Chapter Text
Valerie Gray stared at her phone as she walked out of the apartment complex. A disgusted frown on her face. She wasn’t this desperate was she? No. Yes? No . With a sigh, she put her phone away and made her way to Casper High. Like normal she met up with Star and Kwan at their lockers before going to her first class. Chatting with them like always. (She wondered if she should tell them about finding Danny. In the end, she didn’t. But she made a mental note to ask him when she got home.)
Much to her disappointment, she didn’t have Kwan or Star in her class this year. Instead she had most of the A-Listers and.. the band kids. A terrible combination with anything. It was always loud and chaotic, spitballs and crumpled up papers with crude drawings being thrown across the room, jokes whispered loud enough to be heard from behind the hands cupping the A-Listers’ mouths as if that would hide their words, or their grins. Valerie wasn’t a fan of the band kids, but at least they had better comebacks. With a sigh, Valerie held her books up to block her face and trudged into the battlefield, letting any stray attacks bounce harmlessly off her makeshift shield as she made her way to her seat, where she minded her own business until the teacher came in. She thanked whichever God was up there for having the stern one. He always managed to shut them up quick and easy. (Threatening to fail or expel them was what seemed to work, especially when knowing that he’s done it before.) And that began the school day properly.. for most. Valerie found herself caught between paying attention and drifting off into space.
Part of her couldn’t help but worry about Danny. From what he told them so far, he had it rough, to say the least. It didn’t help that the last time she left him alone, she saw him hyperventilating near the corner. Not to mention how he was before she left. At the same time, she was calm. She called Jazz for a reason. They’re siblings. Danny would be comfortable with her. Plus she doubts anything too big would happen while she was gone.
Actually..
She took back the last part.
After all, Danielle was there too.
“Ms. Gray!”
Valerie was startled out of her thoughts as a large textbook landed on her desk with a resounding thump. She looked up to see the teacher in front of her. Black hair slicked back and black narrowed eyes pointed towards her.
“Is my lesson boring you, Ms. Gray?” He raised an eyebrow at her.
She gulped and shook her head. “No, Mr. Bob.”
The two seemed to have locked into a staring contest. Mr. Bob eventually nodded and smoothed out his suit before turning back to the board. Valerie sneaks a sigh of relief the moment he turns his back.
“Back to what I was saying,” Mr. Bob started the moment he reached his desk. “We will be starting our first project of the year. Every big business starts with a plan. So, the project will be about creating your own Business Plan. I have packets for what I expect and will be looking for when you're done.”
Huh. A business project and a science project.
Great. She was starting to miss these challenges from the world.
“You will be working in pairs for this project.” The class started to murmur. “I already made the pairs.” The class groaned, but didn’t complain. “When I call your names, please come up and get your project packets before starting for the day.”
Valerie sighed. She was honestly relieved for the premade pairings. The last thing she wanted was a (begrudged) team up with Nathan. It wasn’t like she’d get anyone worse to partner up with.
“Valerie Gray,” She stood up at her name and started to walk to the teachers desk. “And…”
“ Paulina?!” Star screeched. Luckily her voice was drowned out by the restless chatter in the cafeteria.
Valerie had her head face down on the table. “The world hates me…”
“Did it ever like you after 8th grade? Ow!”
Kwan rubbed his arm and avoided Star’s glare. She huffed then turned back to her best friend. “Do you need me to help in any way? Paulina and I still get along even after I left the A-Listers.”
Valerie shook her head. “No. Well, maybe.” She sighed as she raised her head. “It’s just, we haven’t talked since-“
“Since you were kicked out?” Kwan quickly shut up under both the girl’s gaze. Valerie swore she saw sweat coming down his forehead.
“..yeah.” Valerie opened her bottle of water. “I don’t want things to be.. weird.”
“Can’t you ask for a different partner?”
“Paulina already tried,” Valerie wanted to groan at the memory that happened the moment their names were called out. “He said they were final or whatever.”
Star glanced at Kwan, their eyes meeting briefly, before looking back at Valerie with her lips pressed together.
“Well, it might not be so bad.” Star spoke up after a brief moment. Successfully earning a suspicious look from Valerie. “I’m just saying, she’s changed.. kind of.”
“Paulina changed?” Star nodded. “Paulina Sanchez?” Star gave her a look. “What? It’s hard to believe..”
“Valerie!”
They all looked in the direction of the voice and were surprised to see Paulina Sanchez make her way over to them. She was wearing an off the shoulder, long sleeved, pastel pink crop top with a butterfly made of rhinestones on the front, along with jeans and matching pink platforms. There was a wide smile on her face as she sat next to Valerie at the table.
