“See? You’re perfect.”

After, what felt like, a very long first day of school, Harriette was relaxing and wondering when Fedora would call her. She told her to call her since she knew Harriette’s school times and Harriette didn’t know hers.
Finally after chatting with some people online and checking her email Fedora called.
“Hi,” Harriette said.
“So I noticed something wrong about what you said earlier,” Fedora said.
“Yeah?” Harriette asked.
“I didn’t break up with AeGuk,” Fedora said, “he broke up with me.”
“What?” Harriette said, shocked. “then why was he so upset.”
“Because he didn’t want to?” Fedora said, “I don’t know.”
“Why did he break up with you?” Harriette asked.
“I wanted to see other people,“ Fedora said.
“What?” Harriette said, “that’s basically breaking up with him.”
“No, it’s not,” Fedora said, “I told him I didn’t want to be tied down, but I still wanted to date him. Because I really like him, and I still do. I told him I wouldn’t actually date anyone, just fool around. You know?”
Harriette was silent for a second, “but why would you want to?”
“Because I’m a normal person who likes to make out,” Fedora said, “and who was I supposed to make out if my boyfriend still lived all the way in California?”
“Uhm, okay?” Harriette said, still mostly confused.
“So tell me about your first day?” Fedora said, obviously wanted to change the topic.
“It was great,” Harriette said, “I’m still super popular, at least a hundred people stopped me in the hallway to ask how my summer was. Collin was a little annoyed by it though. Speaking of Collin he ate lunch with AeGuk. Weird huh? I think he was being nice.”
“Being nice?” Fedora laughed, “he likes him.”
“No,” Harriette said. Though it was entirely plausible. Over the summer Collin confessed that he was gay Harriette was shocked, mostly because he hadn’t told her sooner. Fedora on the other hand just laughed when she heard, saying of course he was.
“Hey, AeGuk is hot,” Fedora said, “why wouldn’t he like him?”
“I don’t know,” Harriette said, “I hope he doesn’t, because that would just lead to heartbreak.”
“Not only that but doesn’t he know the bestfriend code?” Fedora said, “you don’t date your friend’s ex. Though I don’t really consider him my ex.”
“What?” Harriette asked.
“Our breakup is just a short term thing,” Fedora said, “when I come back for Thanksgiving I’ll fix it.”
“Oh,” Harriette said.
“And then when he graduates he’ll go to college near here,” Fedora said, “and we’ll live happily ever after. Maybe he’ll go to Harvard, then we’ll be in the same school.”
Harriette laughed, “you really like him, don’t you?
“I told you that didn’t I?” Fedora said. “So tell me, is there anyone you like?”
“No,” Harriette said.
“C’mon, you have the whole school wishing they could date you,” Fedora said.
“Am I weird?” Harriette said, “I’ve never liked a guy in my whole life. Maybe I’m gay.”
“Do you like girls?” Fedora asked.
Harriette thought about it for a second, “no.”
“then you’re not gay,” Fedora said, “you’re weird, but not  gay. And didn’t you like Gregg?”
“I only dated him for popularity,” Harriette said, “I’m sure he didn’t actually like me.”
“You are shameless,” Fedora said.
“You gotta do what you gotta do,” Harriette said. “I need to get a boyfriend, I can’t be the biggest Popular if I don’t have one.”
“Then just date someone you don’t like,” Fedora said.
“I guess I could do that,” Harriette said.
“You’re terrible,” Fedora said, “Anyway I’ve gotta go.”
“Bye,” Harriette said. After they hung up Harriette went downstairs to get something to eat, still feeling a little weird about the phone call. She wondered if there was something wrong with her. In the living room Collin was sitting on the couch drawing.
“Hi,” She said.
“Hey,” He said looking up from his drawing.
“Did you have fun today?” Harriette said sitting down next to him, deciding she could get a snack later.
“It’s school, are we supposed to have fun at school?” Collin asked.
“Yes, you’re supposed to have fun all the time,” Harriette said.
“I guess it was okay,” Collin said. “I feel bad for AeGuk.”
“You know he broke up with her?” Harriette said.
“What?” Collin said, looking shocked, “why?”
“Because Fedora wanted to make out with other guys,” Harriette said. “Fedora says they’re not really broken up though.”
Collin was silent.
“Oh gosh,” Harriette said, “you do like him, don’t you?”
Collin looked shocked, but he was blushing giving it all away.
“Collin, Fedora still likes him,” Harriette said, “and he doesn't like guys.”
“It’s not like that,” Collin said, but he was still blushing.
“How come I don’t like anyone?” Harriette said, mostly to herself.
Collin looked at her, “what do you mean?”
“I have never liked anyone, or really found anyone attractive,” Harriette said, “I mean, I knew Bentley was hot, but that was really just obvious. But people who aren’t obviously hot? Nope. I mean DaeRi thought Preston was a super hottie, but he’s just bleh. Tamarai thinks almost everyone is hot, but unless they’re obviously attractive I don’t see it. I don’t even have an ideal type. If someone asked me what kind of guy I like I would describe you, because you, Collin, are the perfect guy. If I could meet someone who looked and acted just like you then, maybe I would like them.”
“Uhm,” Collin said, looking confused. “I’m sorry?”
“I’m a weirdo,” Harriette said, looking down at her hands. Why did she feel so upset about this?
“It’s okay,” Collin said, pulling her into a hug. “you’re perfectly normal.”
Harriette smiled, “see? You’re perfect.”

