Tiara Gold was the most popular girl in school. She was the prettiest. She was the most theatrical. She was the best.

Until Charmaine Lendoza killed it. Charmaine was the reason for everything. Charmaine was the reason she was humiliated in front of the entire school at lunch. Charmaine was the reason Tiara had to get a new cardigan. Charmaine was the reason Jimmie wasn't flirting with her anymore (though she didn't like him, she relished the attention). Charmaine Lendoza, was her number one target for revenge.

Charmaine should've understood her place in East High a long time ago—her place was—wait! Tiara knew Charmaine wasn't supposed to have a place. And she was just soaking up Tiara's air.

How could she get to her… how could she? She opened her double lockers, pink. She fawned over herself in the mirror, and then picked up her morning books. Next to her right, was Charmaine, ugh. She was chatting with one over friends, Elen, or something like that.

"—really, Elena. I miss him." Charmaine muttered, so loud only Tiara's diamond pierced ear could hear in the small area.

"Well, I don't know how to help you." Elen… Elena, replied, closing Charmaine's locker for her. "He's a West High Knight."

"We should go visit them! Today after school! Kampos, Berate, Joahsen… Andrews! They'll all be there! It's been forever since we've said hi to them!" Charmaine suggested, her voice all pep and unusually filled with excitement.

" Oo, Andrews!" Elena teased, causing Tiara to lean a little to the right at her playful tone. "Well, it has. Okay, after school. We'll…" Elena moved closer to Charmaine hoping no one could hear her. "We'll go to West High. Come by my locker later." She whispered.

As soon as they left, Tiara closed her locker daftly, and clasped her hands together like superglue. "Looks like the secret's out!"

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"So, how are you two doing?" Elena asked, jotting some notes on loose-leaf paper.

"Um, fine? I guess…" Donny replied, not understanding what she was talking about.

"You and Rocket Man still best friends?"

"… Sure? Strong as ever." He found it strange that Elena (he had no idea how to neither spell nor pronounce her last name) wanted to talk to him. It's not like they hated each other, they just weren't in the same clique. He tapped on some switches backstage, turning the spotlights off. "Anything else you want to ask me? Why's the sky blue? Why's the grass green—"

"Actually, I do wanna ask more." Elena laced her fingers together in a studious manner. Donny was looking over various cues for the next musical, and Elena was waiting patiently. She gave a long sigh. "Do you remember freshman science?"

The boy shrugged. "Um, yeah? Dude, what does that have to do with anything?"

Elena knew Donny was becoming impatient, considering his job in the drama department was frustrating enough. She packed up some of her spare books she put on the audience chairs, and Miss Darbus bid them farewell. "Listen, it just got me reminding. What do you remember most about that class?"

"I don't know," Donny muttered, hopping off the stage. "Switched lab partners 'cause Rocket Man wasn't paying attention. I was working in the uneven group. With Tiara Gold and… some nerd—"

"That was me." Seethed Elena, almost prepared to drop the entire conversation, but kept her anger in check. "I mean, don't you remember who Jimmie was partnered with next?"

"Yea, some girl." Donny remarked, packing away some of his things in his backpack. "Wasn't the best of things." Something clicked in his head. "Wait, which was Charmaine! Oh, wow. I get it." He slumped back in one of the burgundy chairs. "Can you believe it? They're not like that anymore."

"They were total bitches to each other." The brown haired girl deadpanned, sitting in the chair next to him.

"Yeah." Donny agreed. "But she helped him stay on the team."

"But they yelled, all the time." The girl pointed out, waving a finger. "They got yelled at for yelling, all the time. I wonder what they were fighting about."

"Oh, just the regular stuff." Donny said, suddenly more into what they were talking about. "Rocket Man said it was annoying that she kept saying, 'I'll just do the work by myself and you can get the F, all by yourself.' Or 'You won't learn anything if I just tell you the answer, so actually do the work.', it was a riot." Donny laughed, causing Elena in turn to smile. "Do you think Charmaine still remembers that?"

"Ah, reminiscing." Elena chimed woefully. "Yes, every second, of every minute. She said to me every argument was heated, and it looked like she loved every retort she had, every comment." She grinned. "She even said once that he was so stupid that he couldn't tell whether what she was saying was an insult or a compliment. 'You're so insufferable!' he'd smirk. 'I didn't know you were suffering on how much you like me.' That was a fail on words." But her face suddenly turned sullen. "Even though, Charmaine hated it, to hate him, she knew they misunderstood each other. But she was afraid to say anything, to the possibility of making it worse."

