When I took naps, I tended to wake up very confused and unsatisfied with my whereabouts, which I had trouble figuring out sometimes. When I say unsatisfied I mean having the words “I shouldn’t be here, I should be there” running through my mind at a constant rate. Since I just moved in, it took me an even longer time to figure out where I was. The room was dark and the sun was in the middle of setting. I didn’t have a clock yet, so I felt like I was trapped.

“MOM,” I called. No answer. “MOM!” Once again, no response. I groaned and got up from my extremely comfy bed and went downstairs to find her on the phone in the kitchen. “Mother.”

She looked up. “Sorry, one sec. Hi, honey. How are you feeling?”

“Well, as you can probably imagined, I woke up slightly terrified.”

“Oh no!” She had a breathy laugh when she said this. She gave me a hug and we both laughed. “Since we’ve got the necessities into the living room--” she pointed to the only two pieces of furniture in there; a couch and TV. “--I think you should just relax for a while. Get settled in. School starts in three days, and I think you should go shopping for a while when you feel up for it.”

“Shopping?” I asked puzzled. “What time is it?”

“It’s only six-thirty. Just go sit on the couch, I’ll make some tea.”

I smiled and went over to the couch, taking in the feeling of its leathery skin. It was one of those couches that was in an L shape. I loved couches like that. I turned on the TV and flipped through channels until I found a movie playing.
I lay on the couch, watching one of the Harry Potter movies, drinking my tea. The movie ended after a while. It was my mom’s turn to nap now. I asked her for some money and permission to go shopping. She was a little skeptical since she wouldn’t be awake, but I told her I’d get groceries too. That’s when she gave in. She wrote down the addresses to a supplies store and a grocery store. She also gave me a list of essentials to buy at the grocery store. I went outside to find our car parked in the driveway. I got in and drove to the grocery store first. When I arrived, I skimmed the list. Milk, eggs, butter, bread, flour etc. The bottom bulletpoint had the words “whatever else appeals to you” written.

After picking up a load of groceries, I followed the directions to the supplies store. When I got there, it was very crowded. I grabbed a cart and looked for the basic stuff. I was walking down an aisle, looking around, when suddenly I felt my cart crash into someone else’s. I looked up.

“I’m so sorry,” I said frantically, “I didn’t see you…” I finally focused on the person I bumped into. It was a guy who looked about my age. He had dirty blonde hair, brown eyes and a slightly upturned nose. He wasn’t very bad looking.

“Hello?” He asked. I snapped out of it and he smiled.

“I’m sorry,” I said stupidly, “what did you say?”

“I said it’s okay.” I laughed, feeling very uncomfortable and clueless. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you around. Where do you go to school?”

“Yeah.” I scratched my neck, which seemed to only increase the awkwardness. “I, um, I guess you could say I go to Howard?”

The boy screwed up his face. “Really? How come I don’t see you?”

“I just moved here.”

“Ohhhh. You’re the new girl. You start on Monday?”

“Yeah,” I said smiling. He smiled back at me, revealing white teeth.

“I hope I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said goodbye and pushed past me. I freaked out for some reason, because as he started walking away with his cart, I shouted.

“Hey!” He turned around. “Do you, um, do you know where the, uh, binders are?” He pointed to an aisle next to the aisle he was headed to. I smiled. “Great, thank you!” God, I was so awkward.

While I was looking for binders, I realized I didn’t know his name. That was my first encounter with someone since I got here, and I would probably see him on a daily basis, but I had no idea who he was. He was kinda cute, too. I looked over and saw him looking at pencils across the way. I looked away quickly, picked a binder and moved on.

When I pulled into the driveway of my house, my mom came out to greet me.

“Hey! How’d it go?”

“It was really nice,” I said. “I like driving around.”

“Good, ‘cause you’ll be doing it a lot. Let me help you with the groceries.”

Once we got into the kitchen, we unpacked everything and then I showed her the school supplies I picked out. After she approved of everything, she told me there was a surprise in my room. I went upstairs to find that my bedroom walls were painted with a rich, cerulean blue. Blue being my favorite color, I was not unhappy. I ran downstairs to give my mom a hug and thank her. It was a really nice color and I loved it. She was delighted to hear this.

