"Can I borrow your pen?" some random guy asks.
I simply hand him an extra pen, without exchanging a word.
"Thanks" he says with a slight smile.
I turn back to my work.
If I was Lisa, that guy would've been Jake's friend, Jay. They'll start talking, hit it off and Lisa would have another guy added in her harem.
Except, I'm not Lisa.
I don't exactly have a friend in this class so I concentrate fully on my work. I hear conversations around me. I plug in music to drown out the noise.
The bell rings and I walk to my next class. Unfortunately, William is in this class.
"Hey Lisa's sister" he purposefully greets me like that.
"Sad that you can't even remember one simple name" I say, sitting down in my seat.
He's not exactly a bully. He just likes to test me some days. There will always be jerks like him.
"Why should I when Lisa is so easy to remember" he smiles.
"Says the basic white boy name. I think I've met three Williams on the way here" I calmly say. He grins.
This guy is always smiling.
"Alright, settle down" the teacher announces.
"You're lucky" he warns.
"You couldn't think of something to say fast enough" I tell him as he walks past me to get to his seat.
My usual seat mate sits down next to me. She's this shy quiet girl, Ashley.
"Hi" I greet and she gives me a whispered 'hello'.
"C-can I have lunch with you?" she quietly says, halfway through the lesson.
"Sure."
"Quiet down at the front please" the teacher says over her shoulder.
"S-sorry mam" the poor girl timidly says. The class laughs at her apology and her face turns bright red.
"That's enough" the teacher says again, lessening the laughter.
The bell rings for lunch.
"Alright. Let's go" I tell Ashley and she quickly packs up.
I was going to tell her to calm down but she looks already red in the face so I leave it be as I wait for her.
William hands me a note as he walks out with his friends.
"And this?" I ask, eyebrow raised.
"To read, duh. Don't tell me you forgot how to read" he fake pity me.
His friend laughs, hooking his arm around William's neck as they walk out the class.
I open the note and it was very simple.
'Prom?
[_] Yes
[_] Definitely
[_] Absolutely'
So he does have a bit of culture in his bones. I can give him points for that.
But it's a rude joke.
"All done" Ashley smiles.
I crumble up the note and throw it away.
"Is it cool if I brought a friend?" I ask the group. We usually sit wherever is a free table in the cafeteria.
"Isn't she like-really quiet?" Olivia asks, not even looking as she checks herself in her tiny mirror. Emily nudges her.
"What?" Olivia asks, oblivious at the red faced Ashley.
"It's cool" Clairo smiles.
I claim the seat next to her and Ashley sits next to me, unsure of herself.
"This is Ashley" I announce to the group while Clairo puts her arm around my shoulders.
"Hi" Clairo waves.
"Sup" Emily greets.
"H-Hello" Ashley says, just above a whisper.
Olivia sets her mirror down, chewing a piece of gum, leaning into the table.
"Alright girls. Who are you going to prom with?" she starts, looking invested.
"Why is everyone so invested now? Isn't it at least six months away" I roll my eyes, even finding it ridiculous that Lisa got asked this early.
She's not even in the same grade as us.
"Lisa was the trigger. Guys are finally realising that they're running out of time to ask the hot people out" Olivia smiles.
"And don't even get me started on how much needs to get down for prom. Six months is not nearly enough" Emily says and Olivia nods along.
"Do you know what Lisa is gonna wear?" Olivia asks. How do I guess a heroine's style? Her style changes almost everyday.
"Meh" I shrug.
"Is she seriously going with Robert?" Olivia asks, invested.
"He's like, super hot" she adds on.
"Nah, Jake's more like it" Emily smirks.
"Well-I do like the bad boy style" Olivia looks up.
"What about you, Ashley? Got a date?" I ask, trying to include her in the conversation. Clairo leans more on me.
"M-me? I don't think I'm going to go" Ashley says, looking down.
"No way. Don't you want that glow up?" Olivia asks.
"Yeah, like you can be like Cinderella. Invisible now but 'Who's that girl' that night" Emily adds.
"I can see it" Olivia nods.
"I got asked" Olivia proudly says.
"Obviously I turned him down" she adds on, super unimpressed.
"Obviously" Clairo says in my ear, giggling slightly.
"Who asked you?" Emily asks Olivia.
"You know that short guy with the brown hair?" Olivia gives a vague description.
