#Envy - 1

Honey nods in satisfaction at her six new followers.

Maybe this was the way to gain her popularity, with knees into someone’s ribs and unrestrained violence. The idiot gang vanished as soon as they had appeared, scurrying away with their tails tucked between their legs.

Of course, she didn’t let them leave without a little compensation.

They also give her something she doesn’t know what to do with. The gangly, vulture boy they all seemed to follow around for whatever reason, told her to hold out her phone.

He tapped her pretty pink phone case with his steel-gray device and a pawn chess piece appeared on her screen with the number 15 beside it. It invited her to a hyperlink and with an account registry.

She squints at it.

Were they trying to get her to download a virus?

They book it out of there before she has the chance to ask.

“You should be careful who you go about beating up,” Misha says from behind her, he and his redhead friend attempt to savor the meager remains of their destroyed lunch.

Misha eyes some of the cream pasta spilled over the grass, shrugging before tucking a fork of it into his mouth.

Honey makes a face.

“Shouldn’t you be thanking me?”

There’s a pause as Misha chews on his floor food.

“Thanks.”

Honey fumes. Before she starts a fight here out on the lawn (another one), the redhead slides between them, trying to disarm her rising fury with an outstretched hand.

“You must be a friend of Misha’s, I’m Elias!”

She looks him up and down, calculating whether he’s worth giving an introduction to. The fact that he seems like he’s the popular school prince by just appearance alone makes her decision.

“Honey.” She says without taking his hand, eyes returning to Misha, “Why won’t you help me with-”

“Drop. It.”

Misha collects his food just as the lunch hour bell rings again. Students are already heading back to their classrooms.

He starts to leave too.

“Didn’t you see that whole ordeal just now?” Honey’s right behind him, her feet almost touching the heels of his worn-out sneakers. The laces have lost the aglets on the ends and are tied with makeshift knots to keep from fraying.

“I could take down The King if you helped me,”

She will do that of course, but she won’t destroy a system that could potentially ruin Charlotte the way Honey plans. It’s something she can’t pass up when it’s just within reach.

She wants to see Charlotte suffer the way she did. Humiliated. Cast Out. Irrelevant.

Misha stops and turns around but he looks past her at Elias.

“Sorry about lunch, I’ll see you later.”

Honey, anger already taken out on her new unlucky followers, burns out ruefully.

---

The day drags on.

There had to be another way to get through to Misha, but Honey had already tried her two ways of dealing with obstacles. Sweet-talk with bribery and violent threats. Neither worked.

Or scrap that, there had to be another way of getting information about The Midnight Fights. Something.

Anything.

Maybe the little jerks from earlier could get her some answers.

But she doesn’t know what school they’re from and she doubts they’ll respond to any of her texts. None of them had the balls to even look her in the eyes.

She sighs.

Misha’s her only option right now.

All she really knows about the weirdo is hair clips and, now more recently, that he wants to destroy The Midnight Fights. He’s probably just bitter that he lost his spot two years ago to that demon Charlotte’s boyfriend.

If being The King meant she’d be respected by everyone, then she won’t let Misha take away this divine opportunity. However, she can use this to her advantage.

If he wants to destroy The Midnight Fights so bad, then she’ll pretend to help him.

Honey can drop him once the throne is hers.

She just has to get into the fights first.

When she returns to class, she expects him to give her the cold shoulder. He doesn’t. Misha hands her another tic-tac-toe game during a lecture and this time it turns out to be a draw.

She doesn’t understand him.

School ends without conflict and like he’s always in a rush, Misha bolts out of the classroom before the bell has the chance to stop ringing.

Honey feels exhausted from an unnecessarily eventful day full of unnecessarily unproductive events. Whatever. There’s always tomorrow, right?

She sighs again. Louder this time.

Honey just wants to go to the skating rink and relieve some stress.

Of course, fate had other plans for her that afternoon as soon as she took one stride out of Godforsaken’s gates, her foot barely even leaving school grounds.

“Oh, Honey, there you are!”

Who the hell?