The two other days I had to relax before school were fairly uneventful. I basically unpacked, went shopping, and unpacked some more. Finally, Monday morning came and I left the house, in my car with a neon blue Jansport backpack. I had directions to the school and it was a short drive. When I got there, there were students surrounding every step, railing and bench. I pulled in and found a parking spot. When I got out, I immediately bumped into someone.
“Ow!” The boy said, turning to look at me. “Watch where you’re going!”
He glared at me and walked away so I didn’t bother responding. I pulled out some papers that my mom had signed, allowing me to go to the school. As I was straightening them, I heard whispers, and then out of nowhere someone bumped into me purposefully. I watched in annoyance as the papers fluttered to the floor. I heard some giggles as I picked them all up. I didn’t bother paying attention to these people. Frankly, I didn’t care that they wanted to embarrass me, because they weren’t very subtle about it. If I stayed aware, I could probably avoid it. I hoisted my bag onto my shoulders and carried the papers to the office.
I handed them in and was given my schedule. First, I had English, followed by Math, and then calc. I had free after that, so I would take lunch then. After lunch was Global History, followed by U.S. History, then Study Hall, ending that day in Biology. I headed to room 319, where I was greeted by loud students and an oblivious teacher.
I took a seat next to a girl who was directing her attention to the person next to her. As soon as my butt hit the seat, she whipped around.
“Um, are you my boyfriend?” she asked.
“No..?”
“That’s what I thought, so get out of his seat.” The girls next to her started chuckling, but I just ignored them and moved to another seat. I turned to look at my options. I caught sight of a guy with a free seat next to him. As soon as he saw me looking at him, he put his feet up onto the seat I would have taken. Annoyed, I found myself without any options besides the farthest corner of the room, so I sat there. I took out my notebook and a pencil and doodled until the teacher settled the class.
“Alright, everyone,” she said, “settle down and get all your stuff out. We have a new student today. Cameron?” I reluctantly stood up, and lots of eyes turned to stare at me. I felt really uncomfortable, so I sat back down. “You said you moved here from New York?”

“Manhattan, yeah.”

“A city girl,” someone in front of me snorted.

“No need for ridicule,” the teacher said, staring right at the kid who made the joke. “Let’s get started.”
So far, the day was just slowly moving along with an annoyance here and there. Whether it was people laughing at me, or making jokes at me, or even bumping into me. The end of the day finally came and I made my way out of the building. While I was checking my phone, I bumped into another person.
“Sorry!” I said quickly, before realizing who it was that I had bumped into. It was the boy from the supplies store.
“Hello, again.” He said smirking. “How has your first day been?”
He remembered me. “It was, um, not great…”
“Really? Why?”
“People are just being annoying.”
“Yeah. You get that a lot. Especially here. When I first came here in the middle of the year, people wouldn’t stop bothering me and pushing me around.”
“You transferred?”
“Yeah, two years ago. I used to be in New York City.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised. “That’s where I’m from.”
“Oh, cool.” He smiled “Manhattan?”
“Yeah.” This was the first nice interaction I’d had all day, which was nice. I wished I could stay and talk to this guy (if he wanted to talk to me,) but I really wanted to get home.
“I’m Andrew.”
“Cameron. Nice to meet you, or see you, again...whatever.”
He laughed. “So, uh, what classes have you had today?” I dug out my schedule and showed it to him. He skimmed, sometimes shaking his head and sometimes nodding. “Interesting.”
“What?” I asked. “Do you have something against my school schedule?”
“Nope. Gotta go. I’ll see you around, okay?”
Did I make a friend, or was that just a nice exchange? I preferred not to think about it too much. As I walked to my car, I was stopped by a curly brunette with very girly clothing.
“And WHAT do you think you’re doing?” She asked.
“I, um…” What was I supposed to say? “I was just walking to my car. Did I do something wrong?”
“What on Earth were you doing talking to Andrew Carson?”
“I’m sorry, I bumped into him by accident and we started talking.”
“Likely story.” She glared at me with a prissy facial expression. Something told me this girl wasn’t very nice. “If I ever see you talking to him again so help me God I will--”
“Hey guys!” Andrew walked over to us. “Hey, Stacy. I see you’ve met Cameron.”
“Oh, I certainly have!” Stacy said, kissing Andrew on the cheek. Oh, great. “She’s just a gem!”
“Thanks.” I boosted my backpack onto my shoulder. “I’m gonna get going. It was nice talking to you guys.”
“See you,” said Andrew. He put his arm around Stacy and the two walked away, glued to each other. Stacy turned around and squinted her eyes to look like menacing slits. I gulped and walked back to my car.
I was divebombed with questions from my mom the second I walked through the door.
“How was your day! Did you make any friends? What’s the atmosphere like? Do you like your teachers? Tell me everything!”
I laughed. “Okay, let’s see: Adequate, not really, fine and they’re okay.” It took my mom a second before figuring out the order in which I had answered her questions. Her face softened and I laughed. “I’m gonna start my homework, okay? Love you.”
I walked into my bedroom and saw that it was slowly coming together. I threw my bag on the floor and collapsed on my bed. Briefly, I stared up at the ceiling, wondering what was going to happen new in my suburban life. I had no idea. Was Andrew going to be a recurring character in this new life of mine? I didn’t know but I felt like it was kind of our thing to run into each other at almost every moment.
Stacy was bound to cause some sort of problem. She was one of those overprotective, crazy girlfriends. A great addition to my “book,” even though I already had some entries on people of her sort.
After rethinking my encounters with Andrew and Stacy, I realized I did not have any other interactions. I did not have any friends at the moment, and I had to step up my game. People don’t just show up, I had to draw them in. I needed people who thought like me. Who understood the things I thought about and had the same outlook on life as I had. I sat up and grabbed my backpack, taking out my math textbook. I needed to stop analyzing everything so much.