"Literally every guy in this school" Emily says.
"Him" Olivia nods.
"And you?" Olivia asks Emily.
"Not yet. I'll let you guys know when I do" she says, looking confident.
"Do I even need to ask?" Olivia asks me.
"Nope" I shortly answer.
"At least tell me you're going" Emily says.
"Yeah."
"Good" Emily says as she takes a breather.
"And you?" Olivia asks Clairo. I turn my head to her.
"Not yet. I'm thinking of asking someone" Clairo says and I very quickly look away.
"Wow. Bold" Emily nods in approval.
We talk as we normally would.
I don't even know why Olivia and Emily stick around. I would barely consider them my friend.
Poor Ashley was mostly quiet while Clairo tried to get her involved in conversations.
Luckily, my next two classes of the day was with Clairo.
"The poor girl seriously needs to work on her talking skills or she'll get eaten alive" Clairo tells me as we walk to class. I nod.
"How'd that even happen?" she asks.
"She asked if she could eat lunch with me and I agreed" I shrug.
"Oh-well, I wanted to ask if you want to get a milkshake with me after school? Just the two of us" she quickly adds on.
My mind instantly thinks about the contract waiting at home for me.
What the heck.
"Sure. Sounds good" I nod.
"Cool" she smiles.
"Oh, but your sister won't come, right?" she asks.
"I hope not" I roll my eyes.
"It's not your birthday, right?" I ask, looking at her in the corner of my eye.
"Nah. I just thought it could be nice" she smiles.
I continue doing my work, glancing every now and then to Clairo to see what she's up to.
She catches me looking and smiles. I give a tiny nod and continue my work. She giggles and leans in.
"You're cute" she whispers.
"I try" I whisper back, keeping my eyes to my work this time.
Bell rings for the last class of the day.
"Hello ladies" an annoying voice appears between Clairo and I when we were trying to walk to our next class. He puts his arms around our necks.
"Yah, your obsession is getting out of control" I click my tongue at William. What's he doing in the first place?
"I don't think so. What do you think?" he turns to Clairo.
"I think you need to get off me" she coldly tells him.
He frowns, taking his arms back to himself.
"I thought you were a cheerful person" he sulks but quickly smiles at me again.
"Are you gonna give my note back?" he asks.
"That joke? I didn't know you wanted it back. Look in the trash" I say and I notice Clairo laughing.
He walks ahead of me just to stop in front of me. We stop in the middle of a busy hall.
"I was being serious. I thought it could be fun" he smiles. Clairo pauses as well.
I raise an eyebrow.
"Nah man. Ask someone else. I got class" I say, walking past him.
"What was that about?" Clairo asks as we continue our walk to class.
"A joke" I roll my eyes.
The last class speeds by.
Clairo and I walk to a cafe and order milkshakes.
"Seriously though, what was he talking about?" she starts up out the blue.
"Who exactly?"
"William."
"Ah, he asked me to prom in a note. It's clearly a joke since we've never said a nice thing to one another" I say, unbothered as I stir my milkshake.
"Don't you know that's how guys flirt?" Clairo deadpans, looking at me like I'm stupid.
"It's not like that" I say, images of guys being 'mean' to Lisa flashes before my eyes.
"Uh huh" she crosses her arms, unimpressed.
"And you're upset because?" I ask, smiling slightly. She doesn't answer me.
I've had my suspicions and now's the time to ask. I need to be subtle in case I'm way off the mark.
"...Do you listen to girl in red?" I ask, paying close attention to her next reaction.
"Of course I do. I thought everyone else knew that too. Didn't you?" she asks, looking at me.
"Clearly not" I say.
"And you?" she asks, looking at me with wide eyes.
"Can we stop beating around the bush?" I ask.
"But do you?" she asks again.
"I'm bi" I tell her and she smiles.
"You're not just saying that, right?" she double checks. I nod, sipping on my milkshake.
"So I was wondering...would you like to go to prom with me?" she asks, looking awkward.
"You know, I was talking about this with Lisa this morning" I mention.
"Is that a yes?" she laughs.
"Didn't I already say yes? Yes" I nod, looking her straight in the eyes.
"Awesome" she smiles to her drink.
"Why are you asking so early? Is it the in thing to do now?" I ask.
"Just in case someone else asks and I was right" she says, looking smug.
"He didn't really ask" I roll my eyes.
