Yuna rests her head on her crossed arms facing the direction where Elise sits. A smile forms when she sees Elise feel around her lips when she looks at herself through her phone’s front camera. Nat sits next to her and glances over to Yuna before she begins to talk to Elise. It’s too quiet to hear anything as the voices of all of her classmates drown it out. The bell rings and everyone shuts up.

The teacher’s words fly over her head as she’s too sleep deprived to pay attention. Ever since the date ended, she’s been texting Elise nonstop. It’s all she could focus on on the weekend. Sunday night they ended up talking to each other until 4 AM knowing they both had school at 7.

In their many conversations, she found out exactly the time of music Elise listens to. Yuna was wrong again. Elise mainly listens to indie and bedroom pop. She even gave her a playlist so Yuna could listen. There are only a few songs and artists that she recognizes. It’s dreamy. But what surprises Yuna the most is the odd inclusion of emo/sadboy rap. Elise is the last person who would listen to the likes of Lil Peep and XXXtentaction. Yuna finds it charming. Elise is far more interesting than she ever imagined.

In return, Yuna sent Elise a playlist of her own. There isn’t a particular genre she listens to, it’s all over the place so she collected her favorite songs and sent them away. She still hasn’t received feedback on it. It makes her a bit self-conscious that Elise doesn’t like it.

Class ends but Yuna doesn’t notice. She has fallen asleep while she was listening to the playlist using her hair to cover the earbud. She’s awoken by Nat’s nudge.

“I’m guessing the date went well,” Nat opens.

Yuna groans not yet processing it. “What date?”

“You and Elise.”

Shit. my cover is blown. How did she find out? “What are you talking about?”

Nat sits on the open desk next to her. “It’s okay, I won’t tell. You’re Yuele, right? I’m not as dumb as Elise.”

Yuna laughs. “Why not?”

“Mostly because I want to find out where this goes although I don’t know why you’re doing it. I thought you hated her. If you’re doing it just to fuck with her feelings I will tell her though.”

Yuna leans back in her chair. “Would you believe me if I told you that I was only mean to her because I liked her all this time?”

“No. What’s the real reason?’

“She isn’t who I thought she was. She’s actually really fun to be around.”

“So why a boy? Is it just for fun?”

“You wouldn’t get it,” Yuna looks down. “No one does.”

“You know it won’t end well when Elise finds out right?”

“So why not just tell her?”

Nat smiles and pokes Yuna’s cheek. “What if she’s okay with it?”

No one ever is. She’s tried. All the girls freak out and then ghost her. It never ends well. The only people that accept her are the guys and that’s only because she presents herself with her biological gender. What she wouldn’t give just to be born a boy.

“She won’t shut up about you, by the way. Keep it up but don’t hurt her, okay? She’s already been through a lot.” Nat stands up and then leaves.

Like what?

Yuna falls asleep in the second class she shares with Elise. This is the only class Elise doesn’t have any friends in. When the bell rings and everyone leaves the classroom, it’s Elise who wakes her up. “Long night? That’s twice now.”

The girl stuck between the two genders explodes her head out of her arms to wake up. “I was kept up.”

Elise yawns because she didn’t get any sleep either and it’s now catching up to her. “Same here.”

“Why’d you wake me up?”

“We’re playing nice, no? And isn’t your next class with Videtto? Doesn’t she lock you out if you’re late?”

Why does she know what class I have next? “Hmm. thanks,” She yawns getting out of her seat and packing all of her stuff.

Elise moves in front of her ready to leave but stops to put her earbuds in. Yuna can see her pulling up the Spotify playlist and clicking play on her all-time favorite song. Elise’s shoulder is nearly ripped off when Yuna pulls on it to grab her attention.

“You listen to Lane 8!?”

Elise catches herself from falling by grabbing onto one of the desks. She drops her phone and lands with the playlist facing both of them. “I just started. My friend sent me this playlist.”

“I never met another person who listens to him. Do you like him?”

Elise nods grabbing her phone and handing it over to Yuna. “He’s my favorite so far, but man this playlist is all over the place. It’s pretty cool though,” Elise laughs.

Yuna scrolls through the playlist pretending to be amazed and shocked as if she wasn’t the one who made it. “Synthwave, Cyberpop, Dubstep, Trance, Hardstyle, Death Metal, Rap, and Screamo,” she mutters to herself. “You’re right, it is all over the place.”

“I don’t know what any of it is called,” Elise nervously laughs. “Do you listen to all of this, you seem to recognize it all.”

Yuna nods with a smile and hands the phone back. “It’s hard to stick with one style so I listen to a lot. What about you, what do you like?”

