Chapter Text
...
Dani wasn't one to fall for propaganda (just wait, you'll see what she's talking about; she's not crazy), but you know, you couldn't be perfect all the time. Sure people thought she was capable of doing so all of the time, but it just wasnt possible. No, she isn't self absorbed, just ask around; people actually perceive her as such, or at least really close to it.
Well, she would agree. Or at least not disagree. What, her self esteem is high, don't blame her. It was pretty easy to agree with the masses (especially when those masses are high school students; perception by your peers is really important). It is easy to let it get in your head when you're the most talked about. It's really easy to smile as you walk down the halls and everyone is talking about how you looked flawless doing a difficult routine. It was easy to hang onto the words people said when you walked in school and wowed everyone with your outfit.
But she didn't, which she thinks she deserves some props for. She doesn't because she isn't that in love with herself (just a reasonable amount). And she doesn't because she just thinks of herself as normal; she has to. She has to because when you walk around school and have everyone talking about you like you're some sort of face of the school, something has to ground you. Dani has to be that person for herself. Well, she also Sophia and Manon too. But still, herself is her best bet; she knows herself the best.
And since she knows herself the best, she certainly didn't see this coming. She didn't see the influences of popular opinion and following with the crowd (yes, she knows; the norm isn't something she holds on a pedestal. Oh my gosh she's different.)
So Dani wasn't ashamed to say perfection was hard to even obtain, even more so maintain. So, Dani could not be blamed for what she was about to say. Something she didn't think she would be saying.
She didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to hear about it. Her whole life she had been waiting to reach this point because all she heard was good things about it. Yeah, imagine how she felt when she realized it was not all she thought it was going to be. Very disappointing.
She really didn't believe in the whole senioritis thing to be honest with you. The whole thing just sounded like some excuse for lazy kids to skip school. The whole thing sounded like some hoax to make needless absences normal. But boy did she believe in it now.
She didn't think it would hit her so early. She was starting to think it was actually a disease. Because how in the world is she already feeling the affects and the first day of the school year hasn't even started yet?
"Dani, how long are you going to stare in the mirror?" Manon's voice makes her jolt up, tired eyes suddenly wide open, well, at least for two seconds. And that was longer than last time Manon yelled at her.
"Until I feel not like a zombie, I don't know." Dani mumbles, rubbing her eyes, blinking hard to try to fight not collapsing on her dresser. The first day of school is always the worse. A fucked up sleep schedule, terrible appetite and pair that with a shared room with your sister; that's a recipe for disaster.
So yeah, she does kinda of feel like a zombie. She doesn't look as much as one though; she doesn't look like she rolled out of bed from 4 hours of sleep. She had made sure of that by touching up her makeup for an extra unnecessary 10 minutes.
So, pair that for the fact that the new onset of senioritis she is already feeling before she steps on campus, yeah, she isn't doing so great. She thinks she's been feeling the affects since last week really. She wonders if there has been a scientific investigation in this; she would totally be down to contribute to research.
"Yeah, you do look dead." Manon chuckles, waltzing to her closet to grab whatever outfit she set out yesterday. How she even laughing this ealry in the morning (well it wasn't that early; they got lucky with starting school at 8:30; Dani was just used to waking up at 11 every morning).
"And how do you look alive? I feel like my skin is falling off." Dani groans, stretching the skin on her cheeks, anything to try to wake herself up.
"Well maybe because you stayed up until like midnight yesterday. Ma told you we needed to go to sleep." Manon points out, holding two different shirts up to her chest, indecision catching up to her.
"I know what Mama said you know I don't listen. And how did you hear if you were supposedly asleep?" Dani asks, turning around in her chair
"You aren't exactly quiet when you're scrolling on TikTok. You sound like a dying hyena." Manon snorts, tossing one shirt on the ground
"I do not, I sound like a beautiful bird in the morning." Dani scoffs, frowning at the insult.
"Yeah right, ok. And you out sound like a gremlin when you sleep. What now?" Seems like Dani isn't the only one in a bad mood this morning. Or this is Manon in a good mood; it's hard to tell when she is always like this with Dani.
"Excuse me, I do not." Dani gasps
"So, you admit it, you snore?" Manon teases
"No, I don't snore, I thought that was implied when I said I don't sound like a gremlin." Dani says with a shake of her head
"Well, I didn't know you could hear yourself when you sleep. You learn something new everyday." Manon chuckles, seeing that she has successfully riled Dani up (she is the best at doing so; sisters always know how to get under your skin. Good thing Dani knows how to get her back.)
