Stella woke up when she couldn’t breathe. She sat up in slight panic, and a furry creature flew from her face. While Stella gasped for air and tried to calm her racing heart, a grayish blue cat stared at her with contempt in its eyes from the other side of the bed.

“You have to stop doing that, Mila,” Stella said and pulled cat hair from her mouth. “One day you will suffocate me for real, or maybe that’s your goal. But I don’t want your stinky butt on my face.”

Mila blinked and yawned and then curled among the bed covers to continue her sleep. Stella sighed and checked the time. Five minutes until her alarm would go off. Five minutes of sleep robbed from her.

After she turned off her alarm, Stella got out of bed and stretched. She tried to flatten and comb her mussed hair with her fingers while heading downstairs.

“Good morning.”

A warm greeting welcomed Stella to the kitchen. A bowl of porridge with fresh berries and fruit waited on the table.

“Morning, Mathilda,” Stella said with a smile. 

“Your mother called. They had to extend the meeting, so she’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Not surprised,” Stella sighed and poured oat milk into her porridge.

Stella’s parents were always running from one meeting or work trip to another in and out of the country. Stella hadn’t seen her dad in almost two weeks. He was supposed to come home later that week, but who knew if it was going to actually happen.

“She asked me to say she misses you a lot,” Mathilda said. She had known Stella for many years while working as the housekeeper, and she could detect disappointment from the girl’s face even when she tried her best to hide it.

Stella finished her breakfast and headed back upstairs to get dressed. She washed her face and brushed her hair, inspecting herself on the mirror. Dark shadows under her eyes contrasted against her light skin. Stella sighed and searched for her concealer. She didn’t want to look like a zombie panda. Few brushes of makeup hid the signs that she had stayed up past her bedtime studying. 

The doorbell chimed downstairs. Stella quickly straightened her white sweater and grabbed her school bag and sports clothes before running downstairs. Justin had helped himself inside, as usual, and was petting Mila, who had been on her way to see if a second breakfast would be served to her.

“Morning,” Stella said.

Justin smiled at her.

“Morning. Are you ready?”

Stella nodded. With a quick goodbye to Mathilda, she pulled on her coat and headed out with Justin.

Mercedes walked half a block ahead of them with Victoria. She was wearing a skirt that was way too short to be worn comfortably in school. Stella wondered if it was another attempt to make an impression on Castiel.

“Don’t forget that we have the meeting today about the renovation,” Justin said.

“How could I forget when you constantly remind me?” Stella laughed.

“I can never be too sure with you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Justin stayed infuriatingly quiet, only pointedly raising his eyebrows. He did trust Stella. She was the student council vice president for a reason, but he would never pass up an opportunity to tease her. It was his privilege as her best friend.

“By the way, I got the paint and wallpaper samples,” Stella said when they stopped at the corner of a street to wait for the lights to change. “I took mainly different shades of blue and green for the paints. There weren’t many good wallpapers, but I took a few since Melanie wanted them. But I don’t think wallpaper would be a good idea.”

They had caught up to Mercedes and Victoria, who turned to look at them after hearing their voices. Mercedes gave Stella a curt nod, and Stella returned it. They had known each other for years, ever since their parents introduced them to each other in hopes of the girls becoming best friends. Instead, Stella had connected with Justin which had made their parents hopeful about dating, but that expectation wasn’t fulfilled either.

The light changed, and Stella and Justin continued towards the bus stop. Mercedes and Victoria stayed behind to wait for Lind who lived in another direction.

Their talk about the renovation changed to general chat, and Stella talked about how Mila had tried to murder her in her sleep. For a cat that behaved like she actually hailed from Russian aristocracy, Mila sure did know how to be a gremlin.

When they arrived at school, the yard was full of students enjoying the warming rays of spring sun. Sunny days were a rare treat still, so everyone eagerly soaked up the warmth before having to spend hours inside.

“Morning Justin,” Melanie said when they walked past the bench she was sitting on with Martha. She smiled brightly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear while keeping her eyes on Justin.

“Morning,” Justin replied with a polite smile.

Stella wished them good morning too but didn’t get a happy smile from Melanie like Justin did. It was common knowledge among the girls that Melanie had a massive crush on Justin, and Stella spending almost all of her time with the boy didn’t seem to warm her classmate’s heart.

Before class Stella and Justin stopped by the student council room. Stella watered their ficus tree she had named Benjamin. The plant had deserved to have a name after surviving over a year in Stella’s care.

Justin took a folder from Stella’s bag to look at the cost estimates and offers from the local hardware store on paint and equipment needed for the renovations. They had planned to turn one of the storage rooms into a lounge and cafe for the students. The principal was on board with the idea, but she wanted detailed plans and documents.