Lunch was over and I walked to my next class.
“Hey, new girl.” I turned around to greet the snobby stranger who called. A skinny boy, about my age. He wore jeans, a light blue shirt and navy blue zip sweater. “Saw you gettin’ a bit too close to Stacy’s guy. You just trespassed some dangerous territory.”

“Excuse me?”

“Hey, I’m just saying. Simple stuff like this gets around. Stacy will humiliate you if you so much as touch Andrew Carson’s hand; by accident. I’m trying to protect you.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I don’t think I need my own personal interpreter, or protector, or whatever help you think you’re providing.”

“It looks to me,” he said chuckling. “like you could use this help.”

“Oh really?” This kid was annoying me. “With what?”

“Learning the ropes.”

“‘Learning the ropes’?” I recited chuckling. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

“Kevin. Nice to meet you. And may I ask your name?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep calling me ‘new girl’?” The boy smiled and put his hands up in theoretical surrender. I laughed. “I’m Cameron.”

“Nice to meet you, Cameron. Try not to get yourself into too much trouble.” And with that, Kevin walked away, leaving me utterly confused. What did that kid want? I continued to my math class.

When I walked in the room, the first thing I saw was Kevin sitting in the chair next to my usual seat. He saw me approaching and smiled. I rolled my eyes and sat down next to him.

“Do I get a hello?” He asked with a smarty tone.

“Dude, I barely know you.”

“Oh come on, I could’ve sworn we just became friends.”

I made a loud, fake laugh. “Friends? I’m sorry, but the first thing you did was walk up to me and tell me I was doing high school wrong.”

“I’m sorry,” he chuckled. “Let’s start over. I’m Kevin.”

“I’m aware.” I smiled evilly at him, and as if on queue, the bell rang, marking the beginning of class.

At many moments during the period, Kevin would kick my leg. I would turn and receive not any information, but an apology, even though I knew he was kicking me on purpose. This kid was weird, but in a funny, friendly way. We were both kind of sarcastic, and I think maybe we could be friends. When the bell rang, I turned right to him.

“What was that about?” I laughed.

“What exactly was I doing?”

“You kept kicking me.”

“Yes, but didn’t I apologize, implying it was an accident?”

I stared at him, but he only smiled back at me. “Okay, the only reason I’m slightly interested in being your friend is because you remind me of me. So let’s start over. I’m Cameron.”

“I’m aware.” He smiled. I rolled my eyes and we walked down the hall to our next class.

At the end of the day, I walked to my car but was stopped by a casual shout. “Cameron!”

