I was grinning like an idiot as I did my homework. I couldn't stop daydreaming about the day Alicia and I had yesterday. I rubbed the heart pendant on the necklace as I thought about how soft her lips are.

"NIC!" KJ made me jump. He laughed as the librarian told us to keep it down. "I've been asking you about this problem for the last minute, but you were spaced out. What's up?"

"N-nothing." I stuttered out. "Sorry. Just spacey today I guess. Now, to solve-"

"Woah. Where did you get this?" He grabbed my hand and pointed at the bracelet Alicia gave me. I placed that bracelet on the same hand where I also wore my grandmother's bracelet.

"A friend gave it to me." I quickly answered.

"Rosé?" I just nodded to avoid him asking anymore questions. "I mean I know she loves you, but didn't realize she loved you that much." He laughed. I gave him an inquisitive look. "This is a David Yurman piece. I recognize it because my sister had been begging my dad for years to get her one. The one you're wearing has a base price of 50K. And then the necklace you're wearing... I'm assuming that Rosé got that for you as well... def around 70K. I feel like she saw the bracelet I gave you and had to one up me." He laughed while I was stunned that Alicia spent over a 100K on me.

"Ya. Must be." I fake laughed. Did Alicia witness KJ gifting me the bracelet and got jealous?

X

I got to math class and placed my books on the desk. Because Alicia had the professor force us to get a new partner, the seating chart had changed. Instead of KJ sitting in front of me, Alicia had taken his place. Currently, she was on the other side of the room chatting with her friends. Yes, the same friends she worked with before ditching them to work with me. KJ entered and waved at me before heading to his new seat. I waved back as I sat down. I began to touch the necklace very very carefully now that I knew what it was actually worth.

"Hey, cutie." Alicia addressed me as she sat down. Since the classroom was so loud, no one heard her. We still had a couple of minutes before the lecture began. I forced a smile at her that she could clearly see through. "Considering that my family and I have to plaster on fake smiles and enthusiasm at events, I can see through a mask. What's wrong?" Her eyes were gentle.

"These." I pointed at the necklace and bracelet. Her eyebrow quirked in confusion.

"I thought you said you liked them."

"That was before I figured out how much you spent on them. You spent way too MUCH money. I can't accept this when I know this could help with my parents' mortgage, other bills, debts-"

"Hey. I didn't check the prices when I bought them for you. I saw something that I thought you may like and picked it out. As for your parents' bills, I can help out-"

"No! That's the last thing I want." I whispered yelled since class had started. "I don't want you thinking I'm with you because of your money. I just don't want you spending so much on me."

"What's the purpose of having all the money in the world if you can't spend it on the one you love."

"It's just that these can pay off- Wait!... did you just say the L word?!" Alicia looked at me in confusion. Once she realized what she had said, her eyes widened and she swiveled around in her seat. "Alicia." I whispered, but she refused to turn around. "Alicia." I harshly whispered, but she continued to ignore me. It got to the point that I started poking her with my pencil. She grabbed it and placed it on her desk still ignoring me. I tried the same thing with my pens, until she had grabbed my pencil case. I sighed as I slumped back in my chair. Now I have three big problems to deal with: the expensive jewelry that could help my parents out since they needed the money, Alicia accidentally telling me that she loves me, and Alicia ignoring me. Ugh! Why is everything so complicated?!

She even ignored me when the professor told us to break out into groups to work on the problems. She blatantly refused to work with me since she got up and went to her friends. KJ saw that I was partnerless so he waved me over to work with him and another student.

"Nicola." He pointed at me. "Michael." He pointed at the boy. Michael gave me a heartfelt smile and shook my hand. We chatted as we worked out the problems. Michael was a Nigerian student whose family ran an oil empire in Africa. He was incredibly down to earth and humble. I told him that I was from North Carolina which resulted in us discussing the food scene in my home state. "Since you both get along so great, wanna join us tonight? A group of us are goin bowlin."

"Yes, you should join us." Michael persuaded me to go.

"Okay. I'm in." They high fived causing me to giggle. I swear I saw Alicia frown out of my peripheral vision. Whatever. If she wants to act weird and ignore me, then so be it. I'm not going to spend my Friday sulking around.

X

I was dressed casually since we were going bowling. I would've invited Rosé, but she wasn't in our room. KJ texted me that he was here, so I ran downstairs to find him and someone next to him.

