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the bell rings as nat pulls up to school. “fuck,” she whispers to herself.its the first day back after summer, and the last thing she needed was a tardy to her first class of the year.she sighs as she grabs her bag and rushes to the 100 building. shes gazing down as she walks through the hall, her docs thudding on the flooring when she bumps into a body.she looks up from her feet, startled, and sees a girl towering over her. her eyes and hair were dark, and her skin was golden. she wore a pink sweater and an expensive looking skirt that was definitely pushing the dress code.“shit, im sorry,” nat says breathlessly, taking a step back.“its fine. i wasnt paying attention either,” she replies with a smile. “wait, do you know where room 304 is?”“yeah, its on the other side of the school. walk past the library and through the 200, the 300 is the one with the creepy ass bathroom next to it,” nat explains, her words tumbling out of her mouth nervously.“thanks. im lottie.”“nat,” she responds. “see you, lottie.”she turns to get another look at the girl before remembering why she was in such a hurry in the first place.“natalie,” mrs hart greets bitterly. nat had never like mrs hart, and unfortunately got her as a teacher for the third year in a row. “take a seat. i hope this isnt how the rest of the year goes.”“yes, mrs hart.” she rolls her eyes the second her face is out of mrs hart’s view and sits in the only empty desk.she drowns out the teachers voice and looks at her phone. a new text from van appears on her screen. she glances up and sees the redhead staring at her from across the room with a grin on her face.vani saw this cute girl walking around earlier, shes def new and def ur typenatomg was she like rlly tall??vanyeah, i heard she moved from calinati bumped into her on the way here,
shes rlly sweeti def ruined any chances i had w
her tho i was so nervousvanits cool, ur hot and she will totally dig uif u get a chance u should invite her to jackiesnat looks back over at van and gives them a quick nod before looking back at mrs hart, who was pointing at a country on her overly massive map.the rest of the class moves slower than nat thought it couldve. the second the bell rings, she shoots up and bolts out of the door.its advisory, but she decides to skip it. she doesnt see the point in having a random ass teacher pretend to help them even though they dont have any real training to be an advisor. she’s always thought its stupid.so, she goes to the bathroom instead. she stands in front of the mirror, fixated on making sure her hair and makeup looked okay. she was too busy to notice the crying from the stall behind her until she was done fixing herself up.she looks down to see a pair of pink heels that were far too fancy for school. they were lotties. nat sighs and knocks on the door. “you okay?”she sniffles from inside the stall. “yeah,” she replies, voice thick with tears. lottie opens the door and steps into the rest of the bathroom.“what happened?”“this douchebag slapped my ass and called me a slut for wearing my skirt,” she murmurs.“thats chad. he does that to every girl, hes a total dick,” nat says with a small smile. “anyways, i think your outfit’s cute.”“thanks,” lottie replies.“im skipping advisory, wanna hang in my car? ive got a box of cigarettes.”“sure.”the two girls leave the bathroom, the creepy one next to the 300, and walk to nats car. the blonde slides a cigarette out from the box and hands it to lottie before grabbing her shitty bic lighter.“have you smoked before?” nat asks, bringing the lighter to the end of the cigarette sticking out of lotties mouth.“yeah, all the time. unfortunately. probably gonna get lung cancer someday.”“yeah, well maybe we’ll end up in the same senior center smoking our lungs away till we die,” nat jokes, earning a laugh from lottie.“thanks for this, it helped a lot.”“yeah, of course lottie. i get it, being new is hard. by the way, my friend jackie is having a party on saturday, wanna go?”“maybe,” she responds uncertainly.“im friends with all of them. van, this redhead, already said i should invite you. theyre super cool.”“sure, ill go. think you can give me a ride there? i dont even know who this jackie girl is.”“sure, princess,” nat replies, poking fun at the fact lottie has a perfectly good car of her own.lottie face flushes at the nickname and she turns away quickly. nat pretends not to notice but smiles to herself.