A short story I wrote on the first day of school...

...based on characters I thought up last year on the first day of school. GO!

Audience Preferences,

The two girls sat in the cafeteria. They wore very different styles of clothing and each appeared not to notice the other at all. One, fair haired and blue eyed sat huddled over a stack of papers with a pen in hand. Every few minutes she'd flip her pin-straight hair over her shoulder and out of her eyes. The other girl sat in the seat beside with her eyes closed and her chin bobbing. Her head was stacked with objects, a pair of large headphones sat over top of a pageboy style hat which sat upon a mess of curly black hair. Every few minutes she'd glance around the room, opening her dark eyes to survey the area before returning to the symphony playing in her personal speakers.

Minutes passed until the blond girl finally looked up from her papers. Holding a stack covered in messy scrawl she tapped the other girl on her shoulder. The dark haired opened her eyes and looked lazily over as she removed her headphones. The first girl spoke with enthusiasm;

         "Lil! Lil, I'm done this part, do you mind taking a look at it for me?"

The curly haired Lil put her headphones down on the table and took the papers in her hand

         "Sure thing Mel, What should I be expecting, give me a summary."

"Well, My main character, Malory, has just met the love of her life for the first time, Bryan Stevens"

           Lil rolled her eyes and looked skeptically at her friend "You know, I still think it's super lame that your main character is named Malory" She stretched out the letter 'u' in super like it was supposed to be a long string of 'O's. Mel just laughed and shook her head.

           "My name is Melissa," she said, gesturing with one hand "And her name is Malory" She said with the other hand outstretching. "BIG difference"

         Lil let some air escape her lips in a "pffft" before turning back to the papers in her hand. She began to read as Mel Tried her best to look busy.

         Eventually Lil looked up, prompting Mal to turn excitedly to look at her. Lil turned and spoke to her. "You go on for pages and pages about how amazing and good looking this 'Bryan' guy is."

          "Yes, that's what my audience wants to read. Girls our age want sexy good looking guys to read about!"

          "Not all girls, and not pages and PAGES like this" she said, setting the loose leaf down on the cafeteria table. She lowered her voice and leaned closer to Mel and said "besides, this guy sounds a lot like Ryan in your English class"

          Mal giggled quietly and whispered back to Lil, "Okay, maybe he is a little bit like Ryan, but you  know how it is"

         "Not really" Said Lil, leaning back in her chair with a sigh "not like you"

         " Oh come on!" Said Mel with gusto, "you CANNOT tell me you've never had a big crush on a guy like this, you write so much, I know you've written something based on someone special"

          The usually outspoken and opinionated Lil seem to retreat into herself. "Well,  sorta-kinda yeah, but it's not-'

          Mel cut her off by leaning in and leaning on her hands "Aha, I knew it, who was he. Was it John, you've always hung around John... Or was his name Josh?"

         "You're thinking of Rick for one thing, and for another thing, no, It wasn't Rick"

         "Then who the heck was it?"

Lil shifted uncomfortably in her chair for a few moments, forming half sentences like "The thing is..." and "he was actually-" and "I might as well just-" before collapsing in her chair again with a long exhale. She looked over to Mal who was looking back, worried and confused.

        "He was a she, her name was Emma"

Melissa leaned back in her chair with a surprised look on her face, she said nothing, merely blinked a few times. She gave her head a little shake and asked.

         "You're gay?"

         "Yup"

         "And you didn't tell me?"

         " Well, for one thing, you're not my type, so it didn't really matter" Lil said, her confidence restored "And for another thing, it's not really something I introduce myself with. Hi, I'm Lillian, I like good music, writing and fucking chicks"

         Mel laughed, "Well of course not but-"

         "It's just not something I advertise"

         "Okay" Said Mel, taking her papers back from in front of Lil, "No wonder you never appreciated the hunky young stallions in my novels"

        "Hey, I never appreciated your "novels"" said Lil, her fingers up in air quotation marks. "Because for one thing you couldn't write worth a damn when I met you, and for another thing."She paused for dramatic effect "You couldn't write worth a DAMN before I met you."

        Mel looked over at Lil with mock offence before the two young women burst into a fit of laugher, Mel managed to croak out, "You're right, I was CRAP" between breaths before the bell rang signaling next class. Catching their breath they walked out of the cafeteria.

I've got another short story written, it'll be posted eventually