"That explains why you dont consider my lack of sleep being because of your snoring; you sound like dinosaur. I was considering calling a doctor for you." Dani smirks, turning back to her vanity in triumph when she sees Manon's face morph into a frown
"I do not sound like a dinosaur Dani." Manon grumbles
"So you admit, you snore?" Ha, take that Manon. Not so nice to hear your words thrown back at you, is it?
"I do-"
"Knock, knock. Can I come in?" The girls cease their unserious argument when they hear a familiar voice outside their door. They already told her she doesn't have to knock; Dani supposes some habits don't break.
"Come in Soph." Manon invites her in. Sophia has been coming over on the first day of school since they were freshmen. It's like a tradition; all of them getting ready (well kind of since Sophia had to before she came over) and hanging out before school. At least that'll serve as some pick me up energy for Dani's sluggish morning.
"How are my favorite twins doing? Wait, I'm feeling tension; did I break up another fight? I'm a hero already, this ealry. I'm proud." Well, she sure is awake. She must've had her caffeine already, something Dani is sure she'll need tons of to get through the day.
"We aren't even twins." Dani squints, confused. Now that she thinks about it, Sophia says that quite often.
"We dont even have the same dad. How did you even come to that conclusion?" Manon says as she furrows her eyebrows
"To be fair, you guys are like the most twin non twins I've ever met." Sophia defends
"Do you even know anyone else like that?" Manon chuckles
"Ok, maybe not. Let's ignore that point and focus on my other question: did I break up a fight?" Sophia asks once again, anticipating, like she wanted drama this early in the morning.
"We weren't fighting. We just had a disagreement." Dani clarifies with a roll of her eyes
"We can't disagree on you sounding like a gremlin; it's a fact." Manon hums, going to do her hair
"Well then we can't disagree in you sounding like a dinosaur." Dani mumbles as Manon's bumps her shoulder to scoot over on the seat of the vanity
"Am I missing something or..." Sophia is throughly confused, which Dani supposes she can't blame her for
"We're talking about snoring Soph." Dani fills in the holes for Sophia
"Do I snore Sophia? Tell Dani I don't." Manon turns to Sophia
"Uh, to be honest, you both snore." Sophia winces, bracing for the girls to yell
"No we do not!" They both exclaimed
"See, twins. Anyway, now that we have that cleared up, did you guys check your schedules?" Sophia quickly moves the topic, hope either of the girls dont pocket that in their mind for future references.
"Yeah, I did like two days ago." Manon replies, still toying at strands of her curls
"No." Dani mumbles lowly. Whoops, slipped her mind. Ok, maybe it didn't; maybe she was just trying to avoid it because she didn't want to see chemistry on her schedule again (yes she failed, not everyone can be perfect as she said. Plus, it was like really hard, you can't blame her.)
"Dani, I told you do that." Manon sighs.
"Sorry mom, slipped my mind." Dani jokes, rolling her eyes at Manon's concern
"You know Ma woulda got on your ass worse. Now you don't have everything you need. What are you going to to tell her?" Manon asks. She smiles at Dani like she'll tell their mother herself.
"I'm not going to tell her anything; I'll just buy my own shit." Dani shrugs. She'll figure it out (maybe)
"With what money?" Sophia chimes in. Great, now she has to deal with two extra mother figures; it gets a little tiring if you couldn't tell.
"Gee, thanks for reminding me Soph. You can always chip in if you're so concerned; charity is accepted." Dani hums out sarcastically
"Yeah, you know it's not her fault that Ma won't let her get a job because she devots her heart and soul to cheerleading." Manon jokes, nudging Dani's shoulder
"Manon come on, you know how much that means to her; don't do that." Sophia scolds gently, instinctively going over to make up Dani's unmade bed (whoops, that slipped her mind too; she was going to it, ok probably not)
"Dont worry Soph; she's still at every game, so I don't take her seriously." Dani says as she sticks her tongue out at Manon to tease her
"Yeah ok, whatever. I only go cause Ma makes me." Manon scoffs, mumbling because she knows it's not true
"Really, cause don't you always make those really cute-" Sophia cuts herself off when she notices Manon glaring at her. Not like it was much of a secret anyway.
