Chapter 8 - ‘Friendly’ Encounter

"Ashley… it's nice to hear from you…" Natalie said as she turned towards the brunette with a forced smile.

Ashley Barrett and Natalie Aster went to the same high school in a small town called SpringValley. Amanda Saint High was where the two met. Soon after they would become friends and later enemies.

"So how's Damien? Are you still head over heels for him?" Natalie said with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"HA! I'll have you know it's the other way around and I've found better too," Ashley said sticking her nose in the air and flipping her hair.

"Whatever. So what brought you here?"

"Oh, nothing really, just looking for a new outfit. I have a date tonight, unlike a certain someone." Ashley said with a cocky smirk.

"At least I can take care of myself. Who needs a man anyway? I'm doing just fine on my own! Plus it's not like he'd even want a second date with a- a person like you." Natalie said, her cheeks turning red with anger. Ashley knew what Natalie meant by 'person' since Natalie doesn't like cursing. She was angered by what Natalie said.

"Hmm… Natalie, you seem to be hot. You're turning redder by the second! Here let me help cool you down!" Ashley said, grabbing Natalie's drink and spilling it on her. Everyone in the food court stared at the scene. All eyes were on Natalie and Ashley. Natalie's face grew redder but this time from embarrassment. She stormed out of the food court with her bags in hand, hot tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Tch, so your Ashley? Huh, thought you'd be prettier than this. Who am I kidding though?" Margret said with a smile at the end.

"Uh, who are you? Pfft, don't tell me you're that slut's friend," Ashley tried to contain her laughter.

"Actually, I'm her best friend. Oh, I almost forgot, here let me give you a little gift," Margret said walking up to Ashley. Once the two girls stood face to face a loud slapping noise rang out in the food court. Margret had just slapped Ashley in the face.

"That was for making my bestie cry. If it happens again it'll be more than a small slap on the face ya got that? I would take that as a warning if I were you." Margret said walking away from the brunette, her items in hand.

Soon after, Margret found Natalie crying in one of the bathroom stalls. They decided it had been a long day and walked home. On their way home Natalie told Margret about all the strange things that have been occurring at her house.

"Are you sure your place isn't haunted? That sounds like something right out of a movie."

"I mean I could've been sleep cleaning, who knows?"

"Pfft, yeah it could've been Buttons as well. Maybe he was helping you sleep clean, haha." Margret said sarcastically towards her friend. Both girls laugh as they look up at the night sky.

"Hey, Natalie?"

"Hmm?" Natalie hummed as if to say "yea?"

"I've been wondering, why'd you come to live in the city? I get that it's near FoodMart and our college campus, but why? It's super hard to see all the stars in the night sky in the city. Don't you miss being able to look up and see what felt like an entire sky filled with stars and planets? Like… you were looking at the whole Galaxy. Don't you miss it?" Margret questioned with what seemed to be a somber smile.

"I do," Natalie said with a bright smile plastered onto her face, "I do miss that feeling. I love the feeling so much, it brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. All the memories of the night sky filled with stars and planets, they swell up inside me, they make me feel as if I'm about to explode. Sure it's hard to see stars in the sky in Maygain but the city lights make up for it in a way. All the lights in the city look so beautiful, they remind me of stars and my dream. Plus even with all the city lights at least I'm able to see a couple of stars. It may not look like a whole galaxy but it sure does feel like it to me."

"That's sweet. Sometimes I wish I were as passionate as you. The way you think of things is so refreshing and optimistic sometimes." Margret said with a sigh, soon after she waved her friend off, "Anyways, your home. I'll see you tomorrow at campus and work. Good night, Natalie!"

"See you tomorrow! Good night, Margret!" Natalie said waving back. Soon after waving her friend off, Natalie walked up to her apartment and unlocked the door. She dragged herself in and locked the door behind her.

"Buttons, I'm home!" Natalie called, but there was no response. He couldn't possibly be angry at her for this morning, could he?

'What time is it? He could be asleep?' Natalie thought as she pulled out her phone. Her phone read 10:45 pm. Natalie decided that he probably went to sleep already and headed to the bathroom to shower and do her nightly routine.

After Natalie finished in the bathroom she walked over to her drawers to grab her pajamas only to see Buttons tied up on her bed. Buttons was tangled with her laptop's charger.

"Buttons! How did you get tangled with my charger and most importantly why?" Natalie said as she quickly got dressed and ran over to the poor cat. As soon as the cat was untangled from the cable, he lunged toward a certain blonde-haired doll. Unfortunately for Buttons, his plans of revenge were stopped by the same blonde-haired girl who saved him.

"Don't even think about attacking them!" Natalie said. And with that Natalie set the cat down and headed off to sleep. Buttons only glared toward the blonde-haired doll before heading to bed as well.