You met Margot online over the summer and quickly became friends with her after talking to her for hours in private messages. You spent hours messaging her each day, and her personality was endearing, albeit a little jeering. She had the kind of presence that made you always want to listen, and she seemed to always know what you were feeling. She shared her problems with her little sister, her romantic endeavours, and her party outings all with you. You were close by all definitions of the word, but sometimes you wondered how long you could keep someone so fickle’s attention for.

This year, you were fortunate enough to be transferring to her school. Your father was ill, and he wanted to live in California to enjoy the sun and the ocean. Your school would be mostly full of the privileged type; pretty, surrounded by friends, and enough money to coast through life. You were relieved you at least knew Margot, because you were afraid of feeling out of place.

But you got a sinking feeling when you were in the cafeteria at the first day. Margot was laughing with a group of basketball players, and she had one of the boy’s caps on. In fact, you learned that Margot is already part of a lot of friend groups. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that she was the most popular girl in school. You were too nervous to approach her with everyone around. You didn’t want to bother her, and you certainly didn’t want to see her rowdy friends.

It was by a string of fate that you finally found her alone, a whole week later. You had gone behind the school to try and calm yourself after a stressful day of classes, when you found her leaning against the bricks. Her hair was tied up, and she had a blue and yellow cheer uniform on. She looked up at the sound of your footsteps, and a small smile appeared on her face. She had been fixing her perfectly manicured nails. “Fancy seeing you here,” she greeted you. “I thought you were planning to never speak with me again, honestly. I would’ve been disappointed.”