"I knew you made signs for me! Sophia tried to convince me she did those." Dani smiles, dimple making an appearance as she reaches to hug Manon
"Hurry up and get ready before Ma yells at us for being late." Manon says, letting Dani hug her
"You're not getting away from this, I hope you know that." Dani smirks
"What am I going to get on Daniela for?" The opening door makes the turn their heads to see their mother poking her head into their room
"Manon said us by the way, but ok, single me out." Dani mutters as she crosses her arms
"You get us and yourself into the most trouble; not my fault." Manon pokes at her nerves again. She's so lucky their mother is in here so she can't start another fight.
"Dani isn't going to do anything because we are going to get to school on time, Ms. Ana." Sophia answers, putting herself in between the girls.
"Well, I'm sure since you're here. You keep them on track. But, before you go..." Oh, gosh, they should've seen this coming. They should've gotten out of the house before she could even do this.
"Ma no! We gotta go. Look, Dani is ready. Time for us to go." Manon has more of a vocal aversion to their mother's tradition of first day of school pictures.
"Come on mija, just a couple." Their mother says, chuckling at Manon's obvious display of disdain.
"Come on Manz, dont worry, I won't out do you by a lot." Dani banter as she pulls Manon besides her, Sophia already next to her.
"You are both equally beautiful." Sophia interjects, always the mediator. Together, they're the perfect balance.
"Come on smile Manon." Dani smirks. Ha, at least Manon is as easy to rile up as she is.
"Ok, ok. Smile girls. It's going to come out lovely." Dani already knows she'll get this printed and stick it into a photo album.
As much as Manon hated (pretended to hate anyway; it's so obvious she likes posing for pictures), she has the biggest smile on her face. Maybe because she's excited that this is the last one the will take.
Suddenly, Dani feels a wave of sadness come over her. She was excited to get the school year over with (yes, she's aware they're just starting), but now she's left with the realization that this the last. Last first day, last first day pictures, last year that they will all sit around a cafeteria table. Suddenly it hits her and maybe she doesn't want it to end just yet. It seems like she isn't the only one feeling that way.
"It looks amazing. You girls are beautiful. Aye, where did all the time go?" Their mother sighs as she appreciates the moment in time she just captured.
"Is she about to cry? I cant handle crying this ealry in the morning." Is Sophia already sniffling too?
"Ah, I'll cry later. Now, I have to go. I made some breakfast if you girls want to eat. I love you." She parts from them with a kiss on all of their cheeks before she heads out the room.
"Have you guys ever eaten breakfast in 5 minutes?" Manon questions? Are they seriously doing this (well that is a better option than just leaving the food uneaten; Dani hates when kids in movies do that.) Challenge accepted. Maybe her first case of senioritis will go away.
...
Ok, she lied; not an amazing day. The day definitely will not start amazing. Senioritis is officially back in full affect. She barely got 10 minutes without feeling it (how annoying). She tried to be positve when they got left the house. She tried to stay positive when they got in the car. It wasn't hard. Until she turned on her phone.
Her good breakfast and good company wasn't enough to offset what she was looking at now. How is one device capable of ruining her whole day? And no, she is not exaggerating. Especially now with this horrific schedule she's looking at.
"Un-fucking- believable; I got chemistry for my first period. End me now. Someone just let me drop out." Dani groans, slumping in the backseat of Sophia's car. She suddenly has the strong urge to throw her phone out of the window of the moving car (she decides against it though; she needs her phone so she can fix her hair once they get out since Sophia wanted to ride with the windows down.)
"No one is stopping you." Manon says with a snicker. At least someone seems calm and relaxes; Dani finds it a bit insulting that Manon can relax her head against the headrest like they're going on some vacation. This is not a laughing matter.
"I am stopping you. You are not dropping out in your senior year." Sophia says firmly, like she'll do anything in her power to stop that from happening.
"I was just kidding, mostly. Relax." She really didn't mean to get her so offended and on egde this early in the morning (if you couldnt tell, Dani thought it was far to early for anything), it's just that chemistry really wasnt her friend. Ok, maybe that was understatement for the subject she failed last year, she just didn't want to think it out loud (or in her head; she doesn't really know how that works)
"Well, you could've prepared better it you checked before." Manon says, her past advice unfortunately look right in the moment.
"Not right now Manon. Uugh, I need coffee." Dani groans. She already can feel the headache she's going to get. It's even worse that she's going to get a new teacher (ok and maybe tha summer had rotted her brain a little).
