Virtually every Fashionella fan thinks their beloved Belinda Quincy has everything going well for her and is one of the happiest people on earth. That's far from the truth, dear readers, and this leads me to today's topic:
STEPHANIE BALDESCO OR VIOLA DELMANE: THE AGE OLD QUESTION.
Travon Justice was smiling and approaching Bella at the same time.
Some magic must have happened the previous night or early that morning for that to be happening.
She admitted it was a good sight and distraction from the pain in her stomachâwhen she woke up that morning, the first thing that came to her head was, Why on earth did I have so much ice cream?
"Hey, Belinda," he said, coming to a stop in front of her.
Belinda? That's new. "Travon, hi. You look... happy."
He smiled wider, a dazzling action. "Of course. I have every reason to be happy."
Her eyebrows raised, a grin forming on her lips. "Oh, really?"
"Yeah. I'm seeing you this early for the first time. It's a record for meâdefinitely something to be happy about."
She shyly looked away, her grin falling so it was just a smile. Travon had been acting differently towards her, latelyânicer and... flirtier. It was a dream come true, but the problem was the timing.
Why now, when Beau had fully come into the picture?
"So," Travon moved closer to her and lowered his voice, "I didn't see your reply."
Her reply. Yeah, she didn't have the guts to send him her answerâthough it was a positive one. There was just something about texting Travon that felt abnormal.
"Oh, sorry about that. I was with people who don't mind their business, and when I got home, I was so tired I forgot. Sorry." She knew she was rambling, but what could she have possibly done? This was the first time she was being asked out on a dateâsince the study date with seventh grade Collins didn't exactly count.
"So I could come pick you up after school tomorrow?" He was watching her, obviously waiting for an answer, and she deliberately hesitated.
Travon smirked, finally grabbing onto what she was doing, then said, "After school, then?"
She briefly wondered if she was that transparent, before replying with a smile, "After school."
"Great. I like that silence thing you did, by the way. You had me nervous for a second."
"What if I didn't say yes?"
He thought about it for a few seconds. "Um, maybe I would've tried harder."
She laughed. "Right. Boys hate hearing the word no. You should see my brother when my mom refuses to let him taste test. He's like a bloated cereal ball."
Travon laughed along with her, then leaned against the wall. "It's the ego. Our egos are very precious to us, aaaand I just told you a trade secret." He laughed again. "Forget I said that."
"No, I don't think I can unhear it."
"Seriously? For my sake, please."
She giggled, taking in his face. She didn't know he could be this playful, and she kind of loved it. Okay, she really loved it. It was nice to see him not defeated.
"So I'll see you then," he said.
"Sure."
"I have swim practice later, too. Maybe you could stop by."
"You swim?!" She sounded like she didn't believe him.
"Yeah. I've been doing so since I was old enough to know what the word means. Why do you sound so surprised?"
"No reason. You know, computers and water are a terrible combination."
"Oh, really?" He pushed himself away from the wall, then moved even closer to her.
"Yeah. It could... it could cause sparks."
"Just pure sparks, or the ones that fly?"
She looked up at him, wondering if she heard him right. Where was all this coming from? What happened to Travon? She found it hard to think and just stared at him.
After what felt like forever, Travon smiled, then said, "I'll see you around."
She nodded, and he walked away.
Bella stood frozen where she was seconds after he'd left, only snapping out of her daze when Jessica arrived in a run and stopped in front of her.
"Bella," she panted, then bent over and placed her hands on her knees.
"Um, are you okay?"
"Did you see it?"
Bella rolled her eyes, and Jessica managed to stand upright. "Please don't tell me it's another photo."
"No." She pointed to the phone in her right hand, then tried to catch her breath.
"Where did you run from?" Bella asked.
"Home?" It came out as a sort of question, and Bella lifted one of her eyebrows in confusion. What was wrong with this kid?
"Bella, did you see the tweet?" she finally asked.
"No. What's it about?"
"Jun posted it, along with a link. The link lead to a websiteâFashionella Dirt."
Fashionella what?! "What do you mean?"
Jessica gave her a look she could only translate as, I'm losing my patience with you, then sighed. "Fashionella Dirt is a website that hangs up Fashionella's dirty laundry."
"But Fashionella doesn't have dirty laundry." What the heck was going on?
"That's what you think," Jessica said. "Heck, that's what I thought. But the website was really... eye opening."
"Okay." Bella took in a breath. "Jess," she said, like she was trying to explain something as complicated as her period to a curious two-year-old. "Are you here to tell me you're on the website owner's side, or that you're on my side?"
"Bella." Jessica's tone mimicked hers. "I'm a journalist and as a journalist, I'm not supposed to take sides. I'll never have a juicy story that way." She placed her hands on Bella's shoulders, then continued in a voice that said she had to understand. "Look, I'm just trying to look out for you, though I have no idea why."
"So what now?"
Jessica sighed, then dropped her hands. "The simple solution is to post a diss update."
"Diss update?"
