A/N This book will have OC's but the plot doesn't revolve much around them

"Oooooooooh, this ought to be good," Barb snickered. We were walking to school, and I'd just showed her the text. "He's gonna smooch your face and ask you out huh?" She made kissy faces. I lightly shoved her.

"Ew, no, at least not yet," I said dreamily. What did he want to talk about?

We rounded the corner, and our middle school came into view. Hundreds of kids were at the entrance, piling through before the bell rang. It was always so cramped, I really hated just going through the gate. If only a pandemic would hit where everyone has to stay like, 6 feet apart.

"When's Winter Breakkkkkk," Barb moaned. She swiped through her music app, rearranging notes.

"Come on, you can make it two more weeks," I encouraged. She shrugged.

Inside...

I shoved two textbooks into my, locker. Barb never did anything with her locker, until Fridays. Don't ask.

"Today we're supposed to start that project that's due Friday," I said. Barb rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for reminding me about the project I'm oh-so-excited-for."

"Sorry," I said, shutting my locker. We headed to World History first, and we both had it together.

"Poppy! Barb! Wait up!"

We turned around, and a girl came bounding toward us, dragging another girl behind her.

"Hey Smidge!" I greeted her, giving her a high five.

"What happened?" Barb asked, putting her phone away. Smidge usually didn't come bounding toward like a psycho.

"Nothing, I wanted to catch y'all before class started. Do you wanna make a group for the project?" She asked.

"Well duh, you want us to group up with random strangers in class?" Barb joked.

"Doesn't sound too bad, as long as I get to nap in class," DJ Suki said. She yawned. "Smidge literally dragged me out of bed."

"You we're gonna be late, you said you overslept," Smidge pointed out.

"Yeah but-"

RIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGG

"SUGAR THE BELL!" I exclaimed. All four of us rushed to class, slamming the door behind us.

"Good Morning class!" Mr. Quincy announced,

"Good Morning Mr. Quincy," the class responded in that mundane, boring voice.

"So I'm gonna leave you to it, pick your groups, and I'll sort it out!" He said. That's when the class perked up. The chaos induced, and the room was full of noise. I managed to find Barb, Smidge, and Suki.

"Ok, so we need at least six people," said Barb.

"And we have four," Smidge said

"We need just need two more then," I reasoned.

"What about the rest of us?" Suki asked.

"Right," I said, scanning the room. My eye caught on two girls with pink, purple, and blue ombré hair. "Satin! Chenille!" I called. They turned at the sound of their names. Satin's eyes lit up as she made her way to us.

"There you are!" She said. "We were looking for you!"

"We're trying to find the rest of the Snack Pack," said Chenille, running her fingers through her hair.

"So we have our group!" I exclaimed happily.

We sat down in a line, following the instructions on the board once we have our group. The room's noise died down as each group one by one settled down.

"Alright class, let's see," Mr. Quincy said. "Oh come on, girls with girls, boys with boys? That's how this works? The class looked around sheepishly. "Fine then. Guy, you trade with Suki. Barb, you trade with Cooper."

I watched sadly as Barb shrugged apologetically and traded with Cooper. At least Cooper was my friend.

A couple more kids traded around, and finally we were done.

"Ok gang, let's get to work!" Smidge said. We had to put of a skit about a certain Greek Myth, and it was time to decide, and we had cards in front of us to decide which myth to do a skit on.

"What about Medusa?" Cooper asked. "She had snake hair! I wish I had hair like that."

I glanced at him strangely, and the twins looked like the world had just been ripped from under their feet.

"No, we should do the story of Aphrodite, Ares, and Hephaestus," Satin and Chenille said in unison.

"I like the story of Thesues and Ariadne," I noted. If only Creek would love me like that...

I ALMOST FORGOT HE WANTED TO TALK TO ME!

"Ok class, don't worry, you have till tomorrow to decided your myths! For now we're..." Mr. Quincy kept talking, but I zoned out. I couldn't wait for lunch.

The rest of school up until lunch was a blur.

At lunch...

I nervously waited in line to buy lunch, toying with my red hair. I dyed the ends pink back in 4th grade, just like everyone else was doing. I picked up a tray and scooped some fruit into it. I also took a gummy packet.

"Hi darling, what would you like?" The lunch attendant asked.

"I'd like some popcorn chicken and fried rice please?" I pointed at that column of dishes. She handed the packs to me and I stood in line to pay, but it was taking a while.

"Hey."

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to face a girl with hair just like mine, straight red with pink ombré. Actually, she looked just like me, without freckles. But her eyes...she had heterochromia, one eye was blue, and the other brown.

"Hi!" She said, smiling,

"Um hi!" I responded. I loved meeting new people.

"So you're in my class, history," she went on.

"Oh yeah! You're Joles!" I said, beaming.

"Actually only the teachers call me Joles, please call me Jolly," she said, waving a dismissive hand. "Have you chosen your myth yet?"

"No," I said, as the line advanced. "But I liked Theseus and Ariadne's story."

"Ooooh yeah, that one's good! My group's doing Athena and Arachne."

"Sounds cool!" I said, entering my ID number into the machine. It made a beep of recognition and I slid my card into the slot. As soon as I paid, Jolly just waved, her eyes past me. I glanced in that direction and saw Creek approaching, kind of nervously. Her face melted into an unreadable mask as color rushed to my cheeks.

"Hope that's who you want..." she mumbled, with a goodbye, off to a group of laughing girls. I continued watching as she sat next to a dark brown-haired girl with jade and blue highlights. Jolly tapped her shoulder and whispered in her ear. The girl turned around, and I met her jade green eyes, full of thought and confusion. She tapped the table and the all dropped their voices to a whisper. Whatever. If they want to gossip, I'll let them.

"Hey Poppy," Creek said, motioning for me to join him at the wall. Still carrying my lunch, I walked to him.

"H-Hey!" I said, trying to sound calm, when in reality my heart was beating louder than fireworks.

"So, you don't love the holidays, right?" He asked. My brain stopped working. Where in the world did he get that idea?!

"That's great, cause I don't either," he went on. I nearly got tears in my eyes. Was this really Creek?

"Um, um, um," What should I say? "Um...yeah, the holidays are the worst," my mouth decided before my brain. His face broke into a cute grin.

"So how'd you like to scrapbook a cover idea for my new video, it's a yoga tutorial with a theme of anti-holiday spirit!"

Normally I'd be flattered, but this? This was...was...not right. I loved the holiday season. But...this was my chance to get Creek to like me!

"...Ok, yeah, um, sure!" I said, forcing a smile. "I'm happy to!"

"Great, you're the best!" He said, his blue eyes sparkling. "Text me a pic of it!"

"Will do!" I said, watching him walk away. I glanced back at those girls, and their eyes were all on me. Jolly asked the rest of them something. A girl with brown hair with green ombré shrugged. Another with blond hair gave her a thumbs up, as did most of the girls. The girl with jade eyes motioned for me to come over, and I obliged.

I should have been dancing on clouds, happy as I could be.

Then why did I feel this emptiness and betrayal instead?

A/N Still taking OC requests to appear in this book, but again, no big parts.
So couple OC cameos here, can you figure out who's who?👀
Peace out!💚