Elise is shocked that Yuna is this interested but welcomes this new side she’s seeing. “Slow jams and such. I don’t know. Songs that sound like they were made in a room with little equipment. It’s one of my guilty pleasures.”

“No Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Ariana Grande?”

Elise shakes her head, “Some sure but it’s not like I put them on when I’m alone.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“I had you all wrong, Elise.”

“Meaning?”

“You’re not just another plastic doll like everyone else.”

Hearing that reminds Elise that Yuna bullies anyone who looks white and popular. “I always wanted to ask, what’s your problem with that?”

Yuna shrugs. “It’s boring. Everyone is just a copy of each other and jerks each other off validating themselves. It’s boring, basic, and bland. At least the weird kids I talk to have interesting hobbies that aren’t shopping, drinking, drama, and popularity contests.”

Elise hears her and understands expreciselyhat she means. She hasn’t had fun with her friends for a while now. They all do the same things, talk about the same things, and never switch it up. Elise once thought that being well-known and liked mattered, like it would increase the amount of fun she could have. All this time, Yuna has been doing her own thing. She’s well-liked even though she’s mean because can get along with literally anyone. Elise, get’s a bit jealous knowing Yuna isn’t bound by a mask she has to wear to keep up appearances.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Happy?” Yuna rolls her eyes.

“Then how come you’re nice to Nat? She’s the same as us.”

Because she was the only one who treated me like a person back then. She was the only nice one, unlike what you did. "Why don't you ask her?"

Elise bites her lips. It reminds her of the boy she kissed who makes her feel like she can be her true self. Yuna is already that person. “I want to be friends.”

“Huh!?”

“You heard me. I want to get to know you better. I feel like I’ve been hating you because you’ve been doing the things I always wanted to do. What’s your Instagram?

“It’s-,” Yuna stops herself, forgetting. “I don’t have one.”

“Twitter, Snap?”

Yuna shakes her head. She does have Twitter, as Yuna no less but it isn’t an account she wants to share. All she does is repost gay and lesbian smut. “I don’t have any socials.”

“Why?”

“I’m just that cool,” Yuna giggles.

“Then your phone number. I do want to be friends.”

Yuna smirks at Elise. For a moment, the cheeky smile reminds Elise of the ones Yuele always gives her. “Fine, it’s 206-”

Elise types down the number and calls it. Yuna pulls out her phone to decline the call. Not wanting to make Elise feel bad, she saves the number as ‘Elise’s Dumbass’ and makes sure she sees it.

On the other end, Yuna reads what her name is written down as. ‘Yunnie’. It makes her laugh exactly how she laughed on Friday afternoon. Elise hears it and notes it’s exactly how Yuele laughs only in a much higher pitch.

“Okay, here’s yours then,” Yuna grins when she changes the name. ‘Elise lies a lot.’

“What does that suppose to mean?”

“You don’t show this side to your friends. You’re a liar and a dork.”

Elise clutches her phone to her chest and looks away a bit embarrassed. “What do you know about it?”

“I don’t know. I just have a feeling. And you? What screams to you about me that makes you want to be my friend?”

“You do what you want and don’t care what others think.”

The bell rings, reminding the two that they have a class to get to. Yuna can’t even get in anymore even if she wanted to. Elise had completely forgotten that she was leaving before Yuna stopped her. “Shit. Let’s ditch class together?”

“I don’t have a choice.”

When they leave the classroom, Yuna takes a look back. This entire time their teacher has been listening to them and never said a word. Her teacher just waves her goodbye.

“You ever ditched before?” Yuna asks.

“Of course.”

“Where do you go to hide?”

“Oh, I just leave school so I don’t have to deal with the stress of getting caught. You?”

“Library.”

“Don’t they check?”

“Not if you scan your badge.”

“Let's go then, I have a few books to return anyways.”

Elise tries her hardest to hide the manga books shes’ returning to the drop box. The act of her trying to hide it clues to Yuna that its manga.

“You read?” Yuna asks when Elise joins her inside.

“A little. It helps me fall asleep. You look like the type of person who spends all their free time reading huge novels, though.”

“Not all of it,” Yuna thinks this is a good time to reveal she also reads Japanese picture books. “Y’know I’m half Japanese, right? All I really read is manga.”

“What’s that?” Elise asks as cluelessly the best she can.”

“Japanese comics.”

They take a seat around a round table in the very back of the library. “So like superheroes and such?”

The fake obliviousness annoys Yuna. Of course, Elise would never admit it to her. They just started to get along. “It’s better if I just show you,” Elise leaves and comes back with the first volume of One Piece. “This one’s my favorite. It’s about this guy who wants to be the King of the Pirates in a whole dominated by pirates.”

