A/N: I'm listening to Bartender, typing this on a rather cool summer night. Kind of sets a mood, ya know?
"Why?" Alex whined, sitting at one of the bar stools in the sub station. "Why does Gigi always have to mess with me?" She was referring, of course, to Gigi spilling glue on Alex's dress in art class. It had happened just a few minutes before the end of the day, so it was fresh on her mind.
Harper shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She wondered if Alex could hear her heart pounding. "I don't know. Maybe... maybe she's just a jerk."
"No, she must hate me for some reason. But why? We hardly even met before she started hating me. I used to think she was cool, too. Didn't you use to know her?"
"Oh, would you look at the time!" Harper said, jumping up from her seat, "I have to go, uh, water the plants!"
"What are you talking about Harper, all of the plants in your house are fake."
"Look, Alex, just because you shirk your duties, doesn't mean I will!"
With that, she turned on her heel and half-walked half-ran out of the sub-shop. Alex stared after her in silence for a moment.
"He he. Duties."
-000-
Harper lay face down in her bed, thinking things over. She knew why Gigi didn't like Alex, but what was she supposed to do about it?
She couldn't help her feelings.
She remembered back to a time before she even knew Alex, way back in the eighth grade. Gigi was her girlfriend, although they kept it secret because Gigi didn't want to risk losing her popularity. But they dated under the guise of being best friends, and for a while everything was good.
But over time Harper grew to like Gigi less and less and couldn't help but feel that she was looking for something more. Or someone more. Someone who wouldn't care who knew about their relationship, who would just laugh and brush their shoulders off. She tried to bring this up with Gigi, but she wouldn't have it. Her popularity was too important to risk.
Harper was never one to stand up for herself, and probably would have stayed in this one-sided relationship forever if not for... that day. Winter break had just ended, and everyone was less than jubilant to be back in school. The first thing Harper did was got her new semester schedule from the front office, after which she headed straight for Gigi's locker.
"Hi there!" she said. She wanted to plant one on Gigi, but she knew she would get shoved off if she tried.
"Hey" was Gigi's reply as she got out a textbook, "Did you get your new schedule?"
"Yep!" Harper said, forking it over, "What about you?"
"Oh, my classes didn't change" Gigi looked the paper up and down "Well shoot. You're not in Home Ec anymore?"
Home Ec was the only class the two had had together, and the only class where they could publicly indulge their fantasies of having a baby together without drawing suspicion. But Harper hadn't known that when she had signed up for classes at the beginning of the year, so now she had 6th period Music Appreciation.
"Well, at least Music Appreciation is super easy" Harper said, taking back the slip "And we can still hang out at lunch and after school."
"Yeah, I guess. I'll see you at lunch, then." she said, giving Harper a hug and heading off for Science. Yes, Harper had memorized her schedule.
-000-
Alex chewed on the veggie sandwich she was holding. She was trying to relax and not do homework, but she couldn't stop thinking about Harper. What was up with her today? She didn't have to water her plants. Or did she? Alex had a mental image of a slightly off-kilter Harper rushing home everyday to water what she thought were real plants. It was possible... but not likely.
Wait. She hadn't been acting weird until Alex had brought up Gigi. Was that part of it? Was Gigi tricking her into watering plastic? Pure evil. Or maybe it was something else.
...
Alex could still remember the first time she met Harper.
It was her second semester of eight grade. She had heard Music Appreciation was an easy A... which meant Alex could do nothing and get a D. Perfect.
She walked in and surveyed the room. Mostly kids like her, she was guessing all the virtuosos were in the more challenging classes. There were a few nerds in the front though, which might come in handy if the teacher gave homework. She walked towards the back row, to the seat next to the window, optimal for day dreaming.
Some awkward-looking kid she had never met was already sitting in it. Didn't matter. She pushed his bag off the desk and set her's down.
"Up," was all she had to say to vacate the chair. She smirked. Being notorious did have its advantages.
The teacher, a scrawny and balding man, walked in. He began droning and within seconds Alex could feel her eyes glaze over. This was amazing. It was like the perfect environment for zoning out.
Fifteen minutes later, it wasn't seeming so great. The teacher had been writing on the board and lecturing in monotones non-stop, and boredom was setting in. Alex looked over at the girl next to her. She was wearing an outfit composed mainly of fake grapes. That looked interesting.
"Hey," she said, leaning over the guardrail on her desk and tapping the girl's shoulder. The girl, who had been taking notes, only looked up briefly before frowning and looking back at her notes. What was that about?
She tapped her shoulder again. "Hey, I'm talking to you." The girl looked up again, this time locking her gaze.
"Yes?"
"Is that outfit for a prank or something?" Surely a fellow back-rower wouldn't dress like that for no reason?
"A prank? I would never do such a vile thing, especially not a prank involving innocent fruit. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to take notes. Unlike some people," she looked Alex up and down, "I actually want to pass." she went back to taking notes. Alex scoffed.
"Bitch," she muttered under her breath.
"Hmm?" the girl looked up again.
"Huh? I didn't say anything," Alex looked out the window. She thought of a famous quote, 'Hell is other people'. Boy, wasn't that the truth.
Oh crap. She just lost the game.
A/N: Unfortunately, I just lost The Game. If you did too, let me know. If you don't know what I'm talking about:
Also, I had to talk about Alex tapping Harper without making lame jokes. Not easy.