A seconds pause

 "Took you long enough," Charlotte smirked as I walked through her door.

"I'm just gonna ignore that", I sighed. "You got anything to drink?"

"Just soda and juice." Her blonde hair flowed down past her shoulders, matching her soft skin and blue eyes perfectly. A model in a swimsuit covered in medals hung off her dresser next to a small lamp - a self-portrait taken a few years ago. She took one sip of coffee before setting it aside again.

"I'll take a soda."

"Hmm? That's not the Kaiden I know. Where's the sarcasm? The snark? You've always been a little prick." She took a sip of coffee, a second sip, and then set it down.

"Oh, shut it. I'm just thinking."

"Why?" Charlotte leaned back on her bed. "Big mistake if you ask me."

I didn't answer. Instead, I downed my drink, waiting for the sweet liquid to ease my tense shoulders.

"You know that Astella Vtuber I’m always obsessing over?"

"How could I not?" Charlotte scoffed. "You can't go thirty seconds in class without thinking about her."

"Well... it turns out she's in the same school as us."

"She's... what?" Charlotte's face shifted, turning red as a tomato. "How'd you come to that conclusion?"

"Data breach, and a big one at that."

"What?” Her voice squeaked. Since when did she care so much about data privacy? "Let me see that!"

"Be my guest." I tossed my phone over - wouldn't be the first or last time she used it.

She grabbed it with ease, eyes darting across the screen. "That is... very incriminating. I've gotta hand it to whoever leaked that info; they've done their job well." She muttered something under her breath, something about liking a girl? Not my problem.

"God... our school’s gonna get flooded with parasocials left and right now."

"You know what that means?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I, in fact, wasn't stuffed in a cardboard box for most of my life."

"Think someone needs to fact-check this."

"How could you say that? Aren't I just the picture of elegance?" Charlotte asked, pretending to be offended.

"Just kidding." I smiled.

"I knew you were all bark and no bite!"

"Oh, I bite, don't worry about that."

"I-If you say so." Her face reverted to a tomato. Apparently, red was all the rage these days.

"Well, I'll make sure to protect her! You gotta wonder how Astella Vorago feels about all this - terrified, I'd bet."

"What a valiant knight. How exactly are you gonna protect a girl you don't know?"

"I'll simply have to change that."

"Excuse me?"

"Think about it, Charlotte. There's around two hundred girls in our class, and I can knock off half that in a day! I'll simply have to find her myself - I've watched her enough, I'll be able to spot her within mere seconds.

"Oh really..." Charlotte looked away, staring into space. "Doxxing Astella to protect her doesn't sound like the greatest of ideas to me."

"It's not doxxing, just... Well, someone has to help her, and I probably know her better than anyone else here!"

"I'm sure she absolutely needs your help." She rolled her eyes. "Now, you done your science homework yet or what?"

"Got it done in class. What a parasite."

"And proud." She joked as I pulled a mountain of papers from my bag. With our test coming up, Charlotte had asked to study together - well, more like I'd be tutoring her the whole time. Unlike me, she didn't find failing tests very funny.

"What score are you aiming for on this one?" she asked.

"Exactly in the middle. My grades have been a bit too high for my liking. After all, every moment spent looking above the pack-"

"Is another moment you can't watch Astella." Charlotte begrudgingly finished my thought. "Still, why go to all this trouble of learning it all just to purposely fail?"

"Failing's an art form, not something any plebeian can do." Well, there was a bit more to it, but no way in hell I'd tell Charlotte I learned it to help her. She'd never let me hear the end of it!

"You're something else." She groaned, flipping through my papers.

"But I gotta say, you've improved since the last test."

"You really think so?" she asked. I couldn't help but smile at her reaction.

"So, how about it? Ready to hit the books?"

"I guess." she looked up from the sheets and then back down, then up again. "I can't wait to never use a single bit of this in the real world."

"I'll get a job in the entertainment industry, work my way high up and hire you for a gig just to make memorizing the periodic table a requirement for the job."

