"I am not kidding, that kid is totally into you," Bloom gushed as she tucked a strand of fiery red hair behind her ear. Her blue eyes sparkled as she continued on, "Turn around, look!"
"Oh come on, he's definitely staring at you, not me," Stella replied after she turned to look, her rosy cheeks blushing a dark crimson. "Besides, he only glanced at me twice the whole time we were here."
"Are you really going to decline that compliment?" Musa asked from beside the blonde, gripping her coffee cup as she brought it towards her lips to take a sip. "You know everyone in the entire school wants to look like you."
This was no lie; Stella was the most envied and wanted girl in school. With her long, luscious blonde locks and the features of a Greek goddess, there was no shortage of guys (or girls) that wanted to be with her.
"You two are adorable, I swear," Stella dismissed the compliments with a nonchalant laugh, though her heart swelled with pride. She knew Musa was only stating a fact. "At least Flora here knows better than to flatter me."
Her eyes locked on her phone, the brunette let out a small hum of response when she heard her name being mentioned. "Sorry, what was that?"
"Busy texting prince charming, huh?" Bloom playfully nudged Flora, and the girl reddened.
"No, dummy, I was going through Instagram!" Flora waved her phone in the redhead's face to prove her statement, and the other girl rolled her eyes. Then, Flora turned to face the blonde. "Anyway, Stel, did you say something?
"We're just talking about that guy over there," Musa nodded her head towards the direction of the guy who was serving a customer. "He was a hundred percent checking Stella out."
"He's cute," Flora raised her eyebrows in surprise. With a wink, she replied teasingly, "You should ask him out."
"Are you kidding me? He looks at least fifteen!" Stella's mouth dropped open as her friends burst out into peals of laughter. "I wouldn't be caught dead with someone younger than me!"
"It wouldn't be the first time," Bloom chuckled, dodging a meek attempt of a slap on the hand from the blonde.
"That was one time!" Stella cried in embarrassment, flushing at the memory of when she had been caught making out with a fifteen-year-old boy by Musa. She checked her wristwatch and gasped. "Gosh! Look at the time. I gotta go, or my mom's going to kill me."
"I'll drive you home," Bloom offered, standing up as she pulled on the strap of her purse over her shoulder. "I need to be home soon anyway."
"See you girls tomorrow!" Flora smiled and waved along with Musa as Bloom and Stella walked out of the coffee shop.
-:-
After waving goodbye to Bloom and thanking her for dropping her off, Stella reached for the keys in her pocket to open her front door.
As soon as the door swung open, raised voices boomed out.
"Oh no, please, not again," Stella mumbled under her breath, her brows stitching into a frown. The blonde immediately slammed the door open and raced to the direction of where the voices were coming from - the living room.
"If you think I'm going to let you go that long again, you better think carefully!" Stella's mother, Luna, threatened, her light blonde hair swirling around her head like a platinum storm.
"God! Why do you have to act so possessive?" Jason, Luna's boyfriend, shouted angrily. "I'm taking extra shifts to support you and your daughter and all you do is complain about it!"
"Maybe I wouldn't complain about it if you didn't keep secrets from me!" Luna hurled back, not seeming to notice her daughter standing meekly in the doorway.
"You don't tell me what to do," Jason seethed, his tone eerily calm suddenly, but unmistakably dangerous. "You can't control my life."
Stella's heart pounded so loudly in her chest, she could feel it in her ears. No, she pleaded silently. Stop.
"Shut up, you son of a bitch!" Luna screamed, grabbing a vase on the coffee table before hurling it against the wall, shattering it into millions of pieces.
Stella shrunk back as she clapped her hands over her ears to drown out the deafening sound. Please stop, she cried silently, sudden tears sprung to her eyes as memories came flooding back.
Raised voices. Shattering glass. Blood everywhere.
Her heart shattering into pieces, much like the destroyed vase on the floor.
"Stop!" Stella finally managed to choke out before sobs rocked her body as she fell to the floor in a heap.
Suddenly noticing Stella at the corner of the room, Luna immediately rushed over to her daughter and wrap her arms around her shaking body. "Shit. Oh baby, I'm so so so sorry you had to see that," she comforted quietly, rubbing Stella's back soothingly as the girl sobbed her heart out. "Shh, it's all over now. It's not going to happen again."
Jason only stared at the two of them, his eyes glassy with tears. The guilt that enveloped him was unbearable. He and Luna shared a meaningful look before he disappeared up the stairs, a door closing shut not long after.
-:-
THE NEXT MORNING
Stella was almost done with her makeup when a knock sounded on the door. "Darling, are you awake?" A familiar voice sounded muffled from the other side. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure," Stella pursed her lips as she looked at her reflection in her vanity mirror.
The door opened, revealing Luna in the doorway. The woman flashed her daughter a rueful smile. "Oh good, you're almost ready. Do you want me to send you to school?"
"No, it's alright. Bloom's picking me up," Stella didn't bother turning to face her mother and continued putting on lip gloss. "And I'll make my own breakfast."
