Chapter Text
The clock reads 3:14. One more minute. One more slow, agonising minute, and Dani will be unshackled from her daily pit of hell. She fidgets with a lock of her hair, reminding herself for the fifteenth time to schedule a re-bleaching appointment.
Unfortunately, Sir What’s-His-Face doesn’t possess the heart required to make that minute a pleasant one.
“Miss Avanzini, another look at the clock and you’ll remain sitting till the long arrow hits 12.”
A loud snort sounds right behind her.
“That goes for you as well, Miss Jeong.”
Dani smirks. Yoonchae deserves that, the little shit. She spends a pleasant 30 seconds pondering alternative ways to get her friend in trouble… and oh bless the deities above – the heavenly sounding of the bell.
Dani rises and lazily captures the unsuspecting girl behind her into a headlock while stuffing books into her bag.
“Off, off! Bullying, abuse!”
“Well, hasn’t your vocabulary expanded. And thanks to who, I wonder?”
“Whom.”
Yoonchae smiles cheekily, and Dani has half a mind to retort, but genuinely what the fuck is the difference between who and whom. She settles for giving the girl’s ear a sharp tug, earning an indignant screech and another glare from Sir What’s-His-Face. Sheepishly, the two girls rush out of the classroom before their third detention of the week can be announced.
–
The first-floor hallway is raucous, as always.
“So,” Dani ducks as a football sails past her head, “we pick up Soph from AP lit, then 7-Eleven?”
“H Mart,” Yoonchae corrects, squeezing past a group of earsplitting theatre kids while stuffing turtle chips into her mouth. From yesterday’s H Mart trip.
Dani rolls her eyes, but can’t help the tinge of fondness that swells inside her. Her younger friend never mentions it, but it’s clear she misses Korea and the small things that remind her of home.
Truth be told, Dani’s always held a soft spot for the shy international student who’d introduced herself three years ago with nervous bambi eyes and a shaky voice. Sure, that shaky voice has now solidified into a steady stream of ragebait, but if anyone even considers messing with Yoonchae, they’ll regret it. And, well, the girl has to have gotten the snark from someone.
“Screechy bitch alert.”
Dani’s tone hardens as her catlike eyes zero in on the last face she wants to see at the end of an already tedious day. Following her line of vision, Yoonchae lets out a groan.
“Leeeave it, Dani.”
Leaning into a locker stands a smiling girl, in the middle of a smiley conversation with her two smiley friends. Who even looks that happy in school. It’s as if they’re posing for those multicultural friend group posters every principal unfathomably loves.
Smiley Girl #1 lets out a dolphinesque laugh and turns to meet Dani’s eyes. She smiles even wider. Dani seethes.
Manon Bannerman.
Meret Manon Bannerman.
Meret Manon Sarpong Bannerman, to be exact.
Sophia says it’s unhealthy that Dani knows her sworn enemy’s full legal name, but how dumb would she be if she hadn’t combed through all potential blackmail material available to her on the internet.
Here’s the thing, it’s not like Dani goes around looking for enemies. She’s not one of those bored drama queens who need that kind of outlet in their life. In fact, when first overhearing her name half a year ago, Dani made a mental note to stray far, far away from all people and objects associated with this “Manon.”
It was obvious, really. Riverbend High School had been lacking a Regina George ever since repeating senior Brittany Brooks had graduated (with the help of her dad’s money, Yoonchae wages). Then in came Meret Manon, the intriguingly pretty girl with her lilting Swiss accent and mischievous expression, always looking on the verge of laughter. Boys and girls flocked to her like a moth to a flame, and within no time she’d established her two trusty and equally gorgeous sidekicks, Laura and Morgan. Megan. Maggie? Dani could honestly care less.
It didn’t even matter at first. Dani had encountered way worse queen bees than this new girl. At least the Swiss-Italian-Ghanian seemed nice enough and didn’t officialise pink on Wednesdays or whatever.
Dani has not watched Mean Girls five times.
It’s Sophia’s fault.
Well, as it turns out, Manon operates in ways far worse than any Regina George. While she keeps it cute by playing nice and sending finger hearts at everyone she passes by, this perfect princess flips a fucking 180 when it comes to Dani. And despite Dani’s track record of being somewhat short-fused (her two best friends prefer the term explosive), she really isn’t the one who’d started it this time!
–
Flashback to October. The autumn leaves are falling, the air is crisp and cool. Dani’s sitting on the bleachers one day, minding her own damn business like a normal functioning teenager, when Manon prances up to her with her curated clique in tow.
There’s a beat of silence. Dani raised an eyebrow, not bothering to remove either of the AirPods comfortably lodged into her ears.
“I saw you in the dance studio the other day,” Manon blurts.
Dani’s heartbeat quickens in alarm, but she takes care not to let it show. Dancing is her secret, not something she wants everyone knowing about – least of all the popular kids.
It’s a personal matter she’s never told anyone aside from Sophia and Yoonchae. Six years ago, Dani’s parents divorced. Back when her mom spent every day locked up and crying in her bedroom, Dani found solace in the dance studio two blocks away from her house. The kind old lady who worked there was a retired dancer, and after Dani quit lessons, she encouraged her to use the old studio whenever it was free. Unsurprisingly, Dani took advantage of that offer – probably more often than she should’ve.