"Hey!" KJ gave me a long embrace. He introduced me to his androgynous friend when he released his hold on me. "This is Hyde."

"What up." She saluted me.

"Hey. Love the hat." She grinned as she repositioned the fedora on her head. She scratched her eye forcing me to observe her eyebrow slit.

"Leggo." KJ directed us to his Porsche SUV. Hyde sat in the back while I sat shotgun. "The others are gonna meet us there." We nodded as KJ handed me his phone. "You're the DJ." He grinned. I swallowed a deep breath as I played The Weeknd. "Nice." KJ bobbed his head along as Hyde and I screamed out the lyrics. It didn't take us long to pull up to the bowling alley. We walked in to see Michael and two other people there. KJ introduced me to Cher and Leonardo. Cher was the classic rich girl who dressed fashionable. She was the antithesis of Hyde since she had wavy blond hair whereas Hyde had straight dark brown hair. Cher was also dressed in a pink crop top and purple skirt while Hyde wore black jeans, a black shirt, a black bomber jacket, and black combat boots. I think Cher thinks she maybe Cher from Clueless. Leonardo's curly light brown hair was styled to perfection as his aviators adorned the top of his head. He had white shorts on accompanied with a green polo shirt. Leonardo and Cher warmly greeted me with hugs. "Now that we're all introduced, let's play!" KJ and Hyde sprinted off to the cashier.

"They're gonna bring us the shoes." Cher explained to me.

"But I didn't tell him my size." I started to move so that I could tell KJ.

"You're easily an 8, darling." Leonardo admired his purple nails.

"How'd you know?"

"When you shop as a hobby, it's easy to recognize the measurements of people." He chuckled. KJ and Hyde returned with the shoes. He handed me a size 8.

"Did Leonardo tell you?" I asked as we tied our shoes.

"Maybe." He blushed.

"We need teams." Michael announced. "Hyde and I, Nic and KJ, Cher and Leon."

"No!" Cher exclaimed.

"Why?!" Leon sighed. They both looked at each other and laughed. "Both of us are legit the worst at sports and you put us together?!"

"That's the reason why you two are together." KJ stated causing us all to laugh.

"Whatevs. But sweetie." Leon put a hand on Cher. "I'm not breaking my nail."

"At least we're on the same page." Cher and Leon grinned at each other.

"Ready to beat them?" KJ whispered as he cocked his head at Michael and Hyde. The two of them were whispering about the strategy they were gonna employ.

"I don't know. They seem kinda serious." I laughed.

"Don't worry. We got this." He fist bumped me. The game started and Hyde and Michael both got strikes. I hit 5 pins while KJ got a strike. Leon and Cher each rolled a gutter ball. The game continued on with Team Myde getting strike after strike. KJ basically carried our team. Unlike me, he was good. He would get strikes whereas I would hit a few pins and sometimes get a spare. Cher and Leon were a lost cause. They celebrated so hard when Leon, after 5 rounds, successfully knocked over one pin. It got to the point where they had to use the bowling ramp, yet Leon still managed to avoid hitting any pins. Cher and Leon complained until we gave in and allowed them to use the bumpers. Somehow, Leon was miraculously able to bowl where the ball hit the ground and bounced over the bumper. How he did it? I have no idea. All I know is that all of us rolled on the floor laughing at his predicament. The game ended with Team Myde winning, us coming in second, and Leon and Cher barely placing.

Leon wanted lobster tails because of his hard efforts at playing a sport. Michael complied and took us out to a seafood restaurant. He claimed that it was "winner's treat," so we should order anything we would like. Leon wasted no time in ordering lobster tails, crab legs, and oysters for the table. KJ whispered that I should order something. Basically, he practically begged me to order something off the expensive ass menu. I succumbed to his pressure and ordered an appetizer. KJ wasn't impressed, so he demanded I order something off the entree list. When I refused, he ordered the Chilean sea bass for me. I gave him the death stare, but he returned it with a smirk. KJ and Hyde showed me how to eat oysters. Hyde put a shitload of hot sauce on the oyster and told me to swallow it in one go. I did and I'm guessing I made a face since everyone started laughing. Leon told me how good the lobster tails was and forced me to try his dish. My eyes widened at the sweet flavor. Cher must've gotten jealous since she fed me her scallops. That went on for the entire dinner. We talked about random stuff. They got to learn more about me and I got to know more about them. I grew up vastly different from them, but they tried to maintain an air of normalcy around me.