Update

Added three new profiles to the the profile pages, Layla Thompson and Thomas Gray in Freshman and Honey Bell in Juniors. Go check them out to learn about the new characters!

“Your hair, it’s gorgeous.”

Walking into the cafeteria Layla Thompson was shocked to see that it exactly the way people talked about it. She hadn’t believed it before, but seeing it now it was very obvious that everyone rotated around the Populars.
The Populars were sitting  on the outer corner, while everyone crowded around them. Sitting close so that it would look like they were popular too.
Layla, being new, had no idea at all where she was supposed to sit. Secretly she wanted to be like those other people, crowding around the Populars trying to look cool. but that would look shallow, and she didn’t want to look shallow on her first day.
Someone bumped into her from behind, almost sending her tray flying. She caught herself fast enough though, so no embarrassing mess was involved. She was so relieved about that that she didn’t even notice the boy apologizing profusely.
“Oh, it’s alright,“ she said, she said when she finally noticed him. She tucked some of her crazy curly hair behind her ear. She had dyed it bright red for high school. The boy was only slightly taller than her, which was still tall since she was almost six feet. He had bright green eyes, slightly tan skin and light brown curls that were almost waves.
“Your hair,” the guy said pointing at it, “it’s gorgeous.”
“Thanks,” she beamed, the first compliment she had gotten for it.
“I’m Thomas,” the guy said.
“Layla,” she said. “are you new?”
“A freshman,” Thomas said.
“Same,” Layla said, happy to run into another freshman. Someone just as confused as she was.
“So, where are you sitting?” Thomas asked.
Layla frowned, back to the dilemma she was in. Where do freshman sit? People who haven’t been organized yet.
“Ah, I see,” Thomas said, “confused?”
“Yep,” Layla said, “I don’t know where I should sit.”
“Where do you want to sit?” Thomas asked.
Layla paused, not sure if she should answer honestly. What if Thomas hated Populars, and anyone who wanted to be one of them?
“Hmm?” Thomas asked.
Layla pointed to the corner where the Populars were and waited for his response.
“Ah, the Populars,” Thomas said, “I didn’t exactly peg you as a Popular girl. I was thinking something like a rebel, with your red hair and all.”
“Red hair doesn’t always equal rebel,” Layla said.
Thomas shrugged, “sit where you want, I’ll follow.”
Layla was surprised by this, why was this random guy she just met going to follow her to her lunch table? I guess freshman have to stick together. She led the way to a table with only a few other people at it that was pretty close to the Populars.
“Oh, you were serious,” Thomas said sliding in next to her.
“Uhm, yeah,” Layla said. She looked over at the Populars, at the legendary Harriette Brown who seemed to turn this school around after becoming popular and her lackies, the Indian and the Korean. Layla didn’t really know their names.
Next to their table were the cheerleaders, just another level of the Populars. They all wore their cheerleading uniforms all day, even on the first day when cheer hadn’t even started yet. They were talking loudly making up about half the noise in the cafeteria.
