Constellations

Chapter 7

She stood waiting in the hallway, her white bag slung on her right shoulder, her eyes were busy reading the messages on her phone. Cheerleading practice will start in 30 minutes from now, and her best friend Vikki still had whatever business she had to do before she can meet her, which according to the chat she just received in her phone, would be 5 minutes from now.

"It never takes only 5 minutes," she said quietly to herself, sighing. Looking around, the school was already nearly empty. Most of the kids who don't have other activities have gone home already. The only sound she could hear was her fingers typing on her phone screen, her foot tapping impatiently, and quiet chatters coming from the field on the back of the school. Just when she was considering to go to the field on her own and leave Vikki behind, a familiar voice shouted from the end of the hall, making her turn her head.

"Hey! You're just about to leave, aren't you?" Vikki frowned, lightly running across the hallway to meet her. "Wait a little for me."

"What was it that took you so long, anyway?" Ara sighed. "Come on, we haven't even changed to our uniform."

Vikki was silent for a while, the reply was seemingly already on the tip of her tongue but she was reluctant to spill it out. "It was Derek," she finally replied, after a while. "He invited me to a house party."

"House party?"

"Yeah, everyone's been talking about it, didn't you notice?"

"Nope," Ara replied nonchalantly. "He didn't say anything to me, too."

"Yeah, about that..." Vikki said, and it took her another few seconds before continuing, "I told him I'm not coming if he doesn't invite you."

"Hey, don't get yourself out of the list just because you want me to be there too, it's okay," Ara said to her, "Besides, I've never really been to parties like this before, I wouldn't know what to do if I get invited."

"Um, yeah..." Vikki said, her expression changed slightly. "I got you invited, actually."

Both of them were inches close to the locker room already, but Ara's footsteps were suddenly halted as soon as she realized what Vikki had just said to her.

"What. I got invited to Derek's house party?" Ara repeated Vikki's words to her, and she nodded in reply.

"I don't know if I should say sorry or..."

"I don't know what to wear!" Ara wailed. "Oh god. When's the party?"

"Umm... still two weeks from now," Vikki replied. "You can borrow my clothes though, or I can take you shopping," she continued, apologetically.

"I'm not sure if the money I currently have is enough to buy myself something decent," she sighed. "I'll probably use it to buy some makeup instead. Are we late to the practice yet?"

Vikki looked down to check on her watch. "Ten more minutes. Damn, we better hurry," she sighed.

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The mirror in front of her had gone foggy after the 30 minutes she spent in the shower.  After getting herself into yet another comfortable baggy t-shirt and shorts, she put her hair up with a small towel, allowing it to dry before she got into her room and used her hair dryer. Both of her arms and legs have gone all sore after the cheerleading practice today, but it was soon forgotten as soon as she stepped into the shower, and getting herself into much comfier clothes, ready for a good night's sleep.

"Hey, Tim," she smiled. "Rugby game this week, huh?"

"Yep, way too much practice too. Not that I don't enjoy it, though. How about you? I heard someone got into the cheerleader team for the game?"