koibito (never have i ever)

chapter 1

*devi's pov*

devi had just finished praying for a boyfriend and was now walking out to her car. 

"oh, devi!" called her cousin kamala. "i made you a lunch!"

that's devi's cousin kamala. she moved in after mohan's passing to complete her phd at caltech. devi is not a fan. (bold=narrator)

"i don't bring lunch on tuesdays. it's square pizza day," said devi, secretly pleased to turn her down.

"devi, don't be rude to your beautiful cousin," chided nalini. 

"i'm not that beautiful," said kamala with a chuckle.

just then, a middle-aged man on a bike crashed into their garbage bins.

"sorry. are you a model?" he asked kamala.

"oh, thank you so much!" gushed kamala. "no, i'm a biologist. i could never be a model, i'm too curvaceous."

"i know this sounds crazy, but would you wanna get dinner?" he asked.

"hey, buddy, keep it moving. take your broke-ass bike and get out of here!" barked devi, tired of the constant attention kamala got from men.

"this can't keep happening," sighed nalini as the man rode off. "our recycling bins can't take much more of this."

devi rolled her eyes as she got in the car.

the only person devi knew who was more beautiful than kamala was lili de laurent, the hottest girl in school. no, scratch that, in california. again, weird for me to be saying that, but again, look at her.

meanwhile, lili de laurent was just getting into her own car, but it was a white bugatti. she, like devi, was only fifteen, so she wasn't legally allowed to drive, but her parents didn't care. (plus, she was white, so she had nothing to fear from cops.) she was wearing spotless airforce 1s with silver anklets, a black plaid miniskirt, and a short sleeved black bodysuit. there was a cartier bracelet around her wrist, a silver tiffany and co. choker around her neck, gucci rings on her fingers, and white gold dior hoop earrings in her ears.

her mother was the chairman of the entertainment law firm that ben gross's dad worked at, and her dad owned a top private equity firm and knew the stock market like the back of his hand. her grandparents owned a liquor company called de laurent liqueur, and her other grandparents owned a string of luxury car dealerships. no one knew what her uncle and aunt did, but they had a suspicious amount of money. what i'm trying to say is that she's rich as hell. she was the most popular girl in school,  and everyone loved her. and she was best friends with paxton--not fair! she'd never given devi so much as a sideways glance, but devi both idolized and hated her with a burning passion.

devi arrived at school to find that everyone was staring at her. she made her way over to eleanor and fabiola, who were chatting about the nurse's new haircut. 

"guys! sophomore year is gonna be our year. i can feel it," said devi, slinging an arm around each of them. 

"sophomore actually means 'wise fool' in greek, so it can really go either way," said fabiola.

"oh my god, i just realized that this is our last first day of sophomore year we'll ever have!" exclaimed evelyn. "i'm gonna cry."

"right," said devi, rolling her eyes. "this reminds me of a problem i wanna talk to you guys about. we're not cool."

"uh, would a not-cool person wear...one dangly earring?" asked eleanor, stroking the feathery jewelry taking up the right side of her head.

"was that a choice, or did you lose your earring on the bus?" asked devi.