"happy birthday!" louisa threw herself at scarlett at lunch the next day, enveloping the redhead into a tight hug before she shoved a gift bag into her arms. "little early for this type of enthusiasm," maria groaned, dropping her head onto the table in front of them. "it's 11:30," louisa rolled her eyes. "that's called proving my point," maria replied. "thank you," scarlett tucked the gift bag into her backpack. she never liked to make a big deal out of birthdays, she didn't really see the point of them. but her friends liked to make a fuss out of the day so she usually just let them, mainly because she knew they were too stubborn and would make it a big deal regardless of what scarlett said.

louisa's phone buzzed, diverting the brunette's attention away from scarlett. "oh my god," louisa's gripped her phone tighter. maria raised her head just in time to exchange confused looks with scarlett who leant over to her friend curiously. "what's up?" scarlett asked, tilting down the girls phone slightly. she immediately flushed red, letting go of louisa's phone as soon just as maria grabbed onto it, her jaw dropped a little. "oh you have got to be joking me!" she spun around to heather's table where the blonde remained blissfully ignorant.

scarlett cringed internally, she couldn't bring herself to turn around to where the girl was sitting but she could hear the text alerts ringing around the cafeteria loud and clear, so it was only a matter of time before it reached heather's table. instead scarlett focused her attention on regina's table, for once she didn't mind that the girl was sat diagonal to her because it meant they were right in view of each other while still remaining subtle. regina very clearly bit back a smile before shooting a wink in scarlett's direction. "it was definitely only a matter of time," scarlett could hear louisa saying just as aaron stormed out of the cafeteria, scarlett didn't think she'd ever seen him look so furious.

follow him, she found herself mouthing to regina who faltered for a moment before excusing herself from the table she was sat at. all eyes were on regina as she rushed after aaron, concern was written across her face and scarlett couldn't quite figure out whether it was real or not. "hey," maria nudged her. "earth to scarlett." the girl snapped her attention back to her friends. "what?" she asked innocently. "did you say something to her?" maria's brows furrowed. "to who?" scarlett frowned at her as if she had no clue what maria was talking about. "regina?" maria pressed. "it looked like you said something to her before she ran out."

"no," scarlett shook her head. "i didn't say anything?" she glanced at louisa. "i didn't see her say anything," louisa thankfully backed the girl up which just made scarlett feel ten times worse. she felt like she was betraying maria in some way, constantly lying to her the way she had been recently. the news had obviously hit heather's table, the blonde flounced out of the cafeteria with an exaggerated groan as everyone around the cafeteria gossiped about her. "you made us miss the drama," louisa pouted at maria but once again scarlett wasn't listening. "uhm, i'll be right back," scarlett pushed herself up from where she had been sitting.

"everything ok?"

"everything's fine," scarlett reassured louisa, ignoring maria's comment. "i'll be back in a second." scarlett followed after the blonde before maria could protest. scarlett paced the corridors until she caught sight of heather, headed towards an empty classroom. "hey!" scarlett caught up to her, trying to act as though she had not ran down the corridor after her. "are you ok?" heather let out a hollow laugh before she met scarlett's eyes. "stupid question," scarlett nodded. "got it." those words earned the redhead a small smile from heather. scarlett thought that it should've made her feel accomplished, but it didn't.

"wait," scarlett stuck her hand out in front of heather as they approached what they had both assumed to be an empty classroom. "is that-" a scowl spread across heather's face. "ok maybe now is not the best time to have a conversation with-" scarlett didn't even get a chance to finish her words before heather stormed into the classroom where aaron and regina looked to be deep in an argument. regina's head shot up, her eyes landing directly on scarlett. sorry, she mouthed at regina who looked like she was about to literally murder her.

"you," heather seethed, moving closer to aaron. "start talking, now." regina made the first move, stepping in front of aaron before he could even open his mouth. scarlett found herself holding her breath, one wrong word and both heather and aaron could have them figured out. "heather, was it?" regina started. "aaron and i were always going to get back together, it's not our fault you thought you were more than a rebound." scarlett inwardly groaned, she hadn't expected regina to be nice to heather but she had hoped that she would act civil for the sake of not angering heather anymore.

"i wasn't talking to you," heather snapped. "you were talking to my boyfriend," regina reached back and took aaron's hand in hers. "no," aaron tugged himself free. "heather this isn't-" regina cleared her throat. "there's no point in lying to the poor girl anymore, is there aaron?" she turned to face the boy, tracing his jawline with her fingertips. "what?" he shook his head. "no, this is-" he stumbled over his words helplessly, his eyes travelling between regina and heather. "well you can't have both of us," regina crossed her arms, her entire demeanour had changed in a split second. "you have to choose aaron," she continued. "pick the right girl and not your petty rebound."

"you are such a bitch," heather spat out. she reached out and turned regina around to face her, even regina herself looked taken aback at the girl in front of her. "you're nothing but a manipulative, self-centered whore and everyone including him knows it!" scarlett's eyes met regina's, she couldn't read the blonde at all but scarlett thought that the expression on her face at that moment may haunt scarlett's thoughts for eternity. regina opened her mouth to answer but scarlett knew she had to cut in before regina could reply. "that's a little much," scarlett stepped forward, placing a hand on heather's shoulder as gently as she possibly could. "come on," she practically pulled heather away from regina. "let's just get out of here."

heather obliged pretty easily, letting scarlett lead her out of the classroom. aaron still looked incredibly confused by whatever was going on, but he made no attempt to follow after heather. it seemed pretty clear that he had already made his choice. it hadn't really taken much to break their relationship up yet scarlett still felt like the worst person in the world. she cast a look back to regina and offered the blonde a small smile that wasn't returned. instead regina tore her eyes away from her, leaving her to comfort heather.