"I'd rather be out of work."

"How's that gig going anyway? The one you had to sign an NDA for."

"Oh uhh, it's hit a rough patch recently, but still couldn't ask for something better." She said, glancing at some formula sheet.

"Long as it pays for my tutoring fees, I hope it goes splendidly."

"Oh, how will you survive without your weekly pizza?"

"I'll just shrivel up and die like a plant - a fitting end for one such as I."

"Well, you won't die yet. So let's keep that plant alive for now."

"You got it." I smiled. Charlotte's always had a way with words.

Time passed in the blink of an eye; Charlotte asking question after question while I answered with the least amount of sarcasm I could muster - not that that meant much.

At school, anything remotely academic made me want to dive away into the world of flashy lights and warmth that Astella provided. Yet, there was something about studying with Charlotte that just felt fun.

Maybe the lure of pizza afterward was just that great.

After hours of quizzing, Charlotte finally put down her pencil and sighed. "I want to rip these papers in half and burn them till they’re charcoal."

"Alright, alright." I grinned, grabbing my bookbag. "I think that should do it for today."

Charlotte turned towards the window, gazing outside at the sunset. "I suppose so."

“Hey…” I couldn’t ignore it, not anymore. “Seriously, you ok?”

Maybe it was my nerves, but everything shimmered a bit as my sentence came to a close. Nothing like the shaking of watery eyes, as if reality changed at that very moment.

She glanced up, tears filling her eyes.

Ever since I’d mentioned the Astella leak, Chaorolatte’s manner felt just the slightest bit off, like she heard everything from my mouth a second after I spoke. This wasn't the impenetrable Charoloatte I knew–the one who comforted me at the worst of times. The one who shone in the best of times.

“Here I was, planning to keep this all for you. I worried you know, worried about your reaction if I told you. Part of me wanted to tell you long, long ago. But then you became a fan. How could I break your illusion of this perfect girl? Whenever you mentioned Astella, your eyes shone like never before. What was it about that girl I wonder?”

“... Charlotte? You don’t have to say anything–”

“No, I should have done this eons ago. I am Astella Volago, always have been.”

My mouth refused to move. The brightest star known to man, my hero and idol. Without Astella, who knew where my life would have gone?

And there the girl of my dreams sat, right in front of my eyes the entire time.

“A–Are you serious?”

“Sadly so.” She trotted over towards her PC, shaking the mouse a bit. A very familiar streaming layout popped upon the smooth screen–one with a few more gadgets than any viewer would ever see.

“Why now?” It was all I could ask. Charlotte held the closest grasp to my heart, more trust than any human deserved.

“I don’t…” She sighed. “I wanted to, but this leak gave me the courage–no, the desperation to finally admit it.”

Her expression remained hidden in shadow, refusing to look up.

“I… no, you did nothing wrong. I loved Astella with all my heart! But her identity was none of my information, much less something I or anyone else deserved.”

Charlotte slowly revealed her expression, tears rolling down her smile. “I don’t know why, but I’m getting this feeling of wholesomeness right now.

“Me too…” My brain was firing at full capacity, every piston and cog working overtime. “Wait, but…”

“You're talking about the leaker right?” Charlotte's tone felt soft, open.

“Yeah!” I snapped back to reality, surprises be dammed. Leakers were skum of the earth, and now that my best friend and the girl I admired above all were one and the same?

Everying clearned at that moment.

“How much do you know about them?”

“Not much, she admitted, tears still flowing down her porcelain face. “They're a fellow classmate of ours, however, I know that much.”

“A classmate…” Someone I’d talked to, maybe even goofed around with was responsible for this? I couldn’t help by clutch my hands. “What a joke.”

“It’s my fault for logging in on a school PC, but nevertheless let the past stay there. I need your help Kaiden, help to catch this dammed leaker and make sure they’ll never dare to screw with any of us again!”

Ah, there was that fire I remembered.