I turned to look at where the voice was coming from. “Andrew?” At this point he was right in front of me, so I was actually forced to have a conversation with him. “I have a strong feeling I shouldn’t be talking to you.”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. Stacy can get pretty overprotective.”

This was utterly hilarious. He was so oblivious. I tried my best to hold in a laugh. “Yeah, alright. So, is there something you need?”

“Well,” he hesitated, “the guys are throwing a party at Jason’s house tonight.”

“Sorry, I’m not really a native here. Who exactly are ‘the guys’?”

“Like, my friends.”

“We’ll go with that.”

Andrew laughed awkwardly. “Okay. I was wondering if you wanted to stop by?”

Why did he want me to come? Did I even want to come? Oddly enough I would feel more comfortable if Kevin was with me. “Um, sure I guess. Would you mind if I brought a friend? Someone who goes here also?”

“Yeah, if this friend goes here, why not?”

“Great okay. What’s the address?”

“I don’t remember, but I have it written down somewhere. Can I just text it to you?”

“Yeah, I guess.” This was too good. I could almost see Stacy’s face turning red somewhere.

We exchanged numbers which was kind of awkward. Just as we finished up, I saw Stacy walking over here, talking with her friends. “That’s my queue.”

Andrew laughed. “Alright, see you there.”

I walked back to my car, and when I turned around, Stacy was all over Andrew. When I got to my car, I called Kevin.

“Hello?”

“Are you still at school?”

“Yeah,” he said confused, “why?”

“Meet me by my car. We’re going to my house, okay?”

“Okay..?”

I hung up and waited patiently in my car for Kevin.

“HI MOM THIS IS KEVIN WE’RE GOING UPSTAIRS BYE.” I heard my mom start to say something but I slammed my bedroom door before I could hear. “Sorry, my room’s a mess. Still moving in.”

“That’s okay. Is there a particular reason you acknowledged your mom in such a way?”

“She would have asked you so many questions and your head would explode.” Kevin nodded as he looked around my room. “So, about tonight.”

“Yeah, okay. What exactly are we doing?”

“I think we’re going to a party.”

“You ‘think’?”

I sat on my bed and he sat on the floor. “So tell me what you know about Andrew Carson.”

Kevin laughed. “Wow, okay. To start off, I’ll answer your first obvious questions. Yes; he is one of those stereotypical jocks.”

“Great that’s all I needed to know.” Kevin laughed. “Not actually. Tell me more.”

“Okay. He’s not popular in that sense, but people like him. Girls obsess over him and--”

“Oh my God, why?”

“Don’t know. He’s a little full of himself. Anyway, if it matters that much to you, we’re cousins.”

“You’re cousins? That’s hilarious.”

“I know. I laugh about it all the time. So yeah, we were friends starting in preschool, then in middle school, people loved him and hated me. He now has a social status and a crazy b**** girlfriend, while I tend to keep to myself and people-watch.”

I actually kind of loved this kid. He was pretty much me. “Alright, and Stacy?”

“Rich parents, rich friends, rich life. Otherwise, she has no other characteristics besides b****.”

“Alright.” I went over to my closet again. “Andrew said he was going to text me the address, but he hasn’t yet. Do you know where Jason lives?”

“You got his number?” Kevin chuckled. “Most girls only dream of that.”

“Okay, shut up. I’m worried about this party. What would you say are the odds that I’m going to completely make a fool of myself?”

“I’d rather not answer that. Just wear something nice and put on ungodly amounts of makeup. You’ll blend right in.”

“And by nice you mean skimpy?”

“Exactly.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll pass on that. I’ll do the makeup thing, though.”

My phone buzzed and I launched myself at my bed. “Okay. 137 Maple Drive. Do you know how to get there?”

“I guess so. Am I your chauffeur?”
“Yeah. No. No, you’re coming with me because I think I would feel more comfortable with someone I tolerated.”
“You tolerate me? Wow! That’s a step up.”
“You should be proud.”
I picked out a plain purple dress that covered two-thirds of my thighs. I put on a thin black sweater over it and wore my black ballet flats. I told my mom I was going out which she was very happy about. I grabbed a bottle of water and we were out the door. I opened the driver’s seat door as Kevin went around to the other side.
“I’m just going to warn you,” he said, “Andrew might not be so happy to see his quirky cousin.”
“Well, he’s just going to have to deal with it.”