Layla looked down at her food, for a school lunch it was actually on the better side. She had a small salad, yogurt, a hamburger, and a brownie for dessert. And all of it looked like what it was supposed to be.
She looked over at Thomas who was listening to music on his iPod. Layla wondered what he was listening to, and if it was polite to ask.
She decided that her burger looked pretty good and took a bite proving that it was pretty good. She finished her burger and moved on to her yogurt. This is how she always ate, one food at a time.
Suddenly she noticed that that the other girls sitting at the table were staring at them.
“Hi?” She said.
“Hi,” one of the girls said, this girl had crazy blond curls. Not crazy like Layla’s, but crazy nonetheless. “What are you doing here?”
“Eating?” Layla said.
“Yeah,” the girl said.
Layla just smiled hesitantly.
“You’re a freshman?” Another girl asked, this one with dark brown curls. Layla noticed that lots of people had curls here, weird.
“Yeah,” Layla said.
“Cute,” the blond one said. “I was a freshman last year.”
“That’s nice,” Layla said.
“Yeah, she was a freshman and already on her way to popularity,” the brunette said.
“Yeah?” Layla said, wanting to know more.
“She was a cheerleader, but this year she wants to play a different sport,” she continued.
“Like soccer or track,” the blond said.
“I played soccer in elementary,” Layla said. And she was pretty bad at it.
“Oh,” the blond said, “it is a pretty old school sport? I’ll go with track.”
“I’m Layla,” Layla said.
“Layla,” the blond one said. “cute. Your hair is amazing.”
“Thanks,” Layla said. It was obviously a good idea to dye her hair.
“I’m Lexi,” the blond one said.
“And I’m Honey, “the brunette said.
“Honey? that’s cute,” Layla said
“Thanks,” Honey said, “my real name is Elizabeth but I hate it.”
“You know what?” Lexi said, grinning, “you should be our friend.”
“Really?” Layla said.
“Sure,” Honey said.
“Your super cute and you have curls like us,” Lexi said.
“Well a lot of people have curls,” Layla.
“But not naturally,” Lexi said, “ and I can tell that those are natural.”
Layla shrugged, “okay then.”
“What about your friend?” Lexi asked, gesturing towards Thomas who was not paying any attention at all.
“Oh, that’s Thomas,” Layla said, “I just met him.”
“Well he’s cute, he can be friends with us too,” Lexi said.
“If he wants,” Honey said.
Layla poked Thomas to get his attention. He jumped as if he was asleep and then looked around slightly confused.
“These are my new friends, Lexi and Honey,” Layla said.
“Honey? That can’t be her real name,” Thomas said.
“It’s not,” Layla said, “she doesn’t like her real name.”
“What is it?” Thomas asked
“Elizabeth,” Layla said.
“That’s like ten times better than Honey,” Thomas said. “Honey sounds like a stripper name.”
Honey looked hurt.
“Don’t be so rude,” Layla said.
“So these are your new friends?” Thomas asked.
Layla nodded.
“Well, then I guess you don’t need me anymore,” Thomas said. Before Layla could even reply to that he was up and walking across the cafeteria.
“Huh?” Lexi said.
“Wow, rude,” Honey said.
Layla shrugged, she had only just met him. It wasn’t that big of a deal. And now she already had two almost popular friends on her first day of high school.
This looked good.

“It’s okay, I don’t bite."