Luna nodded in response. A silence followed before Luna inhaled a deep breath and said, "Listen, I'm really sorry you had to see our fight last night-"
"No, you know what? It's alright, Mum. I don't want to talk about it," Stella shrugged her broad shoulders, grabbing her designer bag on the edge of her bed and standing up to head out of her bedroom.
"Are you okay?" Luna asked, concern clear as crystal in her voice as she stood in front of the door to prevent Stella from taking a step further.
Stella forced out a smile. She hoped the bags under her eyes wouldn't betray how she felt after the sleepless night she had. "Yeah," was all the blonde said before she gently pushed past her mother and started walking down the staircase.
"Darling, are you sure?" Luna turned and paced after her.
Stella stayed silent until she reached the end of the stairs. "Positive. It's not like it's never happened before. You and Jason fighting, I mean," she sent her mother a grim smile.
"Stella-" Luna started.
"Listen, Mum, I would love to talk more but I'm late for school, and I think I just heard Bloom pull up," Stella interrupted before her mother could continue. "Bye. Don't wait up for me."
Before Luna could even open her mouth to protest, the front door had already slammed shut behind Stella.
The blonde immediately rushed down the driveway and out the gate, feeling tears stinging her eyes. To her relief, Bloom had already arrived, as Stella didn't think she could spend another minute in her house while her mother was still there.
"Hey, Stel!" Bloom greeted cheerfully as Stella opened the door to the passenger's seat, but the redhead's smile faltered when she saw the look on her best friend's face. "Hey, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, let's just go," Stella replied almost curtly, and tried to blink back the tears. She reached for the seatbelt but stopped when she saw the hurt look on Bloom's face.
"I'm sorry, Bloom," the blonde said apologetically, "I'm not in the mood to talk right now, but I'll tell you later, at school."
"Alright," the other girl replied hesitantly before slowly driving off.
-:-
Stella tried desperately not to yawn as she stared at the blackboard at the front of the class. She was a straight A student, definitely, and she was no doubt intelligent, but Science had to be her least favourite subject out of all of them. It also didn't help that the teacher, Mr Scott, was always condescending towards the students, straight A student or not.
The blonde reached into her pocket to take out some bubblegum that she hoped could relieve her of her boredom.
As soon as she unwrapped the wrapper and popped the gum into her mouth, a timid knock sounded on the door.
His voice clearly showing annoyance, Mr Scott called out, "Come in!"
The door creaked open to reveal a brown-haired guy in the doorway, one arm holding up the bag that was dangling off his shoulder. Stella could see that he was wearing glasses, but the hoodie he was wearing blocked the blonde from seeing his face.
"Are you Mr Scott?" the brunet asked.
"Yes, may I help you?" the teacher raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms against his chest.
"I'm Brandon. I'm a new student here, and on my timetable it says that Science is my first subject," he replied.
"Oh! Right. The principal told me about you," Mr Scott nodded, uncrossing his arms and gesturing to the other students. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"
The brunet finally turned to face the class, and Stella could've swore her heart melted at the sight of him. His black-rimmed glasses framed the most beautiful chocolate eyes Stella had ever seen, and his brown fringe fell over his eyes in the most adorable way. His smile was small but sweet, and it took every nerve in Stella's body to not squeal when the smile stretched into a nervous grin. He's absolutely gorgeous, Stella thought.
"Hey, I'm Brandon, nice to meet you all," he spoke quietly, waving his free hand for a brief second.
Mr Scott nodded in approval before saying, "You can sit in that empty chair, in the back, next to Solaria."
Stella's eyes widened when she finally processed what the teacher had said. Before she realised it, Brandon had already dumped his bag on the floor and sat on the seat next to her.
Stay calm, the blonde thought, keep your cool.
As Mr Scott turned back to the blackboard and the lesson resumed, Brandon turned to Stella and shot her a smile that made her weak in the knees.
"Hey," he greeted quietly. "So you're Solaria?"
"That's me," Stella replied with a nervous chuckle, before realising that she still had gum in her mouth.
Damn it, she cursed herself. She didn't want to chew on bubblegum when an extremely gorgeous boy was in front of her, but she didn't want to take it out either. She decided that it was best to keep it in her mouth.
"Solaria! You with us?" Mr Scott's heavily sarcastic comment snapped the blonde out of her thoughts.
"Yes, sir," Stella muttered almost inaudibly, her head bowed down. It wasn't her first time being called out by a teacher, but when it happened, it absolutely humiliated her.
"Good. Because if you were listening, then you would have heard that I assigned you all a project that requires a partner," Mr Scott continued on. "Now before you get excited, I will choose your partner for you, and your partner will be the person next to you."
A few guys and girls cheered at their choice of partner, and a few others groaned, while Stella turned to see the only person that would be her own.
Brandon.
The blonde felt a wave of relief (and gratefulness) wash over her. She was thankful Mr Scott had a little mercy that day, and didn't choose a snobby girl who'd leave all the work to herself, like he did the last time.