Dani loves dancing, always has, even when the pressures of parental expectations and professional training had gotten to be too much for her. She’s good at it, that’s one thing. But more importantly, dancing makes her feel alive. Free in a way she wasn’t at home, where it was best to remain invisible lest she wanted all the frustration and disappointment of adulthood reality dumped onto her shoulders. To this day, dancing to Dani is a channel for release, a kind of catharsis for the emotions she grew up believing she wasn’t supposed to feel.
“Earth to Daniela? Hello??” Dani zones back into the conversation she was unwittingly lulled into with the charming sight of Manon’s hand getting all up in front of her face.
“What,” she snaps. Personal space is something she treasures, especially when dealing with people she never has and never plans on talking to again.
Manon sighs. “You didn’t hear anything I just said, did you?”
Dani doesn’t give enough of a shit to respond, and tries not to get distracted by the softness of the girl’s lips as they pull into a frown.
“Well, for next time, you should get yourself a bottle of water. You were turning red as a tomato.”
Immediately, the girls behind Manon began cackling like a band of hyenas, aside from Laura and Maggie, who exchange silent grimaces. Despite herself, Dani feels her face warming and her temperature rising. She shoots up and grabs Manon by the collar.
“Maybe next time, you shouldn’t be stalking a girl you don’t know through a window like some sort of creepy pervert. Asshole!”
For some reason, Manon is smiling now. Softly, barely, her lips turned up just slightly at the corners.
Fucking hell, this girl is insane.
Dani shoots a final glare in the hyenas’ general direction and stomps off, inwardly berating herself for giving them the satisfaction of such a reaction. So much for a calm, breezy afternoon on the bleachers.
–
“Hey Daniela,” Manon calls out, bringing Dani back to this unfortunate January day. “Nice ugly sweater. I guess Christmas bleeds into the new year for some people.”
“If you spent as much time focusing on your surroundings as you do my clothes, maybe you wouldn’t have gotten bonked in the head during that game of basketball,” Dani retorts. The mental image of that hilarious gym class considerably brightens her mood. “Now I’d love to talk more, but some of us got better things to do than gossip about boys all day long.”
With that, Dani saunters off, allowing a little swing into her hips.
“Super mature,” Yoonchae deadpans.
“Wait!”
The two girls turn around. It’s not Manon’s voice, but the wasian girl’s beside her. Maggie. Macy. Whatever. She walks up to them, wiping her hands on her jeans.
“Hi. You remember me, right?” M-Lady is smiling at Yoonchae, her eyes crinkling into crescents.
Dani whips her head to the left, nearly cracking her neck. She shoots Yoonchae a look that ideally screams Raw, Unfiltered Betrayal.
Yoonchae for her part is studiously avoiding eye contact, and is that a blush on her cheeks. Is that a blush on her cheeks?! Dani’s defenses go all the way up, and she nudges Yoonchae behind her with a protective arm.
“Say what you’ve got to say or we’re leaving.”
M-Lady looks nervous, but nods quickly.
“There’s a party. A party at Manon’s tomorrow night. I, I mean we, well, I. I was hoping,” she shuffles forward at a diagonal angle to look around Dani, “that you would come?”
Dani shakes her head with marked emphasis. “Nooooo thank you very much from the both of us, we’re far from party people. And even if we were, there’s no one at your party we’d have any interest in talking to. Have a wonderful time with your little clique.”
She grabs Yoonchae by the hand and marches off.
“Dani!” Yoonchae protests. “That was mean!”
Dani turns to her friend, prepared to bark out a lecture on the essentiality of the anti-Manon code, but realizes the girl looks hurt for real.
“I like her,” Yoonchae whispers, looking down. “I have a crush on Megan, Dani, I’m sorry.”
Dani’s heart melts, and she feels a sudden surge of guilt. How had she let her bitterness against one person get to the point where her best friend wouldn’t tell her about a crush, out of what, fear?
“No, no!” She pulls Yoonchae into a hug. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t have made you feel like you couldn’t associate yourself with certain people because of my personal issues. Listen girl, if you want to go to that party, you should go.”
Yoonchae pulls back to look at her. “Really? Would you come with me?”
She looks happier now. Hopeful.
Young.
Dani lets out the deepest, longest sigh in her seventeen years of life. “I suppose someone’s going to have to keep you out of trouble.” Truthfully, the thought of stepping foot inside Manon’s living space makes her want to vomit, but anything is worth making her best friend light up the way she is right now.
“DID I HEAR THE WORD PARTAYYYYY!”
An arm swings heavily onto Dani’s shoulder, and a head pops up between the two girls.
“Where were you guys?! I chatted with my professor for 10 minutes before noticing y’all weren’t doing your usual coughing routine to wrap me up.”
Dani knocks Sophia’s head with hers and laughs. “The chance you’ll witness Yoonchae and me party-planning for a second time is extremely low, so you'd better enjoy it.”
As the three girls exit the building, Dani lets her friends’ excited chatter wash over her, suppressing the worry building in her gut. Call her dramatic, call her irrational, but she has a feeling something’s going to change tomorrow night.
And not for the better.