We got to Jason’s house. The structure was all lit up with party and music, and it looked inviting to probably anyone but me. I soon realized and laughed about the fact that I had never actually met Jason. I looked at Kevin who shrugged awkwardly. I felt a little awkward, but it seemed like Andrew wanted me to come. I cocked my head, implying that we should go in.

The door was open. I pushed it out of its ajar state and felt immediately engulfed in sound waves. It was so loud, but I thought it would seem “uncool” to cover my ears. There were a lot of people, and Kevin and I were sort of stunned in the crowd; stunned as in out of place and unable to find an appropriate room to go to.

“Let’s find the kitchen,” Kevin shouted over the music. I nodded and we started searching. We came across an arch leading into a room with lots of people. I could see a fridge in the back so Kevin and I walked in. There were various snacks and drinks on the table, and Kevin, being the outgoing, free spirit he was, grabbed a handful of chips and shoved them into his mouth. He looked at me and shrugged. I laughed a little harder than I should have and grabbed some chips.

After putting some food on our plates, Kevin and I walked out of the kitchen and into the main area. I immediately saw Andrew and Stacy walking in our direction. Stacy didn’t seem to notice me, as she was gawking at Andrew, but Andrew saw me. He smiled and put his hand up. It wasn’t until he fully made his way over to me that Stacy realized I was there. She put on the fakest smile and looked right at me.

“Hey!” Andrew said to me in an enthusiastic tone. He then looked at Kevin. “....hey!”

Kevin grinned. “Hello, cousin.” I stifled a laugh.

“So, uh, what brings you here, Kevin?” Andrew asked stiffly.

“Well, my good friend Cameron invited me.” Kevin patted my back.

Andrew nodded slowly. “Oh. You two...know each other.”

“Hello, Stacy.” Kevin said glancing in her direction.

“It’s nice to see you, Kevin.” She replied coldly.

I really wanted to break the tension, or at least steer clear of the example that those three were making. “Is there a bathroom somewhere?”

“Yeah,” said Andrew quickly, “upstairs. Second door on the left.” I smiled quickly and made my way upstairs.

I didn’t actually need to go to the bathroom. I kind of wanted to get out of there. I found the door but was annoyed to find that it was locked. A thought struck me that it was locked for two reasons. I didn’t really care about whichever one it was. I felt someone tap my shoulder. A little startled, I turned around to see Andrew.

“Oh, hey.” I said. “The door’s locked, I’m just waiting.”

“Yeah,” he said, scratching his head, “it might be for a while.”

I laughed. “I guess I should have assumed that attempting to get into to the bathroom at a high school house party was a bad idea.”

“It’s okay. So, uh, listen. I’m sorry about Stacy. Don’t think that I don’t know what’s going on. She does this to everybody.”

“Okay,” I said, “is that all you came to tell me?” He looked down. “I’d rather not have an apology on her behalf, and I’d rather you just let me deal with it. She doesn’t want me around you, and I’m fine with that.”

“Well I’m not.”

I looked at him. His face couldn’t have been more serious. I didn’t want to deal with this. I really wanted to go home.

“I’m sorry?”

“I’m not going to let her intimidate you. Why are you scared of her?”

“Are you kidding me?!” What was happening? “I’m most certainly not scared of her! I’m completely indifferent to her existence, and her relationship with you. I couldn’t care less about her! Why would you even think that?” He looked down. “Do you just see me as some sort of weakling?”

That was when Andrew leaned in. His lips were outstretched towards mine, almost touching them. His lips touched mine very briefly, barely touching them, because I pulled away immediately. I did find him attractive, and maybe a couple days ago I thought it would be fun to kiss him, but I was not going to start anything related to cheating. I did not want to be the person that Andrew cheated on Stacy with. I would never do something like that, not even to someone I hated. I pulled away and stared at him, horrified. He looked back at me with a confused, sad, angry look on his face. He seemed a little taken aback, which was stupid because he knew he had a girlfriend and he knew I respected that. I wasn’t really sure what to do, and slapping only worked in the movies. I stormed past him and hurried down the stairs.