"Why do you keep on denying?" she asks.
"He likes Lisa. That is the only reason why he approaches me in the first place" I say.
"So if it turns out that he actually does like you, would you agree to go with him?" she asks.
"Of course not. I'm going with you. Just to be clear-this is a date, right?" I ask, making one hundred precent sure.
"Yes" she confirms, her hand slowly going over mine from across the table.
"Why's your hand so cold?" she asks, clasping both her hands around my hand.
"Yours is too warm" I say, but not moving my hand from hers.
Without breaking the hand holding, she stands up and shifts into my side of the table.
"Do you like me?" I ask, smile slightly growing.
"I thought I was being so obvious" she laughs.
"So you do?" I ask, wanting to hear the words from her.
"Yes, I do" she says, getting shy again, looking around.
"Do you-do you like me?" she asks with her doe eyes.
"I do" I say, smiling.
"I like it when you smile. I hope to be the reason for your smile" she says as she pokes the corner of my smile.
My heart is really going at it. She's so sweet and nice. It's such an amazing experience to have, especially without the motive of Lisa.
Then an experience resurfaces itself in my mind.
"You're not just saying that to get to Lisa, right?" I ask.
"Why are you so fixated on your sister?" she asks, removing her hand from my face.
I can't exactly tell her that she's the hero of the story...can I?
"Sorry. I'm just very used to her getting everything. Even friends and relationships" I say. She looks at me, not knowing what to say.
"...I'm here for you" she says with her smile.
"So you don't think I'm crazy?" I laugh at myself with how many times people have said that I was only 'seeing things'.
"I'm not blind. I see the attention she gets. I can admit that she's beautiful, but I like you" she smiles.
"I appreciate that" I say as I peck her cheek. She instantly blushes and gets shy real quick, looking away.
"Don't mention it" she says, looking away.
"Does this mean we're dating?" she asks while I sip my milkshake.
"Do you want to?" I ask.
"Do you want to?" she asks back.
"Let's keep it casual for now and see where this leads" I say, smiling.
"I should've said yes" she instantly regrets.
"I guess we could do that. Don't you dare see other people though" she warns.
"Ok ok" I surrender, laughing slightly.
I basically float back home. I dance my way into the kitchen once I entered my home.
"There you are. Can't you pick up your phone?" Lisa scolds, reading the contract by the table.
"I was on a date" I sing out, smiling as I sit down across from her.
"Really? With who?" Lisa instantly forgets her anger and the contract and pays full attention to me.
"Clairo" I smile. Lisa squeals and jumps from her seat to get to me.
"I'm so happy for you" she hugs me.
"Are you two dating now?" she excitedly asks, sitting back down.
"We're keeping it casual BUT she did ask me to prom" I smile proudly.
"My sister got game" Lisa smiles.
"I know" I flip my hair, knowing full well that I don't.
"What are you going to wear? Are you going to be matchy matchy?" Lisa gets excited.
"I don't know. We'll get to it eventually. What did you do with your problem?" I ask.
"You were right. I broke it off with both of them. I'm free-for now" Lisa sighs, leaning across the table.
"By the way, after school, William randomly told me that he isn't interested in me. What's that supposed to mean?" Lisa squints her eyes.
I guess it wasn't a joke then. Damn, I got two people interested in me! I never thought that would've happened.
I explain the note and what I said to him.
"See? He does like you" Lisa proudly says.
"How though? All I do is throw insults in his face" I squint my eyes.
"Some guys like that, you know" she nonchalantly says.
"Not when it comes from me" I say and Lisa raises an eyebrow, confused on what I was talking about.
"Well, it doesn't matter anyway. I'm going with Clairo" I say.
"This is gonna be adorable" she smiles.
We go over the contract together. It takes us the entire day to read.
"What do you think?" I ask.
"It looks fine" Lisa nods.
"Shall we sign it?" I ask, already grabbing a pen.
The next day, William comes storming into my class early morning. He places both his hands on the table as stares at me. He was busy interrupting me from my work.
"Are you gay?" He asks. He's not smiling anymore.
"No. I'm bi" I clear up and a wave of relief goes over him. He starts smiling again.
"Well then. Be sure to give it back to me this time" William says as he slides over a note and leaves.
I open it and it's the same rigged note that he rewrote.
I add an extra box that ticks off 'no'.
(I do not own the video.)