THE UGLY DUCKLING, nate macauley

chapter one: he didn't deserve it

"LIA, GIRL YOU ARE GLOWING." Amelia, Malia's best friend of six years exclaimed. She stood up from the cafeteria embracing the blonde. Malia gladly wrapped her arms around the dark-skinned girl. The blonde sat down at the table that had her friend group sitting at it all discussing random topics. The group of seven all became friends from the dance team - which was a tight knit group. Anyone else who sat at the table either was dating or dated someone in the group.

Malia smiled at her compliment, "Says you. How was Italy?" Amelia and her family always spent the summer in a foreign country and they never did repeats.

Amelia's face lit up, immediately telling her best friend the tales of her trip. Malia listened with a smile growing on her face at her friend's happiness. "Oh, I went to the top of the leaning tower of Piza."

"Really?" Malia asked. It had been the two girls' dream to visit certain landmarks of certain places. Amelia had to go by herself because Malia was advised not to fly in her state. Out of everyone in Malia's life only three people knew what happened during the summer. Adaline - her sister, Vivian - her mom, and Amelia - her best friend. She kept it to the minimum, scared to be Simon Kelleher's latest post. "Was it - leany?" Malia tilted her head thinking if that's the right word. Or if it even was a word.

Amelia furrowed her eyebrows at the word, "Yeah it was, leany?" The two looked at each trying to see if the other one knew what it meant. "Leany." The dark skinned girl repeated. "Leany. Is that even a word?".

Malia shrugged, "Imma look it up." She moved down slightly to open her side bag where her phone resided. Turning it on and unlocking it (her password was her birthday - I know so original). She googled the word Leany, and it did come up. "It is a word," Amelia looked impressed until Malia kept going, "On Wiktionary ''. When she looked back up her eyes met with a set of blue ones. She was very familiar with those eyes having seen them alot in her life. She looked back down at her phone, breaking eye contact.

He walked past her table and she just heard a snippet of his conversation "Oh, yeah. I had a, um, a situation this morning." Malia rolled her eyes at his behaviour, having been used to it since the beginning of summer.

Amelia who noticed what had just occurred, "Have you spoken to him since the break up? Like at all?" Malia Kennedy and Nate Macauley's break up was probably the messiest break up in all of Bayview high. The two for the weeks leading up to the summer, they couldn't have a single conversation without an argument brewing. Then as rumour has it, they finally broke up because according to About That, Nate decided to sleep with a college girl by the name of Amber. Normally Malia would never believe a rumour but it seemed too realistic to be false.

Malia shook her head, "No," She sighed, "But I'll have to eventually, he still has my house key." She grabbed a grape from Amelia tray of food, ignoring the surprised look on her bestfriends face.

"You gave him a key?" Amelia exclaimed, very loudly. The blonde may have forgotten to tell her that.

"Of course I did. I have known him since before we could walk, so I trusted him with it," The blonde sighed once again, "plus, you know how scary it is for someone to climb through your window at eleven at night.".

Before Amelia could say something, everyone in the school's phones went off. The two checked their phones to notice the new About That post.

It's your lucky day. I know I said you'd have to wait until Friday, but looking at all of you and your boring, predictable little cliques, talking about the same predictable bullshit, makes me realise that it is my moral duty to do something to make this day more interesting. So here's a little taste to hold you over until the end of the week.