I pushed past people, looking for Kevin. I finally found him sitting on the couch with food and a drink. He looked up at me, wanting to know what happened.

“We’re going.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

“Why?”

“C’mon.” I pulled him off the couch and we started for the door. On the way there, I saw Andrew. We caught sight of each other at the same time, but I hurried myself and Kevin out the door.

I sat in the driver’s seat, slumped in my chair, staring at the steering wheel with crossed arms, just thinking. Kevin sat next to me twiddling his thumbs silently. I knew I was probably making him feel uncomfortable, but there was nothing I could do. I was uncomfortable myself, for another reason. He turned to me.

“Are you ready to tell me what happened?” He asked.

I was silent for just a little longer as I felt his eyes on me. I dragged my attention away from the wheel to look at Kevin with distressed eyes. He had an expectant look on his face. “Andrew tried to kiss me.”

“He, what?”

“Yeah.”

“No.”

“Yes.” I said through gritted teeth.

“Why?” It was weird that Kevin was genuinely shocked.

“Well, how the hell would I know?” I shifted my weight nervously. “I just, God damnit, why! The last thing I would ever want to do is get involved in drama with Stacy. Seriously, wouldn’t he of all people know that? Just, ugh!”

“He’s such a creep,” said Kevin.

“But the problem is, a couple days ago I probably would have wanted him to do that, but now that it actually happened…”

“No I get it. Let me just put it out there that any girl would want to be in your position, even if it meant facing Stacy’s wrath.”

“Kevin this isn’t helping!” I sighed and looked back at the steering wheel, slumping back into my seat. I buried my head in my hands. “I just want to go home. I’m sorry, Kevin. I’ll text you later.”

“Alright, would you mind dropping me off?”

“Sure.” I put on my seatbelt and hit the road. I dropped Kevin off at his house and then sped off towards my own. I was so annoyed that I almost wanted to cry out, but that would be stupid and unnecessary. I drove home in stifled silence.

I walked in the door and all the lights were off. I turned them on and walked to the kitchen. I looked for some food and went upstairs with a bag of pretzels. I took out my phone and flopped on my bed. A text popped up from Kevin.

“I’m sorry for what will most likely happen in a second or two,” the text said. I was confused.

“What do you mean?” I replied. A few seconds after I sent the text, I received a message from an unknown number. The text said, “Hey, it’s Andrew. Kevin gave me your number.” I stared at the text for a little bit, reading it over and over again. I then opened up to my conversation with Kevin.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I wrote.

Almost instantly, Kevin replied. “I’m sorry! He’s crashing at my house tonight since his parents are away. I came into my room and saw him on my phone.”

“Likely story.” I couldn’t have been more annoyed. Not necessarily at Kevin, I was just giving him a hard time. I was annoyed at Andrew.

I got his reply. “Cam, I’m sorry. There was nothing I could do.”

A text popped up from Andrew again. “I know you’re there, please talk to me.”

I decided to give this little douche what he wanted. The only problem was I didn’t know exactly what to say. I typed some things, then deleted them. Finally, I settled with, “do you even realize how much crap I’m going to get because of you? What is wrong with you! Who do you think I am?”

He didn’t respond for a while, which I was okay with. I decided to get some sleep. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen at school tomorrow.

The sun shined through the window and into my eyes, waking me up. I was up a little earlier than I had to be. I turned on my phone to see I had a few texts from Andrew. One of them said, “Cameron I’m really sorry.” Another one said, “We don’t need to tell Stacy,” and the last one said, “Please answer me.”

I locked my phone, got dressed, brushed my teeth and went downstairs. I poured myself some cereal and took my time eating. I wasn’t looking forward to whatever drama was going to hit me later today. I recited my schedule in my head, realizing I only had one class with Andrew. I guess that’s okay, I thought to myself. I finished up my cereal, grabbed my stuff and went outside to my car.

I arrived at the school building, which was crowded and lively like my previous days there. I parked my car and went to look for Kevin. I walked up the main staircase and saw Stacy wrapped around a seemingly depressed Andrew. I didn’t dare look at them. As they were leaving my line of vision, I just barely saw Andrew get up. I started walking faster, hearing his footsteps behind me. I found Kevin.

