Cruel Summer teases an early, lighthearted interaction between the show's two leading ladies — that is, before things go awry.

In PEOPLE's exclusive clip of the Jessica Biel-produced series, Jeanette Turner (Chiara Aurelia) musters up the courage to speak to popular student Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt) while shopping at the local mall.

"I like your purse," Jeanette says, to which Kate simply smiles and replies, "Thanks!"

As Kate proceeds to go back to browsing at the kiosk, Jeanette attempts to continue conversing with her schoolmate. "It's my birthday," Jeanette notes, as Kate looks up to reply, "Happy birthday."

Jeanette awkwardly thanks Kate before she asks, "Jeanette, right?" Jeanette confirms this by stating that she's "a grade below" Kate, who suddenly breaks away from the pair's small talk upon being greeted by her boyfriend, Jamie (Froy Gutierrez). 

Kate briefly returns to acknowledge Jeanette, saying, "Have a good birthday!"

Created by Bert V. Royal, Cruel Summer follows the events preceding and occurring after the abduction of popular Texas high school student, Kate. Meanwhile, sweet and introverted Jeanette manages to achieve popularity in Kate's absence before eventually becoming the "most hated person" in America. 

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The early-90s set psychological thriller also stars Harley Quinn Smith, Nathaniel Ashton, Allius Barnes, Michael Landes, Blake Lee and Brooklyn Sudano.

An official trailer for the upcoming series dropped late last month, featuring several moments showing how drastically Jeanette and Kate's lives changed between 1993 to 1995. 

"We all want what we can't have, even if we have to change ourselves to get it," Jeanette says in the trailer's voice over. "But, there are some moments in life that change us forever."

When Freeform unveiled its first look at Cruel Summer during February's TCA event, Biel opened up about her excitement for the series. 

"This is a project that I would have wanted to do if I was their age," the 7th Heaven alum, 39, said at the time, per Deadline. "I would have loved to play one of these characters. … To be able to create something for young women is really exciting."

Biel continued, "To sit in a space with the younger generation and really give them this platform to really talk about some intense, hard things that these young people are going through is really exciting for me. And it's something we want to do for all people, but especially for women and for girls."

Cruel Summer will air its first two episodes in a two-hour premiere event on April 20 at 9 p.m ET on Freeform.

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