The school felt weird to AeGuk without Fedora, empty. It was also impossible not to think about her here, back in Korea he could just space out. But not here. Here she was everywhere. There wasn’t a single place in this whole school that Fedora and AeGuk had not hung out. And everytime he walked by one of those spots he thought of her.
Walking into homeroom alone was a challenge, made worse by Harriette and her crew staring at him like he was an alien. He braced himself when Harriette waved him over, what would the Populars want with him?
“Hi!” Harriette said, “Hows it going?”
“Uh-um,” AeGuk stuttered, nervous that she’d ask about Fedora.
“It’s okay, I don’t bite,” Harriette teased, “I just want to know what’s up?
“N-nothing,” AeGuk said.
“So your summer was good?” Harriette asked.
“Uhm, y-yeah,” he said.
Harriette smiled, “good, I just wanted to make sure you were fine.”
“Wh-why w-wouldn’t.... I b-b-be.” he said, he knew the next part of this conversation..
Harriette frowned, “because of, you know, the breakup?”
AeGuk bit his lip, he didn’t want to talk about this, “I’m f-f-fine.”
“Okay, see you later,” Harriette said, waving him away.
AeGuk walked away and sat at a table in the back. He should have known they just wanted to talk about Fedora. Now he felt even worse.
“Hey,” someone said, causing AeGuk to jump.
“Uhm?” AeGuk said, turning to see Collin. What was he doing here?
“Sorry for scaring you,” Collin said, sitting down next to him.
“It-it’s okay,” AeGuk stuttered.
“I just wanted to apologize about Harriette back there,” Collin said, gesturing towards the Populars, “she didn’t know she was being nosy. I’m sure you didn’t want to talk about Fedora.”
“Uh-uhm, yeah, I I g-guess.” AeGuk said, he wished he would just magically stop stuttering, “It it’s okay, th-though.”
Collin looked at him for a while, which made AeGuk sort of uncomfortable.
“I like your hair,” Collin finally said, “it’s nice longer.”
“Uhm, th-thanks,” AeGuk said.
“See you later,” Collin said, getting up and sitting back with the others. AeGuk just turned back to the front, and tried not to think about what Fedora would say about that weird conversation. But Fedora had opinions on everything and he could practically hear her say “he obviously likes you.” But hearing her voice in his head was really the last thing he wanted.
Fortunately homeroom started and he could be happily distracted again.
---
Even though cell phones were not technically allowed in school Harriette called Fedora at lunch.
“Your lucky I’m not in school right now,” Fedora answered on the third ring.
“It’s me, Harriette,” Harriette said.
“Shouldn’t you be in school?” Fedora asked.
”I am, it’s lunch time,” Harriette said, “and I wanted to talk to you about something I only just found out even though I should have found out back in July.”
“Oh?” Fedora said.
“You broke up with AeGuk and didn’t tell me?” Harriette asked, annoyed.
“I guess,” Fedora said, she could practically hear her shrug, “it wasn’t important. I mean I guess it was, but I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“What happened?” Harriette asked.
“Nothing,” Fedora said, “I didn’t want to date long distance.”
“So you don’t have a new boyfriend?” Harriette said.
“Uhm, no,” Fedora said, “I’m too busy to have a boyfriend.”
“Oh,” Harriette said, “DaeRi thought that’s why you broke up with him.”
“And you believed her?,” Fedora laughed, “she doesn’t even know me. Plus I wasn’t even hanging out with anyone back in july, it was just me and my dad.”
“Okay,” Harriette said, “I didn’t think so, DaeRi just thinks she knows everything.”
“She does,” Fedora said, “Well, I have to go.”
And then she hung up.
Harriette, feeling good about the previous conversation, went back to sit with her friends. She noticed that Collin was missing.
“Where’s Collin?” Harriette asked.
“Sitting with AeGuk,” DaeRi said.
“He thought he looked lonely,” Tamarai said.
“Oh,” Harriette said, thinking about earlier when he went to talk to him in homeroom. He was probably glad to get away from the Popular table, he had shown earlier just how much he had disliked being popular. Harriette hoped he wouldn’t ditch her. Last year he had been friends with Bentley, that was good because he was still popular so they still hung around in the same crowd. But AeGuk, he was a loser, a nerd, a dweeb. If he hung out with him then he would be dubbed one too. Harriette wouldn’t let that happen.
But lunch for one day wouldn’t hurt. He’ll look charitable.

