@pietrajtiorano
I have a confession to make. I'm secretly a #fashionella fan, and I heard she has a surprise. @bellarina is an AWESOME chick and I hope I'm not the only one jittery here at dance practice. I'm practicing landing with the split after an aerial cartwheel! Also, these yoga pants are super comfy!
After six whole days without her phone, Mrs. Quincy finally forgave her daughter, saying she had "gotten what she deserved." Oh, how happy Bella was. She was so happy she did a pirouette. It didn't go too well, though, because her dancing was an abomination, but who was watching?
She horribly danced around her room, trying her best to pretend she hadn't been outshone.
Immediately she got her hands on her phone, she began catching up; from Twitter to Instagram to Facebook to Snapchat to YouTube, and back. She was so occupied she barely looked up to react to the impact her head made with the car's doorânot that it didn't hurt.
Viola was surprisingly happy, giggling at a video she was watching, and Cody glanced in the rearview mirror at her. She wasn't talking to him like she used to, and it bothered him. He didn't realize he would care so much when they stopped talking.
Bella finally looked up when Cody parked in the student's parking lot, and she spotted Jun Li talking to a pretty black girl. "Hey, Viola, has anyone texted you about a sleepover?" she asked, grabbing her backpack.
"Um, actually, yeahâyesterday."
"Okay." She opened the door. "I have to go talk to someone. I'll see you later."
"Sure."
"We can talk then about... that thing... right?" She sounded unsure, but Viola couldn't exactly blame her. It was fragile territory, that much was clear.
"Definitely."
Bella gave her a smile before getting out, and Viola gathered her thingsâa sketchbook and some pencilsâthen undid the zipper of her backpack.
"Viola."
Her head snapped up, as if she forgot Cody was still in the car. He was looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to do somethingâblink, even. Finally, she turned back to her backpack, putting her sketchbook in it, and he got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him a little too loudly.
He leaned against the door afterwards, and she also got out of the car.
"You can't ignore me forever, you know that, right?" he asked, looking ahead.
"I'm sorry, what? Because I definitely wasn't listening."
He smiled, but it seemed fakeâmanufactured and forcedâthen he looked at her. "That's the path we're taking, huh? Why are you mad at me?"
"Who helped you figure that out?" She immediately made to walk away, but was stopped by his voice.
"I'm serious, Viola."
"Look, I don't want to talk to you about thatâ"
"You know what, I hate this part of you."
She stared at him like he just swore in the presence of a smart child.
"It's like you've built a wall around yourself," he continued, "and I can only talk to you from the outside. No matter how hard I try, you just go back to being this," he gestured in her general direction, "version of yourself. The truth is, I hate it."
Ouch.
"And," he went on, "you shouldn't expect my sister to understand what's up with you when deep inside, you don't want her to know. You get what you give, Viola."
Cody walked away, meeting Kyra by her car. Viola's chest clenched when he gave her a kiss on the cheek, not because he kissed her, but because of what he said.
Her eyes stung badly, and tears threatened to spill out. Was that what Bella thought of her, too?
Bella was having an awesome Friday.
She was no longer in a state of groundation, she had her phone back, Jun Li had her number, she was going to a sleepover with her dream team after school, and what was more awesome? Pietra Tiorano was a Fashionella fan. Pietra Tiorano. She was basically on cloud nine. Fifty solid new followers. No eye tricks, no phone glitches.
She was grinning through all her classes like a crazy person, and she searched for some tips to help with her mad fans in Honors Math. She hid her phone under her desk so Mr. Dylan wouldn't see it. She just got the phone back and she wasn't going to let that eagle-eyed teacher confiscate it; his confiscation was brutal, and the stories about him didn't lie.
After class, she was on her way to her locker when she heard voices from the physics room.
"This is terrible. I'm sorry, but I'll have to tell your parents."
"Please, Mr. Justin. My dad would kill me if he finds out."
Bella stopped, recognizing the second voice.
"Travon, this is your senior year, and if your grades keep dropping like this, I'm afraid to say you might end up flunking out before graduation."
Bella held her breath. She knew she should've walked away and pretended she didn't hear Travon speak, but, strangely, she wanted to hear more. Eavesdropping never went well in any movie she had watched, but she wasn't really in the mood to be cautious.
Travon couldn't flunk out. It didn't even sound right. He was the captain of the coding club, which she was sure involved a lot of math and physics.
"Please." The pain in Travon's voice made her stomach tighten. "My dad can't find out. Tell my mom, but not my dad. Please."
Good Lord, she wanted to hug this boy so badly. She had never heard him sound so broken before.
"You have to improve. Like I announced in today's class, there'll be a test soon, and if you fail, I'll have no other choice."
There was silence for a moment, before Travon said, "Okay. I'llâ" He cleared his throat as if trying to regain his composure. "I'll do my best."
"That would be awesome, Travon. You know I only want the best for you. Don't let your parents' divorce challenge you, okay? Be strong."
The sentence hit her like a really hard rock, and, for a moment, she couldn't breathe. She stood there, throwing the words 'your parents' divorce' back and forth in her head, and didn't notice the conversation was over until the door opened and Travon was standing in front of her.
She immediately wished the ground would open up and swallow her alive so she could avoid the glare he was sending in her direction.
"Travâ"
"What are you doing here?" He was mad, all right.
"I was justâI was," she stuttered, not able to complete her statement.
The look of utter disbelief that came over his face next made her want to crawl into a hole and pass out for a really long time.
"You were eavesdropping, weren't you?"
