Georgie smiled warmly at the other girl before she fished her phone out of her pocket and looked quickly at the time.
"Yeah, I'm going to Bea's party as well." Her hand lingered on the handlebar of the Vespa and she scooted a tiny bit closer to it, eager to get going. She usually would've offered Millie a ride but the other girl looked uncomfortable enough and she also had her cat so Georgie was pretty sure she wouldn't want to get on the scooter, especially with someone like Georgie who was pretty much the opposite of who Millie would've liked to hang out with. The girl seemed to like the quiet, which Georgie absolutely couldn't stand and while sweet she wasn't really social enough to hold a conversation that Georgie would deem entertaining to her.

Georgie flipped up the helmet, fastening it securely under her chin before she straddled the seat and waved a hand.
"I'm so sorry, I would offer you a ride but..." She gestured towards the cat and flipped up the scooter's breaks. She did want to become friends with Millie but then there were other opportunities to do that, right?
The silence was starting to become unbearable so Georgie kickstarted the engine and pulled her hair out from the strap of the helmet.
"Well, I'd better get going? I'll see you there, yeah?" And with that Georgie took off, hoping that it did not seem so rude, turning back again to smile at Millie and to beg that she understood.



The wind blew by her hair as Georgie threaded through the crowd of cars, whose inhabitants took turns honking at each other and yelling out curse words into the hot, humid air. She loved LA. A grin threaded its way across her face as she slowed down to a stop at the light. Today had been a pretty good day overall, she thought to herself. A day filled with cute boys, the feeling of sunshine on her skin and ending with a nice day with Bea and all the others.

Georgie rolled up to the front of Bea's house and put down her foot on the ground, sliding out her phone from her pocket to text Bea:

GEORGIA F: Hey babe...I'm @ at your front door!

Bea watched the conveyer belt slowly work the groceries toward the older woman who quickly scanned the items before pushing them toward the bag boy. There was a click as a divider was placed down and someone else's items joined hers. She watched for a moment, noticing that they were much like her own - snacks. Her eyes returned to her own things. She began to dig through her fanny-pack to get her wallet when the man next to her spoke.

"It's Beatrice, right?"

Stopping the digging, hand still in the pack, she turned her face toward the stranger. Who was this? How did they know her name? She frowned slightly - just a small twitch of the corners of her lips and a furrow of her brow. It was brief but he might have caught the minor instance of an expression on her cold face. Tilting her head to the side, the curly haired girl responded, "That's correct." Her voice was a soft, gentle monotone. She then put her attention on the woman handling her things as she had almost finished ringing her up.

"You having a party or something?"

He was still talking to her? Bea was surprised, she didn't know him. Attention back on the young man beside her, she chewed her lower lip as she took an uncomfortably long time studying him. "Ah," she finally said, eyebrows raised and a kinder tone warmed her bronzed face. "I go to school with you. Yes, I am having an 'or something.' You are welcome to come if you like." She dug through her fanny pack and pulled out a little notebook and pen. She quickly scrawled out her name 'Bea' and phone number. The handwriting was elegant and almost like calligraphy. She pushed the paper into his hand as the woman who was checking her out recited - "Your total comes to $123.89."

Bea then, like the strange little hurricane she was, quickly paid for her items and left the store.

---

---

Archer’s finger traced the curves of Kavans chest absentmindedly as they both still lay in his bed. They hadn’t moved for a couple of hours just staying in bed talking and laughing, in utter paradise. Suddenly they were pulled back to reality by the sound of the front door opening and the murmur of voices. Archer could feel his friend tense up under his hand he looked up at his eyes seeing them widen… was that panic?

“Maa, daddy you’re home early!” you could hear Amoli saying from downstairs almost as a warning.

Kavan shot out of bed scrambling to get his clothing on at the same time he was running his hands through his hair making it more presentable. “Is…” Archer started a feeble attempt to get Kavan’s attention.

His friend looked around his room before he looked back up at Archer’s worried face. “I think you better go home for now…”

The words smacked him hard in the face. His eyes rose and fell slowly “Oh… oh yeah sure… of course.” He said as he quickly got dressed a million thoughts running through his head as he did. As Archer passed him in the doorway to his room Kavan gave him a strange look that seemed to be a mixture of regret and apology.

As they reached the first floor Kavan’s parents warmly greeted them as they usually did when Archer was over at their house. “You’re going already Archer? Not staying for dinner?” Mrs. Varma asked.

