𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐑𝐀━𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓// 𝘫𝘢𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭

i. no, definitely not.

CHAPTER ONE
[ i. NO, DEFINITELY NOT. ]

a trio of contrasting friends enter the bustling hallway, conversing about the biology assessment two of them had just taken.

"it's not our fault she can't teach! if we fail, thats on her." one of them exclaims, clearly the third wheel in their circle of friends.

"you're so right, i'm ready for that D-" the sentence was interrupted by a chuckle from the 'non-science-taker' cassia wilson, who had found her partner's choice of words hilarious. "don't." reggie davies warned, not wanting to entertain that train of thought.

a young celebrity with bleached hair apprehensively approaches the group, earning puzzled expressions from everyone in the vicinity. his eyes scanned over all three of them, a certain glint appearing as they landed on emery carter. jaeden martell's mouth opens and closes as he attempts to speak to the trio, reminding them of a fish.

"i was wondering, if you didn't already have plans, if you were thinking of coming-" cass laughs to herself once again, earning a glare from the girl with which her hand was intertwined. "t-to the halloween party i'm having, uhm, tomorrow."

"i'd hope it was tomorrow, yeah." reggie smirks at the obvious point in the other's statement.

"uhm, we hadn't planned to..." emery starts, looking to her friends for help in the 'socialist' department. instead of this, reggie lightly pushes emery as jaeden nods to the girl's reply.

"well, if you wanted to, you know, you can."

"thanks for that, very informative." reggie nonchalantly waves to the young celeb, continuing to walk to the seating area the group had claimed a couple of years ago.

emery smiles as an apology for her friends' behaviour, jaeden smiles back before nodding and returning to his friends.

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"what was that about?" finn wolfhard frowns in confusion.

"just trying to be nice." jaeden smiles, revealing his dimples.

"to his crush." wyatt oleff explains to finn, who hums in realisation.

"that's not-" he sighs, making the others grin. "whatever, they just seem to stay in their own little group and i wanted to include them." jaeden reitterates, furrowing his eyebrows at his chuckling friends.

"good for you jaeden. we believe you." sophia pats his shoulder, raising her eyebrows to the others as she said the last part.

"aren't all three of them in some class with you?" wyatt questions the only female in their friend-group.

"yeah, and another one of their friends who isn't in many classes with them. usually they're just yelling about random stuff until the teacher tells them to shut up." sophia remarks.

"sounds fun." finn shrugs, glancing back at emery & co, who seem to be doing the same thing.

"do you sit near them?" jaeden asks, trying not to sound desperate.

"no, we sit on different tables. i could change that if you want me to kindly persuade them to come tomorrow?"

"is that something you could do?" jaeden asks hopefully.

"so she's not your crush?" wyatt smiles.

"no, definitely not." jaeden states, glancing over at the mentioned girl with a light dusting of pink across the lower half of his face.

༉༊

"oh my god! what just- did that really just- i'm so- oh my god." cassia rambles, tugging on emery's arm excitedly.

"same bro." reggie chuckles, "me when lucifer does the eye thing."

"emery. answer this next question honestly and from the deepest depth of your heart, are you going to go?" cassia seems to stare into em's soul through her eyes, making the latter feel awkward.

"no, are you kidding me? absolutely not." emery chokes, astounded that her friends would even ask that.

the exhausted couple roll their eyes at her behaviour, clearly used to it.

"what? whats that supposed to mean?"

"WHAT'S THAT-" cass starts to yell before being yanked on the arm by reggie.

"beloved, you're shouting." she states.

"i have a reason to though."

"thats true, but, they are right over there." reg mumbles, subtly nodding her head to the 'celeb corner' as someone had creatively named their group's hang out spot.

"fine. emery?" cassia composes herself and continues her point.

"hmm?" she hums, pushing her hair away.

"i'm sorry, but you are going. we are all going."

"woahhh... i did not agree to that." reggie protests, turning to cass with a tilted head.

"okay, but if we're persuading em, we all have to go otherwise thats not fair on her." cass reasons.

"okay. whatever. for the drama, of course."

"of course." cass replies, in an obvious tone.

"drama?" emery queries.

"its a party being thrown by a bunch of actors, there will be drama." reggie enunciates, emery muses an 'ohh' as cassia hums in agreement.

"soooo..... emery beloved and bestest friend ever, whats the answer?" cassia smiles, once again looking right into her soul.

"hmmmmm.... no."

"it will be fun i promise." cass insists.

"oh no! we have to go, listen, theres the bell!" emery feigns, changing the subject.

"mer..." cass whines, dragging reggie with her to catch up to emery.

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