I own nothing... It's a sad sad reality to face.
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It was a typical Friday at Mesa High School—classes, chit chatting, laughing, and, of course, just waiting for the dismissal bell to ring so they could get their weekend off to a start.
Finally, after the endless hours spent in the classroom, the anticipated bell rung out through the school, the teacher finished what she was saying, and there wasn't a student left in the school that wasn't booking it to get out the door.
Stella Yamada was among the scattered students shoving books into bags and searching for their friends to walk out with. She caught up with Olivia and Wen.
"Hey guys, what's the happs?" Stella asked, noticing Mo walk up to the other side of Olivia.
"I don't know," Olivia said, "Wen and I were thinking we should all go to Dante's later to get some dinner, if everyone can make it?"
"I'm game," Stella said.
"Me too," Mo added, "I just need to check with my dad before I make any promises...But it should be okay."
"I'm in too!" they all snapped their heads around to see Charlie approaching.
"Where'd you pop out from?" Stella teased.
"Hey, can't a guy walk within hearing distance of his friends?" he defended.
They all just rolled their eyes.
"Sounds like a plan then?" Wen asked the group, earning a simultaneous nod from everyone.
"You can still show your face at Dante's after that scene you caused there?" Ray Beech sneered.
"Don't you have anything better to do than eaves drop on an actually successful band? Or what, are you just trying to pick up secrets for Mudslide Crush?" Stella challenged.
"Please, like I'd need to eaves drop on the Lemon Heads," he almost snorted, causing Stella's glare to intensify.
"Back off, Ray," Wen said coolly.
"Now the ginger wants to pick a fight with me? Didn't learn your lesson the first time? Almost got your little drummer boy friend hospitalized."
"Actually, Ray," Mo said, "I'm pretty sure that ended with you drenched in...secondhand...lemonade."
Ray shot Stella a glare, to which she grinned. His glare hardened.
"Yamada just doesn't know how to mind her own business. You can add that to the list with guitar playing and singing."
"Tell it to your small local audience..." Stella rolled her eyes.
"I'll catch you all later," Mo said suddenly, "If I don't go right home I can go ahead and eliminate myself from our dinner plans later...not even to mention eliminating myself from any social activity for the rest of the month...See you guys later!"
She waved largely at her friends before running off to give Scott a goodbye kiss.
"Have fun later at your little pizza party," Ray sneered, "Don't overdo yourself, Delgado."
With that he chuckled tauntingly and turned his back to leave.
Stella opened her mouth to retort but snapped it shut when Olivia and Wen both grabbed her arm.
"I wasn't going to say anything too bad," she grumbled.
"Sure you weren't," Olivia said, dripping with sarcasm.
"Yeah, Stella, you're incapable of such things," Wen added.
"It's true, you angel of mercy," Charlie threw in.
"I get it, I get it," she said jokingly.
They all just laughed. They continued to chit chat for a few minutes, until Stella spoke up, "Alright, guys, I'm gonna head back home for a pre-dinner nap. Someone text me times and stuff. See you all later."
Her friends all said their goodbyes, and Stella made for her way back home.
She was walking along and reached her hand in her pocket for her cellphone when she heard a voice.
"Hey, Stell."
She jumped at the sound of her name and the all too familiar voice.
"What are you doing here, Jake?" she asked. Jake was her ex boyfriend from Rhode Island. A few months before she moved away, she had dated him for 7 months and had caught him cheating on her with her best friend, Ridley. She hadn't spoken to either one of them since that day. Now, Stella Yamada was far from being weak, but she could barely stomach looking at him or her supposed "best friend." Not even the surprise of seeing him could force down her disgust as she tried not to spit in his face.
"Aww, come on. Don't be like that, Stell," Jake said.
"Give me one good reason not to be like I am, and then just...go. What happened to your girlfriend anyway?" she couldn't stop herself from asking.
"She isn't what's important right now, Stella. What's important is that you forgive me. I came all the way here to beg for you to forgive me. Not one day goes by where I don't regret what happened between us."
"'Between us'? Nothing happened 'between us'. We both made some mistakes..." she said, causing him to look up with hope.
"Mistake number two, was you cheating on me. Mistake number one, was me ever even giving you the time of day. So get out of my face and go back to where you came from. I'm sure Ridley is lonely right now," she said, mustering up every inch of bitterness she could.
"Look," he stepped closer and took her arm, "You were my life, Stella. Ridley was a...mistake. A mistake I wish I could forget. A mistake that I wish you could forget. I just...I just miss us."
She pulled her arm away and snorted, "Been watching romantic comedies in your spare time or something?"