“Hey, Star!” She greeted the blonde then turned back to Valerie. “So, I know we’ve been distant lately. But I have a product for our Business Project for Mr. Bob’s class.” Paulina took out a notebook and started flipping through it. “I was thinking about cosmetics but I thought that would be too predictable, you know? So maybe we can try one of the others I thought of.”
Okay. This was.. unexpected. “You’ve been thinking about this stuff already?”
Paulina looked at her like she had told a joke. “Obviously. Junior year is supposed to be the hardest year and I’m not trying to fail Mr. Bob’s class.”
“Uh-huh..” Valerie glanced at Star, who smiled at her, and turned back to Paulina. “Okay. Let’s see them.”
For a good portion of the lunch period, they shared opinions on what to do for the project, Star helping them out here and there by giving her own opinions on certain items. Soon, they came to an agreement and they got ready to leave when the bell rang.
“Thank goodness we found something fast.” Paulina grinned at her as she put the notebook away. “Let me give you my phone number so we can talk about the rest later.”
Valerie, feeling very weirded out by the whole thing, gave Paulina her phone and simply watched as she put her number in the phone. She got a new number.
It’s a good thing she didn’t text her this morning.
“There we go.” Paulina exclaimed as she handed the phone back. “Don’t be afraid to text me later. Ciao!”
Valerie stood there as she watched Paulina walk off. Hearing Star walk up next to her, she turned her head. “What just happened?”
Star was smiling brightly at Valerie as they began walking to their next class. “I told you she changed.”
“Not like that!” Valerie tossed an accusatory glance at Star when the girl shrugged. “..what did you do?”
“What?” Star sputtered at the change in tone. “Nothing! She did that all on her own.”
Valerie stared at her.
“..She may have complained to me first.”
Valerie nodded. That made a lot more sense.
Her eyes went to her phone, staring at what Paulina put. It looked like she changed her name too. “Lina <3” There were.. mixed feelings with that. But she left it how it was. Mostly because she saw Jazz had texted her.
—————
Jazz (Mobile)
Received 35 minutes ago
Jazz Today 12:30pm
________________________
• Hi!
• Got to the apartment.
• Dani messed up the kitchen trying to make something for Danny.
• Badly
• Danny’s still asleep btw
• Don’t know how..
—————
She thanked her past self for calling Jazz and went on with her day at school.
Something about the day felt longer than usual, but she felt strangely energetic. She eventually made it home and greeted Jazz and Ellie in the kitchen. And had a… strange encounter with Phantom in the living room.
The weird look on Danny’s face haunted her for the rest of the day, despite helping clean the kitchen and discussing the portal plans with Danny. That expression was hard to decipher. It’s been strange seeing Danny like this.
Valerie sighed and laid down on her bed. “All of this because of,” she stopped as she looked at the time. It wasn’t too late.
Grabbing her phone, she went straight to Paulina. The two quickly conversed about the project and scheduling meetups.
—————
Lina <3 (Mobile)
Received 15 minutes ago
Lina <3 Today 7:55pm
________________________
•You’re already so much better than Dash
• I swear
• After this
• I’ll do anything as payback
Me: Today 8:16pm
________________________
✔︎ What
Lina <3 Today 8:18pm
________________________
• Mhm
Me Today 8:20pm
________________________
✔︎ You don’t need to do anything like that
Lina <3 Today 8:22pm
________________________
• R U sure?
• Not even joining the A-Listers again?
• …Or a IPhone?
• You can only go so far on a Blackberry yk
Me Today 8:23pm
________________________
✔︎No
✔︎ I’m good without that
✔︎ also the iPhone just came out
✔︎ hella expensive
Lina <3 Today 8:27pm
______________________
• If you say so..
—————
Valerie’s phone practically radiating a judging feel from the other user. And surprisingly, she felt relieved by it. What could she say? That was the Paulina she was used to.
Though she was honestly intrigued by the offer, something about Paulina acting like this made her think something was up. Who gets this nice after years of not acknowledging each other? It was suspicious. But this would be the only chance she would get.
God, she hoped she was making the right choice.
Taking a deep breath, she texted Paulina.
—————
Lina <3 (Mobile)
Received 4 minutes ago
Me Today 8:31pm
________________________
✔︎ Actually…
✔︎ I was wondering if you could do me a favor
Lina <3 Today 8:32pm
________________________
• Sure! :)