Archer struggled to plaster a smile on his face “Oh… Uhm no I need to get back home. I’ve been gone way to long… you know my mother will worry Mrs. Varma. But thank you for the offer.” he stuttered out. He turned around to face Kavan again “I… Well thanks for the study session dude. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow” he said not knowing what to do with his hand so he settled with an awkward shoulder pat before rushing out of the front door.

When he reached his car he sat in it tightly gripping the steering wheel for a few minutes breathing heavy. He tried to shake of the feeling he had ruined something before he drove away towards his house.

His finger tapped nervously on the side of his phone as he stared at the screen. Archer let out a puff of smoke through the open window. He had sat there since he had arrived home trying to get his thoughts straight. He killed his sixth cigarette before flicking it out of the window as he closed it. Archer’s thumbs now flowed over his phone typing the text that he had ran through his head a thousand time since he had arrived home. He erased and retyped it a few times before he sent it with a huge sigh.

His green eyes stayed on his message bubble to see if Kavan would open the text immediately. He did not. Obviously he is busy. He has a lot to do. And it’s not like he thinks about me all the time. He doesn’t have his phone glued to his hands like I do. Archer reasoned as he threw his phone on the small table beside his bed and connected it to the charging cord.

A small grown escaped him as he flopped onto his bed staring up at the ceiling. What should he do? Maybe call Marisol? No she would not get it… he could hear her now “Well you got laid! Be fucking happy!”. No that wasn’t going to help. He decided to process this on his own before talking to his friend about this tomorrow.

Deciding to push this to the back of his mind for now he grabbed his current reading book and tried to busy himself with immersing himself in the world of the book. This was a feat proving to be to hard for him because every two minutes or so he checked his phone to see if a reply had been received.

Even a twitter video of Ariel punching King's resident douchebag Kavi couldn't keep him from worrying about the text. He commented a few cryinglauhging emojis and tagged Marisol. Then went back to staring at blue bubble. After a while he could at least see that the message had been read. Which made it even harder to concentrate on anything else. A faint gasp left him as he checked for the last time before deciding to go to sleep, the dreaded gray monster.



He flipped his phone upside down and turned his back to it forcing himself to shit his eyes and drift of to sleep.

---

---

The Wallenberg son was absent mindedly stroking the golden fur of his animal best friend Charlie letting out bored sighs. Max had come home from drinking some beers with his friends about an hour earlier had been bored ever since. Max was a resilient man and he could withstand a lot of things but being bored was not one of those things. He suddenly flipped his legs over the side of his bed and stood up. Making Charlie jump up excitedly. Max stood at the door leading out to the balcony as his dog circled his feet. The breeze flowing through the trees filled the young man with inspiration to go on a run.

“You want to come with me on run boy?” He asked happily as he bent down petting the dog on the side of his body. Charlie barked excitedly jumping up and putting his paws on Max’s chest as an answer. “Alright buddy! Let me just get ready!” he said as he removed his buttoned down shirt and replacing it with a more workout friendly t-shirt. Soon he had put on his running shorts and he and Charlie were bounding downstairs.

“You going out again Max?” His father asked from the living room where he and his wife were curled up together watching a movie.

“Yeah I’m going for a run! I’ve been a lazy bastard this weekend.” Max called out as he got on his running shoes the signature Wallenberg booming laugh could be heard from the other room. “I’m taking Charlie with me!” he yelled as he opened the door and exited his dog running ahead of him.

“Be back before eleven!” his mother's voice could be heard through the closing door.

Max started of down his street towards Ocean boulevard so he could run with the ocean as a backdrop. His music was pumping through his airpods and getting him into his usual rhythm. Max smile widened as he saw how excited Charlie was as he ran in front of him sitting down and waiting for his friend to catch up.

Before he knew it Max had been running for an hour. He had not really payed attention to where he had been going. Charlie barking louder and more frequent made Max snap back to reality. He reached up and paused his music to find out what got Charlie so riled up.

“Hey, hey, hey what’s up buddy? Huh? Why are you so…” he hunched down trying to get his friend to calm down. He looked around and saw that his subconscious had brought him to a very familiar place. The Nicholson home.

After standing looking up at the hose he had spent the better part of the summer in. Max turned around and left the same way he came. “Come on buddy.”



Aaliyah narrowly missed a deadly encounter with JJ on her way perusing through clothes and make-up. After explaining the night she would never forget, her mother could see why the girl was so distracted. Before they left the food court, her mother imparted her wise womanly knowledge. With all the shopping finished it was time for Aaliyah to set her eyes on her first ever hang out. The nerves slowly began to creep back up her spine as the ETA moved close and closer to 0.

