“Bonnie, you cannot be serious!” Natalie shouts as she walks into the classroom. She skips over to her desk and takes her seat swiftly.

“I am so serious, Natalie! She literally said that straight to my face!” Bonnie, Natalie’s friend, follows her inside, taking a seat at the desk next to hers.

“Come on, you can’t just leave me hanging!” She laughs. “What did you say back!?” Natalie takes out the coming up subjects books, making sure she’s ready for the approaching class.

“I just said ‘kazoo’, haha.” Bonnie gives Natalie a wide grin. 

This makes Natalie laugh even more. “Omg, that is, like, totally so random girl, but it’s so you!” Natalie sits back in her seat, pulling out her phone to check her makeup.

“I know!” Bonnie and Natalie laugh about their conversation, continuing to make jokes left and right.

—

“Anyways,” Bonnie switches the topic, “have you seen Soph? The bell is about to ring and she’s about to be late for the 3rd time this week.”

“Nah, haven’t seen her yet. She’s probably going to get in trouble again.” Natalie laughs. 

“Okay, that's rude, laughing at my misfortune.” Natalie and Bonnie jump out of their seats. They then turn around and see Sophia standing by her desk.

“Sophia! You scared the bejeezus out of me!” Bonnie exhales sharply, turning in her seat to face her.

“I can’t believe you’re on time today!” Natalie giggles.

“I’m not late that often…” Sophia grumbles, setting her bag down next to her desk.

“You kinda are.” Another voice chimes in. “I would know, I’m the one who takes roll calls each morning and you’re almost never here during it.” The girls glance back in the direction of the voice and see Regina Strout, class president and one of the popular girls, standing in front of them. “It’s a shame, I was wanting to mark you absent too. The teacher would have loved to see that.”

“Too bad Regina, I’m here this morning so you don’t get that satisfaction!” Sophia snaps. Regina scowls and struts away, flipping her hair at them as she leaves.

“Gosh, what’s her problem…?” Natalie asks, thrown off by her classmates’ attitude.

“Oh it’s nothing really, she’s just got a stick up her -”

“Miss. Write!” Sophia freezes, turning around as her eyes are met with her first period teachers’. “Watch your tongue young lady!”

“Yes ma’am! Sorry ma’am!” Sophia sits in her seat obediently, trying to calm her now shot nerves.

The teacher clicks her tongue and walks to the front of the classroom to prepare for class. Sophia sighs and her friends chuckle, earning a glare in their direction. 

“Anyway,” Bonnie starts, “back to you and Regina. Weren't the two of you friends at one point? What happened to that?” 

Natalie chimes in, “Yeah! I remember the two of you used to be inseparable.”

Sophia pauses, not saying anything, just looking down at the ground with a sad, angry look on her face. 

The girls share a glance with one another, Bonnie ready to tell Sophia to forget about it when someone interrupts her.

“She stole her doll,” a voice chimes in.

“What?” Bonnie and Natalie turn to see Soren, Sophia's twin brother, looking right at them.

“I said, Regina stole Sophia's doll. It made her upset and now they hate each other.”

Natalie rolls her eyes. “It can't just be that, right Soph?” 

Sophia thinks for a moment and just says, “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. She stole my doll and that was the end of our friendship.” She pauses for a moment then speaks again. “Yup, and that was that.”

“No wayyyyy!” Natalie and Bonnie look at each other with confusion on their faces, unsure if they should believe such a trivial reason. Natalie goes to open her mouth one more time when the bell rings, causing the girls to have to drop the topic for the time being as class starts.

Sophia lets out a sigh of relief, not wanting to unpack the real reason why her and Regina no longer get along. She shakes her head and tries her best to focus on class. She can’t allow this conversation to ruin her day.