Brandon shot the blonde a smile and said, "So we're partnered up, huh?"
"I guess so," Stella shrugged. "Maybe we can discuss it at my house later?"
"Perfect," he nodded in agreement. "2 in the afternoon?"
"Yup," Stella confirmed, peeling off a sticky note from her notebook and grabbing a pen, writing down details. She handed it to Brandon and continued on, "Here's my address, and there's also my number. Text me if there's anything."
As if on cue, the bell rang, indicating that the period was over. Mr Scott's words almost flew past her blonde head as she heaved out a sigh, grabbed her things and headed out of class towards her locker.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Stella and her friends gawked over boys during lunch, and a few guys were caught staring at Musa and Flora. The former did anything but act modest about it, but the latter had graciously turned them down.
Before Stella knew it, school was over, and she was at her locker putting away her books when a familiar voice called out her name.
"Stella!" the voice shouted, and the girl groaned inwardly. Putting on the most genuine smile she could muster, Stella slammed her locker door shut to face the culprit.
"Tyler," Stella said, without enthusiasm.
"Hey," Tyler greeted, flashing Stella a grin that would usually make her weak in the knees, but today, she couldn't care less. His blonde hair was styled up in his usual quiff, and there was the trademark sly and seductive glint in his blue eyes. "What period did you have just now?"
"Double English," the girl shrugged. "You?"
"Oh," Tyler raised his eyebrows. "I had Science."
"Sucks, then. Mr Scott was in an especially bad mood today," Stella sent him an almost mocking sympathetic look.
"Isn't he always?" a deep chuckle rumbled from Tyler's chest, and Stella shot him a smile before turning back to her locker.
"Wait, uh, Stella," Tyler laid a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"Hm?"
"You uh... wanna hang later?" the blonde suggested, slowly raising an eyebrow in question.
That was it. That was the question she had expected.
Stella let out a sigh. The last time the both of them had hooked up was about a week ago, and she had enjoyed it. The blonde desperately needed a distraction after what had happened the night before, but she knew Tyler might get the wrong idea for hooking up twice in less than two weeks.
"Sorry, Tyler, can't," Stella said finally. "I've got a project to do with this guy."
Tyler shrugged, but Stella could detect the disappointment and a small hint of jealousy in his voice when he said, "It's fine." He turned on his heel before walking off.
Stella sighed again and rolled her eyes. She was sick of the jealous guys she had to deal with just after hooking up with them. They'd agreed for it to be casual - it's not like she was dating any of them.
After opening her locker and putting the rest of her books in there, Stella slammed the door shut and headed towards the exit.
-:-
Stella just turned off the television and headed to the kitchen for a drink when the doorbell rang.
"Hey," Brandon said, one hand slinging his bag off his shoulder and another hand in his pocket, raising his eyebrows in greeting when Stella opened the door. But the brunet's eyes immediately turned wide and he looked away when he saw what she was wearing. He nervously continued on, "Oh. Am I interrupting something?"
Stella looked down to see what she was clad in - a pink robe. "Oh, I am so sorry, I forgot you were coming over and I got comfortable," the blonde said apologetically, suddenly hiding behind the door.
God, I'm a fucking idiot, the girl thought, now remembering her hair was also in a messy bun. No, she definitely wasn't a flattering sight right then.
"Come in and make yourself comfortable, while I go get changed," Stella gestured to the living room, feeling the blood rushing to her cheeks.
As soon as Brandon came in, Stella immediately slammed the door shut and rushed up the stairs. To think that she had embarrassed herself in front of this gorgeous boy was humiliating.
She quickly picked out an outfit - a dark blue, long sleeved crop top and knee length denim shorts, and she let her curls loose. Much better, she nodded to herself in approval as she looked at her reflection in her vanity. Grabbing her school bag, she headed down the stairs.
"Sorry about that," the blonde apologised, finding Brandon sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room. "I was about to get myself some OJ, you want some?"
"That'd be great," Brandon agreed. He immediately took a gulp when Stella handed him a glass.
"So," Stella sent him a smile and raised an eyebrow. "Let's get started."
-:-
Heyyy everybody! I know I said I'd be posting a next gen Winx story, but this story took shape in my mind and I thought it was much better than the overused next gen fic. I also didn't work much on how the other story's direction would go, so when I do, I might post it in the future.
Now, here's something you don't see very often: Stella being the popular girl, and Brandon being the shy guy. This is no hate to the Brandon being the bad boy fics, in fact, I love them, it's just that I was getting a little tired of them. Again, no hate! Also, English is not my first language (though most times I feel like it), and I haven't written in a long time, so if you felt like the writing was a little choppy, I apologise!
Lastly, since I'm new to FF, I'm not really certain on what I should rate this story. I'm thinking T, but there will be some scenes in the future that might include M rated things. I might really need help with this, so please slide in my inbox if you want to help!
Please R&R, and thank you for reading :)