“I had forgotten how hard it was to be popular.”

The first person Harriette saw was DaeRi, who was standing at the top of the steps looking around, probably looking for them. Tamarai grinned when she saw her , running up the steps to pull her into a hug.
“Tamarai!” DaeRi said.
“Cute hair,” Harriette said, catching up to them. Over the summer DaeRi had gotten her hair cut short and was wearing it curly. It looked great.
“Thanks,” DaeRi beamed, she was always happy to get a compliment from Harriette.
“Come on,” Harriette said, “we don’t want to be late on our first day.”
“Okay,” Tamarai said. They followed Harriette into the school. The halls were bustling with people greeting each other after a long summer. As they walked through the halls people stopped to say hi and ask them about their summer, Harriette was sure she had told at least 20 people about her summer traveling with her family, and each one of those people were more fascinated than the last. But Harriette didn’t mind, she loved the attention. Just another reminder of exactly how popular she was.
Finally she arrived at her locker, the only person left walking with her was Collin who had the locker next to hers.
“Somehow I had forgotten how hard it was to be popular,” Collin said opening his locker.
“Hard?” Harriette laughed, “no, it’s great! People love us.”
“Sure, but we couldn’t even get to our lockers without being stopped by, like, everyone in this school.” he said putting some of his stuff in his locker.
Harriette patted Collin’s shoulder, “it’s just been a while, you’ll get used to it again soon enough.”
They closed their lockers and started off to homeroom. Again people stopped them, this time Harriette noticed that Collin looked increasingly uncomfortable. She tried to speed up the conversation as much as she could but one conversation in particular took a little extra work.
“Hi!” Heather said running up to her. Her and Tracy were, what Harriette called them, Wannabes. They hung around Harriette and her crowd hoping that they look included. They didn’t. Today they had another girl with them, this girl had blunt cut bangs and long straight blond hair. She was also wearing a terribly tacky outfit consisting of a black turtleneck and a beret. A drama geek obviously.
“Hello,” Harriette said politely, “we were on our way to homeroom.”
“Oh, let us join you,” Heather said.
Harriette frowned, “who’s your friend?”
“My new exchange student,” Heather said. That was weird, no one in A.L. High ever had exchange students, this was first.
“Where is she from?” Harriette asked, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to be hurrying this conversation up.
“Uhm, somewhere in Europe?” Heather said.
“England,” Tracy said, “that’s where she’s from.”
“Bonjour!” The girl said. “I’m Brittany.”
“You’re not french,” Heather said, rolling her eyes.
“Uhm, okay,” Harriette said, “We gotta go.”
“Let us walk with you,” Heather said.
“Uhm, no.” Harriette said, not really caring about being rude. She wanted these girls gone.
Heather sighed, “okay. See you later!”
“Sorry about that,” Harriette said to Collin.
Collin just shrugged, “that’s fine.”
“Gosh, those girls are so annoying,” Harriette said, “they just cannot get a hint.”
And still the group of girls were trailing behind them, Harriette was sure they could hear everything she said. Maybe now they’ll leave her alone.
Finally in homeroom Harriette spotted Tamarai and DaeRi sitting together in the back. They waved at her and she walked back to them.
“If I have to talk to another person about my summer I am going to die,” Harriette said.
“Oh,” DaeRi said, “ then I guess I don’t get to hear about your amazing vacation.”
“I guess you don’t,” Harriette teased. “All you need to know is that we traveled around europe and then spent a week at our vacation house in LA.”
“Sounds amazing,” DaeRi said.
“How was Korea?” Harriette asked.
“The same, we spent the summer at my aunts,” DaeRi said, “she was the one who did my hair, she’s a hairdresser. She really wanted to cut AeGuk’s hair, but he refused. His hair is so long now, it needs a cut.”
“He must be so lonely,” Harriette said, “all his friends graduated.”
“Yeah, and Fedora broke up with him,” DaeRi said.
“Oh?” Harriette said, Fedora hadn’t told her about that.
“Yeah, back in July,” DaeRi said, “I think she found a new boyfriend.”
“Nah, she would tell me about it,” Harriette said, well she hoped she would.
DaeRi shrugged, “yeah. It was really sudden though, AeGuk was a mess.”
“Is he alright?” Collin asked.
DaeRi shrugged, “I’m pretty sure he is.”
“There he is right now,” Tamarai said.
To be continued.

