#simone miller

Kendall trembled with a red plastic lunch tray fumbling in his hands. He grimaced at the slice of pizza lying atop a flat paper plate, mocking him with its hardened sheet of crust at the bottom and cruel lack of tomato sauce. The blonde loosely gripped the miniature carton of one-percent low-fat milk in the right-hand corner of the tray and narrowed his eyes at the expiry date. One day more, and it'd be unwise to consume. He scoffed and trudged through a swarm of students until he found an available table to sit at.

Kendall plopped his tray down and leaned his left elbow onto the table. He rested his chin in his palm and gnawed at the tip of his pizza slice while recalling what he said to James the evening prior. What was he thinking by keeping James' mother's threat a secret and covering it up with a half-assed lie? Kendall's stomach began to churn, and his head drummed with a stinging pain. He dropped his slice of pizza to its plate and kneaded his fingertips into his forehead.

"Hey, Kendall," Logan chimed with a casual nod as he sat across from Kendall with a packed lunch. The blonde had barely noticed anyone had joined him. He sat there sulking at his plate and tracing the outlines of his lunch tray with his index finger.

"Uh, Kendall?" Logan continued as he waved his hand in Kendall's direction. "Hello?"

Kendall yelped with the rise of his shoulders and the rapid blink of his eyes. He raised his head from his palm and glanced at Logan bemusedly.

"Oh, hey, Logan," Kendall breathed nervously.

Logan's lips curved awkwardly, his frown asymmetrical with concern. Kendall was evidently still tense from yesterday's events, and the explanation for his abrupt departure was long overdue. Logan was worried for his friend but felt it'd be best to rip off the band-aid and start the conversation.

"So, are you gonna tell me what happened yesterday, or will you just sulk over your pizza the whole time?" Logan questioned as he zipped open his lunchbox and bit into his perfectly symmetrical peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Kendall's gaze stiffened, his pupils becoming barely visible as both pairs of eyelids came together like the closing of a drawbridge. He found it difficult to look Logan in the eye, or anyone for that matter

. His moral quandary had triggered so much distress and restlessness.

"Are you really not gonna tell me?" Logan implored, his gaze becoming more earnest and sincere as the tension began setting in.

As Kendall silently shook his head in protest, a familiar hockey-helmeted boy came tumbling over to the end of the table with a corndog crammed in his fist. He sat beside Logan with a victorious cheer on the tip of his tongue as he savored the first bite.

"I just fought three seniors and a sophomore for the last cafeteria corndog!" Carlos exclaimed, "Can you believe they aren't making more of these?"

A passing sophomore shot daggers at Carlos as he walked with a pitifully light lunch tray in his frail hands. Carlos stuck his tongue out with a playful grin and responded by saying, "You snooze, you lose, bro!"

The tension was now severe enough for Carlos to notice. His grin was wiped off his face like debris against a windshield wiper. "What's up with him?" Carlos queried as he gestured at Kendall with the tilt of his head.

Kendall sewed his lips shut, the testament to his wrongdoings bubbling inside him and starting to boil. He stiffened his joints and lowered his head. An explosion of confession was brewing inside him like a storm.

"Well?" Logan added.

"Mrs. Diamond saw me kissing James yesterday and threatened to break us up!" Kendall blurted out quickly, clenching nervous fists at either side of his lunch tray and scrunching his eyes shut, "Then I went home and lied to James about it, saying people at school saw us holding hands!!"

As Kendall snapped his eyes open and swatted over his mouth with both hands, Carlos and Logan shared an immensely shocked glance. They couldn't raise their brows any higher if they tried.

"Please don't tell James!" Kendall peeped through the cracks between his fingers, "He can never know about this."

"Kendall, we can't just sit on this. This is huge!" Logan remarked worriedly.

"Yeah! Besides, James has a right to know. This is his mom we're talking about." Carlos added.

"Are you forgetting that his mom is Brooke Diamond?" Kendall retorted with open palms, "As in the part powerful, part beautiful, and all evil business tycoon Brooke Diamond?"

Carlos and Logan shared a defeated shrug. They understood Kendall's reasoning to a certain extent but still ultimately disagreed with his decision. They couldn't support this kind of lie.

"No one can say no to her. Especially not James." Kendall sighed as he took another puny bite of his cardboard-like slice of pizza.

"That's still messed up, though..." Carlos mutters.

"So what are you suggesting I do? Tell James what happened and risk him breaking up with me 'cause he'd choose his mom over me?" Kendall snapped, "We just started dating a week ago!"

"All we're saying is either you tell him," Logan began.

"Or we will," Carlos finished.

"Tell who what?" James queried as he took a sip of his Coca-Cola can.

Kendall snapped his head back and whimpered in James' presence. His muscles tightened and tensed, triggering a sour face and lack of enthusiasm. Carlos and Logan awaited Kendall's next move, their gazes never leaving him or his nervous mannerisms.

"Uh... tell you just how much I've missed you! Haha..." Kendall stammered awkwardly as Carlos and Logan brought their palms to their foreheads with moderate thuds.

"Aww, Kendall," James cooed as he sat beside him. "I get it. I'm irresistible. I mean, who wouldn't miss this, right?"