"I can't even believe you right now. I came all the way here to find you and ask for you to forgive me and for just one more chance. If I blow that you never even have to look at me again. But do you realize what you're throwing away right now?"
"Hey, I never asked you to come. I didn't want you to come, and I don't know why your screwy conceited mind would think I would want to see your face here. My life has been going just fine without you, and I was hoping to keep it that way," she said. Her blood was starting to boil.
"Stella. Baby, please. You know I never beg. But I came all the way here to find you, and I'm not leaving until I get what I want," he said, taking a step closer.
"Maybe this will change your mind," he said, filling the gap between them and planting his lips onto Stella's.
What had gone unnoticed this whole time, was the spiky haired blond standing just around the corner, leaving a friend's house.
He froze when he heard the sound of an angry revolutionary's voice. It wasn't the same challenging voice she spoke with when she spoke to him or even to Brennigan. It was a voice he could barely recognize through all of the bitterness and disgust that were pushed into every syllable.
At first he had decided to just keep walking and to mind his own business, but then his curiosity got the better of him, and he couldn't stop himself from listening to the harsh words Stella was throwing at this apparent ex-boyfriend. Who knew Yamada had an ex boyfriend?
Several times, he had to stop himself from going out there and beating the pathetic guy senseless. He talked himself out of it by asking himself why he even cared and by violently breaking apart a leaf that fell out of the tree above him.
He heard the guy's tone change, and decided to just go home, before he really did kill they guy...But then it happened.
"Maybe this will change your mind."
As soon as Ray turned the corner, he saw something he would have payed a million dollars to unsee. This Jake guy had Stella's shoulders in his hands and was shoving his lips onto hers.
Stella looked so taken aback that she was completely frozen stiff, her eyes wide in horror.
"What's going on here?" Ray asked coolly, causing Jake to jump back and Stella's eyes to jerk over to him.
Stella was still too shocked to speak as she drilled her eyes into Ray's in a mixture of embarrassment and thankfulness.
"Who's this, baby?" Ray asked Stella, with a smirk and a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
"I'm Jake," he said defensively, standing his ground against Ray.
"What are you doing with my girlfriend?" Ray asked, taking a threatening step forward Jake.
Stella failed at masking her shock, as her eyes shot open wide and her mouth dropped at him.
"Your girlfriend? Please. You're not my Stella's type," Jake said, stepping toward Ray.
That comment broke Stella out of her daze...
"Your Stella?" she fumed, "I am not yours—"
Ray interrupted, "And if you value your life, even a little bit, you will stay the heck away from my girl."
"Seriously, dude, I don't get what you're trying to prove but Stella would never go for someone like you, believe me," Jake said.
"Since when did you become the expert, jackass?" Stella shot at him.
Ray bit back a chuckle.
"Come on, babe, I can read you like a book. Just look at this guy. He looks like the typical spoiled pretty boy. Probably gets with at least twelve girls a week. You wouldn't look twice at a guy like that. What we had together? That was magic."
Ray laughed, "You're not actually pimping the 'what we had was magic' speech, are you?"
Stella shot him a quick glare, before returning her attention back to Jake, "You weren't reading me like a book, obviously, when I walked in on you and Ridley, now were you?"
He remained silent.
"And besides," Stella added, "You don't know what my type is, and you don't know Ray either."
"You're not actually saying this...this...over-groomed, spoiled princess is telling the truth are you? You wouldn't lower your standards that much..."
"Nothing's lower than you are, trust me. And stop pretending to know me just so well—"
"And who do you think you're calling a princess?" Ray fumed.
"You. That's why Stella would never go from someone like me to someone like you."
Ray started to curl his fist, but quickly regained composure, "Why don't you let Stella say for herself who she prefers?"
Stella was thankful Jake didn't notice the death glare she shot Ray. Or the innocent smile he shot back at her.
"That sounds like a great idea," Jake agreed, "Go ahead and tell him for yourself, Stell."
Stella sighed, knowing she would never live this down for the rest of her life.
"Go ahead, Stella," Jake said, "Who do you prefer?"
She slowly opened her eyes, before saying firmly, "Ray."
"Se—? Wait, what?" Jake exclaimed.
Stella refused to look at Ray, but she could feel his smirk next to her.
"I said I prefer Ray Beech to you," she restated.
"I don't get it," Jake spat.
"What's not to get," Ray jeered, "Stella just told you twice that you never meant half as much to her as I mean to her." he threw an arm over her shoulder and bit back a smirk when he felt her back muscles grow tense.
"Not that," Jake said, "Why she would prefer someone like you over someone like me."
"Simple," Ray snorted, "She has good taste. Now get."
"You can't tell me what to do, pretty boy."
