The Next Step - The List

Monday - Emily

Chapter 2 -

Emily couldn't wait to get to school. It was the day of the list. The best day of her life. She couldn't wait to see her name labelled as the prettiest Junior.
But, when Emily reaches her locker she is utterly confused. Hoping she was in a nightmare, she pulled her blonde hair out of her face. But nothing changed. She leans closer and drags a raspberry fingernail down the list, linking the word ugliest and her name with an invisible, impossible line.
She felt eyes burn in the back of her head. Like everyone was watching her. She took two side glances, searching for her friends but she couldn't see them anywhere. Where were they?
"Hey Emily! Congrats on getting the prettiest Junior!" Richelle smiled and hugged her. Emily's eyes were fixed on the list. Richelle had got prettiest Freshman as predicted so why didn't Emily get prettiest Junior. Michelle Baldesarra. Who was that? Emily didn't recognise the name, and she knew everyone. Everyone who was relevant anyway.
"I hate to break this to you... But apparently i'm the ugliest Junior at Stepping High." Emily announces. Then, she laughs because it is honestly so ridiculous.
"Whoa." Richelle replies, unsure what to say. She should've checked first. Whoa was understatement of the year. Emily turns to the list again expecting to find other mistakes that might explain what's going on. Giselle Clark was definitely ugliest Sophomores. Emily had a faint memory of who Amanda Fabbro is, but she's not sure if she's thinking of the right person. Everyone in the school knows Beth is gorgeous and seeing her name as prettiest senior makes sense, especially as she's going out with James. And, of course, even though she hates to admit it, Riley is the obvious choice for prettiest Sophomore. There's only one other name she doesn't recognise. Weirdly enough, its her junior counterpart. The prettiest to her ugliest. Michelle.
"Who is Michelle?" Emily asks and snaps her fingers.
"Um, she's a new girl. She knows Hunter or something..." Richelle stutters.
"Hunter?" Emily gasps.
"Em?" Stephanie her best friend interrupts.
"Where have you been?" Emily demands.
"I was just talking to Riley..." Stephanie shrugs.
Emily rolls her eyes. "I mean, come on. This is total crap." Emily gives Richelle and Stephanie a chance to defend her, though she feels a little pathetic at having to bait them. "Pretty girls are not supposed to end up on the ugly side of the list! It, like, undermines the whole tradition!"
"Well the list doesn't actually say your ugly..." Richelle gulps.
"That's true." Stephanie agrees.
"It just says your ugly on the inside." She shrugs.
"Which we know is not true." Stephanie adds, whilst nudging Richelle.
"Totally not true." She nods.
This isn't the rousing defence that Emily was hoping for, especially from Stephanie. Emily let's it sink in. So what if people think she's ugly on the inside? Clearly her friends don't believe that or they wouldn't be friends with her. And pretty on the outside is what really counts. Pretty on the outside is what everyone sees.
"Come on." Stephanie encourages. "Let's get out of here."

Later, Emily and Stephanie were waiting in her car as they were picking Riley up from her detention.
"Ugh. Can she hurry up? Detention finished fifteen minutes ago." Emily sighs whilst inspecting her manicure.
"I don't know how she's got prettiest Sophomore." Stephanie blurts.
"What?" Emily replies.
"Well i don't think she's pretty at all." Stephanie shrugs.
"You don't?" Emily asks.
"No."
"I always thought she was..." Emily stutters.
"Only because you practically design her." Stephanie giggles.
"Finally!" Emily sighs, glad to change the conversation. "There she is. Wait. Is that James Tordjman?" She gasps and takes off her sunglasses for closer inspection.
"I can't believe it." Stephanie replies, rubbing her eyes to make sure she's not dreaming. "Wait, is James cheating on Beth with Riley?!" Stephanie says.
"She's coming." Emily replies. "Don't say anything, we can use this to our advantage."

When they arrived to Emily's house after the awkward car journey, they practically ran away from Riley and hid themselves in Emily's room. They were ready to make a plan.
"So, how can we use this to our advantage?" Stephanie asks whilst munching on a packet of crisps.
"Well Hunter hasn't spoke to me all day."
"So?"
"So, we use Riley to get to James, so then he can talk to Hunter and get him to like me again. Then, we'll take revenge and pull the plug on Riley by tell Beth what her and James has been up to."
"Do we have to take revenge though?" Stephanie asks.
"She deserves it." Emily shrugs.
"E-girls?" Stephanie giggles.
"E-girls!" Emily cackles.