"Oh."

"Does Rocket Man remember?" Elena wondered. "I mean, Charmaine. She had like, no glasses, bob cut, just different."

Donny paused, thinking about it. "Don't know. But, does it really matter? That was a year ago. Donny stressed on 'year' to emphasize his point. "A year ago, they were fightin' over what colour dye they should use for mixing borax. It was something stupid; they'd probably laugh at it by now—"

Elena stopped the boy before he could continue. "Don't tell Rocket Man."

"Why wouldn't I? He's my best friend."

"Because I think it would be better if he found out on his own.

Donny didn't like the idea of not telling his best friend this very important detail between him and Charmaine. "What if he doesn't find out on his own?"

"Then you live with extra weight on your shoulders." Donny opened his mouth to protest, but Elena beat him to it. "Pay attention, Charmaine still remembers. But Jimmie doesn't."

"I can't. I have to tell him." Donny crossed his arms in defiance. "You pay attention." Elena's hazel eyes widened. "Rocket Man might remember, we're not sure yet—"

"Not too sure I don't remember what?" Both Elena and Donny tensed at that voice. Why wouldn't they? Jimmie Zara must have found it strange that his best friend was talking to Charmaine's closest friend, about him.

"Yo, hey man!" Donny gave Jimmie a high five as soon as he rand down to him, trying to be as casual as possible. "

"Hey," he glanced at Elena, who just gave a short wave. "So, what were you saying?" Jimmie noticed Elena looking at Donny anxiously, who chose to ignore it, even though he clearly noticed it. Okay, something's definitely going on.

"Oh, last year science." Donny said truthfully. "Elena was telling me how awful it was—"

"Please don't remind me!" Jimmie suddenly exclaimed, his face showed exasperation clear as day. "That Caroline girl was freaking annoying!"

Elena did a double check, thinking she heard wrong. "Who's Caroline?"

"Oh, please don't tell me you don't remember her!" Elena stepped back, seeing Jimmie was going to the point of insanity at the sudden thought of freshman science. "You know, that girl with the really short hair cut?"

Elena pinched the bridge of her nose. "Are you that oblivious?" she finally spat out.

"Huh? What are you—"

"Never mind!" Elena swung her arms in the air.

"Okay?" Jimmie replied unsurely. "Dion, we better get to the gym. "'Lena, you know where Charms went?"

Elena mentally gasped. She completely forgot about telling Charmaine to meet her by her locker after school. "She has an appointment." Jimmie's face fell, Elena assumed it was because he was going to ask her to watch him practice.

"Nah, it's cool." He turned to Donny once again. "Dude, we gotta go."

Elena frowned. It was clearly not cool. But she didn't have to correct him; she spared a glance at Donny, who shrugged, soon following Jimmie out of the auditorium.

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Jimmie took a long swig of his Gatorade, sitting tiredly at the bleachers. Sweat dripped from his face, his jersey drenched. Practice was over, and everyone was hitting the showers. "Come on," Donny groaned, slightly irritated. "You stink."

Backpack slung on one shoulder, Jimmie wondered why he was acting like this. I mean, he was disappointed that Charmaine couldn't come and see him after school, but it seemed like 'disappointed' might be an understatement. "Yo, Dion. Gotta pen?" he asked, walking out of the gym. Donny handed him a dulled yellow pencil. "I think I'll need some paper to go with that." And abrupt ripping sound was heard, and he was handed half a sheet of loose leaf. He leaned on a locker, pencil poised in hand. "Okay. How's 'Hey Charmaine, me and Dion missed you. Better watch us next practice!'?"

"Definitely not. You're the one who missed her, don't put my name!"

Jimmie frowned, twiddling the pencil around like a drumstick. He noticed the eraser was chewed off, and played off the excuse. "Too bad, there's no eraser." He began signing his name at the end.

"Dude, you really need to sort out your feelings."