"Yeah. Post something and mention the website in it in the most 'I don't take trash!' way you can."
Bella adjusted the strap of her backpack over her shoulder. "Is that supposed to be good advice?"
"Of course! I'm a journalistâI know things," Jessica replied with a duh tone.
"I don't want to do anything as a put-down, okay?"
"Show whoever it is that you're confident and you don't support whatever nonsense they're putting online."
"I'm not starting a social media fight, Jessica."
"They already started it. Think about it. What do they have against you? People don't just start a gossip website solely for one person. They have a reason for it."
Jessica had a point, but Bella wasn't doing it. She was as violent as a potato sack, and she knew an Internet rivalry wouldn't end well. "I don't want to give them what they want, Jess. Thanks for the... update. Really, I love you for it."
She walked backwards, away from the Parrot, who looked like she was about to give her ten more reasons why she should do the diss update thing.
"You don't run away from a challenge, Bella. It's cowardice," Jessica said just as Bella turned to continue her walk, her voice annoyingly loud in the hallway.
A coward was far from what she was. She was just being herselfânon-violent and definitely not a diss updater.
* * *
Bella surprisingly found herself at the pool after school.
She didn't even know why exactly she was thereâconsidering she had the swimming abilities of a pencilâbut she was a little excited to see Travon again.
Her classes had flown by so quickly, she didn't even realize when it was last period. Lunch time was the only section of the day she felt the intensity. Apparently, everyone except her knew about that stupid website and decided to stare at her and whisper to each other.
Of course they knew about it. Jun was followed by virtually every ninth, tenth and eleventh grade girl that went to Wyland HighâBella included.
She couldn't, for the life of her, come up with why Jun tweeted something like that. She thought after the sleepover, they'd established a kind of friendship, but, obviously, she only invited her for the sake of it.
Bella remembered what Jessica had said about her missing video and how she thought one of them had it. The little bit about Stephanie followed, and she realized her friend of ten years was ignoring her; she wasn't replying to any of her texts, or picking up her calls.
The previous night, she'd tried reaching out to Stephanie Baldesco again, but the results were the same. She was probably having too much fun with her new Quebec friends to care.
Bella gingerly walked past the pool, waiting for the familiar face to come into view, but there were only five people around, so she decided to wait for him.
The five people presentâas she just realizedâwere guys, and she mentally admitted that this was the highest number of shirtless guys she had seen in one place in her life.
Some of the guys lifted their eyebrows at her, but she only smiled at them, silently telling them not to ask.
One of them didn't get the message and said, "Hey. Wanna join the team?"
The other boys snickered, and she glared at the one who didn't understand sign language. "I didn't say I wanted to, did I?"
"No," he replied, "but it's obvious you do. Why else would you be here?" He wiggled his eyebrows playfully, and she snorted.
"Stop fooling yourself. I've seen a better chest."
The boy shut up, his cheeks flushing, and the boys around him gave out 'oohs' and 'roasts' in the most mocking ways possible.
She couldn't control the smile that went up her face when she took in his expression. "Sorry, you asked for it," she said apologetically, and he waved a dismissive hand. His friends didn't stop mocking him, though.
They turned away after a while, and she focused on waiting for Travon to arrive.
As the boys laughed at something one of them said, her phone buzzed in her hand. She looked in it and saw a text from an unknown number.
You're right. Computers and water ARE a terrible combination - YWN
Her breath caught in her throat at the acronym. YWN. How did they know she said that? One thing was clear now, thoughâthis YWN person definitely wasn't Cody.
But if it wasn't him, who was it?
Before she could even come up with anything reasonable, someone bumped into her shoulder from behind, and from the hardness of the muscle, she knew it was a guy. She didn't get the chance to see who this guy was, however, because she immediately stumbled forward, and, before the boy could steady her, or she could regain her balance, she slipped on the edge of the pool, then fell in with a splash. A yelp escaped her as she fell.
The water was cold, and it smelled weird as it overwhelmed her. She moved her hands around, trying to grab onto anything solid, but there was only water.
"Oh my God, I don't think she can swim!" a boy exclaimed when he saw that she wasn't coming up for air.
It was like they all didn't know what to do for a few seconds, because they watched, waiting, hoping, for her to come up.
But when she didn't, panic set in.
"Oh God, she can't!"
Bella was flailing, trying to hold her breath and not scream at the terror, and someone jumped into the water, landing somewhere on her right.
Her heart was running a hundred miles a second at this point, because she wasn't sure she could do anything to support her horrible swimming skills anymore. Then she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist and pull her up.
Finally, her head came out of the water, and she let out a loud gasp, trying to get air into her lungs and blink the chlorine out of her eyes at the same time.
"Just breathe, you're fine." The voice sounded a bit breathless, and she did as it said. "You're fine, Bella." The voice finally registered, and she opened her eyes.
Her racing heart stopped beating altogether when she saw who just saved her life. His arms were wrapped around her waist and their eyes were focused on each other'sâhis looking concerned.
Beau Algernon was the last person she was expecting to see.