strawberries and smoke~

~chapter 5~

note!!

seeing as this is the party chapter, now is probably a better time than ever to make the note i stupidly missed at the beginning. BUT this story will have mentions of stronger and more mature themes like drug use, underage drinking, mentions of assault, sexual themes, homophobia, violence, toxicity and cheating, and prostitution. all themes mentioned and seen in baby.

and a few little changes will be made to the plot due to fiorella being here but nothing too drastic

that's all! enjoy loves

~~

Chiara jogged up to Ludovica, who was standing outside the school, her back resting against the old wall. A bright smile on her face. "Hey," Ludovica turned at the sound, grinning in return. 

Fiorella came running up behind them, a little out of breath. "Hey! Wait up," she called, her voice slightly frustrated over whatever inconvenience she's having.

Ludovica shot a quick glance over her shoulder, leaning off the wall at the sight of the other girl. "Knew something was missing. Where have you been?"

Fiorella paused, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "Nicci tied my shoelaces together while I was looking for my hairbrush," she explained, her face scrunching up. "Took a few minutes to untie them and another few to chase him around two stories,"

"Sounds like fun," 

"Very," She huffed. A strand of hair blew across her face, and she absentmindedly brushed it behind her ear.

Ludovica eyed Fiorella, still amused. "I was wondering why you looked like you had just ran three miles,"

Fiorella glanced down at her sneakers, finally having caught her breath. "I think I did. I also technically did because you know, track and stuff? Lots of running," She nodded, Ludovica let out a short laugh, shaking her head. "You're cute," she teased, turning back to Chiara. 

The blonde paused for a second, realizing she had been rambling. She thought about Ludovica's seemingly throwaway comment, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. She quickly put a hand over them, trying to hide the warmth spreading across her face.

"I wanted to thank you again for the signatures. They were identical," 

Ludovica waved off the compliment. "I told you so," 

Chiara chuckled, then turned to her again, more seriously. "So, are you coming to the party tonight?" Ludovica immediately shook her head, her expression shifting. "Hell no. No offense," she nudged Fiorella, trying to water down the obvious comment against her friends.

Fiorella returned the nudge, both of them stumbling to the side a little. "None taken," she said, a smirk appearing in the corner of her lips, "pudding bowl."

"Your best friend is a dick," she said with pretend offense, the playful shove to Fiorella giving away that she wasn't truly mad. It was almost admirable how little she let the situation bother her. Unless she was just really good at hiding it.

"Oh, I know. But after he showed everyone that video, I typed a wrong passcode into his phone like 100 times and he was locked out of his phone for so many hours that it added up to a week," She glanced at the two girls, tilting her head and smiling.

Ludovica burst out laughing, giving Fiorella a lame thumbs up. "Serves him right," she said with an approving nod. "Totally," the third girl agreed, finding her way back into the conversation.

"But anyway," Ludovica started, her voice dropping as she leaned in a bit more. "I'm going to this really cool club tonight."

Chiara gave a small nod of acknowledgment, but Fiorella's curiosity was stirred immediately. The clubs around where they lived were fun, sure. Her and her friends had a history of going when they were out of Saturday plans. It was just to dance, and have the occasional drink when Vitto was there with his fake ID.