Jimmie hesitated, breaking off his train of thought. He sighed, leaning his back against the locker and sliding to the floor, much like Charmaine when he bumped into her. "I don't know, man. It's weird. I never called her baby doll, when I did with Tiara. When Tiara turned down our lunch dates, I always brushed it off. Charmaine, I'm still kinda down she couldn't come. Why am I comparing her to Tiara? I never liked her; I guess I just liked the facet liking the hottest girl in school."

"That, is the smartest in-depth thing you said all year." Jimmie gave his friend a small glare. "Okay, okay. Listen, Charmaine. She's different." He sat down opposite the confused teenager.

"You got that right." Admitted Jimmie, lightly banging his head against the locker.

"Go for it." Donny pushed Jimmie's knee, telling him to get up.

He nodded with confidence. Jimmie fiercely scribbled out the text on the note, and turned it over. "Here we go. 'I missed you during practice. Meet me during free period? Jimmie.'" He gave it a one over, and Donny gave a thumb up. "Let's get this to her locker."

"Where is it?"

Jimmie led them across a few halls, and pointed to a grey locker, "This one. I'm sure." He slipped the note through the locker vents. "And now we wait. I wonder what kind of appointment she had."

A sudden slam of a pink locker caused the two Wildcats to jolt. "Is that what you call it? An appointment?" Tiara laughed, placing her hands on both hips, covering her scowl, they didn't even spare her a glance when they were right next to her.

"Yeah. But it doesn't concern you." Jimmie said coolly. He was still miffed on the lunch incident, and Tiara just being mean to Charmaine in general.

"Fine." Tiara said crisply. "If you don't want to know where Charmaine Lendoza's whereabouts,"

That caught Jimmie's attention. "How would you know?"

"Of course I would know, my locker's right next to her, you moron. How could I not hear her?"

"Fine. Where is she?"

"Up-up-up. Nothing is free in life." Tiara's foreign accent drawled. "What do I get in return?"

Jimmie considered the consequences. If he got the information he wanted, he'd have to pay a hefty price. Then again, he could always ask Charmaine the next day. "Never mind. I'll find out on my own." He and Donny began to walk away.

Tiara huffed. "Wait!" she would rather let herself say it, because Charmaine was, Charmaine, who could keep her words on a vague but promising explanation. She watched Jimmy and Donny cross their arms, well?

"Elena and Charmaine went to West High School." She said smugly. "They said they were going to meet some old friends," she ticked off her fingers as she began the names. "Kampos, Berate, Joahsen and… Sebastian Andrews."

Jimmie and Donny gaped. Those were the people on the West High basketball team! How would Elena and Charmaine know them, see them? The East High basketball team beat their asses last year; they shouldn't even be worthy enough to look at them!

"Charmaine especially wanted to see Andrews. She said she really missed him." Tiara added, knowing how Jimmie would feel, it was obvious. "Well, best be going. Mum's making Cesar salad, ta-ta!"

Jimmie couldn't understand. Charmaine was with the West High Knights? Sebastian Andrews, captain of the team, she missed him. He was crushed.

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"Hey!" Charmaine exclaimed jovially, looking at the blank face of Jimmie Zara. She tossed the note he put in her locker yesterday on his desk. "Why didn't you just tell me now? Or call me on my cell?"

Jimmie ignored her, and preceded writing on a scrap piece of paper. Charmaine's smile began to fade, and she sat back in her seat. Then a slip of paper was suddenly thrown off Jimmie's shoulder and on her desk. She cautiously opened it up, careful that Miss Darbus wasn't watching her.

'Cause it's cooler on a note. The note said in Jimmie's fast paced handwriting, just like him.

She scribbled on the piece of paper, and softly threw it on Jimmie's desk. True, very true. ~Charmaine Lendoza

Jimmie couldn't help but stare at Charmaine's signature, with the little butterfly on the side of the 'C'. It was really adorable for her. Meeting me during free period?

"Yeah," Charmaine whispered, leaning on his shoulder and reading over his note. His cheeks warmed, she never put her chin on his shoulder before. It was, sort of relaxing, knowing she was right there. "If I knew where we were meeting up, study hall?"

"Hey, the note thing was cooler." Jimmie murmured. "Never mind, I don't want to meet up in study hall. How about the courtyard?" He didn't want to explain his feelings in a public area, he was sure of that.

"Are we allowed?" Charmaine asked.

