Starlight and Soulmates

Chapter Two: 14 years old

-Danni-

"Dannika, get up. You're going to be late for school, *golubka!" Dyadya Vlad yells from outside my room. I groan and pull my blanket over my head.
"Do I have to go to school today, dyadya?" I shout. The old Russian cautiously opens my bedroom door.
"Why don't you want to go to school?" he asks, pulling the blanket off of my head.
"Because Bug found his soulmate already and he's only had his tattoo for a year and a half." I explain pathetically.
"Do you not like his soulmate?" Dyadya questions.
"It's not that...Hazel is pretty cool. It's just...." I trail off.
"You miss your best friend." he implies.
"Exactly..." I mutter.
"Just for today I will let you stay home, but tomorrow you will go back to school and tell Bug how you feel about this whole situation. Okay?" he negotiates.
"Okay." I respond unenthusiastically.
-The Next Day-
The next morning, I reluctantly got up and got ready for school. Dyadya helped me practice what I'm going to say to Bug all throughout breakfast, up until I walked out the door and hopped on my skateboard.
Now I'm trying to find Bug and Hazel. I finally find the two of them studying under the weeping willow by the lunchroom. I hesitantly walk up to the couple. "Uhm Bug? Can I talk to you about something?" I ask nervously.
"Sure Danni, what's up?" he replies with a serious look.
"Can we talk alone somewhere? Please." I whisper. Bug nods and tells Hazel that we'll be right back. We walk over to the little pond about ten feet away from the weeping willow.
"So, what did you wanna talk about?" he questions. I look down at my feet and sigh.
"Our friendship." I mutter.
"What about it?" the taller boy inquires.
"Ever since you found your soulmate you haven't had time to hang out with me... I feel like Hazel has replaced me as your best friend. You haven't been over to my house for a movie marathon weekend in six months." I admit sadly.
"Danni, nobody could ever replace you as my best friend. I'm sorry for ever making you think that. I promise that this weekend it will just be you, me, TJ, and Vlad binge-watching Disney movies." Bug promises. He pulls me into a big bear hug and we walk back to Hazel.
"Is everything okay, guys?" Hazel asks, concern present in her tone.
"Yeah, we're good. Just needed to have a little heart-to-heart with my best bud." Bug comments. I ruffle his hair and smirk.
"Yeah, a heart-to-heart." I whisper to myself.