"No, no." She shook her head furiously, along with a hand. She felt so stupid and confused, and words betrayed her at the worst time. When she could finally speak, she said, "I wasn't. I was just walking by and I overheard. That's all." She said it all in one breath, and found it difficult to catch her breath at the end, for some reason.
"Well, what's the difference, Quincy?" The harshness of his voice made her flinch. "What's the dang difference? You still heard it!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
"Yeah, right. That's the excuse in fashion, isn't it?"
Travon walked past her, purposefully bumping his shoulder into hers. Bella was dumbfounded. What was that?
As she steadied herself, she couldn't help the realization: Travon Justice just flipped out on her. And, sure, she was wrong to "overhear" his conversation with Mr. Justin, but it didn't stop it from hurting; it didn't stop her from hurting.
Just like that, her perfect Friday went crashing down into little bits around her, and she stood right in the middle of it.
* * *
Hey. The girls invited me too. I'll meet you there? They texted me the details :)
Bella stared into her phone after reading Viola's text. She wasn't against the idea of Viola being at the sleepoverâat least not totallyâbut she was hoping for a night away from all the drama her life brought.
She somehow had the feeling, immediately she got the text, that the sleepover wouldn't go as well as she thoughtâthat it would go somewhat terribly.
Great! she texted back. See you soon!
She added three kissy faces, sent the text, then went to get her deodorants from her dresser. She was putting them in the pink bag on her bed when her phone pinged with Viola's replyâwhich was just a bunch of red hearts.
Her best friend was acting weird. Apart from not talking to her all day, she was texting with all these emojis. It was so unlike her. She usually didn't rub off chirpy vibes on Bellaâor anyone, for that matterâwhen texting.
Bella had been hoping they would complete their conversation, but after the scene with Travon, she lost interest.
Travon.
She wanted to throttle herself and jump out of her window again, if it was possible. She should've walked away, but it wasn't easy to do that after hearing about his parents.
Her heart beat rapidly when she remembered how he bumped into her and knocked her off balance. She had never been treated so... roughly. As much as it scared her, she wanted to speak to him and clear up the misunderstanding.
What misunderstanding, stupid? It was so obvious you were eavesdropping. There's no way to explain thatâOh, shut up!
The door opened, jolting her out of her internal argument.
"Hey, are you ready?" Cody asked, leaning against the doorframe.
Bella glared at him, then grabbed her bag. "You didn't knock."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, you are." Wait. Did Cody just apologize for barging in?
"I was thinking I'd drop you off."
"Do you know exactly where I'm going?"
"You could give me the address."
She stared at him for a good minute before asking, "Why are you offering to help me?"
Cody sighed. "Because it's the only way I can apologize for Friday. I'm sorry. It's just a big brother thing."
"Is overreacting, getting your sister grounded for the first time in her life and having said sister's phone taken away a 'big brother thing' too? 'Causeâ"
"Stop rubbing it in," he interrupted, then sighed again. "It's just shocking to see you all fifteen-year-old and grown up. When I saw the photo Kyra sent, my mind just fled, okay? I'm sorry."
His mind fled? Where to, exactly? she wondered.
The way he kept his gaze focused on the floor, like a shy boy confessing his love, was not to be ignored. He looked like a scolded two-year-old.
"Okay, fine," she said. "You're forgiven."
He looked up at her, his eyes glinting with happiness. "I am?"
"You are."
"Thanks. Next time, I'll try not to blow it out of proportion."
"Good." She smiled. "So are you still going to drop me off orâ"
"Definitely!"
"Wonderful!"
They headed out of her room, and when they were downstairs, Bella shouted, "Mom, I'm off!"
"All right, sweetie. Have fun and sleep well! I'll text you later, okay? Love you!"
"Okay. Love you, too."
"So, Beau," Cody said as she shut the door, and she quickly walked ahead of him. That wasn't a conversation she wanted to have with her brotherâespecially since she just reconciled with him.
"Don't!"
"Hey, it's my job to interrogate you about him."
"Shut up!" She was silently grateful he couldn't see her cheeks flush.
In the car, she brought up the text Jun sent to her earlier that day, containing the address of the sleepover, then showed it to Cody. His eyes widened, but when he saw her questioning eyes, he looked away and started the car.
Barely ten minutes later, the car was stopping in front of a house that made her think of Hollywood. It was a white single story that had a professional look to it, but nothing too fancy.
Her hand gripped the strap of her bag, and she realized she was a bit nervous. "Thanks for dropping me off," she said to Cody, looking towards the house.
"No problem." He was silent for a while, then he asked, "Hey, can you help me with something?"
She turned to him, spotting hesitation on his face. "It depends on what it is."
"It'sâit has to do with Vi. Is she gonna be here?"
"Yeah. What is it?"
"Can you help me talk to her? I kinda said some things to her this morning that may have hurt her feelings. I want you to let her know I'm sorry, and she should text me?" It came out as a question, and Bella opened the door instead of responding.
"You sure have ladies mad at you. Just don't make Kyra mad, too. Trust me, you don't want to be the victim of a girl's revenge."
"I'll take that as advice and be good."
She got out of the car, smiling.
"Take care, and don't have too much fun. We wouldn't want me coming back to pick you up, would we?"
"I... guess not," she replied, not completely sure what he meant by that.
He gave a half smile, then said, "I'll pick you up tomorrow."
"Sure. See you then."
"Bye."
"Yeah, bye."
She shut the door, then turned to the house, immediately noticing a black Ford in the driveway.
Sweet mother of hot sauce, chips and cheese!
That was why Cody's eyes widened when he saw the address.
Holy cupcakes, it was Beau's house.