"You don't need coffee. You're an addict." Manon chuckles
"And I think that'll be pushing it. You know, since you took forever." Sophia says, checking the time on her dashboard as she drove
"Exactly, please set boundaries for this type of behavior Soph. We don't need to enable her." Manon smirks, peering at Dani giving her the middle finger through the rear view mirror
"You're so dramatic. I'm not addicted. And you guys need to stop ganging up on me; that's an unfair advantage. " Dani scoffs, crossing her arms
"Say that to the coffee cups that end up in my trash." Sophia muttered under her breath
"Hey, that's... completely reasonable. Are you guys really going to not take me?" They want her do die. She's already having a shit morning and now they want to deprive her of her coffee?! She thinks that is utterly ridiculous.
"We'll take you after school. You'll probably need it more then. Plus, I'd rather not her Ma after being late on the first day." Manon assures; she knows how Dani gets
"So you guys hate me? Oh, ok, thanks for the clarification. I already knew that but it's even more apparent now." Dani nods, even more dramatic than she claimed Manon to be.
"Dani, I didn't really want to side with Manon here, but this is behavior of an addict I fear." Sophia teases
"You didn't want to side with me. You always side with me." Manon pouts, playfully. Not that Sophia can tell. She's so gullible when it comes to Manon.
"No, no not like that, you know-"
"Can you please stop flirting while I'm present? It makes me want to hurl." Dani sighs, faking a gag once she sees Sophia reach for Manon's hand with her right hand
"We- we aren't... flirting." Sophia stutters out, still reaching over to hold Manon's hand
"Yeah sure. If you say so. Don't worry, I approve; have been saying that for years by the way." Dani mumbles under her breath
"Dani, you're gonna make her crash." Manon teases, pointing out Sophia's reddened cheeks
"I'm done being chauffeur after this; I hope you guys know that." Sophia mutters, embarrassment fully on display as her ears redden as well.
"No you're not." Ok, maybe they were too in sync. This was the second time they responded in unison.
"You guys really aren't helping the twin allegations." Sophia hums
"Shut up and drive Sophia." Yes, they respond at the same time again. Dani is getting tired of it already; even more tired than she was waking up this morning.
So, being so tired of it, Dani shuts up the rest of the ride to school. Ok, well technically she falls back asleep (maybe it was closer to one than midnight like Manon had said). It was really easy to fall asleep, so maybe her amount of sleep veered closer to 3 hours than two.
She didn't mean to stay up that late. It's just, for some reason, her brain decided to spiral out of control last night. Dani has always had trouble getting a good night's sleep on the day before the first day; that was natural for just coming off of summer, plus, Dani always had first day jitters (dont ask her why).
But last night was different. You know how she said she had that onset case of senioritis, well it hadn't been like that for most of the summer. She doesn't know when it switched, but it did.
Over the summer, Dani had the exact opposite feeling. Thought the whole summer, she had wanted to go back to school. Yes, young, dumb and naive Dani wanted to go back to school during summer.
In her defense, that had more to do with the cheer practice their high school coach had them do over the summer. She'd much rather do cheer for sports than torturing herself during practice. So that was the majority of the reason she wanted to go back.
And maybe partly because Dani liked school. It gave her something to do, people to see. It felt like more than it was.
But then as she sat amd though about it, it got all depressing. Which is why she didnt think about it that much. She thought about how it wws the last hooray basically. The last year where life didnt feel so heavy. Even during the summer life had started not to feel like it used to, and Dani didn't really prefer like drastic change. She'd rather stay away from that.
But she couldn't during the summer. Every passing day of summer she felt it closer and closer, the end of something. And the end of something meant the start of something new. And starting meant change. So, yeah, the thought was scary.
So, Dani thinks her way of coping was to want to avoid school. In her mind, if she didnt go back, of she wasn't there a lot, it would feel like less time had passed. It would feel like it wasnt end all too soon.
Yes, not a lot of sense. But whatever; why do you think she failed chemistry? She could never get the bonds right. It made sense for her brain fo connect dots that weren't even supposed to be in the same line.
So, blame her complicated relationship with school and her senior year for her lack of sleep. Yeah, she really did have a lack of sleep; is that a car horn?
"Rise and shine sunshine." Manon sings, leaning back towards the backseat.
"Manon, why did you do that?" Sophia says as she smacks Manon's hand away from the wheel.
