After a sudden hiatus from social media, popular YouTuber Belinda Quincy feels like she has her mojo back and attempts to do something to make it up to her fans. But that's when a mystery girl's music video goes viral.
Jealousy creeps in at all the...
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There was a particular line Beau Algernon liked to pacify himself with. Sometimes once a day. Sometimes twice. Other times thrice.
I'm done battling my demons.
He'd said it like a mantra and even put it in song form. He was done making mistakes, done being the one at fault all the time, and now he was starting afresh.
No Cherie. No Olivia.
"I'm not even gonna ask," said Fleur, watching him smile wistfully out the windshield at Wyland's grounds. She found nothing particularly interesting about the lanky freshmen catching up with their middle school acquaintances. "Just make sure you give me my two dollars back. I'm not letting this one go."
"It's just two bucks, Fleurie," he said, acknowledging her seldom used nickname. Fleur didn't do nicknames, unlike some girls he knew. She saw Fleurie as too cute, only appropriate for a five-year-old and not a grown-ass lady like her—her words, not his.
"Two bucks that helped complete your guitar strings fee," she reminded, opening the door of the car and getting out.
"Stop whining, I'll pay you back." He wasn't going to pay her back. Obviously.
"You better."
He smiled, turning away when she shut the door, and almost immediately, something caught his eye on his left.
Her.
He was absolutely sure his heart catapulted out of his chest for a second there. It was cliché, he knew, but the sensation was similar. His stomach lurched, excitement building in his core before traveling all the way up and claiming him.
His eyes followed her after she got out of her brother's car and headed towards their high school's main building, and he noticed that she looked a little pissed off, but that wasn't new. Bella was like the blank page of a new song. Filled with uncertainty and trepidation at first, but phenomenal when words filled it. Their only form of interaction so far was lingering glances across hallways, the goddamn winks he sent her way when he was feeling extra romantic, and the adorable blush she gave him in return when she was in a good mood.
Every time—every freaking time—he'd promise himself to talk to her next time and get it over with. He'd even gone through the mortifying effort of consulting wikiHow, but Bella would appear, and he'd either subtly stare and marvel at how breathtaking she was until she caught him, wink like the sap he was, or pretend he didn't see her and regret it later.
Next time was a grade ago, and he still hadn't made a move.
But that was going to change this semester. It had to, or he'd spend the rest of his life moping and thinking about how things would've been if he'd just talked to the girl he was in love with in his teens.
Beau swore right there in his car that before he graduated, he'd do something about this more-than-crush.
When he walked into that empty classroom where most of the junior and senior boys hung out during their free time and Jayden whooped like he'd been waiting for him, cueing the other boys, he couldn't help but smile.
