𝐈𝐅𝐇𝐘 ✹ 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐆𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐒

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄

𝟒 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨 ˢᵉⁿⁱᵒʳ ʸᵉᵃʳ ᵃᵗ ʰᵒᵖᵏⁱⁿˢ

Accepted, Sofia's screen read. "Accepted," she said aloud to herself. She'd been accepted to University of Florida. Her and Paige have talked about their future at this college since they were 10, and here she was, staring at her acceptance letter.

"Paige!" She shouted to the girl in the room just outside of her own. "Come here, please!"

Simply at the girl's call, Paige stood up from the Perez's living room couch and walked into Sofias bedroom. "What's up, Sof?" She queried.

Sofia sighed in relief, "I got in," she stated, and Paige felt a pit in her stomach. Without another word, Paige already knew what Sofia was talking about. She'd gotten accepted into University of Florida, but just moments ago Paige was staring at the rejection letter on the verge of tears.

"I- really?" Paige stuttered in disbelief, wondering if this was a prank of some sort or if Sofia was serious. But Paige's nightmare came true when Sofia nodded her head, a wide smile plastered to her face.

All their plans went down the drain. They could no longer decorate their dorm together. They could no longer play Fortnite side by side in their dorm. But most importantly, they would never play basketball on the same team again.

For Sofia, however, Paige put on a fake smile. "That's amazing, oh my God! I'm so proud of you Sof!" She exclaimed, pulling her brunette friend into a tight hug. Little did Sofia know, Paige was near crying on her shoulder.

𝟐 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫

"Did you not hear what she was saying?" Azzi asked Sofia, receiving a shake of the girl's head. "She's telling everyone about how you didn't deserve to get into UoF and that her essay was better than yours. She's also saying that you shouldn't even be playing basketball there."

Sofia stood in front of her friend in disbelief. Paige, her ride or die since she was 5, has been talking down on her for weeks? All over a stupid college? Sofia understood that the girls had planned their whole future around getting into this college, but that gave Paige absolutely no right at all.

"Are you being serious?" Sofia asked again. Azzi nodded, a sorrowful expression covering her face.

"I'm so sorry, Fia. Really, you don't deserve this and she doesn't know what she's talking about." Sofia nodded as a way of thanking Azzi. The curly-headed girl pulled Sofia into a warm hug, one that Sofia melted into.

Sofia could only feel one thing at the moment, betrayal.

Sofia stood at her locker, grabbing her MacBook charger for her next class when she heard a familiar voice from behind her, coming closer. "Hey, Sof," they called, and Sofia immediately knew who it was, Paige.

Sofia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, still facing her locker. Paige was the last person she wanted to talk to right now, and the bell was going to ring in 5 minutes.

She refused to feed into Paige, shutting her locker and attempting to walk straight past the girl. However, Paige failed to take the hint. She sped up to reach Sofia, then continued to walk next to her.

"Sof we have AP English next, no?" Paige asked, and Sofia simply nodded.

"Yep, we do," Sofia muttered under her breath, still looking at her phone on which she was scrolling aimlessly on Instagram.

Paige pulled a face, "so then why aren't you talking to me? We always catch each other up on the walk to AP English."

Finally, Sofia stopped and turned to face Paige. "People don't normally want to talk to their best friend after finding out they've been talking shit about them for weeks, Paige. That's common sense, I fear."