Lila couldn't help but stare. 

The girl had clearly caught her doing so—she adjusted her jacket and averted her eyes. "I'd better go."

Lila felt frozen in place as she watched the girl walk away. Should she follow after? Seeing her birthmark in the wild couldn't be a coincidence. But before she could make a decision either way, she felt a tap on her shoulder. 

She turned to be greeted by a girl with perfect brown spiral curls dressed entirely head to toe in pale pink, with a cupcake in her hand. 

"Sabrina!" Lila grinned. 

"I made more for later, we can bring them to your mom's place." Sabrina was practically bouncing on her feet as she handed it over to Lila. "Feeling any older?"

"Not really." Lila bit into the pale pink frosting and tasted pumpkin spice beneath—her favorite. A school-day birthday couldn't be too bad if everyone was going to give her cupcakes! "This is so good—thanks, by the way."

"Don't even mention it." Sabrina fell into step by Lila's side as they made their way to homeroom, in Mr. Hathaway's English class. "By the way, I'm super excited for that shoot coming up! I always love trying on your clothes!"

Sabrina had long become a muse of Lila's—especially once they'd started up the social medias for Lila's fledgeling design studio. Little Dragon Lila, she'd decided to call it when making the accounts. Her mom hadn't been the happiest with that naming choice, but she didn't put her foot down about it either. Besides, Lila had always felt an affinity for dragons because of her birthmark, preferring dragon plushies to any other animal as a kid, whether real or fantasy. It had been only natural, in her mind. 

"I think Saturday's going to be the best time," Lila said. "Sunday I'll be editing my video on the thrift-flips from last month."

"Just let me know when to come over, and I'll be there."

The bell rang and Sabrina froze, her blue eyes comically wide as she gripped Lila's sleeve. "We need to get to class! I can't afford another tardy!"

Sabrina tugged Lila down the hall to AP English, practically flying before they came to an abrupt stop in the doorway. The force of it had nearly thrown Lila to the ground. 

She blinked—all eyes were on Aideen Llewellyn sitting on top of a desk, surrounded by her admirers and friends with a little heart-shaped balloon with a 17 on it. 

"I didn't know we shared a birthday," Lila muttered. 

Sabrina shrugged. 

Aideen glanced over in their direction and her green eyes widened. She grinned and waved. "Hey, Lila! Sabrina! It's good to see you!"

"Good to see you too." Lila smiled back. "Happy birthday!"

"Aww, thanks!" Aideen blinked—she'd registered the half-eaten cupcake in Lila's hand. "Oh, is it your birthday too!" 

"Oh, yeah." Lila felt her face go warm as everyone looked to her. 

"Oh, that is so cool, happy birthday!" Aideen slipped off the desk-top and landed gracefully onto the linoleum floors. "I hope it's a good one."

"Yeah, you too."

The audience with the princess was over.

Lila didn't dislike Aideen—she was nice enough. They just didn't run in the same circles. But still, you couldn't really dislike her. She'd earned her princess status for a reason. There was something about the way she carried herself that you couldn't help but admire, and the way she talked to people, she was always uplifting, always gracious and kind.

Plus, Aideen was also fairly unique in the way she dressed, reminding Lila of shoujo manga girls, especially the ones in magical girl series—but casual, of course. 

Still, as she found her way to her seat, she felt as if she were being watched. She caught Aideen's eyes just before the bell rang. 

Lila quickly looked away, letting her dark red hair fall into her face. Already today had grown too strange. 

...

It was in the cafeteria when Lila saw the girl with the dragon birthmark again. Then again, it was easy to spot her, given how she dressed like a rock star. She'd wandered in a few steps with that stumbling vulnerability of someone who was lost before her eyes locked onto Lila's. 

She passed through the crowd of students quickly, as they unconsciously parted for her. The advantages of height, Lila supposed. 

"Hey, I'm Kira." Lila craned up her neck to meet Kira's eyes. In spite of all the rock-and-roll bravado, she now looked quite nervous. Something flickered in her gold-ringed chocolate brown eyes. "Is it okay if I sit here?"
Sabrina was the one to answer. "Of course, there's lots of room here!"

Of course there was—Lila and Sabrina sat by themselves at the table, because most of the other theatre kids had a different lunch period. 

"Oh, thanks." Kira's eyes widened in belief as she sat down. She began unpacking her lunch-box, a bag with a pattern inspired by Van Gogh's Starry Night on the outside. "By the way, sorry about bumping into you, earlier."

"It's okay, I think I was the one who bumped into you," Lila offered. 

Kira smiled but said nothing. 

Lila thought about what she'd seen that morning, the dragon-shaped birthmark on her shoulder. Kira removed her leather jacket, and Lila saw it again—proudly displayed for the world to see. 

"That's a cool birthmark," Lila said.

"Oh, thanks." Kira tucked a strand behind her ear and glanced away. "I guess it's kind of cool, makes me feel like Harry Potter or something."

She clearly wasn't in the mood to talk about it.

Lila decided to shift gears. "I like your outfit, by the way."

"Really?" Kira sat up straighter, her eyes brightened. "Thanks! I've been slowly working on it over the last year or so. Grandma hates it, but what can you do?"

She shrugged, and then her eyes flicked up and down over the pair of friends. "You guys look great too."

"Game recognizes game," Sabrina said seriously. 

"I like clothes." Lila shrugged. 

Sabrina elbowed her. "You love clothes, more than anyone I know!" 

She turned to Kira. "Lila's going to be a fashion designer someday."

"And you'll be my primary model." Lila placed a hand on Kira's shoulder.

Sabrina laughed. "Nah, I'll probably be a lawyer—but I'm happy to be your muse for now."

They then looked back to Kira.

"What about you, then?" Lila asked. "What do you want to be?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kira grinned. "I want to be a rock star. Or at least a pop star."

She pushed around the food in one of her reusable containers with her fork, more an idle move than one of genuinely wanting to eat it. "Grandma hates that too, of course. But she just doesn't see my potential yet."

Lila smiled sympathetically. Jinn had never been like that herself—but she knew what some other mothers had said to her when Jinn had mentioned her daughter's ambitions. 

"And if that doesn't work out, then I'll be a writer or a poet, something like that," Kira continued.

"We'd love to read your short stories," Sabrina offered. "Or poems or anything."

"I don't have anything good enough yet." Kira's pale face had turned bright pink and she looked away again. "But you'll definitely be the first to know."

Still, that had opened up something within Kira. She was brighter, engaging more, and they slipped into a conversation so easy, that Lila had to wonder where she'd been all her life. There was a connection there, a familiarity despite being strangers. It was as if they'd been friends their whole lives but never knew it. 

When they parted ways for their classes, Lila found herself catching a second and third glance over her shoulder, wondering when they would be able to talk again.