High Heels and Battle Plans

Prologue

- a n -

Hi everyone!

It's Wednesday, the day that I upload things.

So here's the prologue for High Heels and Battle Plans.

It's a little bit random in certain parts, but that's just to show a small snippet of the characters' life. I'm not going to have chapters that are basically "filler"chapters, I plan on having all of the chapters have a reason. I'm going to aim for about this length for chapters but if they are shorter, it is because I feel that that is the length it needs to be, not because I am lazy.

Also, I apologize for any spelling/grammar mistakes, I read it over a few times, but that doesn't mean that I caught everything. If you see something, please tell me!

I hope you like it!

-Amber x

- p r o l o g u e -

Aria sat casually, comfortably on her bed, propped up by multiple pillows, legs crossed over the black-and-white comforter spread on her queen-sized mattress. Her best friend, Finn, was sprawled out on her arm-less, faux leather love seat on the other side of her room, its black color matching the simplified black-and-white color scheme of her room. The room was mostly silent, the comfortable lull in conversation filled with the sounds of fans, both a ceiling fan and a rotating floor fan blowing on them to make the summer heat a little more bearable.

This was a normal event for them in the summer, hanging out in either Aria's large, well designed bedroom, or Finn's cramped, mismatched one. They spent the majority of the summer with each other, because, once school started, they went off to their separate high schools, and had little time to do more than text, or, on occasion, call. This was about to change, though, and it was a fact that weigh heavily on Aria's mind.

"So," She drew out the word, hesitantly, and glanced over to make sure she had Finn's attention. He peered back at her expectantly, though she felt that he knew what topic she was about to bring up. "You're transferring to Mara-Hilda High School. Where I go." She wasn't quite sure why she felt the need to add the last part, but she figured it added emphasis and made the situation feel a bit more real.

"Yeah." Aria had only heard the news yesterday, and had not yet had a chance to talk to Finn about it. It seemed to her that Finn wasn't any more excited about it that she was.

"Are you," She pause for a second, searching for the right to say. "Excited?" It wasn't the right word, but would have to do.

The silence, which used to be content, had turned awkward.

"Well," Finn finally started, much to Aria's relief, "As nice as it will be to go to the same school as you," Finn paused to send Aria a small smile, then continued. "It wasn't my choice to switch over. I was perfectly content graduating at the school that I've been at for the last three years, but my mom believes that a public school isn't as impressive on an application as somewhere like Mara-Hilda, and every strand of logic about applications, and high school, and even reminding her that I wouldn't be able to walk to school anymore could not convince her to change her mind. Even my step-dad agrees with her, and you know how much he hates to agree with anyone." He sighed, looking up from the floor, where he had been staring. "I mean, I know how much you don't really like your school, with your strict teachers, and your whole rivalry thing, and everyone's attitudes, and all that. And I really did try getting out of it, but when my step-dad and my mom team up on something..." He trailed off, but Aria understood what he meant.

Realizing something, Aria jumped in before the silence could overpower the room yet again. "Wait, do you think I'm mad at you?" Finn responded by going back to studying the floor. "Because I'm not. I'm just worried about you. I-I need to talk to you about the whole 'rivalry' thing." She took a deep breath. "It's not just an academic rivalry, or just a sports rival or something. It's, like, an everything rival. If it can be a contest, it suddenly is. Any social interaction is a show of trying to one-up the other, every school day is practically a fashion show, every review game in class is played like there is a thousand bucks on the line." She thought about that last phrase for a second, then corrected herself. "Well, they are typically played like that anyway, but you get what I mean. For her, life is a contest, and she always needs to be on top. If she feels that's not going to happen, she'll do whatever it takes to make sure that whoever is on top doesn't stay there."