Mean Girls [Wings of Fire] AU

[2] No Exes

On October 3rd, he asked her what day it was.

And she messed up.

"Hi, I'm Riptide."

"Pfft. Riptide?" she said, tugging on her pink shirt that was entirely too big for her. Clay gave her a thumbs up from the back. Riptide? This has to be a joke. Who would name their kid Riptide? Like, hello, Mr. Riptide. Chuckling, she looked up, and her heart almost stopped.

This boy was gorgeous. She almost dropped out of her seat in shock.

"Weird name, I know." He shrugged. He had muscular, broad shoulders. "What's today's date?" He said, grinning.

She blinked, widening her eyes. I just laughed at this guy's name! That's so mean, Tsunami!

He has sparkling teeth, a different part of her thought dazedly. "Hey, sparkling teeth. I mean, I love your teeth. I mean, I wish your nose was a herring so I could eat it."

He blinked, clearly confused. "Um..."

She cringed, a blush on her cheeks.

She covered her face with her hands. She couldn't bear seeing his expression. "It's October 3rd," she choked out.

"Thanks," he said, raising his eyebrows. He crossed his shoulders in a lazy, easy-going way. "What's your name?"

She removed her hands and forced a smile. Nice job, Tsunami. You just made yourself look like an idiot. "Nice to meet you. I'm Tsunami."

"Cool." He grinned and turned again, and Tsunami closed her eyes, wishing it was a nightmare.

~

"Riptide Butler? You...you met Riptide Butler?"

She nodded, confused. She played with her french fries. "I told him he had sparkling teeth. And I laughed at his name." She covered her face with her hands.

Peril snorted, then quickly excused herself as Tsunami gave her a look.

"That's okay, honey!" Sunny said, petting her on the back. "It's better this way." She shivered. "Someone started dating an ex once and it wasn't pretty—"

Tsunami sighed, barely listening to her words, and removed her hands to look at Sunny. "How is it better this way? He was so...handsome." She frowned. Did I just say he was handsome? Ew.

"You like Riptide Butler? You can't do that!" Fatespeaker said, gaping. "He's Glory's ex!"

Tsunami raised her eyebrows. "What does that got to do with this?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Glory said, appearing behind her with Peril's arm linked to hers. Gripping a milkshake, she narrowed her eyes, sitting down next to Tsunami.

Then she gave her a smile like they had known each other forever. "Ooh, I love your bracelet." She winked, and Tsunami felt immediately better. Glory was too nice to care about her being interested in any of her exes. Right? "Where did you get it?"

"I got it when we were traveling," she replied, grinning back.

Glory patted her hand and turned her attention back to the table. "Now, what were you guys talking about?"

While she was distracted, Tsunami looked back at Anemone's table. Clay gave her a thumbs up.

"Oh, nothing much," Sunny said dismissively, fidgeting with her hands. She widened her eyes at Tsunami, making her heart beat fast.

"We were talking about your ex and how Tsunami saw him and thinks he's hot!" Fatespeaker blurted out. Tsunami dropped her french fry, letting out a little gasp.

Peril rolled her eyes. "God, Fatespeaker, can't you keep anything without telling everyone for three seconds?"

Fatespeaker blinked. Then she looked sad. "Not really."

Glory frowned, an angry snarl appearing on her face, and then disappeared. Tsunami questioned herself if she really did frown at all. "Which one? I have hundreds." She laughed lazily, making Tsunami relax immediately.

"I saw Riptide today," Tsunami spoke carefully. "I don't think he's hot. I just saw him and—"

Glory shrugged, cutting her off. "Oh. I dated him over the summer. He is cute, isn't he?" She giggled.

"Isn't Hailstorm cuter?" Peril said, but snapped her mouth shut after Glory gave her a glare.

Glory really is the Queen Bee, she thought.

Glory continued like nothing had happened. "I don't care. Like, imagine having a boyfriend named Riptide." She rolled her eyes. "He's really boring. All be cares about is, like, his grades, his records, and things nobody cares about."

Tsunami raised her eyebrows, confused. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Glory shook her head, sharing a look with Fatespeaker. "Um, no. But if you really, really like him, I can talk to him for you."

"Really?" She said, excited. She was right. Glory was too nice to care about her being interested in Riptide. "You're the best, Glory."

Glory gave her a smile that didn't reach her beautiful green eyes. "What are friends for?"

~

For stabbing each other's ba— I mean, to have each other's backs! Totally what I was going to say. ;)