"She was in deep sleep; had to wake her up." Manon chuckles, finding it amusing that Dani's eyes widened at the noise like a startled cat.
"You know, they use true love's kiss, not loud noise Manon. Are you always this annoying in the morning?" Dani groans, rubbing her eyes and stretching our her neck.
"I could ask you the same thing. You're drooling." Manon says, gesturing to Dani's chin.
"Oh my gosh seriously! Is my makeup-" Dani shoots up to look at a reflective surface to see if her face looked like she had rolled out of bed.
"You were not. Manon, stop that." Sophia scolds, and trying to calm Dani down at the same time. If Manon would just quit messing with her, they wouldn't have Sophia working on overtime.
"You're lucky I just woke up or I was gonna-"
"I'm so glad you guys don't have first period together. I have a headache already." Sophia interrupts before exhaling, grabbing her bag and getting her bookbag from out the back.
"Sophia, don't run away and leave me with her." Dani groans
"Well hurry up then. Bell's gonna ring soon." Manon smirks before jogging after Sophia.
"Guys, guys. Wait up. Are you guys gonna walk me to class?" Dani asks, huffing as she caught up to them.
"We'd love to, but since someone took their sweet time eating, we have like 2 minutes and me and Soph are on the other side of campus." Manon points out.
"I didn't take that long by the way. I just didnt want Mama's work to go unnoticed." Dani mumbles with a roll of her eyes
"So, your way of saying you're a fatass." Manon chuckles
"You're seriously ruining my day." Dani is sure the scowl on her is the deepest it's ever been.
"Love you too. Have a good day." Manon smiles before leaning to kiss Dani on her cheek, temporarily wiping the smile off of her face.
"That's not fair, I'm still mad at you." Dani pouts, trying not to smile at her affection.
"You're never not. Come on Soph. You got like 30 seconds Dani, better get to walking." Manon says before she walks off
"You have longer than 30 seconds by the way; she's just trying to piss you off. See you at lunch." Sophia clarifies as she gives Dani a hug
"Yeah, figures." Dani mutters so herself as she watches Sophia walk away.
She didn't want to make it obvious, but she was kind of bummed that they didnt get to start the day together. Even if Manon was getting in every nerve in her body, she still wanted to hang out with her the majority of the day along with Sophia. It didn't feel right waiting to see them until lunch. That was like forever away.
Just like the end of the day was forever away. The warning bell for being late was ringing but to Dani, it had felt like it had been eternity already. Maybe she's being dramatic, but the walk to class felt like it was going in slow motion.
Ok, no she is not being dramatic. She feels like she's walking in water and it's slowing down her steps. She definitely didn't get enough sleep. She could slide by sleeping a little in first period.
"Hey Dani." Some random voice brought her out of her head, which she is pretty thankful; she thinks if that person hadn$t said anything, she would've ran into a locker.
"Hi." This part feel wrong now too. She wasn't really exaggerating when it came to saying she was basically always the talk of the school. She doesn't really know what she's done that was so special.
Ok, well maybe being a cheerleader in a pretty cheer driven highschool does the trick. But she really doesn't think that was the only thing.
She doesn't want ro sound self absorbed, but she thinks having a pretty face certainly helps the popularity. And the fact that the school is insanely into sports. So, combine those two things, and bam, people are always looking at her.
Dani has had no problem with it really. She's been doing this for her whole life practically (cheerleading, dancing, whatever); she's learned how to deal with it (yes she's framing it that was because it's can indeed be a nuisance). But she also would rather eyes not be on her 24-7.
She's supposes that's a feeble ask; eyes arent just going to go away because you want them too. That's not how attention works when people give it to something they like. So, yeah, Dani has dealt with it pretty well. Just not now.
Not now when she feels like she's on the verge of learning how to sleep walk, surprisingly not irritable with her lack of coffee and overthinking about her senior year. It was always easier with Manon and Sophia walking besides her.
It was always no problem at all to greet people who looked at her like they knew her. It was no problem at all to bot act like everyone's head turned when they saw her. Not when they were walking with her.
It wasn't a problem because they made Dani feel normal. They made her feel like it was easy to do all of that and go on about her day like every other highschool student. It was like Dani could ignore them almost. Yes she knows it's not that serious but she's been overly sentimental the whole morning; she's got a streak to keep.
So yes, she let out a sigh of relief once she reached the classroom. Now she would only have to worry about whether or not she looked like the half zombie she felt like. Now she only has to worry about the class she's about to step into.
