"You've gotta be kidding me, you have GOT to be kidding me."

"C-Cherri, it's not that bad, we're-"

"It's so over, we're screwed, Gumi..."

Hello. Cherri here, on the bus, still headed to my new high school. At the time I'm deciding to give you an update, you're catching me at a very, very bad time. You might be wondering why I'm telling Gumi - my sister, Gumi Kusuri, by the way, keep up - "oh no it's so over we messed up blah blah blah".

See, I'm just going to preface this by saying: we (or I) totally freaking screwed up.

So you know how I mentioned we decided to wear school uniforms that stood out? Like, tried to be all unique from all the classmates wearing their uniforms? Our cool red and pink styled skirts and ties, stretching the limits of what passes as an acceptable school uniform?

Yeah, so after we got on the bus, our biggest primary issue has come up. One small, teensy, tiny, lil' issue that throws a huge wrench in our plan to be popular:

Nobody else is wearing their uniforms.

Not a soul on board wore something like the school uniform. Sure, some people had their button shirts, and some people had the same brand of pants and/or skirts... but- no one of importance wore the whole thing. Gumi and I stepped onto the bus and see a wild explosion of fashion, a bus brimming with teenage creatures wearing the most unique, the most spectacular of outfits- some even bizarre and unusual, far more eye catching than what we scavenged together.

I was confused for a while, but then it hit me.

Turns out, there IS no uniform for this high school.

See, I thought- Gumi thought, and Hippo Dad thought... all three of us thought that there was some formal uniform because of some pictures taken maybe like- one week, two weeks ago. The school emailed out pictures taken to commemorate our school's entry orientation, some casual event where students and their parents show up, the parents chat and talk privately in the bleachers as their kids go through an entire ceremony to welcome everybody to the school. That whole thing. We looked at the pictures and deduced a uniform from that before clothes shopping.

It's fair to assume there's a uniform, right? Every student in the pictures wore mostly the same outfit, albeit with some leniency. The same leniency Gumi and I are taking. In those photos, everyone just dressed in white button shirts and wore some color of tie or pants. With what I discovered, I was correct to assume it was for unity and togetherness and stuff, stuff that the middle school told us uniforms would do.

But they're only dressed like that just for the orientation. Just a one-time event. Single, one, solo event.

For some reason, that event told everyone to wear a button shirt, and whatever color jeans or skirts they wanted. Some weird symbolism I can't be bothered to remember right now, how the school embraces diversity and freedom of expression. "Show off your Chameleon Colors, everyone!"

Other than this one single, "creative" event, the school has no strict dress code. No uniform we're required to wear. It's completely, COMPLETELY optional. As long as we don't promote illegal things, it's completely free game what we can wear, and- and that fact was made clear as Gumi and I walk to find a seat on the bus. As we passed by all these eccentric new classmates that only gave us a few passing glances.

Let's perform a little roll call, shall we?

Right in the front, a wolf boy wearing a cool blue hoodie, greasy white t-shirt, and black jeans. Dude has black biker sunglasses in his thick, long fur, resting atop his... his pompadour. He styled his fur into a pompadour. He screams "biker dude".

Next to him, some turtle guy dressed in just a black t-shirt and plaid red sweatpants. However, he has bandages all over his arms, some on his neck, and a sticky bandage over his nose. Dude looks like he got into a really rough fight...!

You see how much personality these two have? There's more.

A cool seagull boy with wavy feathers, wearing some vibrant turquoise green and sky blue Hawaiian floral print shirt. Surfer boy.

Two pig girls in cute designer autumn-themed fur coats. Trendy fashionistas.

A blonde furred gorilla about six feet tall, dressed in a varsity football jersey. In his arm, a timid and gentle deer girl a foot and a half shorter than him, dressed in a bright green tank-top and blue booty shorts. The jock and his girlfriend.

Some crow girl and bat guy with skull t-shirts, the former having arm warmers over her wings and the latter having one of his massive bat ears covering the right side of his face. I think these are the "goth and the emo" kids.

A literal mass of butterflies, like a huge swarm of colorful butterflies grouped up into one body shape... huge red scarf. Massive red scarf, with a sweater vest, a cute sparkly skirt, really long striped thigh socks. There's- I don't even know what to describe this person as, but...