Each boy rolled their eyes, all for seemingly different reasons. While James was none the wiser, Kendall went back and forth with Carlos and Logan, shooting mean looks of argument. They feigned innocence for James' benefit, but their earlier conversation was far from over.

As the boys silently ate their lunches and shared a myriad of awkward glares, a shrill shriek pierced the ears of all who inhabited the cafeteria. Everyone snapped their heads in the direction of that ghastly, high-pitched, nasally screech. A girl had angrily curled her fingers from her favorite v-neck cropped cardigan being stained by the careless spill of chocolate milk. Not even her bountiful hickory brown curls could shield anyone from the wrath in her gaze.

"No way... Simone Miller," Carlos breathed.

"She's going to eat that poor guy alive," Logan sighed.

"Has she... gotten prettier?" James commented, leaning his elbow onto the table and resting his chin in his palm.

"Wait, what do you mean by prettier?" Kendall panicked, narrowing his eyes on James to ensure he wasn't exchanging glances with Simone somehow.

"My amaranth pink cardi...," Simone began, clenching her fists but careful to not damage her almond-shaped acrylic nails. "You ruined it!"

The underclassman before her cowered in fear, clutching his textbook for dear life as he whimpered out the words, "I'm s-so sorry! I-It was an accident, really!"

"Do you have any idea how much this costs?!" Simone barked, slowly and menacingly sauntering toward the nameless underclassman who dared to sully her favorite 'cardi' as she so eloquently put it, "Not even your parents' pitiful mortgage could cover the cost of a replacement!"

Defeated and afraid, the underclassman scampered out of the cafeteria like a scared little pup and left the entire student body dramatizing his departure with the unsavory chorus of mocking laughter. Everyone laughed, but the four hockey players quietly contemplated Simone's actions from the distance of their lunch table.

"That poor kid," Logan commented, "He had no idea what was coming for him."

"Is it me, or has Simone gotten meaner?" Carlos added, "Like meaner than usual. I'm talking supervillain levels of mean."

"Well, word around school is she's planning a super huge party," Logan remarked, "You know how she gets when she prepares for parties. She becomes double the queen bee she normally is."

"A party? Really??" James cried as he hurriedly shifted his focus back to his friends with a frantic grin.

"Woah, woah, woah," Kendall began as he raised a wall with his palms. "Why do you care so much that Simone Miller's throwing a party? We probably won't even be invited."

"Why wouldn't I care?" James retorted with a theatric cock of his brow, "This is Simone Miller, aka the hottest girl in our entire school!"

"Ah, a twelfth-grade girl and an eleventh-grade boy," Carlos sighed as he lost himself in the bliss of wishful thinking. "D'ya think that could ever work out?"

"In your dreams, maybe," Logan teased with crossed arms, "You can't be talking like that when you're way too out of her league."

"You're out of her league!" Carlos refuted.

"No, you are!" Logan retaliated.

"No, you!" Carlos continued.

The two bickering boys went back and forth at each other until they rose from their seats and grabbed each other by the collars of their shirts. They scowled and sneered at one another, their imaginary competition for Simone's affections fueling the fire of their fury.

"Everybody, chill!" Kendall squawked as he raised his hands before Carlos or Logan could raise theirs. The two argumentative boys loosened their grips on one another and returned to their seats with childish pouts and folded arms that even a crowbar couldn't pry open. While Kendall deescalated the situation, James occupied himself by gazing at Simone. He couldn't help watching as she struggled to relinquish the stain on her cardigan with a particularly thin yet coarse napkin.

"James!" Kendall hissed in protest.

"Hm, yes? What?"

"Why are you staring at Simone??"

"I'm not staring."

"Yes, you are." Logan and Carlos replied simultaneously in an equally monotone and disapproving tone.

"Guys, I got this, "Kendall assured, quickly glancing at them before returning to James with a frenzied glare. "Yes, you were!"

"Relax, it's not what it looks like."

"Really? Because it looks like you were gawking at another girl right in front of me."

With his hands firmly atop his hips and his eyes narrowing like a one-way street, Kendall resembles his mother in how he cuts James down to size with a hostile glare.

"You don't still like her, do you?"

"What? No!"

"You better not 'cause she's coming this way."

Simone's pink pointed-toe heel pumps, her shoes of choice despite Minnesota's constant inclement weather in the fall, clacked against the floor like the ticking of a metronome as he strode in the hockey players' direction. She continued struggling with the stain sullying her cardigan, rustling the faulty brown napkin against the fabric to no avail. Simone groaned out of frustration and crumpled up the napkin as she nearly passed by the boys' table.

As she balled the napkin into her beautifully manicured fist, Simone looked up from her cardigan and saw James awkwardly attempting to play it cool in her presence. She cocked her brow, intrigued to see him and wanting to approach him.

"Hey, I know you!" Simone chimed. "Don't we have P.E. together or something? You're, like, insanely fast during warmups."

"Uh, yes, we do."

"Oh-em-gee, awesome!" Simone squeaked in her annoyingly nasally voice. "What's your name again?"

"James. James Diamond."

