Chapter Text
A/N: some facts have been changed for the sake of the story. also, this is unedited. don’t expect virginia woolf here. and i’m using my phone. gosh it is so hard to format fics on a phone.
Kaia Talathi. She had everything. Breathtakingly beautiful, unbelievably athletic, and smart in every possible way. Kaia’s hair never tangled. Kaia never missed a goal playing soccer. Kaia never got a bad grade. Kaia was everything Katie wanted, and Katie couldn’t stand it.
This is of course, not to say, that Katie Jeanfreau wasn’t equally well-rounded. Musically and academically gifted, and not at all bad-looking herself, the parallels between the two girls were clear. Throughout their development (even without being aware of it themselves), Kaia and Katie both occupied equally-suited niches in their own lives. In separate neighborhoods, separate schools, and separate friend groups, the two high-ballers were able to co-exist peacefully. Unfortunately, this distance wasn’t boundless, and by sophomore year of high school, the girls' paths crossed in the catatonic catastrophe that was Period 1B American Literature Accelerated.
Once their lives touched, even just for an hour every other morning, the damage was done. Now, the lives of Katie Jeanfreau and Kaia Talathi were irrevocably intertwined. A new, tumultuous relationship was formed, and the girls would never again experience the peace they had before.
Throughout their sophomore year of high school, tensions between the two high-achieving girls only ever seemed to increase. With every book read and every essay assigned, the desire to outshine the other only ever grew. If Katie did better on one essay, it would be without a doubt that Kaia would excel on the next. As the year progressed, their rivalry did too at its own pace. By the end of the year, it was clear to everyone in the school that these two girls would have a tricky relationship; both, seeking to occupy the same place, and seeing no room for the other.
Katie could not stand Kaia, and it was obvious that the feeling was mutual. Seeing her type away on her computer, flawlessly respond to questions in class- it was all infuriating. Seriously, what was her problem? At least, Katie thought, summer would come soon enough. Once it did, Kaia wouldn’t be a problem anymore, and things could go back to how they had been.
Unfortunately, that was wishful thinking, and as junior year rolled around, the girls found themselves sitting right across from each other once again. Something- some force in the universe was pulling their stories together…but why? Why couldn’t they just live the lives they had before… separate lives? Something was pulling them together. But why???