Pulling up to Bea’s house, Aaliyah was greeted by a house modest in comparison to the top of the top. Not knowing what to do or who to text, Aaliyah sat in the car fumbling with the door.

“Are you going to get out honey?” Her mom asked.

Having both parents turn to face her only surmounted more pressure onto the poor girl.

“Yeah I was just uh making sure this was the right house number...hehe”

Her excuse was as bad as her laugh. Regardless she forced herself out the car with her bag clutched in her hands.

”It can’t be that bad right? Right? Just breathe and knock” The more she focused on the door the further it had gotten away from her. The space between the top of the steps and the door stretched miles. Honestly if anyone saw her from a window they would have been confused and just sent a recording to worldstar. Hoping no one would see her and her confidence slowly rising. Aaliyah took ACTION, which was really just ringing the doorbell and running into the nearby shrubbery so no one would see her.

Spitting a leaf out of her mouth and slapping the branches out of her face, Aaliyah peered from around the vegetation waiting for Bea to emerge. Hopefully this was the wrong address, because this girl had no clue what to say. As the door opened Aaliyah has realized the luggage tag attached to her bag had fallen onto the front porch. This was it, her career was over.

It was calming, sitting by this ocean shore. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes. He breathed in each time the sound of waves crashed against the sand and out again when they returned back. His mind drifted and wandered, he did not stop the thoughts. Sad things. Simple things. His dreams of supporting his family. His ethic of working hard. The burn out he had been feeling, pressed on by a strict father began to settle. His soul was less restless.

He opened his eyes and watched the waves with a small smile on his face. At this point, he decided to walk along the sandy beach. He removed his socks and shoes and rolled up the bottoms of his slacks. The heat of the sand felt wonderful against his soles and when the cold water lapped over his feet it cooled the burning sensation. He walked for about fifteen minutes before setting side his shoes and taking out his phone. There was inspiration burning in his belly but he did not know in what way he should express it.

Guy snapped pictures of the ocean and shoreline. After a bit, he sat down and studied the pictures. It then came to him. He tapped out a poem on his phone and then thought of the only person he would really love to send it to. Get feedback or to just share in this. He opened up his texts and then sent a single picture along with the words he wrote.



He hit send before tucking the phone back into his pocket. He expected no immediate response. He drew his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them and setting his chin upon his knees. Again he watched the waves and forgot how long he had been out beside the ocean.

“Oppa! I looove you!” The sound of infectious giggles erupted from the speakers of the phone as the illuminated screen showed a cute korean girl being picked up and spun around. Ah, young love, how disgustingly naive, and terribly consuming.

For an hour the video looped, with every oppa and every outburst of giggles a hollowness shoveled itself deep into the chest of the recently turned masochist. What am I doing?

---

“Rel… Reli… Aurelio, come inside.”

The feminine voice cut through the dreamland easily, as deep pools of chocolate brown eyes blinked, a state of confusion played in his irises before a melancholic realization washed away the drowsiness. Falling asleep up here, on the rooftop, while watching a video of a different day had become some sort of sad routine for Aurelio in the past two weeks. With a soft sigh, the obviously heartbroken boy smoothly got to his feet, brushed off his clothes and glanced at his sister, who looked equally as bad as him.

“You look like shit, did Ximena sucker punch you in the face after you told her how bad you fucked up, or are your dark circles that bad?”

The simple roll of her green eyes was telltale enough that his worse-half was not in the mood for their usual sibling bullshit. With a sigh he shook his head, the past two weeks had been enough time for him to work through his anger and realize his sister wasn’t malicious, but a dumbass. You can’t blame her for being a dumbass. So despite his annoyance with her, he threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a side hug ruffling her bed head, and walked with her back inside the house. With a half-hearted grin, he pushed her lightly towards her door

“Go back to bed Ass, you’re gonna need all the energy you can get to face what’s coming for you.”

“Ugh… don’t remind me… I’m half tempted to go play tag with the cars on the freeway.” Yessi groaned in response earning a chuckle from her twin. Their eyes met for a second and a look of understanding passed between them. For this week at least, they’d be on each other’s side no matter what, they had both left behind a few unhappy people back in Sophomore year when they disappeared.

“I’ll probably be gone when you’re up and functioning. I’ll see you at school, though.”

---

---

The morning, once everyone was up and bustling about, had gone smoothly. Aurelio had mastered the art of shaking away the exhaustion that lingered after his lonely nights. Between the hot shower that washed away his sorrows, lol or not, and the Pear flavored Red Bull he pounded back, he was ready to roll out when 7 o’clock came around.