Summer came, Summer went.

Summer came, Summer went and now it was time to get back to school.
Harriette could feel it in the air, this year was going to be different. Even more different than just the fact that all the seniors are gone, though that will be very strange. But no, she sensed that something big was gonna happen this year, she just hoped it wasn’t gonna be bad.
This year she was a sophomore, she was not a little freshman anymore. Not that being a freshman was bad or anything, she was just older now. And everyone knows older means better.
She spent even longer getting ready for the first day, she made sure all her curls were perfectly curly in the right way. One thing that had changed over the summer was that her hair was straightening out, which she was not a big fan of. Last year she hardly needed to curl her hair, it was pretty curly. This year it was more wavy, still curly though. Just not the curls she wanted.
She picked out the perfect outfit, and changed it a couple of time until she was wearing the perfect outfit, again.
She spent some time on her makeup, highlighting in all the right places. Applying lip gloss, she didn’t want to look too fancy so she opted for lip gloss instead of lipstick. Plus this was lip gloss she had picked up on her vacation to Paris.
Finally she modeled for Collin and asked how she looked.
“Cute,” Collin said.
Harriette smiled, “good. You do too.”
“Thanks,” Collin said looking into the mirror, his hair had gotten more curly over the summer, unlike Harriette’s, and he wasn’t a big fan of it. When they were younger Collin had straight hair and Harriette and curly hair. Collin straightened his hair everyday because he didn’t like his curls, and Harriette curled her hair everyday because she didn’t like her hair wavy. His more curly hair wasn’t straightening the way he wanted it.
“Collin, your hair looks gorgeous,” Harriette said, “come on we have to go”
Collin sighed, glancing in the mirror once more, “okay.”
Downstairs Tamarai was already finished with her breakfast and was helping Willow, their little sister, with her hair. Willow and Finn, the twins, both had dark brown curly hair. Harriette had always found that strange since her and Collin had blond hair, though it was getting darker and Harriette went to the salon to get hers lightened. Collin on the other hand was embracing his darker hair, he actually liked it.
“You look great,” Tamarai said when she finally noticed them.
“Thank you,” Harriette said, looking over Tamarai. Her hair had grown out a little, and even though Harriette told her she liked it shorter Tamarai kept it at her shoulders, but she still cut her bangs. She was wearing her usual colorful assortment of clothes, and her arms were full of bangles.
“You do too,” she said finally.
Tamarai, who had just look nervous, smiled, “thank you.”
“You guys are going to be late,” their mom said. She handed Harriette and Collin a breakfast bar and then shooed them outside to the car.
Suddenly Harriette was really excited, she was finally going back to school. Some kids didn’t care that much for school, but not Harriette, she lived to go to school. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to not go to school.
She was excited to meet the new freshman, she loved meeting new people. She was excited to see her locker again, A.L. High let you keep the same locker throughout high school. She was excited for a lot of things.
“I can’t wait to see DaeRi,” Tamarai said. DaeRi had only just got back from South Korea yesterday, so they hadn’t had time to see her yet.
“Yeah,” Harriette agreed.
“What are you most excited about?” Tamarai asked Collin.
Collin shrugged, “I don’t know.”
It wasn’t a long drive to school, in such a small town everything was centered around the school, the biggest building in town.
They pulled into the parking lot, already full of cars. Now Harriette was practically bouncing out of her chair.
“Have a good day, darlings,” their mom called out as they all got out of the car.
“You too,” Tamarai said.
A.L. High is back in session.