⌗ 37
third person ✎ᝰ
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The silence was almost eerie. It had been far too long since the halls were ever this empty. Mason felt as if she were in a whole new world. But really, she was just at school. She trudged along the familiar hallway towards the auditorium.

Mason could see her company way ahead of her. Nicole seemed way too happy given the situation. It was hardly eight in the morning and she had been dragged out of her slumber to go to the one place she was finally able to get rid of forever.

Graduation might just be the only exception. She could barely get herself out of her own bed. Not only did it feel ten times more comfortable than it usually does, but Riley was cuddled up close and how could she ever tear herself away from such a pretty face? It took her almost half an hour to peel herself off the girl. Mason could only laugh at herself with the time it took her to get ready. She had freshened up, gotten dressed and was out of the house in under fifteen minutes—half the time it took to finally get out of bed and away from Riley. She misses her already.

Mason shoves her car keys into her pocket and hurries along. The sound of her shoes squeaking against the floor made her flinch.

She finds Nicole peek her head outside the door. "I thought I'd lost you." She laughed. Mason shook her head in response. "All good Kang?"

Mason gave her a thumbs up. "Not a morning person." She answered truthfully. "I'm honestly still half asleep." She chuckled lightly.

Nicole holds the door open for her and signals Mason to come inside. "I don't blame you. It's eight in the morning at the end of the school year. You must've been bummed when you heard about this. I had to get dragged out of bed..."

Nicole Baek
⤷ 18. School Council President. Salutatorian. Popular throughout the school. Known as the handsome tomboy in her grade. Is said to be intimidating but is actually a softie.

Mason chuckled once more. "That makes the two of us." Nicole closes the door behind them and walks side by side with the other. "I heard my phone ring like twice this morning. For some reason I thought it was my alarm...I don't even set alarms now that schools over. I only picked the phone up when my girlfriend noticed..."

There's a wide grin that forms on Nicole's face. "Right, you're dating Riley aren't you?" They take a seat in the first row. "I gotta admit that she's quite lucky." Nicole's words drew curiosity.

"Hm? What do you mean by that?"

"It's simple. Our cohort is obsessed with you." There's a look of confusion that spreads across Mason's face. "Everyone wants you."

"Everyone wants me?" Mason tilts her head. "I don't think I'm following...what do you mean?"

Nicole takes her phone from her back pocket and starts scrolling. "I'm surprised...you don't seem aware about this." Mason couldn't help but feel nervous. What was this all about? "There's not one person who has said that they don't find you attractive. You've got it all, Mason."

Nicole finally stops scrolling and hands the blue iPhone 13 to the girl sitting beside her. Mason sets her gaze upon a familiar app—Twitter.

It's an account dedicated to love confessions and anonymous messages from people throughout the school. "What is all this..."

"Look here." Nicole points to the tweets that have MK! at the end of each sentence. "The MK! means that the tweet is about you. And if you scroll down you'll see a whole bunch of them.  Some are anonymous and some are not."

Mason takes it all in. There's tweets upon tweets that have her initials listed on them. "There's so many...and they all seem to find me pretty?"

"You seem surprised." Nicole laughed.

Surprised would be an understatement. Mason had no clue. She was so sure that she was just this mysterious sit alone girl at the back of the room that no one cared about. Nicole and all these tweets had proven her wrong.

"I am." Mason chuckled lightly. "I always thought that I was that shy kid that no one would pay attention to. No one ever bothered me so..."

Nicole nods. "Well, let's just say you have this aura to you. From a distance you do look quite intimidating." They both chuckle. "People think you're out of their league. I mean...you're pretty and you're smart—heck, you're the valedictorian. You have all your priorities in check...and you don't stand for bullshit either. That's attractive."

Mason felt her world shift around her. No one has ever told her that she was attractive—other than her girlfriend. Her perspective about herself was changing just as quickly. "Really?"

Nicole runs her fingers through her hair and crosses her legs. "Seriously, Mason. This must be pretty difficult to grasp." The latter nods. "But you should think more highly about yourself. You've got a ton of people that look up to you and adore you. You've got people who think you're this otherworldly being—simply because you're gorgeous and well...you're smart. It's hard to find someone that's beautiful inside and out. That's why you've got people lining up just for you. You've got a girl now though but heck if you didn't...it would look like the line for a Taylor Swift concert or something."

Mason hid her face behind her hands. "I never knew that so many people actually thought that way about me...this is all so new."

"When people found out you were dating Riley I found pics and vids of people crying. It was kinda funny...but truthfully, they all think Riley's seriously lucky. She has you."

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a/n:

hey everyone... i'm currently having a writer's block moment and so i'm having some trouble executing my vision in the way that i want. i did feel like i owe you all something so i wrote a chapter that i hope is somewhat decent while i try to perfect my work to be published within the next few days. i know it's not the best i've put out but it is still quite vital to the plot and what's to come!! i do hope everyone is enjoying thus far and thank you again for being there for riley and mason <3