A floating, large blue eye the size of a beach ball, wearing just... a white t-shirt and khakis. The closest person to a school uniform we've seen so far. Nothing important about him, sure, but like... he is someone with a giant eyeball for a head. That, in and of itself, is a good hook that gets people talking to him.

A fox with like, nine tails, just sitting contently with his suave trench coat.

A walking human-sized wooden puppet with strings dangling in the air, wearing some rugged brown leather bomber jacket with blue jeans.

A grotesque, large ogre (she's just about 8-9 feet tall or so) dressed kind of, like... overalls, with some box-pattern shirt and rugged leather boots.

Finally, listing this last creature student as the last one I noticed before Gumi and I found our seats... there was a squirrel. A squirrel girl, wearing a gray knit hat, wearing a gray hoodie... and then, a red scottish kilt.

I remember fondly my thoughts in that moment when I saw her: she's WEARING A SCOTTISH KILT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! IT LOOKS AMAZING ON HER AND I LOVE IT. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING FOR BUT HOLY CRAP.

Gumi and I sat down after this gallery of people who chose to sit in the front half of the bus, and I couldn't even- bring myself to pay attention to anyone else in the back. For my own sake. Other students get on the bus as it stops and goes, more and more people dressed uniquely...

... and, haha, okay, this uniquely dressed guy deserves a mention. Right across the bus aisle, there was this one anthropomorphic horse guy sitting by himself, taking up the entire seat with his body and his massive freaking backpack. He had a nice coat of brown horse fur, his mane styled and twisted into cool ropes. He looked pretty cool. I liked his hair.

Then I looked down and saw his shirt. His t-shirt that boldly, boldly says: "I LOVE MAKING OUT WITH BRAZILLIAN WOMEN".

Yes, you heard me correctly. He has a. Custom. Made. T-shirt. Specifically to tell the world, "I LOVE MAKING OUT WITH BRAZILLIAN WOMEN" in all caps, green text, bright impact font. Wildly eye catching, gives a looooot of clues into his deep personality.

Mad respect, to be honest. You go, Horseman, you go make out with those Brazilian women!

...

Anyway, we're screwed.

Yeah, Gumi and I, our clothes, we are screwed.

I know what you're thinking. After the extensive lengths I went through, to complain about school uniforms a while ago, this should be a good thing... right? The fact that we're able to have any clothes we want, and go to a high school that... apparently has very interesting expressions of fashion on display. That should be a fun thing, given we're two girls coming out of a middle school of boring and bland uniforms, right?

Well, before you think that more, keep in mind that our social life plan stems on first impressions.

From what I've seen, every creature we've seen so far... they have some semblance of cool outfit, something that makes them interesting. Something that makes them stand out on first glance. Everyone I mentioned so far are just- ALL the people in the front, the ones bold enough to specifically sit up there. The very first people anyone getting on the bus just sees, having a good enough impression to have me talking about their clothes.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

They made such good first impressions just from me looking at them. I see these people and I think, "oh, man, this would have been such a cool first year of school! It would be so awesome to show them our fashion sense, too!" I can describe their tropes and styles and can get a hang on their various personalities, enough to shine spotlights on them to complete and total strangers.

And yet, here Gumi and I are. Button shirts. Skirts. Ties.

AUGH.

By school uniform standards, we look super cute and unique. By the standards presented to me and Gumi in this bus alone? We are basic and broke. The most default people possible.

Rather than seeing these people as friends, I have thought of nothing other than the fact we passed by a lot of fellow bus people that we'll probably never have to talk to. People that have no reasons to talk to us whatsoever, people who won't even bother to care that we wore these bland outfits. We wore the most basic and generic girl outfit ever, compared to what these people are capable of.

In fact, I just now realized while thinking of all this! We're dressed the same way as everyone was during the high school's orientation! We're coming to school dressed as if we came EXACTLY out of that event, even though it's long since ended!

We didn't even show up, and this could totally come off as "oh, we don't have other clothes" or "we have no discernable personalities apart from looking unimportant!" If anyone had some semblance of care or focus towards us, they'll just see two girls that don't have any other clothes on first glance! We'll be the freshmen laughing stocks of the school.

Our good, popular first impressions have gone down the drain in this very moment... and we are left to suffer because of it.

Gumi has been trying to reassure me, to comfort me in this most dire and drastic of situations. I enlightened her to what I noticed and she was trying to calm me down. "I... It really isn't that bad, Cherri," for example.

