KISS OF VENUS ❇ MOON + ELI

chapter two

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"Cyberbullying is no laughing matter." Mrs. Blatt announced to the cafeteria. But almost every kid ignored her, all distracted by one of the many apps on their phones. 

"Sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as cruel as saying it to their face." Yasmine scoffed with a slight laugh, earning looks from a few of her friends. "Really Yas?" Sam asked the girl. 

Yasmine glared at the brunette before looking back at her phone. "I'm not gonna name names, but the other day a mother called me because her son was crying after some kids online made fun of his facial deformity."

Venus finally tuned into what Mrs. Blatt was saying, she shared a look with Honey. Her eyes traveled over to the Moskowitz boy. He frowned, trying to cover his scar with his hand. 

She gave the boy a smile when their eyes connected. His hand moved away slightly and he returned it with weakly. A nudge from Yasmine made her look away.

"What?" She asked the girl. "Why are you smiling at him?" Yasmine snapped, glaring at Eli. "Eli?" Venus questioned pointing at the boy. "Yes and don't point at him." Yasmine whisper shouted, roughly pulling down the girls arm.

Venus pulled her wrist back with a confused look. "Jeez okay Yas." She muttered, leaning back. Moon wrapped her arms over to girls shoulders, sending a protective glare at Yasmine.

"Oh and one last thing." Mrs. Blatt started again. "While we're looking forward to the Halloween dance, let's make sure our costumes our culturally sensitive."

"For example, instead of sexy nurse, maybe try gender neutral hospital employee." She said, earning groans from different girls across the lunchroom. 

The girls tuned out from their counselor when another girl from their grade, Aisha, moved to there table beside Sam. "Hey, I got a great idea for our costumes this year." She told Sam, the brunette frowned. "I go as sodium and you go as chloride, when people ask what we are, we do this." She said dumping salt.

Everyone at the table besides Sam stared at her in confusion. "Is that some dumb inside joke you guys have?" Yasmine asked Sam with an eye roll. "I mean, it's not really "inside". Sodium chloride is table salt." Aisha explained.

"Really?" Venus asked the girl, who nodded slowly at how shocked the blonde was. "We never knew that, that's cool." She smiled. Yasmine scoffed. "I was kidding V." Though they knew she was lying no one said anything to her.

"We actually decided to go as Laker girls." Sam told Aisha nervously. "Oh." Aisha muttered, her face dropping. "But maybe we can order another..." Sam trailed looking to Yasmine. She felt terrible for her friend.

Yasmine looked over the girl with a judge mental stare. "They're one size fits all, which suddenly seems like false advertising." She answered, whispering the last part. 

Venus frowned at her words, staring down at her stomach. Moon noticed and wrapped her arms around the girl so she could no longer see it. The blonde gave her a weak smile.

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Venus stood in front of pantry, eating some chips after she'd gotten dressed for the Halloween dance. "Venus, what do you think you're doing?" The harsh voice of her mother made her jump, dropping the chips on the floor.

She watched them fall with nervous eyes before looking back to her mom. Sage stared down at her daughter with a look of disappointment. "Mom I-" venus started but was quickly cut off.

"You know you're not supposed to eat those." Sage said sternly. "We're on a special diet and those are for your father." Venus felt her stomach tighten as her mother spoke.