Chapter Text
If there's something you'll always regret, it has to be the way you stood there, watching and refraining from stopping any of it. But what do you do when the only group of friends you have decides to leave you behind? Being alone, mocked by them, appointed as their new pet to make fun of is not something you want. So, you take on the role you have to play and do your best.
Morning arrives, cheerleading practice starts, and there you are in uniform, performing the typical moves. You're well-known around Nockfell High, considered one of the popular kids everyone looks up to. However, that fame doesn't come from you; it comes from one of the friends you made when you entered school.
Some years ago, you had moved to Nockfell, finding yourself alone as the new kid. Everyone already had their group of friends, and even when you encountered some lonely kids your age, you never mustered the courage to approach them and make friends. What if they made fun of you? The thought was unbearable, so you focused solely on your grades; after all, that's what school is for.
This is when you met Emily. She approached you with a bright smile, gorgeous with her blond strands of hair neatly pulled back by a black headband she always wore. The mole underneath her eye added to her charm, making her resemble some of those models you see in fashion magazines. Out of nowhere, she asked if you wanted to join her group. Blinded by her charm and the loneliness that had quickly crept inside you from always being alone, you accepted her invitation as soon as you heard it.
Emily was a nice friend, she never made fun of you, not that you ever gave her a reason to. You always tried to look your best around her because the whole group had this pristine vibe that you desperately wanted to fit into. Who knows what bad things they could speak about you behind your back if you didn't?
Speaking of the group, aside from Emily, the only other girl in it was Janet. Unlike Emily, Janet wasn't very nice; she was always ready to throw words at someone as soon as they slightly looked at her. When you joined the group, it took her a long time to even act as if you were there. Anytime you tried talking to her, she would simply ignore you, always preferring to keep her eyes locked on one of the boys from the group.
As part of becoming one of the popular girls, Emily invited you to join the cheerleading team since, as cliché as it might sound, she was the leader of it. The initial days of training were tough, as you had never done anything similar before. Not wanting to be made fun of, you started watching videos at home and training by yourself. Surprisingly, you quickly found your way up in the cheerleading team, and even Janet seemed impressed.
For once, you started feeling like you belonged in the group. You considered these people your friends, as they began inviting you to do things with them. Emily herself invited you to a pyjama party, and you felt like you were at the peak of your life. Everyone at Nockfell High knew your name. At least most of them.
However, you began questioning your group activities when you went along with Janet. She asked you to come with her to see something "fun."
The way she laughed after saying those words sent a chill down your spine as you followed her around the school. There, you witnessed what she meant by "fun"—one of the guys from the group had punched a kid you had never seen before. Janet explained that they used to do her homework, but lately, they had tried to rebel against her. So, she had called upon one of the boys from the group to teach the kid a lesson. You watched with widened eyes as the kid lay on the floor, holding his stomach in pain.
This was the first time you had seen any of them act in such a brutal way, and it marked the beginning of your downfall.
You rolled out of bed as the sunlight started to filter through the blinds, signaling the arrival of another dreaded Monday. To make matters worse, you had barely slept. The night was spent on a group call with Emily and Janet, absorbing the gossip they had to share. Now, facing the consequences, dark circles under your eyes threatened to swallow your face. You couldn't show up to school like this, you had to present a pleasing image. So, you diligently applied makeup, transforming into the well-groomed girl everyone knew, with perfectly combed hair, flawless makeup, and wrinkle-free clothes – the embodiment of perfection.
After breakfast, you headed to the bus stop on this sunny day with no clouds in sight. As you waited, you noticed the same girl you saw every day – long brown hair and mesmerizing green eyes. You tried not to stare, but you couldn't help but feel a chill when your eyes met, as she always smiled at you.
“It seems like we have similar schedules,” she said. Your face turned in surprise. Did she just talk to you? Not that there was anything wrong with it, but you weren't expecting her to initiate a conversation.
“Ah…” Words failed to leave your mouth, and you mentally slapped yourself, imagining Janet's laughter at your pitiful attempt at socializing. You knew you could do better. “You're the girl from Art class, aren't you?” you asked, fully aware of the answer. You had kept an eye on her art pieces, they were always so realistic and detailed.
"Keeping an eye on me?" She asked, and you felt as if you had been kicked in the foot until she laughed at your reaction, making it clear she meant it as a joke. "The name is Ash, and you are Y/N?" you nodded.
Of course, she knows your name. Who wouldn't? Everyone knows you at Nockfell High.
The bus finally arrives, and Ash gives you a polite nod, signalling for you to enter first. Aside from being pretty, she was also nice. Maybe you should have had the courage to talk to her the first time you met, but the past is in the past, and now you had another chance to redeem yourself.
"Want to sit together?" The question escapes from your mouth too quickly, and you wonder if she realized it happened because you were nervous.
"Sure!" and those words made you feel like you were flying into the sky with the happiness you were feeling.