“Looks good,” he said before they were interrupted by the bell and had to head to class.

The best part about Monday mornings was starting the day with Mr Beasley’s history class. History was one of Stella’s favourite subjects, but the teacher was the real highlight of the lesson. Mr Beasley was funny, interesting, and handsome. The perfect package. Stella was easily immersed in his lessons; it was easy to keep her eyes on the board when Mr Beasley stood in front of it.

Before Mr Beasley started the lesson, his eyes swept across the classroom for the mental count of everyone being present. His gaze stopped in the corner of the classroom. There was quiet beeping and clicking of buttons coming from one of the desks. Mr Beasley cleared his throat.

“Quinn, would you please put the console away, or I will have to confiscate it again.”

Mr Beasley needed to ask the same question on almost every lesson. And as usual, Quinn didn’t hear a thing until his brother elbowed him.

“What?” Quinn yelped and glared at Jamie and then at Mr Beasley.

“The console.”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Quinn muttered and put the console in his bag muttering about an unfinished level. The rest of the class turned to the direction of the blackboard and opened their books. Quinn muttered quietly about an unfinished level. Stella rolled her eyes with an amused smile, but then put her full focus on listening about the history of the German Empire.

When Mr Beasley put on a documentary about Otto von Bismarck later in the class, Stella saw Quinn take out his console again, hiding it under his desk. Stella couldn’t really fault him since the narrator of the document was so monotonous, she nearly fell asleep.

The tiredness persisted for the next few hours. Lunch break was a welcome change of pace, but Stella couldn’t enjoy it for long since she needed to be preparing for the student council meeting. She inhaled the chicken pasta and glass of milk in five minutes and dashed towards the student council room with two pieces of bread in hand. Justin was already there, having skipped lunch. Stella gave him the bread.

“Thanks.”
Stella smiled and sat down next to him, looking at all the papers he had spread on the table.

“Is your mother coming home tonight?”

“She was supposed to, but she has more work apparently. She’ll come tomorrow.”

“Do you want to come over for dinner?”

“I have tennis today. I’ll probably buy something.”

“Okay. But you’re free to join if you change your mind.”

“I know. Thanks.”

Stella studied the papers for a moment before sighing. She rested her head against Justin’s shoulder while her eyes fluttered shut. 

The door opened, and Stella jumped to an appropriate distance from Justin. Melanie's eyes stayed on Stella for a fraction too long before they moved to Justin, and she gave him the brightest smile and happiest greeting. A few other class representatives came in with Melanie.

No one in the school believed Stella and Justin weren’t dating, Melanie least of them. Stella couldn’t blame them either. She knew they looked like a couple. They spent time together at school and in their free time. Stella rested her head on his shoulder. Who did that to a normal friend? But they really were just friends. It wasn’t Stella’s problem if others didn’t believe it.

“Do you have the poll results?” Stella asked to direct the attention to other things.

They had asked all classes to give ideas on what they should add in the new lounge. The most popular and feasible suggestions would be done.

“Quinn wants a gaming console,” Melanie said, “others suggest comic books and pillows.”

“Our class wants bean bag chairs,” Annie said quietly and gave the piece of paper with the results to Stella. She was a shy first year student and seemed to be slightly afraid of Stella.

“Good. We can go through the rest once the principal arrives.”

Stella had gathered the papers from everyone, when Principal McTaggart walked in with a donut and cup of coffee in hand. They started the meeting with some standard topics, but most of the time was dedicated to the renovation. The principal approved the budget and gave the green light on making the suggested purchases and starting the work. Stella was excited. Finally this school would have a modern and comfortable hangout place.

After the meeting, Stella gathered the papers and headed out of the room. Quinn was leaning against the wall outside the door, attempting to look casual.

“Did you talk about the lounge stuff?” he asked.

“We did.”

“And…?”

“We’re not buying a gaming console.”

Quinn’s face fell. Stella chuckled softly.

“We are getting a coffee themed Monopoly game though,” she said and patted Quinn’s arm before heading towards her next class. 

A gaming console would’ve been cool and a lot of people would’ve liked it, but there were too many potential issues with it. They would have to arrange turns for playing to make it fair for everyone, the content of the games would have to be supervised as well, and in the end, someone would break the console anyway.

Quinn sighed. This school didn’t understand fun. 

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High Resolution Love starts properly next Monday, 7th February! We kick off the launch week with daily updates from Monday to Sunday before settling to the weekly updates on Wednesdays. I hope you're all excited