The next day, Fenella Fall stood at the front of the class dressed in her best red, brown, and yellow clothes. Nervous, she kept her head down while the teacher introduced her, but stole a glance at the students when her curiosity got the best of her. Everyone was in blue and white. The classroom was decorated in blue and white. Nitro was in the back row giving her two thumbs up. Fenella took a deep breath.

“Fenella,” the teacher turned to her. “Why don’t you tell the class a little bit about yourself?”

“I’m from the autumn territory,” Fenella said. “That’s pretty much the entire basis of my character.”

“Fascinating. Why don’t you have a seat in the back row between the girl who looks like she knows you and the popular boy you’ll probably develop feelings for later?”

Fenella walked forward and all the eyes in the room tracked her as she did. Most of the students looked like normal teenagers, but a group of three girls in the middle row caught her attention. They were wearing clothes that had no business being anywhere near cold weather and their make-up was thick, obvious, and overdone. They were whispering to each other and giggling menacingly while pointing at random students. They stopped giggling when Fenella passed them and instead, they watched her with hostile expressions.

The teacher, being an adult in a story revolving around teenagers, was oblivious to the girls’ attitudes. She turned to the board. “Alright, let’s start the lesson. Everyone turn to a random page in the middle of your textbooks and I’ll write things down on the board.”

Fenella did not have any school supplies or books. She twiddled her thumbs awkwardly before noticing the three girls glaring at her. She leaned over towards Nitro and whispered, “hey, who are they?”

“Those are the meanest girls in school,” Nitro said. “They’re bullies, but also somehow super popular at the same time. We call them Other Girls.”

“Why Other Girls?”

“You know the whole ‘Me vs. Other Girls’ thing? They’re the Other Girls. We’re not like the Other Girls because we’re good and smart."

“Why are they looking at me like that?”

Nitro shrugged. “Because you look different and are new. They hate new things that look different. That’s how you know they’re bullies. Anyway, shh now. School!” Nitro started scribbling in her notebook.

“Class,” the teacher said, “make sure to write down everything on the board. It will be on the test I’m going to give you eventually.”

Fenella looked over to Nitro, hoping she could borrow a sheet of paper and a pencil from her friend, but Nitro was busy writing. Fenella hesitated, then turned to the boy on the other side of her.

“Hey, can I borrow a pencil and a sheet of paper?” Fenella whispered.

The boy looked up at the sound of her voice and smiled. Four nearby girls saw it out of the corner of their eyes and swooned in their seats. The teacher called the nurse’s office to send someone over to help revive them.

“Sure,” he said. “Here you go.”

“Thanks!” Fenella took the items and turned back towards the board. Nitro gaped silently at her. “What?”

“Dude, that was Winston Winter!” she breathed. “He’s the cutest, most popular boy in school! His family is the richest family in the entire winter territory! That’s like being royalty without the responsibility! Everyone loves him and you just talked to him!”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Fenella huffed. “I don’t see what the big deal is. It was nice of him to let me borrow a pencil and paper, but that doesn’t make him a saint. He’s probably secretly spoiled or a jerk.”

Nitro squealed and covered her mouth. “You didn’t instantly fall in love with him like every other girl does? That probably means he’s going to fall for you! I can’t believe my best friend is going to end up with Winston Winter!”

“In his dreams!” Fenella hissed. She paused and looked to Winston. “Did you just hear any of that?”

“It’s illegal to hear other people’s asides,” he said.

“Okay, good.” She turned back to Nitro. “Never in a million years!”

“But Fenella!"

Fenella turned away and faced directly forward. For the rest of the class period, she did her best to ignore Nitro. Nitro poked her with her pencil, left multiple folded up notes on her desk, and constantly called her name. After what felt like an eternity, the bell rang and the students were dismissed. Unfortunately, Nitro was in her second period class as well.

“Fenellaaaaa,” Nitro whispered as the oblivious teacher was trying to provide a better future for the bored students. “Fenella, just promise me that I’ll be the maid of honor, okay? I’ve always wanted to be a maid of honor.”

Fenella wasn’t listening. She was busy trying to pretend that no one was staring at her. Just like in her previous class, she had been pulled to the front and introduced. Now she could feel everyone’s eyes stealing glances her way.

“Maid of honor for what?” Fenella heard someone whisper. She looked up and saw a boy with as much white on him as there was dark blue on Nitro.

“Winston Winter gave Fenella a pencil and a paper and she didn't fall instantly in love with him!” Nitro replied.

The boy whistled. “That’s a start to a romantic comedy if I’ve ever heard one.”

“That means we're the funny and loveable sidekicks!” Nitro squealed. “Oh, Fenella, this is my best friend since kindergarten Sastrugi. We call him Polar because it sounds better.”

“Nice to meet you,” Fenella said.

“One time me and Polar built an igloo, lured the Other Girls in it, then jumped on the top so it collapsed in on them. They haven’t smiled since.”

The teacher stopped what he was doing and turned to the class. “I really hope everyone is paying attention,” he said. “This will be on the test I’m going to give you eventually.”

“That’s the second time a teacher's mentioned a test,” Fenella whispered. “Do they give a lot?”

“It’s no big deal,” Nitro said. “It’s just First Round.”

“She’s from the autumn territory,” Polar said. “She might not know what that is.”

“You guys don’t do First Round?” Nitro asked and Fenella shook her head. “Oh boy. First Round is where the teachers spend the first two weeks of school shoving as much information as they possibly can into our heads. Some teachers go through an entire year’s worth of material in those two weeks. Afterwards, they give us a huge test on everything and since there’s no way any of us could retain all that information, our grades plummet. We spend the rest of the year building our grades back up. It’s supposed to teach us the importance of hard work. There's nothing to worry about. It happens to everyone.”

“It’s definitely something to worry about!” Fenella cried. “Principal Principal SnowHills said he’d throw me out if my grades go below a ‘C'!”

Nitro and Polar gasped. “No grade has ever survived First Round! Even Winston Winter got a D minus on his First Round last year, and he was the smartest kid in school!”

“This is terrible! What am I going to do?”

“I’ll tell you what you're going to do,” Polar said. “You’re going to get Winston Winter to fall in love with you.”

Nitro squealed. “That’s a great idea! Winston Winter is not only the richest, cutest, smartest, sweetest boy in school, but he’s got connections! His mother is the winter territory's royal family’s favorite maid! If you date him, he can ask his mom to ask the king to stop Principal Principal SnowHills from kicking you out! It would take an order from the Seasons Council to get that overturned and we all know that’s not going to happen!”

“What? No way! I’m not going to use someone like that!”

“It’s not using someone if you both fall in love with each other!” Nitro said. “This is romantic comedy logic, remember?”

“Maybe I can just bribe the principal,” Fenella sighed. “I’m rich enough.”

Polar shook his head. “He won’t take it. He hates the autumn territory with a burning passion.”

“Why?”

“Probably some past trauma we won’t find out about until the revelation of a giant plot twist.”

Nitro was so excited she was squirming in her seat. “This is going to be so much fun! It’s settled we have to get you and Winston Winter together! We're going to save your school year!”

“Why do you keep saying his first and last name like that?”

“Because it’s cool! What’s your last name, anyway? Does it start with an F like your first name? Do you like it? Is it-"

Polar gave Fenella an apologetic look while Nitro went off.