Gwen woke up to a headache. A particularly grim one that wouldn’t go away no matter how much she groaned and how any times she cursed.

‘Last night was pretty brutal…’ She winced.

Or should better yet, last night and this morning.

Reaching for the bottle of pain killers she stashed under her bed, she popped one into her mouth and dragged herself out of bed. Somehow, she managed to slip her feet into her ancient bunny slippers and she strolled out her bedroom door to go brush her teeth. Just after knocking over a pile of books on her desk. Of course.

“Gwen?” A male voice called from somewhere in the house. It was her dad.

She froze, her tooth brush midair.

Did he know about what she did last night…even all the way to early this morning? In fact, it had been a miracle she came back on time today so she got enough sleep. Because she had school. Fuck.

Most mornings usually went like this for her; she wakes up to a migraine (because she always came back way past midnight. And she usually spent her nights doing things her dad would not approve of. Not even slightly), then she was paranoid for the entire morning that her dad probably knew about her sneaking out after he told her goodnight.

“Yes dad?” She called back, desperately trying to act as if she had been fast asleep, safe in her bedroom for full 8 hours. It was a tradition at this point.

Silence. Deafening silence.

‘Holy shit. He knows, he knows this time. I’m so dead-‘ She freaked out in her head.

“Your eggs are getting cold! You aren’t done getting ready yet?” He called back in disbelief.

Gwen let out a breath of relief. She was safe for another day, it seemed.

“Didn’t you set your alarm clock today? Hurry up, okay honey?”

She yelled back, ignoring her throbbing head. “I’m almost done, I’m coming!”

She lied. She hadn’t even showered.

In some other normal circumstances, she would have just skipped a shower, pulled on some clothes and ran to the kitchen for breakfast- before her dad started suspecting anything.

But last night had been particularly hectic at the party. She stank to high hell.

But hectic…in a fun way.

……………………………………………….

“Did you do your homework?”

Gwen stared at her plate. “Yeah,”

She hadn’t gotten home work the day before, but she just agreed anyway. To kill any chance of a prolonged conversation.

That was probably the only line her father could think of. Because it was pretty much the same line Mr Acosta used with her every morning.

There was even more silence and Gwen did her best to distract herself with the help of her phone.

She checked the time- it was a suitable time to split. Finally.

“I’ve gotta go dad,” Gwen forced a smile onto her face. “Trina’s going to be waiting for me at the bus stop. You know how she gets when I keep her waiting too long,”

“Yeah I know; you’d rather lose a limb than miss walking with her to school.” He nodded, scrolling through his own phone. “Have a nice day honey.”

Even more silence. Fortunately, Gwen didn’t wait around any longer to be in its presence.

She stepped out the front door, her blue furry back pack in hand- and took a deep breath. She needed it. It was a literal void in her house. She walked down her porch and onto her sidewalk. She walked on and on until her house was out of view and she was even past the supposed bus stop she said she would meet up with her ‘best friend’.

But the thing was, Trina didn’t exist. For the last 3 years she’d been lying to her dad she actually had close friends (sometimes it felt like she was lying more for her sake than his). Since the day that their family was screwed up forever.

“You were pretty crazy last night…seriously, who sells you your weed?”

“Did you have to dance on all those tables?”

“Someone told me you kissed my fucking boyfriend, you slu-“

These were her typical greetings most days when she got to school. Gwen was used to it at that point.

Biology. She had biology that morning- straight after homeroom. Usually that lifted her spirits- because it was probably the only subject she was good at. But not today. Nope. Not even her favorite subject could distract her from her shitty head ache, though it had faded quite a bit. She suddenly regretted chugging down all that liquor at the party.

Stepping into the familiar room at the end of the hall, she glanced around and smirked. She was hung over and still the earliest to get to class. Go figure.

Wait…never mind. Gwen paused as her eyes swiveled to some kid with their head down on their desk in the corner. At a closer inspection, she realized she knew him.

“Hungover?” She sat in the desk beside him.

He shrugged and mumbled, ruffling his tufty red hair. “Nah. You know I don’t do that,”

“Go to parties? Yeah I know, never mind.” She took a pack of gum out of her bag.

Sullivan’s head shot up immediately. “You know the drill,”

Gwen rolled her eyes, smiling. She tossed him a stick of gum from the pack and pulled one out for herself.

“You better hide that thing before anyone else walks in,” Sullivan eyed her, throwing his gum into his mouth.

“I know, I know-“

“By the way,” He arched an eyebrow. “You look like shit. Was it another party at Beck’s?”

“Really?” Gwen exclaimed, jerking her head towards him. Damn. She thought she’d done a pretty good job at concealing the mess that was her face. Sullivan just starred at her boredly. “No, it was Garrett’s. You know he brings lots of good booze; I couldn’t help myself…”

“I don’t know anything, I don’t go to those. Remember?” Sullivan gave a half smile, popping his gum.

“How could I forget.” Gwen shrugged. She paused, before turning to him again. “Hey, I think-“

Sullivan’s head was already down on his desk again, his arms covering his face.

Figures. Gwen bit her lip. Their conversations never went too long. To be fair, all her conversations with her pairs were like that. She only had acquaintances. But Sullivan might have been the only one she felt could be a legit friend. If she pushed hard enough, at least.

