Clarity

Some time after school, Stella found herself standing beside Sasha and Angelique while they waited for Hana to join them in front the courtyard fountain. They'd made previous plans to go dress shopping earlier that week and if it weren't for the lunchtime reminder, she'd have completely forgotten. She smiled at the two girls as they bickered about something she didn't quite understand, but Angelique soon turned to her with a question.

"Hey, Stella, what do you think about Liam?" She asked with a sly grin.

"He's… a boy," Stella said slowly, unsure of what she was being asked. "Why?"

"He likes Sasha, don't you think?" Angelique grinned while Sasha scowled.

"He does not! He's just this little shit that likes to piss me off every chance he gets!" She countered, looking to Stella for support.

"That's just it! He likes to. Because he likes you."

"I said he's a boy, Sasha," Stella said with an apologetic shrug. "A lot of the time, that's how boys express themselves."

"I can't believe you girls, that's so ridiculous," Sasha blushed, getting worked up over their insinuations. "Even if he does, it's not like I'll ever-"

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Hana's soft voice drew them from the conversation and they all smiled at her as their group was complete.

"Sasha is in denial, that's all," Stella murmured. "Come on, let's get going."

The four girls wandered the boulevard together, dipping into stores when something caught their eye. Homecoming wasn't too far off and although none of them acquired dates yet, they'd all agreed that they would be going no matter what. Hana hadn't been keen on attending, but they managed to persuade her with the fact that it would be Stella's last year.

Sasha and Angelique quickly found the perfect dresses and turned their attentions onto Hana as soon as they claimed themselves all set for the event. They snapped up a multitude of hangers before shepherding the younger girl into one of the dressing rooms. Once they situated themselves in the waiting area just outside, Sasha began to pester the blonde with questions about her relationship with her brother.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Angelique's face flushed red and her voice was pitched in denial.

"Oh, don't be shy, Angel," Sasha teased, poking her in the shoulder. "You wouldn't be the only one. Even Stella fell for Sam's charms when he was still a guppy."

Angelique gaped at Sasha, then at Stella. The older girl gave them a strange look, not having paid full attention to what they were talking about. She tilted her head slightly in confusion because she couldn't fathom why the blonde appeared to be so shocked.

"What's wrong?" Stella asked.

"You liked Sam?" Angelique asked.

"Uh, yeah," she replied slowly, glancing at Sasha. "We dated when we were freshman…"

"What?" She exclaimed. "I never heard about that!"

"We didn't come to Ridgewood until we were sophomores," Stella murmured. "Sasha never mentioned it?"

"No, she didn't," Angelique gave the brunette a sharp, accusing stare. "Why'd you guys break up?"

"Hey, it's pretty common knowledge, it's not my job to randomly feed you these tidbits of information," Sasha replied in her defense. "And that's how I know Stella. She always used to hang around the house and they'd canoodle upstairs."

"We weren't canoodling," Stella scoffed. "It was a mutual break up. There's really no story there... Angel, if you like Sam, then that's good. He's a good guy."

"Are you sure there isn't anything in between you guys? I don't want to-"

"It's fine. We're just close friends," she assured Angelique with a fond laugh.

A small voice came from behind the closed curtain as Hana requested a little help with pulling up her zipper. Stella gestured for the other two girls to stay where they were and she got up to provide assistance. She slipped past the curtain and took a look at Hana's dress. Her teeth bit down on her bottom lip before she shook her head, ordering her to take it off and try the darker shaded dresses instead. As she did that, Stella sorted through the mass of hangers to weed out the automatic rejects.

She stuck her head out once to chide the other girls for their choices, but they just giggled. It takes the better part of an hour for the girls to agree on a dark blue dress for Hana before they leave to get something to eat and call it a day.

xxx

That night, doorbell rang at approximately 10:17pm and Stella sighed as she scurried down to pull the door open. She glowered at the person standing at the threshold and glanced again at the watch on her wrist.

"You're early. I just got home fifteen minutes ago," she frowned, quickly looking behind him before grabbing him by the sleeve and yanking him inside. The last thing she wanted was her nosy neighbors asking about the night visitor on her doorstep. They were nice in the way they tried to look out for her, but she preferred that they remained in the dark on her social affairs.

Alex didn't seem to mind because he was looking around the foyer in silent admiration. It was an odd thing, having him inside her house for the first time. Stella never really had anyone over at all aside from Cody. She shook her head and stepped back, crossing her arms over her chest as he finally looked to her.

"Wait here, I'll be down in a second."

"Really?"

"If you want to come upstairs, you'll have to take off your shoes," Stella said, not waiting for a response before bolting up the stairs to her room.

She managed to pull on a pair of dark jeans and was just fastening the button when Alex pushed open the door. Stella was hardly fazed by his brazen entrance. Of course, he wouldn't knock and of course he wouldn't need any invitation to cross the room and settle himself into the chair at her desk.

"Where are your parents?" He asked.

"Not here," Stella said dismissively. "They're working overseas."

"So you live here by yourself?"

"No, they're here once in a while," she replied. "Holidays, usually. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself anyway. I don't mind."

"I didn't ask if you did…"

Stella bit her tongue and looked at him, resisting the urge to chuck something at his head from across the room. He simply gave her a steady gaze. She knew what he gleaned from that tiny exchange and she sighed in frustration. Stella missed her parents more than she'd like to admit. Instead of dwelling on it, she turned to her closet and sifted through her hangers, unsure of what she was looking for.

"Where are we going tonight?" She asked.

"There's a party in Green Hills," Alex said. "It's supposed to be pretty big."

"A house party?" Stella glanced back at him before digging into her clothes with more purpose. "Planning on pushing your wares? Won't it get busted pretty quick?"

"They're rich kids," he muttered. "Rich kids don't get in trouble, you know."

"Good point…"

Stella finally gave up and peeled off her orange hoodie, revealing a dark blue tank top beneath it. Alex watched as she chucked it to a corner amongst a small pile of other clothes to pull on a black jacket and a yellow scarf. She let her hair down and tousled it with one hand as she stuffed her valuables into her pockets.

"Ok, let's go."