"Maybe he can't, but I can," Stella said, "Get out of my sight before Ridley starts to miss her boyfriend too much."
"And before I kill you," Ray threatened.
Surprisingly, Jake remained silent as he gave Ray a look that could kill.
"You're making a huge mistake, Stella," was all he said as he turned his back and stormed away to his car.
"I don't think I am!" she shouted behind him.
She watched carefully as he pulled out of the neighborhood, before angrily shoving Ray's arm off of her shoulder.
He had erupted in laughter by this point and was fighting for oxygen.
"What the heck was that all about?" Stella shouted.
He calmed down enough to answer her, "You looked like you could use some back up. I thought I may as well get a little fun out of being the good Samaritan..."
"I could've handled it," Stella grumbled.
"Yeah, I could tell by the fact that you couldn't even move a muscle when that guy kissed you! Who knows what he would have done if I hadn't happened to be in the neigborhood?"
Stella began to retaliate, when her frown slowly turned into a smirk, "Was someone worried about me?"
"What? No! Why would you even ask that?" Ray asked defensively.
"No need to get defensive, just because you were jealous that I was arguing with another guy..."
"Please, would you get real? Ray Beech doesn't get jealous. Especially not over loud-mouthed girls who spit lemonade at people for a hobby..."
"Then why did you feel the need to eaves drop and butt in? Come on, little Ray ray, you can admit it..."
"Admit what? You mean admit like when you admitted that you preferred me to that guy and defended me and even claimed me as your boyfriend?" he challenged.
"I never outright told him you were my boyfriend! You started that!" she defended.
"Now who's the defensive one?" Ray asked.
"Still you," Stella replied.
"But hey," Ray lowered his voice to a mischievous whisper, "You can't deny it sounded pretty good to you..."
"I can deny anything I want to, sicko."
"But not truthfully," he leaned in close to her.
She stood her ground and replied, "Yes, truthfully."
He leaned in yet closer, "Stella Stella Stella..." he said into her lips, "I never took you to be the kind to tell a lie like that..."
"Who's lying?" her voice lowered to a whisper as she met his blue eyes.
He chuckled lightly before leaning in closer and catching her lips in his.
This small action made them both feel like their hearts were beating a million miles an hour. Ray had kissed plenty of girls in his lifetime, but no other kiss had ever made him feel like this. Every hair on his body was standing up as he kissed this girl who he had devoted so much of his life into giving a hard time. Stella had kissed a few guys herself, and also had never experienced a kiss like this. A kiss that literally made her feel like her heart would beat out of her chest and that made her mind rush so fast that it made her dizzy.
When they finally broke apart they were both fighting to breathe.
"What was it you were saying about not being jealous?" Stella asked with a smirk
Ray chuckled darkly, "I don't know, maybe the same thing that you were saying about the idea of me as a boyfriend not sounding good to you?"
She chuckled as well. "Well...there goes the sleep I was going to spend today catching up on."
"Is that a complaint?" he asked.
"Yes and no. But I have to go, I need to change clothes before I go to dinner tonight," Stella said, realizing her arms were tangled around Ray's neck.
He unwound his arms from her waist as she pulled away from him.
"Tell your loserhead friends not to hog you this weekend," Ray said.
"I wouldn't talk about loser friends when all you have is Patty and Jules," Stella replied, "And I'll tell my friends they have to share me...as long as you tell your skank friends to back off. You're owned property now."
"You're starting to sound like me," he said.
"...take that back," she threatened.
"You're not the boss of me," he reminded her.
She just rolled her eyes.
"Seriously, Yamada...Explaining this to our friends should be fun."
She cringed, "Don't remind me. But I'm sure my friends will get over it soon enough if you stop embarrassing Olivia and stop trying to threaten Charlie. Wen doesn't mind anyone as long as they leave Olivia alone, and I'm sure if you tell Scott to talk some sense into Mo she'll be over it in a day or two. Your friends however are judgmental idiots."
"Tell me something I don't know," he mumbled.
"What?" she asked.
"I don't like most of them that much anyways. None of them would really care who I date... just as long as I'm around for my popularity to rub off on them, they're good," he shrugged.
She just smirked, "sounds like a plan then."
"Get going, Yamada, you have Lemon Heads to meet up with."
"Whatever, Beech. Go get ready for your hot date tonight...with your mirror."
He laughed and rolled his eyes, "Seeya."
She waved and shot him a smile before making her way the rest of the way home.
She sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror.
"Weirdest day ever."
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Well, you have reached the end of my flufftacular cliche filled piece of cliche fluffiness. Hope you enjoyed it. Please drop a review with any suggestions or feedback you may have!
Thanks for reading!