She usually saw him in biology class, sometimes they exchanged a few words when they crossed paths in the halls. Very rarely, he sat with her during lunch. It’s not that she never had anyone else to sit with- she had plenty, cause it pays off to be on almost everyone’s good side- she just couldn’t be bothered. Well, most of the time.

Today, she chose to sit with a girl she sometimes talked to in her math class. She had blue hair.

Clara. That was her name.

Lunch sure was fucking boring.

“So I told him I liked him and he said he liked me too,” Clara started, biting on her french fry. “And then he asked me out. I said yes, obviously,”

“Sure.” Gwen nodded at her, looking elsewhere.

“But then at the place he said we should meet up, guess what? He. Didn’t. Show! I waited for six-flippin’-hours, Gweny! Six!” Clara threw her arms in the air, huffing in frustration.

Gwen kept nodding absentmindedly, smiling in her direction while her eyes swiveled around the cafeteria before landing over on some guy staring at her.

‘What do you want?’ She wondered.

“I still can’t believe he just ghosted me like that, Gweny.” Clara groaned, furiously chewing her deep fried-chicken. “And he was the one who asked me out. I didn’t even tell him to…well, okay maybe I might have hinted a bit-”

The guy over at his table kept stealing glances at her, his friends were too busy chatting up a storm to notice. A small smile was present on his face as he ran a hand through his bleached blonde hair. It was perfectly styled.

‘He’s pretty cute though,’ Gwen thought to herself, taking a bite out of her hotdog.

“Gweny? Gwen, What’s up?”

Gwen was pulled out of her thoughts by a concerned certain blue haired girl.

“Nothing. What…what’s wrong?” Gwen shrugged, but it was far too late.

Clara’s lips contorted into a devilish smirk while she eyed the mysterious blonde boy. “He keeps looking your way, holy crap-“

Just then, the guy gave her an even bolder glance and smiled right in her direction. Then he waved.

‘Fuck.’ Gwen looked away. Where did she know him from? Who was he, what did he want?

“He definitely likes you, Gweny.” Clara smiled at him. “Come on, wave back at him,”

Was he in any of her classes? Math? Spanish?

Was it Biology? It was biology, wasn’t it? She desperately tried her best to remember him.

“Gwen? Ooh look, he’s coming over!” Clara’s smile stretched even wider.

Damn it, why couldn’t she just go on talking about herself and stop trying to be so ‘friendly’. Gwen didn’t need that. She just needed someone who could be a decent prop. Someone who just gave the illusion of friendship, but didn’t actually try.

She made a mental note to never sit with her again.

Gwen’s mind drifted back to the stranger. Did she meet him at a party? You couldn’t blame her, she talked to so many people and made so many acquaintances. It was hard to keep track.

He was already half way towards them when he waved again.

‘Please go away, I can’t remember you…don’t make this awkward-‘ Gwen silently begged.

“Hey there,” They guy halted in front of them, his hands in his jean’s pockets.

“Hi, how are you!” Gwen spun around, practically beaming at him. She barely knew him.

“Wow, you’re pretty happy to see me.” They guy smiled even wider. “Hey listen. Last night was…” He paused to glanced over at Clara awkwardly.

“Um,” He blushed and ran a hand through his perfect hair. “Great. It was great. I had a good time with you, at the party.”

“I had a good time with you too,” She smiled kindly as she wondered what the hell he was talking about.

‘Ah.’ Gwen thought to herself. That was where he was from. The party.

Jeez, how much did she drink last night. And, did they hook up? She really needed to start remembering her one night stands. Don’t get it twisted, she wasn’t a slut. It’s just that she hooked up with a lot more people at parties than the average person.

He bit his lip and placed a hand down on their table. Gwen stared at it. “Hey I was wondering,” he shrugged. “You should let me take you out some time. I know a really nice place...they have the best hamburger game in the area.” The blonde boy laughed.

‘What’s his name?’ Gwen pondered, feeling guilty.

“Sure, that sound’s terrific. I’d like that,” Gwen agreed. It was the least she could do for him after literally forgetting his name. He was good looking too, so what the hell.

“Great!” The guy’s eyes shone even brighter. “So I’ll pick you up this Sunday…6pm?”

“See you then,” Gwen winked flirtingly. It was almost second nature to her.

“Yeah,” The guy breathed a sigh of relief. “See you then Gwen. Here’s my number-” He scrawled some digits onto a napkin from his pocket and handed it to her. “You can text me your address,” He finally walked away, all smiles.

Gwen thanked her lucky stars he didn’t ask for her own phone number.

Clara was grinning from ear to ear, her cheek rested on her palm.

What a shitty prop.

“He’s cute,” She admitted. “So…you two had fun last night?”

The blue haired girl wriggled her eyebrows. Gwen forced out a breezy laugh, but what she really wanted to do was get up and leave.

“Mm-hmm,” She nodded coyly, faking enthusiasm. Faking friendship. “Uh, hey…I gotta go, okay? See you around then, Clara?”

She wouldn’t.

“Oh.” Clara looked a little surprised. She smiled anyway. “Okay, see you around Gweny. I should get going too anyway, some teacher said they needed to talk to me about something and-“

Gwen had already walked away.