"We're abysmally out of place, Gumi," I whispered quietly to her, enlightening her on our situation. "With these clothes on, we'll be unable to talk to anyone."

And in the time that I've been thinking about our situation to you, Mr. California, Gumi got up to try and prove me wrong. Her words were: "That... sounds like an exaggeration. We still look pretty good, we just- need to put our foot out there... I- I'll try."

So I just watched Gumi look around the bus for some interesting person, and she approached some girl close nearby. Starting to strike up a chat, speaking to someone randomly, taking her first ever steps to actually approach someone and speak to her without me to support. I could only watch from afar as Gumi speaks to...

... oh. Oh no. Gumi's speaking to a girl with a sewing machine for a head.

I'm not joking, it's- it's- it's literally a sewing machine head girl. A creature that looks very passionate about clothes. The worst possible conversation partner to have when you're wearing the most basic clothes, like- like Gumi is. I scoot to the outside seat, watching Gumi in the corner of my eye, tensely watching closely and- waiting for the absolute worst to happen.

... so while she's talking with that girl, I might as well address the elephant in the room.

I know what you're probably thinking. Cherri, why are you making such a big deal about this? Why not just get new clothes and call it a day?

And I agree with you! We could just get new clothes. I'd be happy to! Just feel free to help me out and point me to the clothes store on this bus that Gumi and I can take our bountiful bags of money into.

Firstly, we are already on the bus, on the way to school at this very moment. There's no window of time for us to sneak away and look for a nearby clothes store that we can quickly supply ourselves with. Once we're off the bus, it's likely we'll have a small window of time to do this, which- we don't have time to look for the closest clothes store to the school, we don't have time to browse for good clothes and wait in line to buy them, and we don't have time to get back to school in time. We have no time to do any of that.

Secondly, we don't have the money to. Hippo Dad took us clothes shopping already and got us our attire for the week. There's no way he would sign onto the idea of buying us even more clothes just because of an "innocent little mistake, but one that still allows you girls to have clothes" or something like that! We already bought the clothes, he's not going to understand our little fashion crisis right now. He'll just be like, "you girls still have clothes, no one is going to care about what you girls wear"...

And finally, even if we did all of this successfully... the damage has been done. Our first impressions are down the drain already. All these bus people, seeing us in our basic outfits. We stay in these outfits, we're still boring. We change, and now the school will probably realize we changed and- say some really, really mean things or whatever. Our first impression is over, now it's just downhill from here.

On this bus alone, I have come to terms with the fact that-

Oh, hold that thought, actually. Gumi's coming back, she finished her conversation with the sewing machine girl.

I scoot back closer to the window seat, and watch as Gumi sits back down next to me. Her hopeful face gone and replaced with the same look of dread I had. It looks like Gumi understands the situation fully now, the full gravity of our little dilemma.

We exchange looks to each other as I give Gumi the "I told you so" eyes. Sharing each other's panic, whispering quietly to avoid catching the ears of the people around us.

"... oh my god, we're so screwed," says Gumi.

"That's what I've been telling you-" I tell her in response.

"Cherri, what are we going to do...? W-We can't talk to people in this outfit-"

"I know, and our options are thin, we desperately need to come up with some-"

"I just kept going on and on about her fabric, she told me she sews things as a hobby and and-"

"Did you tell her anything about us? Anything that makes us stand out?"

"I- I tried my best, but couldn't come up with anything and-"

"Yeah, holy crap, that's going to be every single conversation at this rate-"

"Oh my god, I don't know if I annoyed her or possibly dug our grave speaking about the fabric or-"

"It's okay, Gumi, it's over, it's finally over..."

Sheer utter grief shared between us as we mumble at each other.

On this bus, Gumi and I are... slowly... coming to terms with what high school has been so far. Social landmines and pitfalls. We came to the truth before anyone else can shove it in our faces and spit on everything we stood for.

For now, we're throwing the hopes of a good first impression out the window. No way will we be able to cover our appearances just like that. No, we need to come up with some approach, some plan to get friends. Maybe something that utilizes our exceptional personalities enough to distract everyone from our boring outfits.

But what could we possibly do...? Ugh... so many problems, either so many or so little possibilities...

...

Approaching footsteps. Someone's coming up to us from the back seat.