Elise stares at Yule’s fingers as she turns the pages as explains the beginning of the story. It’s crazy just how much they have in common. Not only does Yuna read manga; but her favorite is also the same as hers.

Yuna’s nails are painted black but only on her left hand.

“Sorry,” Elise sighs.

“Hmm?”

She shakes her head. “I’m now lying to you. I know what manga is. It’s all I read too. One Piece is also my favorite series.”

Yuna thought it would be a lot harder to get her target to admit it. “No shit?” she acts surprised. “Where have you been my entire life? The only people I get to talk to about it are the nerds in the anime club.”

“We’ve been at each other's throats since we met.”

Yuna laughs, “Yeah. Whoops.”

“Can I ask why you hate me or hated me? You treat me the worst out of everyone. Was it something I said or did?” it’s a question that has been on her mind for a while because Elise can’t think of anything she’s done to Yuna. She always left her alone until Yuna started picking at her.

“You don’t remember?” Yuna’s tone changes and her pitch. It’s lower. It happens unintentionally and when there’s something that Yuna can’t face, but Yuele can.

“No.”

“It was sixth grade and the very first class where we met. Everyone was picking on me because I was bald. There were like five kids who never said anything about it and left me alone, you were one of them.”

“So then-”

“Until I forgot my math book and I asked you if we could share. You told me no and to go away. You called me an ugly wannabe boy.”

Elise doesn’t remember any of it. “Did I really?”

“Yeah,” Yuna’s pitch lowers further. “That’s the whole reason. After that, you left me alone for the next three years. It’s stupid, but it stuck with me.”

Everyone else was just teasing me, but you said the only thing that has ever hurt me from it.

“I don’t remember, but I’m sorry that I did that. I really am.”

Yuna gets her voice back, “I know, she says with a smile. “We’re all good now, right? Friends, like you want?”

“Yes!”

They switch subjects and talk about One Piece and other manga series for the rest of the period.

-

Yuna sits in between Nat and Elise in P.E.

“Not feeling it today?” Nat asks.

“I’m trying something new.”

Yuna doesn’t say anything else and spends it listening to the conversation Nat and Elise have. They don’t talk about Yuele like she hoped.

-

Yuna leaps onto her bed and finally replies to Elise’s text from this morning. She sent a selfie of what she was wearing today. A pink shirt with a flower running across it and ripped-up shorts. “You’re cute. Hot even.”

She leaps out of her bed and grabs new clothes to change. Today, Yuele wears some tech pants with fancy zippers and pockets all over the place. He doesn’t bother changing the shirt he was wearing but covers it up with a heavy black hoodie. Once his hair is tied up he puts on a random beanie on the floor and takes a picture and sends it to Elise.

“Dreamboat,” Elise replies with multiple emojis with hearty eyes.

Yuele lays back on her bed and holds his phone towards the ceiling, wondering why he even did that. He takes all of his clothes off and tosses them towards the closet.

Yuna grabs one of her pillows and hugs it tight because her heart starts to ache. Her eyes widen and takes a second to feel it. She doesn’t like it.

“Guess what happened today,” Elise sends over a message. At the same time, she gets one sent to her phone number. “Come sit next to us tomorrow.”

Yuna replies to her Yuele account. “Not even if you forced me.” She then replies to Elise as Yuna, “Ok.”

“I became friends with my mortal enemy lol”

“Lol, how so?”

“I don’t why but she said she was gonna play nice from now on and I was just testing if she meant it. Turns out we have a lot in common.”

“Why were you enemies?”

“Turns out it was because of something I said when we were kids that I don’t even remember. I feel bad, but it was literally a dumb joke.”

Yuna bites her lips and shoves her face into her pillow. Maybe to you, it was. I can’t be myself at school because of you. You were the only one who saw I was trying to be a boy.

Elise sends another text. “I asked her to be my friend but Idk. She pulls a lot of pranks on people and I’m scared she just accepted to do something to me.”

I’m going to fucking destroy you.

“Did you ask why what you said to her that hurt her so much?”

“No. Should I have?

“Yes.”

Yuna starts to suffocate the pillow by squeezing it as hard as she can. Her heart begins to beat too fast for her liking. It’s making it hard to breathe.

Her mother hears a faint scream coming from the bedroom and ignores it.

“I’ll do it tomorrow then!”

Yuna rolls over and spreads her limbs across her entire bed. There’s only one way she can describe what she’s feeling and hates it. It wasn’t supposed to happen.