Of course she has to start her day like this. She's considering going to administration, but realizes her complaints would be futile. She knows she needs this class to graduate and there's no use in just asking them to switch it around; they've got bigger problems to worry about.
And so does Dani. A bigger problem she hadnt thought about when she first read the schedule on her phone. She doesnt think she knows anyone here. Of course, she should've thought about that.
Yeah, now her day is really ruined. She's gonna seem like a complete loner and not have anyone to ask for help (help she knows she'll need). Maybe she should go to administration.
There's nothing but juniors and the exceededly smart sophomores in here. Of course, Dani had seen them before, but she didn't know them.
Yeah, she can get along with people (that comes with the likability), but she'd rather not. Being friends or friendly with everyone sounds exhausting. This year is going to be torture isnt it? People last year lied saying this was going to be the easiest year.
Oh, well, it might not be all bad. She sees someone she recognizes. She all but runs to the seat next to her, the second to last one available, and sits down next to her.
"Hey Dani." Dani doesn't think she's ever been this relieved to hear Lara speak to her. She feels like a floatie has been tossed out to save her at sea (see, English is definitely her subject; she would've rather had that first thing).
Now, they aren't that close, but definitely closer than the 5 people that had waved to Dani since she stepped into the classroom. Lara and her met last year actually, though Dani can't remember which class due to the summer fog she's going through (she thinks she'll be stuck in it for a while; she just hopes it lifts before their first test in chemistry).
"Hi, you awake? Or did you sleep on the way here like me?" Dani jokes, sliding into familiarity with Lara like it had never been lost. She likes that about Lara; they cam just pick up where they left off.
"Barely, and if you slept, you sure don't look like you did. Like seriously, what is your mosturizer?' Lara asks, squinting at Dani's face like she was glowing.
"A magician doesn't reveal their secrets. But, according to Manon, it was drool. Which I can deny." Dani chuckles the comment from Manon now softer than it was when it was dealt to her.
"If you tell me it's nothing, I'm seriously going to strangle myself. Like, this isn't fair." Lara huffs, slumping in her seat
"Uh, I don't think that we wanna tell Mr. Harris now do we? That wouldnt be a great start to the year." Dani teases, hearing the bell ring and the teacher closing the door behind him
"No, I am not considering self harm... yet. It depends on how long of a year it is." Lara hums, tapping her chin
"Well, buckle up; chemistry beat my ass. Hopefully you'll have better luck." Dani warns.
"Better luck round two?" Hmm, Dani appreciates her enthusiasm cause she's gonna need every bit of anything to help her pass chemistry.
"I sure hope so." Dani mutters to herself, voice trailing into a whisper once she realizes the teacher is talking.
She's sure he's droning on about class rules and lab expectations for like the first 10 mintues (if that's one thing Dani liked about chemistry, it was messing around in lab. And yes, messing around, aka making up fake data to pass. Good times.), but Dani doesn't really care.
She remembers all of that stuff from last year. So, she can focus on something else. Something more fun and social like figuring out what Lara is trying to say to her right now.
She guessed right on her 5th attempt (finally) that Lara was trying to mouth to her that she loved her shoes. Then Dani spent like 5 minutes trying to tell her where she got them before she gave up and just wrote it down. So yes Dani thinks this is much more productive than listening to the smar rules she's heard since she was 14.
Now they're on their second guessing game. Dani is pretty sure Lara's trying to say something about her shirt. She's about fo make her guess and then-
"And phones. Let me reiterate the- excuse me." Mr. Harris (Dani is really proud of herself for getting his name down already) interrupts himself, or well maybe it's more fitting to say that the knock on the door interrupted him.
Naturally everyone's eyes went to the classroom door, curious as to who had interrupted. And the answer to that question wasn't any more known to Dani once she watched the person walk inside.
Now Dani can truly say she doesnt know someone in this class. She definitely hadn't seen this gril before, because if she had, she's sure she would've remembered.
"Hi, sorry. For coming in late." The voice matches in timidness and uncertainty ad the knock on the door that had revealed her. She surely seems nervous, even if she isnt trying to act like it. (Dani can definitely relate to tha.)
Which, Dani can see why. The whole class is looking at her. Her included.
"It's fine. I don't hold grudges. It's the first day. Please, take a seat." Well, at least his isn't an asshole like some of the other teachers Dani has had. She can tell the girls is grateful for it as well.
