I’m Popular (or at least i used to be) Antes Story [GL]

https://youtu.be/TknX_JEtMas

[song is also in the soundtrack]

Chapter 25

A few minutes passed as I sat in the booth, lost in my own thoughts. The other girls talked but I couldn't hear what they were saying.

Enough sitting around. I just need to find her already.

I got up and started my search by the entrance since I could get a clear view of the diner from there.

"So, tired of longing for you. Tired of waiting. Saving my love for you." Sung a 40's singer I didn't know as I was by the jukebox. The audio was a bit crunchy.

Where can she be?

I scanned the diner and still didn't see Emma. I cursed and walked towards a section that I couldn't see because of the kitchen.

What should I even say? I don't think I did anything wrong. I was just messing around.

"Tell me that your thoughts are all of me...sweetheart." The singer sang from the jukebox behind me.

I noticed that there were a lot of couples in this section of mostly table seats. I felt embarrassed for some reason. On a table in the corner of the room, an old TV played a dog competition on mute. To the right of that was a door to the bathroom and an empty table.

I cursed. 

Not here either.

I walked back to the main section of the diner and asked one of the waitresses if she saw a short girl with green hair. She said she saw her go to the bathroom and I sighed in relief.

At least she didn't leave.

I sat at the bar since sitting in that table section in the seat right outside the bathroom would be kind of creepy.

I got up after about five minutes and made my way to the section with table seats. As soon as I entered I noticed Emma because of her hair. She was sitting at the table across from the TV. She watched it dejectedly.

"All day long, I wonder why we're far apart."

Ugh I hate this feeling. What am I even going to say?

I slowly walked towards her.

Things have been going so well between us too...

I stopped by her table.

She looked up at me. We stared at each other in silence.

"But though I'm tired...I'll wait forever, dear."

*

"Jocelyn, I'm watching the dog show." Emma said with no emotion.

I turned my head to look at the TV. A brown shaggy dog was hopping over small hurdles.

"Do you think that one's cute?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"..."

"..."

"Do you know what kind of dog it is?"

"I don't know. I'm a cat person."

"Oh. Do you have one?"

"No. I don't like animals."

"Why'd you say you're a cat person then?"

"Cats are less annoying than dogs. They just sit and eat."

"They do do that."

We got silent for a while and the chatter of the room seemed to drown out whatever I was trying to think of.

Emma turned and looked up at me.

She closed her eyes and sighed "I'm sorry for calling you a friend at best. You're a lot more than that."

I felt my mouth open in surprise.

"I was just in a bad mood." The bookish girl continued on.

"Was it because of the waitress?" I blurted.

"No!...Maybe? I don't know. Watching you two gave me this weird feeling I'm not used to."

"I think I get it." I said.

I looked at the TV again. A small white dog jumped through hoops.

I want to say sorry but, the words just dissipate from my lips.

"M-my bad for making that joke. It was uncalled for."

I looked at Emma and her eyes were wide.

Maybe she didn't expect me to mention it?

She looked down. "Thanks. I just hate getting teased especially when it revolves around a lie."

The short girl looked up at me with her stormy grey eyes. "And you should know that." She said with her eyes.

I laughed sardonically. "Yeah. I know.

"I can pay for your meal." I offered.

As an apology.

Emma gave me a small smile. "You don't need to. I've forgiven you."

"Thanks. Are you sure?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Alright." I said and put my hands in my back pockets.

She stood up and looked at her shoes "I know something you can do instead."

"What?" I asked.

The short girl took a deep breath and slowly put her arms out. She looked up at me and blushed.

Cute.

"H-hug me. And we'll have officially made up." She murmured.

"The terms are sketchy. I think I'll have to see the contract." I shook my head and put my hand out.

Emma giggled. "You're so stupid, Jocelyn."

Yeah I am.

I moved my hand to my side and the short girl closed the gap between us. She then wrapped her arms around me. I raised my head a little so my chin didn't hit her forehead and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. She pressed her body into mine. We both were cold people but, embracing like this I felt a warmth I had never felt before.

This is nice.

We stayed that way for probably a whole minute. After a while, my stomach made a noise, and it sort of ruined the mood.

Emma giggled. "Are you hungry?"

I itched my cheek with my right hand. "Yeah..." I murmured.