This was the first time you were talking with someone outside the group that Emily got you into. It felt nice, even if Ashley and you weren’t close enough to be friends, you felt that you wanted to get along with her. You thought about ways to start a conversation; she was good at art, so maybe you could ask about that. However, you weren't sure if you could keep up with the conversation. Perhaps it was better to start with simple questions, the kind you ask to interrupt the silence between two people.
“Do you do anything outside of school?” Was that a boring question? Surely she had a group of friends that she hung around with.
"Yep, I take care of my younger brother, paint, and hang out with some friends," she said, turning her head around to face you with a smile. "You should meet them, I’m sure you would get along."
Your eyes widened, did she just invite you to hang out with her and her friends? How could you ever refuse such an invitation? Surely, Emily’s group would always be your main one, but strangely, you craved to make more friends.
"I would love to!" You tried to contain your happiness, wanting to sound cool, but that was almost impossible with how excited you felt.
The two of you talked about some more random subjects that crossed your minds, and after a while, you finally arrived at school. Walking by each other’s side since both of you were headed to the same class, your focus, as always, was fully on Ash as the two of you slowly started to throw in some jokes in the conversation. Could you say that the two of you were friends by now? You weren’t sure, but you liked to think like that.
"Morning, Sal!" You heard Ash's voice, and you almost fell down on the floor with the abrupt stop she had made without a warning. After stabilizing yourself, your eyes stared at the boy Ash had just talked to.
"…A mask?" Your eyes widened as you covered your mouth for saying what you were thinking out loud. The boy in front of you had two blue pigtails and a strange mask covering his face, you had never seen someone like that.
"It’s a prosthetic," you heard him correct you, and you felt embarrassment rise to your cheeks. Of course, it was a prosthetic! Who would use a mask in school like that?
"Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude!" You tried to apologize, and you heard Ash laugh at the conversation between the two of you.
"This is Y/N, we always meet at the same bus stop," she introduced you to her friend, and you waved your hand in the air with a smile at the strange boy in front of you. "And this is Sal," and he waved back at you, almost mimicking your actions. "I was just talking with Y/N on the bus, would you guys mind if she joined us at lunch or something?" She asked, and you gasped at her words.
"I don’t mean to intrude or anything! I mean, you guys probably already have-" You were interrupted by Sal, who fully noticed your anxious state.
"I’m fine with that, and I’m sure no one will mind." You had to close your mouth with your hand, or you would stare in awe for the rest of the day at him. He was being so nice. Didn’t he want to know you better? Didn’t you need to prove to him that you deserved to join the group? Did you really just deserve to sit with them at lunch like this?
"Then it’s planned! See you at lunch with Y/N." And you felt Ash take a hold of your arm as she pulled you along to your classroom otherwise, you would stare at Sal for the rest of the day. Not that he minded it, in fact, he found you quite entertaining.
After art class, you and Ash went your separate ways, promising to meet at the same spot where you had found Sal.
As you walked through the corridors, you spotted Janet. She was wearing a blue shirt that showcased her shoulders, and her makeup, as always, was on point. You couldn't help but wonder if there would ever be a moment when you could achieve such amazing work like hers.
She took a few steps towards you with that devious smile and hugged your arms, lowering her head onto your shoulder.
"Y/N!! I really need your help," she said with a sweet voice, and you looked at her, waiting for an explanation. "There's this really rude guy that punched Travis last week." You gasped at her words. Why would someone punch Travis? He had always been really nice to you, so you didn't understand why someone would hurt him like that. "I was thinking about getting him some payback."
"Are you planning on telling Tyler and the others about this?" Tyler had always been the most violent of the group, consistently resorting to punching anyone who annoyed him. He had received detention numerous times by now, and Janet, aware of this, always seemed to call on him when she was annoyed with someone from school.
"No, poor Tyler got suspended for a week." Now, that was something you weren't aware of, and to a certain degree, you also didn't want to know what happened this time. "I was thinking about something else, something non-violent this time." You gulped, noticing the way she was staring at you, knowing that the dirty work would now fall into your hands.
You sat on one of the benches outside school, your hands holding your head as you stared down at the floor. Janet had assigned you a task you would rather not do – befriend the guy who punched Travis, ask him on a date, and then ditch him. The entire plan led to a moment where the whole school would find out about the guy who tried to invite you on a date only to be ditched.
The plan wasn't as devilish as Janet's schemes usually were, but still, you didn't want to do that to someone you didn't even know. Janet had given you an image of him, taken without his authorization. His name was Larry, and he had this really long brown hair, brown eyes with huge dark circles underneath them and to your surprise, in the picture, he wore a shirt of a band, Sanity’s Fall. You gasped when you saw the symbol – you were a fan of their music but had never found someone who knew them.
You sighed, not wanting to hurt someone, but if you didn't do it, Janet would talk badly about you to the rest of the group. They would all make fun of you, and you couldn't even stand thinking about Emily's expression. You didn’t want Emily to dislike you; she had been your first friend here. Then they would all leave you, and you would once again be the lonely girl at Nockfell High.
