Chapter Text
September 1st, 2016
Dear diary,
I believe I’m a good person. You know, I think that there’s good in everyone, but here we are, first day of senior year!
I look around at these kids I’ve known all my life and ask myself, “What happened?”
Vincent set his pen down as he was writing in his journal. He had zoned out as his English teacher was rambling on about the syllabus.
Across the room the Vees were huddled together, as Velvette was showing them something on her phone.
“Yeah and my latest Musical.ly is at a hundred thousand views! If I keep this up, I’m gonna get crowned,”
“Well duh, of course you're going to get crowned soon Velvette. Everyone loves your videos,” Valentino responded.
“Yeah, you’re like the next Baby Ariel,” Angel piped in.
“Ugh shut up Angel! That bitch is soooo fake. Everyone likes her because she acts so perfect but I can see right through her…”
Vincent rolled his eyes and went back to writing in his journal, sick of listening to the Vees bickering. He already had to listen to Velvette complaining in his broadcasting class last hour. She was upset about Angel getting to do one of the segments that she really wanted to do.
They’re so fake… Vincent thought.
Briiiiiiiiiing!!!
Vincent walked to lunch alone, his mind drifting to future plans. He had just finished all his college applications early, and was now waiting to hear back. He only applied to schools that were at least 1,000 miles away from his hometown.
As he was waiting in the lunch line, someone tapped on his shoulder. Vincent turned around, to see the Queen Vee, Velvette.
“Hey, weather boy… I’ve got another favor to ask of you.”
It wasn’t unusual for Velvette to ask favors of Vincent. Last year, Velvette had joined the broadcasting class, purely because she wanted to be the center of attention. Like she isn’t already…
Vincent had been in the class since he was a freshman, so he had built up a bit of a reputation for being the funny weather boy. Everyone in the broadcasting class loved him, and the teacher trusted his judgment on how to run all the segments. Because of this, he had a large role in choosing who was on each segment and who had to do the behind the scene work.
New members of the class weren’t usually put in the important segments. Of course, Velvette was not happy about this. She would ask Vincent to put her into the important segments, and in return, he got invited to all of her parties. He didn’t care about the parties that much, however it was nice to actually be seen as more than just some nerd.
“Whats up?” Vincent asked, genuinely curious about what she would need help with already. After all, it was only the first day of school.
Velvette looked around for a second before whispering to Vincent, “Do you know that Pendleton guy? That short little dork that’s always got his nose in a book?”
Caught off guard, Vincent responded, “Uhh yeah kinda. We like… used to hang out?”
That was a lie. Vincent and Pendleton had been close for years. However, while Pendleton had been focused on studying and trying to become valedictorian, Vincent wanted to become head of the broadcasting class. The two of them had grown apart over the course of high school, especially since Vincent started hanging out at the Vee’s parties.
“So like, you know about Cherry’s party this weekend? Well, me and the Vees were thinking it would be hilarious to ‘invite him’” Velvette said while doing an air quotes motion.
Vincent was confused, “Invite him?”
Velvette rolled her eyes. “No dipshit, we’re not actually inviting him. So basically, you’re going to give him a fake invitation. From Cherry. Wait… you are invited to her party, right?”
“Umm… well I never received a formal invitation…” Vincent responded hesitantly, shuffling his feet.
“Oh not to worry poppet, you can come with us! I’m sure Cherry won’t mind. Trust me, you’re going to want to see his reaction when he talks to Cherry,” Velvette snickered while handing Vincent a folded up note, “And make sure he actually comes. This is going to go absolutely viral!”
Vincent took the note and carefully put it in his pocket. “Yeah, I’ll go give it to him now.” He felt a little bad for messing with Pendleton like this, however it’s not like anything bad would happen. It’s just a harmless prank, Pendleton would just be a little embarrassed when he finds out he wasn’t actually invited.
— — — — — — — —
Vincent saw Pendleton sitting alone in a corner of the lunch room, face buried into a book. Once he filled up his lunch tray, he went over to sit by him.
“Hey man, whatcha reading?” Vincent asked. He looked over his shoulder and saw the Vees staring at him through the window. They were sitting at a table outside, right by a window.
“Oh, this is just the summer reading,” Pendleton responded, not paying Vincent much attention.
“The summer reading? You don’t do that over the summer?”
Pendleton looked up, his face full of surprise, “Oh, no no no… I did. I finished it the first week of summer, as well as the writing assignment. I’m just refreshing my memory of what happened,” Pendleton replied as if this was the most obvious thing ever.
“Cool,” Vincent responded, glancing over to the Vees. Velvette did a hurry up hand motion, and he quickly looked away. “Uhh so anyways… Did you hear about the party this weekend?”
Pendleton had his face in the book again. “You know I don't like parties, Vince. Plus, I was going to start building my project for the robotics club this weekend.”
Vincent shifted anxiously, knowing his reputation with the Vees was on the line. If he could help them pull this prank off, he could be a part of their group. He didn’t really care that much about popularity… but being a part of the Vees would be very helpful with his broadcasting class.
“Oh. Well I actually received an invitation from Cherry for-“
“Wait!” Pendleton interrupted, “Cherry? As in Cherry from the volleyball team?”
“Yeah her. I have an invitation for you,” Vincent responded, handing Pendleton the folded up paper.
Pendleton took the paper, his eyes widening as he read it. “Cherry wrote this… for me?” he asked in amazement. “Did you ask her to invite me???”
“Uhh… Yeah I guess. Cherry wrote that… just for you!” Vincent responded, plastering on a fake smile.
Pendleton gasped, clutching the note close to his chest. “My robotics project can wait. I’ll be there! Hey, we should go together Vincent!”
Shit… “Oh well actually uhh I’m going with some other friends…”
Just then, Vincent felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text from Velvette saying, “did he fall for it??? get your ass over here and spill the tea!”
“Oh… well I will just see you there. Who are you going with?” Pendleton asked, his tone sounding let down.
Vincent glanced at the Vees and made eye contact with Velvette, who was beckoning him to go outside.
“Hey, you know what? I gotta go… I'll see you at the party, yeah?” Vincent responded quickly, grabbing his stuff.
“Yeah, I'll see you-“ Vincent hurried away while Pendleton was still talking. He felt like he couldn’t let down the Vees, he was in too deep with their plan.