The school week was coming to an end. Lumi and Ren's fake relationship was working quite well for them.
Lumi no longer heard any ridiculous rumors about her being the school thot and Ren got to be closer to Lumi without any excuse needed.
Or so they thought.
"I'm telling you, they are in a fake relationship. I heard it myself." Violet said to Chloe.
Violet was enclosed in the circle of cheerleaders and spoke directly to Chloe during school hours.
Chloe pursed her lips and pondered Violet's accusation. She knew Violet was desperate to be in with her group for years now. She wondered if she should trust the girl.
"Well, if they are faking it. I say we expose them." Chloe said with an evil smirk.
True or false Chloe was determined to break the couple apart. She wanted to hurt Lumi for 'stealing' Ren from her so she wasn't going down without a fight.
Violet grinned back at Chloe and nodded. She too was down for whatever Chloe wanted. Anything to not be the almost cool girl in school.
It was Lumi's last period and the bell was about to ring. Before the teacher made a final announcement.
"Real quick class. Earlier this week I requested the seniors to turn in their permission slips for the senior ski trip. That ski trip is now extended to juniors as well. Come grab a slip if you are interested."
The bell rang and the teacher dismissed the students. Many juniors ran up to the table to collect a paper slip.
Lumi blinked her hazel eyes in shock at the news. She wondered why there was a change so she walked up to the teacher's desk to ask.
"Excuse me Miss. Why is it that juniors get to attend this year? The ski trip is usually exclusive to seniors."
The teacher looked bothered by Lumi as she scrolled through her many unread emails.
"Oh um, something about excess funds that needed to be spent this semester. I don't really know but it's probably due to the lack of senior headcount this year." The teacher confessed.
Lumi looked down at the pile of permission slips and grabbed one before walking out into the hall. She looked at the paper and smiled. She always wanted to go on the ski trip and it would be her chance to spend a weekend away with Ren.
She blushed slightly and shook her head. Wait till you get home to daydream. She scolded herself.
"Lume!" Jade's voice came from a crowd down the hall.
Jade appeared in front of Lumi with excitement. She too held a copy of the slip in her hands and waved it in front of Lumi's face.
Lumi smiled back at her friend.
"I got one too!" Lumi said excitedly.
"Oh my God! It's almost fate! I've been dying to go on this trip for years and it came early! Also Ren's going. Wink Wink." Her friend said as she winked at Lumi.
Lumi held the paper to hide her smile and cheeks from her friend. Was it fate? She asked herself.
"It's next weekend so we should go shopping this weekend." Jade suggested.
"Agreed." Lumi said.
The two girls walked out to Jade's car with their arms locked as usual.
Later that night when Lumi was about to call it a night she got a text on her phone. She looked at the locked screen. It was a message from Ren.
'Hey did you hear about the ski trip?
'Yup'
'Do you want to go?'
Lumi didn't know why but her heart was starting to beat fast as they exchanged messages. It was almost as if they were really dating.
'Yeah'
'Cool'
She sent back a smile face emoji and then set her phone down. She placed a hand over her chest to calm it down and then snuggled under her sheets. I can't wait. Was her final thought.
The next morning while Lumi and her father were making pancakes she decided to tell him about the ski trip.
"Ski trip? I thought that was just for the seniors?" Her father asked while flipping a pancake over the stove with his back turned to her.
Lumi was seated uncomfortably on a bar stool with the permission slip beside her. She never liked eating at the counter. Her butt was too big for the stools.
"Yeah well my teacher said there weren't enough seniors to attend this year and they had extra funds. So can I go?" Her question sounded more like a plea.
Her father turned around and plopped a fresh pancake on her empty glass plate and stared into her eyes. She stared back with a sweet smile.
"I assume Ren is going?" He asked.
Lumi sat up, almost jerking herself onto the wood floors. She grabbed her fork and stabbed at her pancake. Stay calm, he doesn't know we are a fake couple. Or does he? She ran through her head.
"Uh yeah?" She stated, but it came out in a question form.
"Well I guess you can go then." He said as he slip the paper to face him.
He read through it quickly, grabbed the pen she had provided and signed the parent signature line.
Lumi was confused as to why Ren's attendance would make him feel more at ease to let her go.
"Maybe you guys can learn how to be friends again while you're skiing." He said with a bright smile turning the paper to face her again.
Lumi smiled back nervously. If only he knew we kissed last time we were alone. She thought for a moment and then erased the memory in fear he had some secret parent telepathic powers.
"But you call me if anything happens to you." He started firmly pointing his spatula in her direction.
She nodded back.
Lumi stuffed her face quickly and then gulped down a glass of orange juice.
"Thanks dad. Jade is going to be here any second so we can go shopping for ski suits."
There was a single honk from the driveway indicating that Jade had arrived.