The rest of the class (ok, well probably just Dani; don't blame her, she's intrigued), watches the girl walk to her seat. Plus it wasn't entirely Dani's interest that made her follow the girl with her eyes.
The various chains and charms on her backpack were there as if she wanted people to look; the jingle of them knocking against her bookbag catching Dani's ear. And eye; cute, a little Spiderman one.
And well, she didn't exactly fit the bill of a person who would rather not be looked at. Her bright orange hair was telling Dani otherwise. She hoped the girl didn't mind; it was a nice shade, so Dani had to appreciate the dye job.
Her body definitely tells a differnt story. If Dani had to guess what awkward looked like, she would definitely say the girl was the embodiment of it. She walks like she wants to squeeze herself into a hole (Dani was pretty sure that wasn't her goal when walking in here, but she sure isn't doing a great job at proving otherwise). She walks with her head angled down, probably trying to push past the embarrassment she had just felt. Maybe a little too much.
"Oh... sorry." Her eyes look starlted, wide once they take in Dani's face after she had accidently bumped into her desk. Cute, that was the first thing that popped into Dani's mind once she got a good look at her.
Instead of giving the girl any sort of relief (which it definitely looked like she needed), Dani just looked at her. Sue her she's cute ok. Then, Dani gets knocked back to her senses once she realizes the girl is about to apologize again.
"You're fine." Dani hums, softly enough so she grant the girl a breath that she looked like she was holding in.
Dani doesn't know why she was expecting her to say anything else (that definitely wasnt needed; she was just hoping, but she frowns a little once she receives a little nod from her before the girl scurried to the last open seat.
Dani turns her head to follow the color backpack and orange hair to near the back of the class. Only a few seats away from her, she watches the girl turn her head towards the window. Is Dani staring; maybe she should stop.
"Who's that?" Dani whispers, her curiosity and impatience getting the best of her. She doesn't know why she asked Lara; Dani has never seen her before and she's on campus quite often, so she isnt sure if Lara knows her either. But she knows Lara is her best bet (and the fact that she doesn't want to wait to find out.)
"What makes you think I know?" Lara questions
"You literally know everyone." Dani points out. Lara loves to talk. And you need to know people to talk. So, Dani doesnt think she was wrong in her assumption and hope.
"I do not." Lara denies
"Do you know her or not?" Can she just answer her question?
"I don't; I don't think anyone does. I just know her name. She's new." Lara begins, pausing once she sensing the teacher looking at the two of them.
"I heard she transferred from a school on the other side of the state. She's a junior, I think. Basketball player, a good one. Beat us in states last year apparently." Lara adds on. That can't be right; Dani doesn't remember her. She doesn't think she would forget if she saw her.
"Basketball? She doesn't look like a basketball player." Dani mutters to herself, turning her head back to look at Megan.
She feels a little guilty talking about her, but she was just curious. She feels the saying that curiousity kills the cat become real though.
Dani turns away, immediately back towards the front of the class, once she realizes Megan was already looking her direction. Oh my gosh, how embarrassing.
"Don't judge a book by it's cover Dani." Lara says. Oh right, she had said she didn't look how she expected.
"Thought you said you didn't know her. And I wasn't judging; I was just... making an assumption." Well, now that she says it like that, that didnt really sound that much better. Cut her a break; it's like 9 in the morning.
"I don't; I know of her. Someone knew her before she moved here, and you know that's all it takes for me to find things out. And that's quite literally what judging a book by it's cover means." Lara chuckles
"Yeah, I realize that now. You said you knew her name." Dani hopes she doesn't sound too eager; it might come off as creepy. She's not, she's just interested. She's lucky that it doesnt seem like Lara notices, most likely because she thinks Dani knows everyone and wants to keep it that way.
"Megan Skiendiel. No, I'm not a stalker; she has a jersey." Yeah, Lara isn't really helping her own case. She knew a lot more than Dani thought she would. Which comes in handy for her, so she doesnt really mind.
"Megan." Dani murmers the name under her breath, trying to resist the urge to turn around in her seat again.
"Yep, you'll be seeing a lot more of her during basketball season. And I guess now." And Dani has to say she's glad at that fact. She has no idea if this actually has anything to do with Megan or if seeing her had just made Dani realize it. She doesnt know why yet, she just knows. She can feel it.
Maybe senior year won't be such a shit show after all.
...