A certain redhead with a blue blazer jogs over to her like they’re old friends. He seems to have spotted her down the block and was waving so desperately to Honey, he might’ve been trying to dislocate an arm.

No one had ever done that. Not with the same earnest expression. If anyone ever looked that frantic trying to catch her attention, it usually meant they were expecting something from her. Everything her former “friends” did felt fake. Smiles carved onto their faces whenever they were around her.

Honey’s curiosity piques slightly. Just enough to keep her there without turning the opposite direction and skating away faster than an Olympic racer.

The first thing she notices is that the redhead walks strangely. A bit of an amble where his knees bend stiffly at all the wrong moments in his gait.

The second thing she notices is that he’s followed by a small crowd of people, lingering a few steps behind. Boys and girls in Cavalier uniforms with their perfectly white, straight teeth and botched plastic surgeries, looking at him like he was royalty.

Hearts in their eyes and all.

Honey had to admit, Misha’s friend had the looks worthy of this sort of popularity, but none of the vigor to maintain his public image.

Envy.

She swallows it.

“I was waiting for you!” He says so loudly it startles Honey. He shouts over his shoulder like he wants to make sure the entourage behind him hears it.

Honey decides he’s terrible at acting.

His dumb hazel eyes beg her to play along like she’s some sort of cohort in his dire situation, but she doesn’t even remember his name. Honey takes a discreet peek behind him.

These idiotic, lovestruck students follow the redhead like students used to do at her old school, crazy for any attention from their idol, clambering over each other just for one of his empty smiles.

Depending on how this goes down, Honey’s online reputation could plummet.

She knows how those mindless morons work, they’ll blast her online for trying to steal their school heartthrob. Honey’s been on the other end of those schemes, fanning the flames of her followers to bring down a rival competing for the same attention.

She’ll need some sort of payment.

Honey turns back to him.

“Promote my Sinstagram at your school?” She negotiates.

“Deal.”

Honey’s face smooths out, all the anger and hard edges drain from the creases in her brow and the downturned corners of her mouth, melting into a smile so bright that it would give the sun a run for its money.

She looks soft, innocent, and undeniably kind. It’s an expression that suits her outfit more than her real face.

A finger cutely brushes her lips.

“Sorry to make you wait, I forgot my phone at my desk! How silly of me, I was so excited to see”-and this part she shouts so loud it couldn’t possibly be misunderstood-”MY COUSIN!”

Fake cousins had less risk than fake lovers. This would minimize the damage to her reputation. He better be grateful Honey knew how to deal with idiots.

He beams in satisfaction.

At this exclamation, the stalkers are stunned for just a moment, then rush forward in a frenzied mass. No longer cautious with their distance.

One of the boys with probably real diamond earrings takes her hands into his.

“Elias, you had a cousin this pretty?”

A few of the girls who smelled of every floral perfume all at once touched her hair and lauded her appearance.

“She’s so stylish and cute!”

One, wearing various designer rings, clasps her shoulder like they’re good friends.

“It must be dreadful having to go to Godforsaken High! You should come to school with us!”

A girl with an immaculate head of ringlets and an obvious nose job grabs at her sleeve in a friendly gesture, trying to tug Honey towards the pack of Elias-obsessed minions.

The aggression creeps back in her eyes for just a split second. Honey fights the urge to bat away their hands, possibly with a good punch or two, but she stays committed to her delicate demeanor and tightening smile.

She can’t say she didn’t cherish this smidgeon of popularity she so desperately missed. This is how it was supposed to be at Godforsaken High, was it not? People appreciating everything about her like they would a masterpiece in an art gallery.

Even if these Cavalier students were most likely after her alleged financial wealth.

Elias ushers Honey away from the prying crowd.

“She just transferred, so I’ll be showing her around today,” Elias smiles warmly, shooing the audience away and walking in the opposite direction. Like a pack of brainless sheep, the small company begins to back off, waving their uncalloused hands in goodbye.

Their curiosity appeased for now.

“Nice to meet you all!” Honey spits between her gritted smile.