Oh man, oh man we're getting approached. I nudge Gumi's shoulder lightly, getting her attention and looking over my shoulder, just-

Oh, nevermind.

Right in front of us in the aisle, I look to see the disappointing, disappointing sight of a green scaled lizard boy with large circle glasses. On first glance, a huge nerd in an outfit like ours. Button shirt, blue tie and blue jeans. Dressed... almost like us.

...

Wait a minute. Even he experimented with his look...! H- He has a blue coat! A- A vibrant blue raspberry colored coat draped over his shoulder!

OH GOD HE LOOKS SO COOL. And- oh no, we're being OVERSHADOWED by the lizard nerd! A-And he's going to make us look so uncool by comparison!

Nononononononono-

"H-Hi, I noticed that you were talking about having new friends," the lizard nerd speaks in a sort of nasally voice. I swear I can hear his freaking sniffling as he continues. "And I was hoping if you'd like to-"

I need to nip this in the bud. As much as having any friends would be better than none, this... this guy can't be our first one. I won't let this guy be the first friend we ever make in this entire school.

Therefore, I must decline his offer in the most polite of ways, a way that puts it as lightly as I possibly can.

"Beat it, nerd," I bluntly tell the lizard nerd in a low whisper, shooing him away and pointing my thumb to gesture him back where he came from.

"O-Oh. Okay..." he answers, with a defeated tone in his voice as he walks back to where he sat.

"... C-Cherri-" Gumi speaks up, very disapproving of my methods. "He wanted to be our friend, why-"

"We can't have a guy be our first friend at this school, let alone this bus..." I whisper quietly to Gumi. "For popularity's sake, it has to be a girl, Gumi. Otherwise, we'll just be branded as the... the, uhm..."

... how do I put this gently? I need to figure out a gentle, graceful way to describe the idea in my head. Girls that hang out with any guy that shows an interest in them, believed to be easily tricked into their ulterior motives...

"... the kissygirls," I tell Gumi, finding the perfect word to describe our situation.

"Wha-? Wait, really? I-Is that something that people will actually think-"

"Yes, Gumi. We run the risk of being the kissygirls."

Kissygirl. Kissygirl is just my way of saying a girl that kisses a lot, like... mwah, a ton of smooches and such. Extensive care in her lips with balm and lipstick, to the point where her express purpose is only to leave red lipstick marks on someone's face.

We were a little too young to understand it, but there was a kissygirl at our middle school. Brown hair, fluffy and wavy, looked pretty cute with her sparkly eyes and her freckles. Became the most popular girl in school... at least, in the boys' eyes, as rumors spread that she will make out with any one of them. Even had a school kissing booth where she charged five dollars to kiss them.

I remember fondly the crazy sight of watching as she left that room with half a thousand dollars (she apparently kissed one hundred guys) and spent all of that money on more lipstick and lip gloss to kiss more.

And by no means do I want that for me and Gumi.

Gumi and I need to be extra careful. Feel free to connect the dots if you want a different word for it, Mr. California. The most family friendly word I could think of for your sake, Mr. California.

The middle school kissygirl was cute, but- but Gumi and I are hot. We're attractive hotties in boring clothes. People may approach us and try to coerce us into kissing them. Either against our will, or promising to buy us whatever we want. Given that we're now in high school at an age where boys can work to earn money to buy things, and a very knowledgeable Mr. California can connect the dots better as to what I'm totally secretly alluding to... the priority to not be branded our high school's very own kissygirls is very high.

Gumi looks at me in temporary disbelief, before I see her face shift to an understanding look. Her nice nature is conflicting with us chasing a potential friend away, but... it needed to be done. For the sake of our lips.

"S... So what actually is our plan, now...?" Gumi asks.

"... hmm. Given our clothes, and the difficulties we will have with actually speaking to people..." I mumble to Gumi, leaning back into my bus seat. "... there's- only one thing I can think of."

"W... What's that?"

"... t... the proximity strategy," I tell Gumi, snapping my fingers and looking to her with glee.

"W... Wait, the proximity strategy...?"

"Yes!"

Oh man oh man, okay, okay, I need to go plan this up. I need to cut off this diary entry/telepathic message now, the proximity strategy needs a ton of planning and thought to go into it!

I'll explain to you later what the proximity strategy is, Mr. California, I gotta go!

See ya, buhbye, until next time, have a good day or whatever, ciao!