With his heart-pounding, an affirmation to Aurelio that he still had the stupid thing, and DNAbumpin’ in the matte black helmet he weaved in and out of traffic effortlessly on the busy highway receiving more than a few honks and angry birds. As the song changed and the honking was more easily heard in the small second of silence, he chuckled to himself and shook his head in amusement. Was there any other way to ride a motorcycle? Honestly?

Soon enough the blurring scenery had slowed to sprawling mansions and his baby had quieted to a low purr as he stopped in front of the house that had not changed from the image he had in his memories. As he slipped off the Agusta and made his way up the tiled driveway a bundle of nerves had unfolded in his stomach. With a quick exhale and shake of his arms he knocked firmly against the door and stepped out of sight of the windows alongside it, “Delivery for Ms. Macmillan!” his voice was raised a few octaves as he leaned against the wall, trying his best to appear cool and collected, despite the chaos occurring inside him.

“Wow I didn’t expect it to arrive this fast!” Julie’s voice sounded out from behind the door before it slowly opened to reveal the smiling redhead. The girl stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes fell on the man standing in front of her. You could see that behind her light blue eyes two years of memories were flashing in an instant. A small breath escaped the girl's mouth before she slammed the door shut.

Damn she's gotten even more beautiful, was the only thought that crossed his mind in the brief moment his eyes connected with hers. As soon as the door slammed shut a hearty laugh left his mouth as he pushed off from the wall, she hadn’t changed a bit from the spitfire girl he loved back in Sophomore year. Knocking again this time a bit gentler, he expected her to be on the other side of the door still, he called out in his normal tone, which had grown deeper since 10th grade.

“You know, in the movies I’ve seen, the girl is supposed to run and jump into the arms of the boy.” Aurelio paused for a moment before continuing,” I’ll start serenading if you don’t open the door!”

On the other side of the door, the Macmillan girl leaned against it with her arm crossed and a frown plastered on her face as she listened to her ex-best friend speak. Finally, she whipped around and wrenched the door open.

“It’s because you watch garbage movies Aurelio” she spat. “What are you doing here? What do you want?” she asked as her icy stare surveyed him.

Despite the venom in her voice and ice thick in her eyes, Aurelio couldn’t help the radiant smile that played at his lips. The sadness in his heart seemed a little more distant as he faced the rage of the beautiful girl in front of him.

“Who knows, maybe Korea ruined my movie tastes.” He replied lightly giving a shrug as he looked over the girl, nodding his head absently in approval he ignored her questions,” Have you gotten hotter since the last time I saw you? Or is this time playing a trick on me?”

Julie’s face faltered for a split second before it rearranged into a look of disgust. “Korea!? So I’m guessing that’s where you’ve been?” she sighed her expression softening. “Reli… seriously?” the girl whispered as she smoothed out her skirt. The redhead closed the space between them looking at his brown eyes blinking slowly. Suddenly she punched him as hard as she could on his shoulder before walking past him her bag slung over her shoulder.

“The least you could do is give me a ride to school.” she huffed swinging her leg over the Augusta.

Yup, Julie Macmillan was the same girl he remembered from Sophomore year. “Who taught you how to throw a punch, Jules?” He questioned joining her at his bike. There was a lot the two had to catch-up on, Aurelio already had a million and one questions zipping through his brain that he wanted to ask her, but that would have to wait for later.

“Don’t complain.” He warned as he slid the helmet he had been wearing over her head and gave it a firm pat, just for a little extra measure. The Astor boy situated himself in front of Julie, revving the engine a couple of times before kicking up the stand, “Hold on tight, but don’t let your hands get too wild.” Reli teased throwing her a wink over his shoulder,” Ready fiorellino?”

“You’re an idiot.” she whispered as she rolled her eyes from under the helmet. Her arms wrapping around his waist a bit tighter than she intended, maybe she had missed him after all.

---

To say the morning had gone smoothly after rescuing the princess from her castle would have been a big ass lie. Much to the dismay of both the just reunited friend, even though Jules dear wouldn’t admit to it, Aurelio had to head straight to the office. Though with a promise to find the redhead earlier he seemed to have left on an... okay note?

Then, the office was far more interesting than it should have been. Aurelio had entered to see his twin comfortably sitting outside the registrar’s office, except maybe not so comfortable. Between her fisted hands, bouncing leg and the Medusa-rivaling glare, there was no mistaking that Astraia was pissed. What the fuck had happened in the three hours since he had seen her?