***lottiehey nat, my address is 1234 meow street, text me when ur on ur way!!natleaving in five!nat grabs her purse and checks the mirror one more time before leaving her trailer.she arrives at lotties house. its more like a mansion, and nats jaw drops at the sight. she knocks on the door and its quickly answered by a maid. a fucking maid? a maid.“come on in dear, lotties almost ready,” the kind old woman says with a smile. “would you like something to drink?”“no, im good, thank you. where’s lotties room?”“its the last door on the right down the left hallway.”nat clutches onto those directions as well as she can as she walks up the stairs. she passes more doors than there should be in any one house before finally reaching lotties room.she knocks on the door. “lottie?”shes faced by lottie wearing a short black dress and a pair of four inch stilettos, making her tower over nat more than she already does.nat feels her face heating up at the sight. “hey nat! you look really nice.”“you do too, princess.”nat was wearing a red plaid skirt with her leather jacket and docs. she felt far too underdressed compared to the goddess that was lottie matthews.the two girls walk to nats car. “wanna pregame?” nat asks.“what, do you have alcohol?”“no but i have weed.”“ive never smoked weed before.”“i can show you how, if you want,” nat offers. lottie nods in response.nat drives to a little lookout that only she and kevyn, and now lottie, know about. she pulls a bag of joints out of her glovebox and puts one in her mouth. she lights it and passes it to lottie.“just like a cigarette, lott.”she watches the girl pull in more smoke than she shoulve and she coughs out a huge plume of smoke. they cloud the car up quickly, giggling together the whole time.nat drives to the party, never stopping their conversation.“have you ever dated?” nat asks after describing her last boyfriend.“yeah, once. i had a girlfriend before i moved here, but she actually cheated on me,” she said with a sigh. “i thought she was perfect.”“clearly,” nat begins, “she wasnt. you deserve someone who makes you happy.”“thanks, nat.”***they arrive at the party and are immediately handed a shot of vodka. they both drink them before grabbing another one. nat leads lottie to the upstairs bathroom to continue smoking.“jackies parties are always kinda lame, but she forces our whole team to come. youre one of the only people who got invited who isnt part of the team.”“what team?” lottie asks.“soccer. we’re gonna be the varsity team this year, since we’re seniors. you should join, i bet you’d be super good,” nat murmurs, lifting another joint to her lips.“maybe i will,” lottie replies with a smile. “im glad i met you, everyone else who’s talked to me either wants money or in my pants.”“lucky for you, im not a total dick like them.”“you really arent, nat.” lottie takes the joint in her fingers and rests her head against the wall. “youre probably the coolest person ive met.”nat watches her movements as if she was watching a movie. lottie is the most gorgeous girl she’s ever seen.
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as soccer season rolls around, lottie joins. it took a lot of convincing on nats part, but she went to tryout and made the team.at their first practice, lottie is the fastest on the team and already has better footwork than half of the girls.nat watched as the taller girl sprints down the field, ball between her feet. she moves as if she’d been playing for years.she stares at her, hoping she sees that nat is open. luckily, she does, and shoots the ball across the field. nat receives it flawlessly before sending it above the goalies head and into the top corner of the net.their practice is over with a score of 2-1, nat and lotties team winning. they head back to the locker room.shoop plays in the background, the teams collectively favorite song.hey, yeah, i wanna shoop babyhere i go, here i go, here i go againgirls whats my weakness? men!nat and lottie scream the lyrics and dance around the rest of the girls. they jump around until theyre out of breath and giggling on the bench.“wanna hang at my place tonight?” lottie asks, still smiling from their mini dance party.“obviously!” nat replies with a grin. they finish changing their clothes and walk out to the parking lot. the sky is darkening, and the sun sets in a cascade of reds, yellows, and purples.they walk to lotties car, who had picked nat up earlier that day, and drive to lotties mansion.her parents arent home, as per usual, so they have the house to themselves. “hi, mrs manchester,” lottie says to her maid. “you can have the rest of the night off, nat and i are just gonna hang out.”