60 Days

Amity

It was finally the very first day of school, and the most popular girl from her previous school feared the popularity she would get as a new girl. 

"Ignore and endure. Ignore and endure." Alina slapped the head of her panda-shaped alarm clock, which was on her bedside table, and got up while still chanting, "Ignore and endure." She made her way towards the bathroom. "Ignore and endure." Looked into the mirror, "Ignore and en..."

What am I doing? She asked herself. Defeat before the fight was not her style, so why ignore and endure? Why not acknowledge and live life to the fullest? One question and that was it. Her mind was changed. Her brown eyes suddenly looked hope-filled. Her lips formed a determined smile.

Half an hour later, a more determined and optimistic girl came down the stairs, fully dressed and ready for war.

.

.

.

The school hall was filled with students chatting, gossiping, laughing, and navigating, and it all felt normal. The only difference was that she had no friends. She looked at the brochure in her hands and turned its pages to look for a map.

Navigating through this thick crowd towards her English AP was tough. But looking for a seat was even tougher in the class. Every seat was either taken or reserved for a friend. Even though everyone seemed busy, Alina could feel them all watching her.

"You can sit here if you want." A girl called, offering her the window seat beside her.

"Thank you," Alina said while sitting down with a sigh.

"No problem; it must be tough being a new girl in your senior year. I am Rue, by the way." 

"Hey, I am..." 

"Alina Sterling..." Rue replied, which surprised Alina. "Oh, you joined our unofficial social group; remember, everyone knows about you by now.

"Fair enough" was the only reply she could think of. It was a bit surprising that someone noticed her from the crowd of 100+ students in that group. But she had no time to ask any questions as her teacher moved in.

The class went well, at the end of which Rue offered to escort her to her next class. Rue went along her way after leaving Alina outside of math class.

This time, she was early, and it was easy to find a seat. The class went on smoothly without much happening. Many people talked to her, but she felt it was more out of sympathy than friendship.

While making her way toward her third class, she bumped into a girl who was just moving out of the bathroom. To her surprise, this was the same girl who was getting bullied by that group near the beach. The girl also recognized her and looked shocked.

"Hey," Alina started. "How are you?"

"What made you think you could talk to me, loser?" She replied to the girl while pushing Alina away and moving on.

"What the hell?" This was shocking. Why would she do something like that? I mean, I only helped her and she...

"She's a bitch!" 

Alina looked toward her left at the girl who said that. "Excuse me?" 

"She's a bitch." Said the girl who was pulling books out of her locker beside the first girl.

"I helped her the other day," Alina tried to say.

"Baby, if you think she will act nice just because of that, then you are wrong." Said the first girl.

"She is the certified bitch of our year." Said the second one. "By the way, I am Ava, and this one right here is Stella."

" Hi. Why did you guys call her that? She seemed pretty basic and harmless to me the other day." Alina was pretty confused about that girl's reaction and surprised at what those girls were saying about her.

"Long story... Are you taking biology or  chemistry?" Ava asked.

"Biology. Why?"

"Me too..." Stella cheered, "Let's go; I'll try and fill you up with all the years' gossip you need to know." She hooked her arms with hers and pulled her forward. "Bye, Ava; see you at lunch."

Alina waved goodbye and moved on with Stella while listening to her gossip. Alina felt good to finally have someone who could become her friend. They both sat together in biology and went for lunch together. 

"Stella. Alina. Hey." It was Rue waving at them across the hall.

"You know her?" Alina asked Stella while waving back.

"Darling, everybody knows everybody here," Stella whispered, hugging Rue.

"How was your day?" Rue asked Alina.

"I..."

"How was your day?" Alina was cut off by Ava, who pounced and hugged Rue.

Alina didn't know the smile that was on her lips. This felt like her old-school group, she thought. But it was not. Her San Francisco friends were never really her friends. To begin with, it's been around 3 weeks, and they haven't even texted her...

"Alina?" Stella shook Alina. "Are you okay?"

Alina smiled and nodded. "You guys seem close."

"Of course we are; look at us," Ava said while gesturing towards herself and Rue. With confusion, Alina looked toward Stella.

Stella laughed. "You guys don't even look similar."

"Excuse Me?" Ava replied.

"Here we go again." Rue removed herself from the arms of Ava and moved beside Alina."They usually fight on this topic a lot; don't mind them."

"Oh..." Alina was feeling a little odd, not knowing anything. 

"She is my twin," Rue said after a pause. "She thinks twins ought to have something in common." 

Rue pulled Ava and hooked her arms to her to keep Stella and her from fighting even more. "I am hungry; let's go," while Stella hooked her arm to Alina. "Let's go, but keep this in mind: you do not look anything like sisters." Ava looked back at her but couldn't do anything as Rue pulled her forward with her.

The hooked arms made Alina realize she was now a part of a group, unintentionally, on her very first day.

This felt nice.

"Oh, by the way, Rue, did you know Alina tried talking with Millie in the hallway?" Stella informed.

"Millie?" Rue looked quizzically at Alina.

"Yeah, in the hallway, I helped her once, so I thought..." Alina now knew some of the students' names and gossip thanks to Stella, but this Millie was still a mystery. Even after asking Stella multiple times, she couldn't get a single word out of her about Millie.

"Oh, Alina!" Rue stopped and faced her. "She is in a bad situation right now. Don't try helping her; you'll get sucked into useless drama."

"Useless drama?" Alina was confused. 

"Yup, a drama titled Theo Williamson and Company," Stella replied. "I reserved the biggest and the best gossip from you for lunch." She smiled, her eyes gleaming.

Alina looked at the three of them. Only Rue rolled her eyes, but the other two had evil smiles and sinister gleams in their eyes. They were enjoying every bit of it.

Stella and Ava hooked each other's arms and went on while Rue waved to Alina, "They both just love drama. But as I can see, it is very important gossip for you."

A gleam of mystery and a huge drama were stored for Alina in the cafeteria, where she was approaching in a few minutes.

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Love, Missy𓆩*𓆪.