"Wait, as in Brooke Diamond?" Simone gasped, the possibility of Brooke being James' mom exciting her beyond belief. "Is she, like, your mom?"

"Yep, the one and only!"

"I love her! Daddy buys me Brooke Diamond's revitalizing eye cream all the time!" Simone remarked excitedly.

"The burning means it's working," James added with a pair of finger guns to punctuate his reference.

He and Simone giggled to themselves, enjoying their pleasant conversation and the unexpected benevolence they found in each other's company. From an outside perspective, their encounter was nothing but friendly. But to Kendall, it was sickening, maddening, nauseating. He couldn't bear to watch James chum it up with Simone, even if he claimed his feelings for her were long gone.

"Hey, I'm having this party Friday night. Daddy bought me a pink Corvette for my birthday, and I thought it'd be nice to celebrate," Simone suggested, twirling one of her bouncy curls around her finger. "Would you maybe wanna come?"

"Yeah, su—!" James trailed off, Kendall swatting over his mouth with his palm as he feigned a look of innocence that contradicted the venom in his tone of voice.

"Sorry, Simone, but he won't be attending your party," Kendall hissed, "Right, James?"

"Oh my gosh. What are you, like, his girlfriend or something?" Simone sneered.

James pried Kendall's palm off of his mouth with a gentle tug, letting him grumble his frustrations into oblivion as he replied, "Don't mind him. I'd love to go."

Simone clasped her hands together excitedly. At least one good thing came from her rocky start to a lunch period. Kendall brought the back of his hand to James' shoulder in a disapproving smack. This is not how he wanted things to turn out, especially not with jealousy like his. As eager as James was to attend, he acknowledged that he was on thin ice with Kendall and didn't want to lose his trust. He sighed, bitterness in Kendall's gaze conveying an entire conversation's worth of words.

"But only if you invite my buddy Kendall," James added. "We're a package deal, so it's both of us or none of me."

"Yeah!" Kendall chimed, pleasantly surprised with how James segued the conversation.

"Fine, if that's what it takes, I guess I can invite your little girlfriend, too." Simone surrendered.

"Hey!" Kendall hissed.

"Can we come too?" Carlos suggested, gesturing to himself and Logan and hoping to be graced by Simone's unexpected generosity.

Simone gave Carlos and Logan one quick glance, her face souring as she looked them up and down. It was bad enough that she had to invite some bushy-eyebrowed nobody to get James to attend. She couldn't possibly afford to invite any more nameless faces. The livelihood of her party depended on popular names and gorgeous faces.

"Uh... no," Simone muttered.

Carlos sunk into his seat, his head hanging low in defeat as his short-lived dream was crushed in a matter of seconds. Logan shrugged it off, not expecting any handouts or generous gestures. He was fine with not having to attend the party as it wasn't his sort of thing anyway.

"See you around, James!" Simone purred as she twiddled her fingers in a winsome wave goodbye. James gestured back with a simple wave and a beaming smile. Things couldn't possibly get better than this.

"Okay, what was that?" Kendall said flatly.

"Uh, I just got us invited to the party of the year, is what that was!" James cheered, giving himself a proverbial pat on the back as he proudly celebrated this momentous victory.

"Yeah, I still don't like this," Kendall argued, "I mean, you called Simone the hottest girl in our entire school, and you kept staring at her."

"Kendall, you've got nothing to worry about," James assured, "This is just a party. I'm not trying to go out with her or anything."

"I don't know..."

"Okay, well, think of it this way. You said you wanted to go on a date yesterday, right?" James began, "This party could be that. Think about it!"

"Well, when you put it like that, it actually sounds kinda nice," Kendall sighed, starting to agree with James' point of view.

"Exactly! This can be good for us," James continued, reaching for Kendall's hand and giving it that familiar squeeze of assurance he was accustomed to. "We are going to have so much fun."

Kendall eased into James' touch and let his second thoughts drift away like balloons dancing in the wind. As skeptical as he initially was, perhaps James was right. It'd be important to take risks and care less about wandering eyes or idle chatter if they were to have a meaningful relationship.

"You're right," Kendall smiled warmly. "This is gonna be great."

With a quick returning grin, James retracted his hand and began leaving the table in the opposite direction. The lack of contact left Kendall unsatisfied and worried. What reason could James possibly have for fleeing the very moment he reassures him?

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To get Simone's number."

"What? Why??"

"Uh, to get her address for the party?" James responded point-blankly as if the answer wasn't painfully obvious. "By the way, do you think I should ask her about a dress code?"

Any optimism James instilled in Kendall was immediately replaced with his initial skepticism and jealousy. Although nothing could possess him to voice his concerns, Kendall's face reddened with fury. He couldn't believe he allowed James to talk him into agreeing to this party only for his apprehension to return the very moment it disappeared. James scuttled away, a giddy, child-like grin dipping into the corners of his face as he met with Simone once more. Kendall despised how overly chummy they were with one another. They'd never speak again if it were up to him.

"Still think I should tell him?" Kendall grumbled, glancing at Carlos and Logan as he gritted his teeth to mock their previous efforts to convince him otherwise.