We moved our arms and took a small step back.

Emma smiled at me with her arms behind her back. "Let's go back. We don't want our food getting cold."

I sighed. "True. Let's go."

We walked over to our table and sure enough, our food was there and surprisingly not cold.

We ate a spirited meal and talked about class drama as we did.

We were all finishing up when I asked a question that had been in the back of my mind since yesterday. "So why me? Why pick some loner girl to be your fifth? There were probably so many other choices besides your friends."

A very attractive and charismatic loner girl but a loner girl all the same.

"Honestly, at first it was mainly because of the curse. We all...minus Emma were really curious about it. After a while you turned out to be cool so we didn't have a problem with you sticking around." Yuka explained.

I nodded "That makes sense."

It's nice to get a better explanation for why I'm here.

Aliya apologized. "Sorry for not mentioning it. It just felt embarrassing that we were interested in being friends for such a shallow reason."

Shanice nodded fast.

"It's alright. I'm just glad you all aren't scared of me like most of the school." I admitted.

"I do not know how you handle it. If I was in your position, I would've left town already..." Emma murmured.

"It would've been too much for me too. I wouldn't leave town but I would've at least switched schools." Shanice said. 

I shrugged. "I guess I just got used to it after a while."

"Speaking of school...Do you guys want to hear the upcoming rule my aunt told me about yesterday?" Yuka asked in a whispery tone as if she had government secrets.

"Yeah!" Shanice exclaimed.

Aliya rolled her eyes. "Hopefully, it's a small one."

"Apparently, we're going to go back to school uniforms sometime in October." Yuka whispered.

"What!?!" I exclaimed as I stood up.

No way!?! School uniforms. American School Uniforms. Polo and khakis...I'm going to be sick.

I noticed two other tables were staring at me thanks to my outburst. "Uh...Please go back to your meals." I said with my hands raised.

They slowly went back to their own conversations as I sat back down.

"You don't like uniforms?" Emma asked.

If it wasn't obvious.

"I don't. I like picking out my outfits."

One of the only joys in life...

"School uniforms are always really ugly too." Aliya added.

Someone gets it!

"Well get this, the designer of the new uniforms is an upcoming fashion designer who goes to our school. And my aunt said their world traveled so we don't have to worry about the uniforms being too American." The sporty girl explained.

Shanice grinned. "Sounds exciting."

"I have faith in these uniforms. I like it conceptually as well. Uniforms are very unifying." Emma gave her opinion.

I tilted my head back and shut my eyes. "Maybe it won't be so bad." I conceded.

"She's coming around!" Yuka exclaimed.

"Do you all think we should pay? We've been here for a while." Aliya noticed.

I sat back up.

"Yeah. I'm about ready to go." I said.

We (Emma) calculated the tip, left the appropriate amount, paid at the cash register, and left for the bus stop.

We talked about our meal as we waited for the bus. It wasn't a long wait. We got on the bus and were on our way back home.

Emma sat beside me in the middle of the bus while Aliya, Shanice, and Yuka sat near the front of the bus. I took out my phone and my Ultimate IEMs earbuds.

"Do you want to watch something?" I asked.

"Sure. I'll let you pick the video." Emma said.

I picked a JennaMarbles video and gave her the left earbud. She took it, schooched a little closer and put it in her ear.

We ended up watching a few videos since I just let autoplay do its thing.

This is cute! I've never done this before. I've only seen it on shows.

The good mood I was in was ruined by a text message from Marriane.

M: She deleted it!

"Deleted what?" Emma asked.

"Oh, just a Youtube video that my friend and I liked." I lied.

"Hm." Emma nodded and went back to the video.

What the hell is going on? Hayley really deleted her page. 600 thousand followers down the drain. Just give the page to someone else...Such a waste.

That's what I was forcing myself to think but honestly, I was worried about her. Her personal brand was the thing she cared about most. That's why her deleting the page where she did literally everything to further her brand meant something was wrong.

I looked out the window. The trees we passed by had orange and yellow leaves that were already beginning to fall.

This is going to be a long autumn.

 

To be continued in "I'm Popular (or at least i used to be)" !

 

thank u sm for reading °˖♡◝( ｡• ‿ •｡ )◜♡˖°