Ashley stood outside, just staring at her new school. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous. Starting at a new school always made her nervous. But she knew it would be fine, just like every other new school. She walked up the steps and into the courtyard of her school.
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Ashley walked into her classroom, Mrs. Bustier’s class, ready to meet her new class. When she got into the classroom, she saw that most of the class except for five students, were gathered around a girl on the front row telling some story about how she helped Jagged Stone come up with all of the new songs on his latest album. “He really valued my input, but I asked him to leave my name out of it. I didn’t want to take the spotlight off of him.” The class ate up the story, believing every word this girl said, saying how sweet she was for doing that. It was obvious to Ashley that this girl was just lying. Not wanting to be a part of the inevitable drama that would come with that, Ashley chose to go up the steps and introduce herself to the smaller group sitting there. She learned their names were Marinette, Nino, Kim, Alix, and Nathaniel. The small group spent the rest of the morning chatting and making Ashely feel welcomed.
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The class didn’t even notice Ashley come in. But Lila did. And Lila also noticed how Ashley didn’t come over after the story, and instead went to sit with Marinette and her group. Lila already hated that those five didn’t pay attention to her, but she was going to make sure this new girl fell into line soon.
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Lila spent the next few days trying to charm this new girl, Ashley. But nothing worked. Lila was being as sweet as she could be, but Ashley never seemed to care. She wasn’t mean or rude to Lila, but she wasn’t interested in any of Lila’s stories. It infuriated Lila in a way that only Marinette had been able to achieve before.
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Lila stepped up her game, thinking that if she offered Ashley cool opportunities, maybe she would start to fawn over Lila too. Of course, Lila had no intention on actually following through on the offers, but the offer itself should be enough to trick this girl. She had found out that Ashley had a Youtube channel that was somewhat popular, and that Ashley loved making silly and funny videos for her subscribers. So, one day after class, Lila stopped Ashley as she was leaving the school. “You know Ashley, I found your Youtube channel and I think you are awesome.” Ashley, still not wanting to get sucked into Lila’s drama, just smiled politely and said thanks before trying to leave again. But Lila stopped her with that fake smile on her face. “I am friends with MrBeast. I could probably get him to make a video with you. You could get so many new subscribers for your channel.” Lila thought it was perfect. Ashley would want the new subscribers and start following Lila, and when Lila couldn’t deliver, she could just blame it on MrBeast and Ashley would still follow Lila.
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Ashley knew that was a complete lie, but knew she needed to be careful. Marinette had warned her about Lila and how she reacts if you call her out on her lies. Still trying to avoid drama, Ashley faked a smile and said, “Thank you Lila, but I don’t really do collaboration videos. Thanks anyway, nice of you to offer. Now I have to go, I’m running late.” With that, Ashley ducked around Lila and walked away. Lila was left dumbfounded, standing in the empty school. How had her plan not worked? That kind of plan always worked! Lila filled with anger and stomped out of the school. This wouldn’t be the end of it. Lila was going to get Ashley to fall in line and listen to her if it was the last thing she did.