“thank you, ms matthews,” the maid says as lottie and nat walk past her and up the stairs.lottie grabs nats arm to stop her. “i have whiteclaws.”nat raises her eyebrow with a smirk. “god, lott. you know me so well.”the open the pack of whiteclaws once they reach lotties room and start drinking. theyre both tipsy once the first can is empty, and they decide they need music.“alexa, play spotify,” lottie calls.“rich motherfucker,” nat teases as linger by the cranberries plays.they sit on lotties bed, nats head resting on her shoulder. she breathes deeply as she closes her eyes. the alcohol begins to overtake her and she feels herself nearing falling asleep.lottie kisses her temple before laying her down on her bed. “goodnight, nat,” she murmurs.***for halloween, jackie throws one of her mandatory team parties.lottie and nat arrive together, dressed as scooby doo characters. nat was shaggy and lottie was daphne. she really didnt want to dress as shaggy, but she couldnt say no to lottie, who was so excited about their matching costumes.“you guys look stupid,” jackie snorts when they show up.nat rolls her eyes. “at least i dont look like a unicorn threw up on me,” she retorts playfully.nat grabs a red solo cup full of some sort of mixed drink and hands it to lottie before taking one for herself.“lets play truth or dare, bitches!” jackie calls across her living room.“what are we, 12?” nat mutters to herself.“van, truth or dare,” she starts.“dare,” they reply confidently, knowing fully well that jackies dares are killer.“i dare you to burp the alphabet.”nat groans as van begins.taissa is next. she has to trade clothes with shauna.mari is asked if its true that danny mears dumped her for his own cousin.shauna has to take four shots, without a chaser.then its nats turn. “nat, truth or dare.”“dare.”“i dare you to kiss lottie.”“what?”“you heard me.”“fine,” nat replies, always up for a challenge. she’s already sitting next to the brunette, so she pivots to sit on her lap.“make it good, nat.”nat licks her lips before leaning down to kiss lottie. it lasts about three seconds, but for nat it feels like an eternity. she melts into lottie in those three seconds, savoring every bit of her. lotties lip gloss tasted like strawberries tainted slightly by vodka. she loved it.she backed away and sat back in her spot. “happy, shipman?”“yup.”nat was happy too.***nat knew that lottie would meet the rest of the team during soccer, but what she didnt know was how close she would get with laura lee.nat watches them grow closer and she finds herself overwhelmed with jealousy.maybe she wasnt good enough for lottie, or maybe she was just too much of a burnout loser.maybe lottie needed someone cleaner and more pristine, like her. maybe lottie needed laura lee.vandude, im sure its fineshes just branching out,im sure she still loves u natbut what if she doesnt?vanshe does, i promisebut nat finds that she doesnt, really. after practice one day, nat hears misty asking lottie and laura lee how their date went the night before.tears prickle behind her eyes and she finishes changing with her jaw clenched. she fights crying the entire time before finally, she leaves the locker room and goes to her car.she shuts the door and begins sobbing. her heart burns with love for lottie that she didnt know she could feel.“fuck you, natalie. you shouldve known you never had a chance, shes too good for you. fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. youre useless,” she chokes out to herself, sobbing harder.she drives home, eyes blurry.that night, she cries herself to sleep.***nat begins to avoid lottie. instead of partnering up with her during practice, she begins to partner with gen most days. she leaves the locker room before the rest of the girls and only sees lottie if she really has to.shes scared.shes scared of hurting lottie, scared of scaring lottie, scared of being herself. so she distances herself instead. what lottie doesnt know cant hurt her, right?it definitely can.nat is in the locker room’s bathroom one day when she hears lottie talking to laura lee.“she just, like, totally stopped talking to me? i dont know what her deal is but it really sucks, i miss what we had,” she explains, words muffled by the thing wall of the bathroom stall.“maybe she’s jealous,” laura lee replies.“what?”“i mean, it really seems like she likes you. and she couldve heard about our date.”“maybe.”nat swallows hard after hearing what they’d said.fuck.