"And there she is. Bye, love you." Lumi got off the stool in a hurry, nearly stumbling and grabbed her purse before leaving the house.
Lumi hopped into Jade's passenger side and buckled up. Jade was eager to make it to their destination and was a little speedy.
"So did you find a place for us to get ski suits?" Lumi asked, looking at her friend who had a bright smile on her face.
"I didn't, but Freddy told me that he and his friends were shopping for suits this weekend as well at this local spot. So I told him we would meet him up."
Lumi frowned at the thought of picking out clothes in front of her classmates. Especially boys. She was insecure with people seeing the size tags on her clothes hence why she cut all of her's off immediately after purchase.
Jade felt the shift in her friend and turned to look over at Lumi a few times.
"Don't worry Lumi. I'll draw so much attention no one will even notice you."
Lumi smiled at Jade. She's the best. Lumi thought in her head.
"Thanks Jade."
They pulled into the parking lot and then walked into the store. It was full of ski equipment. There were things hung from the top of the walls all the way to the bottom shelves.
"Whoa. Talk about overwhelming." Jade said while looking around the store.
Lumi couldn't agree more as she saw almost all familiar faces throughout the fitting area.
Freddy, Oliver, most of the cheer team including Chloe, and finally Ren. Lumi's palms began to sweat and she could feel her body wanting to flee from the store.
"Oh hey over here!" Freddy shouted from the back of the store waving both his arms in the air.
Oliver waved as well. Ren just looked at the two who had just entered. He knew how self conscious Lumi was about herself. Ever since they were young. He would always try to reassure her but she was too stubborn to listen to reason.
The two females greeted the group once they made it to the back fitting area.
"Are you both going on the ski trip?" Oliver asked.
Jade and Lumi nodded.
"Sweet." Oliver replied.
Lumi gave Ren a small smile and then turned to look at some racks behind her. Jade also turned to look at the same rack and pulled out a pair of purple snow pants.
"Look at these!"
Lumi smiled at her and then pursed her lips at the pants. Surely I could design something more appealing than that. She thought to herself and giggled a little.
After about 15 minutes or so some of the students had made their purchases and left the store. Jade was in her third outfit and requested Lumi to come and have a look.
Lumi hopped inside the fitting room and looked at her friend in the dark purple set.
"Very nice." Lumi said while giving Jade a thumbs up.
"I think I'm going to get this one. What have you found?" She said tugging at the beanie she had on.
Lumi lifted a pair of black gloves and shrugged. She was too nervous to pull out any real items because she was scared someone would see the price tag and note the giant 'L' on the label.
"Oh come on. Now that I'm done I'll bring you some things." Jade said while undressing and slipping back into her jeans and hoodie.
Lumi tried to protest but Jade left and shut the door behind her. She quickly returned with a dark blue set and pushed them into Lumi's arms.
"I'll be back in two minutes so you better get to changing." Jade quickly exited and headed to the cashier to check out.
Lumi sighed as she looked at the heavy duty material in her arms. She looked at herself in the giant mirror and then groaned as she dropped the pile onto the bench behind her and began to slip off her clothes.
The pants went on first and they were a little snug on the buttocks but Lumi figured it would do. She refused to go up a size.
When she tried to pull the long sleeve plain top over her chest it wouldn't budge.
"Ugh, Jade! Jade, can you bring me another size in the long sleeve you brought me?"
There was a knock at the door and Lumi wiggled out of the top. She cracked the door just enough to slip the long sleeve out to Jade. When the top was released from her hand she shut the door.
Then came a voice that did not belong to Jade.
"Lumi, this is a large. So you want me to bring you an extra large?" Chloe shouted loud enough for half the store to hear.
Lumi's face went red and she covered her chest as if she was being exposed. She just stood there in embarrassment as Chloe and some other girls giggled.
Jade quickly walked towards the girls in front of Lumi's fitting room.
"It's because her chest is big. You wouldn't understand." Jade stated.
Chloe scoffed at Jade and threw the top at her before turning to leave the store with her friends.
Jade glared at them as they left and then turned back to the door.
"Lumi…?" Jade asked cautiously.
Lumi pushed the door open with her head down. She was clearly upset from the embarrassment she just faced.
"Hey don't let those bitches bother you. They're jealous." Jade whispered to Lumi as she grabbed her arm.
Jealous of me? Why? Because I'm dating Ren? Surely it wasn't because I had a big chest. Lumi couldn't believe dating Ren would cause this kind of humiliation to ever occur.
Lumi looked up to meet Jade's eyes and then saw the guys standing a few feet away all staring at her. Lumi locked eyes with Ren who looked concerned but then she looked away.
"Jade, can we get out of here?" Lumi asked but had already started heading towards the exit.
Jade turned to wave goodbye to the guys and then quickly followed Lumi outside. They got in her car and she drove Lumi home for the day.