skin, I sighed a breath of release. What am I doing? I know what's happening. I look past my window across to Kid's. He sat at his desk on his phone, back turned to me. I stood and stared for a moment.
"Why him..?"
I closed my curtains and let my body fall to the pillowy sheets of my bed.
"I hope I win."
♥️♥️♥️
WOAH, I UPDATED????
Crazy, I know lol
So uhmmmmm, not dead yet. Not gonna stop updating until I am probs.
This chapter kinda feels like filler to me, but I kinda just needed to get it out to build the plot a little more.
Forgive me if it's not up to your likings, I'll try to really bring it in the next chapter, whenever that may be.
Thank y'all for all y'all's continued support; keep favoriting and commenting.
Like wow, 16.6k reads and almost 800 favorites???? THAT'S CRAZY
I LOVE to see all the comments people leave when they read the story for the first time, it's just super awesome to see how much traction this story has gotten.
Anyways, as always comment on things you like, dislike, and things you think I could do better,
Until next update lovelies ♥️