Well, there was no time to grill her about her bad attitude as they were sent to the Dean’s office to discuss some pressing matters, guess Papa Alessandro was smarter than they both had thought. Given their expectations, and a handful of hard stares towards Yessi, Aurelio was the angel child he only got I trouble because they were a package deal, they were given their locker assignments, class and books list and told to head to the Auditorium for an emergency assembly.

What the fuck is an emergency assembly? Did someone die?

Aurelio was barely holding in his laughter while he considered how the day was already derailing for his sister. With an arm slung over her shoulder they entered the auditorium, only gaining a few eyes from the crowd, Yesenia’s bad mood was already spurring her to flip off whatever poor bastard had got her attent-

Oh. Ha, what a lucky fucking day it was for her. Aurelio couldn’t hold back the chuckle as his eyes landed on the pretty boy his sister had fallen head over heels for back in Sophomore year and the last person she wanted to run into today.

”¡Callate, coño!”

Aurelio’s taunting smile had turned into a smirk as his eyes drifted to Julie, pursing his lips in a way to blow a kiss towards her and shot a wink before Astraia pulled him down to the bench.

Then the school faculty got to business, and for three hours drilled into them the importance of safe sex.

Between Twitter, Reddit, and sending stupid memes to Julie, the three lectures were hardly even heard by the boy. Only when a condom and a sample size of lube were thrust into his lap was his attention pulled away from the smartphone in his hand.

“Shit, over already? The welcome ceremony at that private school in Korea was worse than this.” Reli spoke only to realize his sister was already pushing out of the auditorium. When was she ever going to stop being dramatic?

Sighing he stood up, took a moment to stretch and followed the group of people out of the room, though he leaned against the wall across from the doors, instead of running off to the cafeteria, waiting for Julie to make her exit. Maybe those memes had done enough to make him bearable to be around?

Bea awoke to the same schedule she always did. Exercise, bathe, eat, and then drive herself to school. The morning was very uneventful, and she was just fine with that. It wasn’t until she entered the first class and was told to go to the auditorium that things became a bit unglued for her. She never handled unexpected schedule changes very well and now she had to sit with a bunch of people all crowded together. Her body felt stiff as she made the trek from the classroom to the auditorium. It felt like hours before she finally arrived. She sat as close to the doors as possible and held her book bag in her lap, hugging it close.

“Good morning, students,” The Trunchbull – Miss Chamberlain said in her no-nonsense tones that always made Bea shudder. “First of all, I would like to address the appalling and absolutely atrocious behavior my faculty and I witnessed at the Homecoming dance last Saturday. Fist fights, underage drinking, suspected drug use, the involvement of the Palm Beach PD in one particular case. These are not the morals and values we teach and abide by at this school. All students guilty of any of these transgressions will be contacted throughout the day to be penalized accordingly, and I will personally be keeping an eye out for any further mischief from this point onward. If this unacceptable behavior continues to occur throughout the year, I will have no other choice than to declare a cancellation of this year’s Prom Night.”

She hardly paid attention. None of these things were particularly concerning to her and her eyes were glued on that auditorium doors. The sudden whispers and angry notes around her brought her attention back to the present. Having missed what the woman had said entirely, she looked around wide-eyed and nervous. Then she heard something about prom and relaxed a bit. Fuck prom. The faculty would probably do something to fuck that up too.

“Enough!” Miss C declared and just about made Bea shit a brick. The girl was so over this and it felt like her skin was trying to crawl away from her at this point. If she could just go and get out into open air and calm down… “Keep each other in line and there shall be no reason for me to penalize.”

“In other news, I am proud to announce that the Homecoming King and Queen for this year’s…” Her attention was now on trying not to have a panic attack or meltdown or in any way draw attention to herself. Her leg bounced and she closed her eyes. The noises around her made things worse and she clasped her hands over her ears in the hope that she could just make them all go away.

She started to come back to herself toward the end of the drugs and drinking seminar. Blinking she was having trouble understanding the transition. But things had quieted, and she wasn’t nearly so restless. All she knew was that she would most certainly be spending the rest of the day in the art room. Then there was a seminar about the dangers of sex. She rolled her eyes at this. Yeah, yeah, she had already been told all of this stuff already. All in all, it was boring.

Finally, it was over and as she left the auditorium, she was given a little pouch with lube and condoms in it. She stared at it in disbelief as she made her way outside of the building. Just what the fuck was she supposed to do with this? She put it into her bag, not thinking much on it further. Once outside she breathed deeply before going to her truck and sitting in the driver’s seat with the door open. Shaky hands had trouble lighting up her cigarette, but the first inhale of that sweet flavorful toxin made all the tension inside of her go away. For now.