"they're not worth it," scarlett said awkwardly once they were out of earshot. "i know that's cliché and it's what everyone says but seriously, you deserve better." heather had seemed to deflate the second they had left the classroom, her anger had subsided and in its place was now tears that scarlett could clearly see forming in the girls eyes. "i have no one," heather said, her voice so quiet that scarlett wasn't sure if she had meant to say those words out loud. "my friends didn't even try and check up on me, they just started talking about how i should've known this would happen because it's regina george after all." she sniffed sadly. "and my boyfriend decided it would be fun to choose his ex over me so now the only person i have is a random girl i share a couple of classes with." she grimaced as the words had left her mouth. "sorry," she shook her head. "i'm grateful that-"

"it's fine," scarlett smiled at her. and for once it actually was fine. maybe it was because scarlett knew heather was highly emotional at that moment, but the comment about her just being a 'random girl' hadn't phased her at all. "you're not just a random girl," heather continued. "you actually seem pretty cool." she dragged her eyes away from scarlett's. "and you seem to have friends that actually give a damn about you." scarlett raised a brow. "yeah that's to make up for the fact that my parents are the ones that don't give a damn," she nudged heather. "not to make it into a competition or anything." heather cracked a small smile at that.

"can i ask why'd you follow me?" heather asked quietly. "we barely know each other." scarlett bit her lower lip. "you looked upset," she chose her words as carefully as she possibly could. "i just thought you could use someone to talk to." heather's eyes met scarlett's. "that's cute," she said before she tore her eyes away. "uhm, i mean that you thought i needed someone to talk to." scarlett laughed softly. "well if you ever need to talk to anyone, feel free to come find me," she said. "i've been told i'm a great listener." heather grinned at the girl before she took a step forward and enveloped scarlett into a hug. the redhead was taken aback for a moment, her arms hung mid-air as if she had forgotten how a hug worked. once she managed to regain some type of composure, she found herself wrapping her arms around heather in response.

"thank you," heather said. "for being more of a friend than my actual friends." she let go of scarlett and stepped back. "don't mention it," scarlett smiled at her. "and you'll find someone better than aaron, i promise." heather studied the girl's face for a moment. "yeah," she replied. "i think you might be right." a look crossed over her face before she cleared her throat. "i should go," she sighed. "i have a class." scarlett nodded. "yeah, of course," she replied. "i'll see you around." she watched as the blonde walked away but she couldn't get the look on heather's face out of her mind. i think you might be right.

✭

"i think she was flirting with me."
"i think you're delusional."

"fuck you," scarlett rolled her eyes as she flopped down onto the bed next to regina. "has anyone ever flirted with you before?" regina asked. "or are you mistaking her overly nice angel act for something it isn't?" scarlett should've been spending her birthday with her friends but instead she was sat on regina george's bed while they discussed everything that had went down that day. scarlett didn't know why they couldn't just have talked about it over the phone, she also didn't know why she practically jumped at the chance to spend the evening with regina george. it had been a weird week and scarlett put it down to the fact that her head was a mess.

"she gave me this look that was not out of politeness," scarlett sighed. "it was like the way i constantly look at her." regina was silent for a moment, her fingers tracing circles on the bedspread as if she was trying to come up with a snide remark that would dash scarlett's hopes. "what about aaron?" scarlett asked, diverting the conversation away from herself. "how did that go?" the mention of aaron's name seemed to make regina ten times more miserable than she already looked. "he's pissed," regina shrugged. "he'll get over it." scarlett raised a brow. "he didn't make any attempt to follow heather," she reminded regina. "so i'm pretty sure he made his choice and it looks good for you."

"yeah," regina echoed. "i guess you're right." scarlett frowned at her. "did you just tell me i'm right about something?" she asked. "are you feeling ok?" regina's eyes met hers. "what?" she asked. "oh, yeah, i'm fine." she inched away from scarlett on the bed as if sitting too close could bring down her popularity status. "actually i have something for you," regina muttered. "give me a second." she slid off the bed and exited the bedroom, leaving scarlett sat in a state of confusion. she ran through a list of things regina could possibly have for her and not one of them was good. she practically held her breath when regina reentered the room, expecting the worst from the girl.

instead, scarlett was met with a small flicker of light from the cupcake regina was holding in her hand. the blonde looked so out of her comfort zone with what looked to be an attempt at a nice gesture. scarlett had to hold back her laughter as the girl thrust the cake into her hand, the candle tilting slightly as she did. "what is this?" scarlett asked, turning the purple frosted cake around in her hands. "a cupcake, duh." scarlett rolled her eyes. "no i know what it is," she said. "why are you giving it to me? did you poison it or something?" regina scowled at her. "blow out the damn candle," she instructed. "i heard it was your birthday and you're here instead of doing whatever it is you and your nerd group do so-"

"this is cute," scarlett interjected. "thank you." she blew out the candle, but not before she noticed the blush that crept across regina's face. "don't refer to me as cute ever again you'll bring down my rep," regina huffed. scarlett studied the blonde for a second, biting back the smile on her face that threatened to break through. her stomach swooped slightly before she replied, "noted."