Ava's POV
"You okay?" Alex asks beside me, watching me stir my iced coffee for the fifth time with increasing aggression.
"Nope."
"Want to talk about it?"
"Not really."
He watches the ice swirl violently. "You're going to break the glass."
I slam the straw down.
"She cried, Alex. Sky cried."
His expression shifts. "Wait. Sky? Your Sky?"
"Our Sky."
He nods. "Right. That's like… seeing a unicorn bleed."
"Exactly!" I push back my chair, fire blazing in my veins. "No one—and I mean no one—makes her feel like she's too much. She is sunshine incarnate. Literal serotonin. A gift to mankind."
Alex stands up, sighing. "So, we're doing this."
"Damn right we are."
---
Five minutes later, I find them.
Three girls from our year, pretending to sip lattes and whisper sweet poison behind manicured hands. The same ones who've been side-eyeing Sky for weeks now—saying she acts too bubbly, that she's too close to Kai, that she's trying too hard.
I walk over slowly.
Alex trails behind me like a tall, bored bodyguard who's only here to stop me from committing arson.
"Hi," I say sweetly, placing both hands on their table.
They look up. Confused. Then wary.
"I heard you've been talking about my best friend."
Blank blinks.
One dares a laugh. "Who?"
"Sky."
"Oh," she says, faking innocence. "We didn't mean anything bad, she's just… a lot."
I lean in, smile never reaching my eyes. "A lot more decent than you'll ever be."
The second girl tries to interrupt. "We just said—"
"I know exactly what you said. Pick-me. Try-hard. Too loud. All that nonsense." I tilt my head. "Tell me something—what's it like being so irrelevant that the only time people know your name is when you talk about someone better?"
Alex whistles softly behind me. "Yikes."
I glance back at him. "You're not helping."
He shrugs. "You don't need help."
I turn to the girls again. "Sky cried today. Which is something she hasn't done since she watched Finding Nemo and thought Dory died."
"She cries over Dory?" one of them mutters.
"Yes, she does," I say proudly. "Because she has something you clearly lack—a heart."
Dead silence.
I grab a napkin from their table, scribble a heart on it, and slide it over. "Here. Thought you might want to borrow one."
Then I turn on my heel and walk away.
Alex follows, whistling low. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."
"You already are. You didn't even offer to hold my earrings."
He blinks. "You weren't wearing any."
"I could have been!"
---
Sky's POV
I didn't mean to hear it.
Okay, that's a lie.
I absolutely meant to eavesdrop.
Kai and I were passing through the back hallway next to the café when I heard Ava's voice.
Which usually isn't surprising—my girl was born with the lungs of a Broadway soprano—but today? She sounded… feral.
"Sky cried, Alex. Sky. Cried."
I froze.
Kai did too.
She was talking about me.
I peeked around the corner.
Three girls sat cowering at a table, and Ava? Oh, Ava was in full Greek goddess rage-mode, standing over them like some stylish angel of vengeance with a designer tote and murder in her eyes.
I covered my mouth, eyes wide.
"She is sunshine incarnate," Ava declared. "Literal serotonin. A gift to mankind."
Kai muttered beside me, "Is she giving a TED Talk?"
I elbowed him. "Shut up. This is art."
"She cries over Dory," Ava continued passionately. "Because she has something you clearly lack—a heart."
I gasped.
Kai blinked. "You do cry over Dory?"
"I thought she died, okay?"
We both leaned further around the corner like the messiest little spies alive. My heart was swelling. Melting. Cracking at the seams.
Ava was defending me like I was a sacred, endangered rainbow.
And Alex—sweet, long-suffering Alex—was just trailing behind her with his hands in his pockets, trying not to laugh as she annihilated them with kindness and cruelty wrapped in hot pink gloss.
"She's going to body them with a glitter pen," I whispered.
Kai snorted. "She's terrifying."
"Terrifyingly perfect."
Then Ava said the final line:
"Here. Thought you might want to borrow one."
She slid a napkin across the table. It had a heart drawn on it.
I was full-on crying now. Quiet, silent tears. I hugged my cardigan closer around me and sniffled.
Kai stiffened. "Hey," he said, and his voice was low, quieter than usual, serious. "Don't cry."
"I'm not," I sniffled. "These are… aggressive love tears."
He sighed. Pulled a tissue out of his pocket. "You cry like a Disney princess."
I smiled. "You watched a Disney movie?"
He looked horrified. "That was an insult."