"Y/N? Are you alright?" A voice came from above, and you almost jumped off the bench with how surprised you were. Upon coming back to your senses, you stared up at the person who had just spoken and spotted none other than Sal. "Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you…" he said, watching as he scratched the back of his head, almost out of embarrassment.
"No! No problem at all! I was just in my own world…" You tried to laugh it off, but it didn't sound very genuine.
"You were looking really down right now, is everything alright?" His words were so kind, and he sounded genuinely worried about you. When had it been the last time you felt like someone truly cared about how you felt? You couldn’t really remember. With this, you noticed that you had been staring at him once again with this awestruck gaze, and you watched as his eyes seemed to gaze at everything aside from you.
“I-…” you gulp. “No, there is nothing wrong.” You stand up from the spot, doing your best to cover your sad expression with another smile, one that this time seems to fool Sal into believing that maybe he had just seen things wrong.
“Well, Ash is looking for you.”
“Oh! I completely forgot about meeting her!” you quickly answer, remembering that the two of you were supposed to meet to join everyone else at lunch. You really didn’t want to make a fool out of yourself and start on the wrong foot, and yet here you were, forgetting to even meet Ash.
“No worries, we can just go together…?” His words come out more as questions, and you don’t understand why. Does he not want to be around you? You feel a little down with all those thoughts but try your best not to show it.
“Yes, I’d love that!” and he seems to breathe out the air that he had repressed.
He had heard from Ash that you were popular in school, even if he had never seen you before. So the last thing he wanted to do was to destroy your image. What would people say if they saw him, a guy with a prosthetic, walking side by side with a pretty and popular girl like you? He tried not to think about such things as the two of you finally joined the rest in the canteen.
Following Sal you finally reached the table, Ash immediately got up a worried expression on her face as she placed her hands on top of your shoulders almost as if to reassuree that you were there in front of her.
“Did you forget about me?” she said with a laugh as she noticed your embarrased look.
You had indeed forgotten about her, there was no way you couldn’t deny it. So with a scratch of the back of your head you apologized to her.
Finally, the two of you sat down, you looked around the table as you spotted Sal, who had sat in front of you. Ash as by your side while a boy with orange hair looked at you and Ash almost as if questioning her who were you.
“This is Y/N.” You waved once again at the new boy and you swear that you saw Sal chuckling at your antics. And in return, you got to meet Todd, the smart kid of the group, Chug, who gave you a quick side eye before going back to eating his food, and...
Larry.
If you had to describe how you felt when you saw him in person, you would have to say that it was a mix of dread and worry. Dread because the last thing you wished for was to compromise your friendship with this new group of people you had just met, and worry since, once again, you never wanted to put someone in such a bad situation. At that moment, you swore that he saw right through you, that he knew you were friends with Janet, and that you were ready to ruin his life.
"Who is the new girl?" His voice rang clear as day. He had caught you staring at him, and that seemed to have given him a boost of confidence, as he now wore a dumb smirk plastered on his face.
"Y/N…?" Oh gods, did you just act as if you were unsure of your own name? That was so embarrassing. At this point, you were just waiting for them to tell you to leave the table, but you were only met with a laugh from Larry, while Ash elbowed him.
"Sorry… just wasn’t expecting someone to be so unsure of their name." You were aware that this guy would never let you live this down; his tone was still mocking you. However, you knew how to switch the situation around.
"Like the T-shirt, do you even listen to them?" you smirked, and by the way his mouth gaped open with this surprised expression, you were sure you had him right where you wanted.
"You know Sanity’s Fall?" You didn’t fail to notice that both Larry and Sal seemed to have glued their eyes on you; maybe Sal also liked the band. "I thought you were one of those boring pretty girls, but you have gained my respect." The dumb remark made you laugh, and then a blush crept onto your cheeks.
Did he just call you pretty?
"Larry not in front of my salad…" You heard Todd, who had this tired expression on his face.
As Todd’s comment sank in, the table erupted into laughter, filling you with a strange warmth. Just like that, you found yourself chuckling along.
They seemed really chill, and your anxiety slowly dissipated as you realized you weren’t intruding. As time went by, the conversation between the group flowed more smoothly, with Larry and the others sharing stories and jokes. You were starting to enjoy their company.
“Hey, Y/N,” you heard Larry say. By now, all of you had finished eating and were ready to go back to class. “Wanna hang out with us after school?” You felt Ash staring at you with a smile, and even Sal waited for your answer.
“I’d love to!” You almost shouted those words but managed to contain your excitement. They had invited you to hang out with them! How amazing is that?!
You were so happy that the classes passed in mere seconds for you. Now you were in front of your locker, grabbing your stuff, ready to leave with everyone else. Everything was perfect until you spotted Janet from the corner of your eye. She was standing near the end of the hallway, smiling at you, and that was enough for you to remember your task.
But could you ever do something like that?