"I could pull a few strings with Coach Bolton, to get us passes."

"Are you serious?" The girl asked, slightly shocked. "I know he'd let his son, but you?"

"Unless you think the gym is a better place…"

"Actually, yeah." Charmaine admitted, embarrassed. "Allergies, I've been sneezing a lot."

Elena smirked from her seat, recalling the day at the roof. "Oh, you sneezed! Someone's thinking about you!"

"Alright, meet me there third period." Jimmie instructed. The weight of Charmaine eventually off his shoulder, made him realize he couldn't wait until free period.

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Well, you're early." Jimmie remarked, watching Charmaine hit a volleyball back and forth on the wall. She probably didn't even notice him. He walked over to her, smacking her volleyball in mid-air.

The girl's hands were already positioned in a set shot, and Charmaine's face tightened when Jimmie interrupted her. "Hey!" she exclaimed, slapping him on the shoulders. "I was at fifty hits!"

"We aren't here to play volleyball."

Charmaine noticed the slight change in Jimmie's attitude, and complied, sitting at the bleachers. "Oh fine. But next time you run into anything volleyball related, I'll make sure your running around half-naked for your clothes."

"You were there?" he asked in surprise, sitting one seat above her.

"I am on the volleyball team." She rolled her eyes for effect.

"Well, I know now… but before?"

"Yeah. Anyways…" Charmaine trailed off on her words for a brief moment. "Why are we here? Is something wrong?"

"I guess." He said, swishing his shaggy chocolate-brown hair. "Listen, I know this might sound weird."

"Hey, don't say that." Charmaine prompted, patting his knee and sitting up beside him. "If everything in the world is weird, which it is, everything is normal."

Jimmie loved how optimistic she was, and how she could say it so easily. "Yeah, but it's really…"

"How is it so weird?" the girl asked, tucking her dark bangs behind her ear.

"It's because I like you." He muttered softly.

Charmaine froze. No one ever said that to her before. Sure, she knew a few people who liked her, but they never admitted it. She thought it would be nearly impossible to hear that come out of a boy's lips, especially Jimmie Zara. He was Jimmie Zara, the Rocket Man of the basketball team. He was cool, athletic, and all-around ostentatious. "Do you, really mean that?" she asked, completely in disbelief.

"Why wouldn't I?" Jimmie questioned in puzzlement. "You're you. You're adorable, you say what's on your mind, and you have an awesome looking signature…" Charmaine laughed lightly at the last reason. "Should I go on?" Charmaine shook her head.

"No, but you are quite the charmer, giving a girl all these compliments."

"And this is the first time too." Charmaine looked at Jimmie, shaking her head. "Okay, I've called girls hot. But with you, I don't think 'hot' is a good word. There are a billion better adjectives I can look up."

Charmaine smiled. "Really, I can't believe this. You'd look in the dictionary for me?"

"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his neck gawkily. "So yeah, that's all I have to say, I guess we should go back to study hall?" he made a move to get up, but someone grabbed his arm and sat him down.

"That's it?" Charmaine said. "You're not going to ask me for a response? You're not going to let me say anything in return?"

"I think I already know the answer, and I don't think I like it." Jimmie replied. "Charmaine especially wanted to see Andrews. She said she really missed him." He remembered Tiara saying yesterday by her locker.

"Why? Wouldn't you like to know what feedback you'd get for saying something so… affectionate?"

"Well what about Sebastian Andrews?" Jimmie shot back, catching the volleyball player off-guard. "I thought you really missed him."

Charmaine's mouth was agape. "I have no idea how you know that, but what does he have to do with anything?" She squeezed Jimmie's arm, both in irritation and comfort. "Maybe I do miss him! But he's not you!"

"Me?"

"You!" she grinned. "You're The Rocket! You're cute, you're uplifting, and you're the person I like." She wrapped her arms around his torso, pulling him into a hug. "Shockey's shocked. You have a game with them at the park, and I told him specifically that Rocket Man's going to personally beat your ass."

He smiled. Charmaine Lendoza, the girl he likes, has her arms wrapped around her, and she likes him back. And he's got a basketball game to look forward to.

"By the way, you were right. A courtyard scenario would've worked better, more romantic." Charmaine sneezed again, pulling away from Jimmie the slightest second. "I really need some new allergy medicine."


The end?