The Other Girls

Chapter Three: Selfish

Karoline sat on her bed with a shopping bag next to her, scrolling through Instagram.

"Ooh, I love that!" exclaimed Jasmine from Karoline's fluffy desk chair. Alli was twirling around in a short blue skirt that still had the tag attached. The three of them had just come back from a trip to the mall, and they were taking turns trying on the clothes they had bought. Karoline glanced over at Alli.

"Yeah, that looks great," she said, not entirely paying attention.

"Jasmine, it's your turn next," said Jasmine, who immediately began digging through her bag. Karoline looked back at her phone, where she was scrolling through Brad's Instagram page. Jasmine already knew about the rumor, but if anyone else did, specifically Brad, Karoline didn't know yet. She sighed, about to put her phone down and try not to think about it, but suddenly, her phone buzzed. She clicked on the alert; she had gotten a DM from an account she didn't follow. The username was "bookscatsandanime" and the profile picture was some really tired-looking anime character. The message said: "hey, it's diana. you really think you're an influencer with your public account, jesus. anyway, can we meet up on like sunday or something and plan more stuff? i really want to get this over with". Karoline rolled her eyes and typed out "what time? and where?". After she sent the message, she followed Diana's account so it would be easier for them to message if they ever had to again.

"Ooh, who're you texting?" Jasmine said, and Karoline nearly dropped her phone.

"What the hell, Jasmine?" she said, trying to play it off with a laugh. She turned off the phone  and saw her friends crowding around her.

"Is it the same person you met after school last Thursday?" Alli asked.

"What? No..." Diana said, her face turning red. Why was her face turning red? Now they probably thought she had a secret boyfriend or something. Uggh.

"I bet it is. Who is it, Karoline? Is it a boy?" Alli asked. Karoline rolled her eyes.

"No! Now can you guys just stop bothering me? It's nothing, really!" 

"Ok... Come on, Alli," Jasmine said, but she was still smiling. Karoline rolled her eyes again, and they got back to showing off the clothes they had bought.
A few minutes later, Karoline's phone buzzed again and she quickly glanced down to see a message from Diana: "4pm at benny's pizzeria" with a link to the location on Google maps. She didn't bother to respond right then. Diana could wait.

***

Diana stood outside of Benny's pizzeria with her arms crossed and a grumpy look on her face. Benny's was her parents' favorite restaurant to take them when they were kids because of how cheap the food was. It was also in the city, farther away from the school, which she had deliberately chosen so no one she knew- or rather, no one Karoline knew- would see them together. She wondered if Karoline had ever been here. Probably not; Diana had always thought she was rich. But then again, the money was what got her into this plan, so who knew? Diana pulled out her phone and opened her DM's with karoline (@karoline.stevenson_24) on Instagram. Karoline had responded "ok" an hour after she had sent the second message, and Diana hoped that she was really coming. She didn't come here for nothing. And she really wanted to get going with this plan.
"Hi." Diana looked up from her phone quickly, almost dropping it. Karoline stood in front of her, a similarly grumpy look on her face.

"Um, hi. Let's just go in, I guess," mumbled Diana.
"Wait, we're actually eating here? I thought we were just meeting outside of this place?" Karoline asked, looking a little disgusted.

"Uh, yeah? You got a problem with that?"

"Well, it's not so much the place as... isn't it kinda weird if we eat together? I don't want anyone to see us."