“Hey Kevin we should go inside like right now how about that,” I said, smooshing my words together and then pulling him inside. I showed him my texts with Andrew.

“God, I hate that kid,” said Kevin, sighing. “I’m really sorry. He saw your number before I could get the phone back.”

“Look, I can already see that he’s not going to leave me alone today.” I buried my head in my hands. “I don’t want to see his damn face again.”

“How many classes do you have with him?” Kevin asked.

“One, but I sit right next to him.”

“Okay, that’s math, right? Second period. I’m in that with you. I can sit near you.”

“Alright.”

I sat in homeroom, wishing last night didn’t have to exist. It was burning a hole inside me. How could he be so stupid? We’re gonna have to hide this, but middle school has showed me that never works. I thought about all of the possible scenarios that could take place today. The bell rang, which was probably a good thing since it interrupted my undesired thoughts.

I walked to class. English. We had a substitute today which wasn’t a good thing for me. He would just make us sit and do whatever work we had. I didn’t have any work to do yet, and that meant I was stuck once again, for forty-five minutes, thinking about things I didn’t want to be thinking about. I tried doodling, writing, and I even asked the substitute if I could look at the teacher’s original lesson plan. He just awkwardly stated that he wasn’t allowed to do that and he could only to what he was told. I grunted and sat back down.


Before I knew it, the second period bell rang. I slowly walked out of the classroom to see Kevin waiting for me.

“He’s not gonna stop bothering me,” I said. “I know it.”

“You’re freaking out, okay? It’s not gonna be that bad.”

I walked in to see Andrew sitting in his usual chair. His feet were resting on my seat and a note lay awkwardly on the table. I made eye contact with Kevin who sat down behind Andrew, eyeing everything carefully. I looked at Andrew.

“Get your feet off my chair,” I said coldly.

“Read the note first,” he replied.

I looked at him with an are-you-eight-years-old-again look but he stared right at me. I opened the note. Talk to me or I’m just going to tell Stacy. I looked up at him and he was still looking at me.

“Alright, I’m defenseless. What do you want?”

“I want to talk about last night.”

“That’s kind of what I imagined.”

Andrew sighed. “Look, I know that I put all of this on you and Stacy would flip out for you if she found out.”

“So far you’ve been stating the obvious, is this really necessary?”

“Cameron, last night I--”

“Good morning class,” the teacher said hastily. I turned away from Andrew to concentrate on the teacher.

Throughout the whole period, I kept thinking about Andrew next to me. I felt like he was looking at me, so I tried to make my subtle movements as not awkward as possible. Of course, that didn’t work. I needed to scratch my leg but my arm hit his by accident. He looked over at me abruptly but then slowly looked away. I dropped my pencil also, and when I was bending down to pick it up, my whole desk lurched really loudly. After these two specific incidents, I spent the remainder of the class time cringing.

The bell finally rang, and I was the first one out of my seat, followed by Andrew, and Kevin trailed behind to stay updated without being noticed. I stormed off to my next class, but…

“Cameron!”

I remembered the note and forced myself to turn around. Andrew was finishing up his jog over to me.

“Can we talk over there?” I nodded reluctantly and he went over to a small corner. I glared at him with my arms crossed.

“I sincerely hope you were drunk,” I said.

“Well, I regret to inform you that I was fully aware of what I was doing and don’t regret it.”

I slapped my hands at my sides and rolled my eyes with frustration. “Well, what the hell Andrew, why would you do something that disloyal to your girlfriend? At least break up with her first, but my God what’s wrong with you?”

“I am breaking up with her.”

“What? Why!”

“For you.”

I inhaled deeply. “That’s it, I’m leaving.” I stormed off my mind racing, but he was still on my tail.


“Cameron, please!”

I turned around and he grabbed me, pulling me closer to him. This time, I made sure to prevent anything from happening and pushed him away as hard as I could.

“You’re such a creep!” I yelled, and when I turned around, Stacy was standing right in front of me. My eyes widened with horror, but her’s widened with sadness, surprisingly. She looked over at Andrew, whose facial expression I didn’t see, and then she jogged away. I looked back at Andrew. “You are ridiculous. Get the hell away from me!” That time, he let me leave.

The end of the day crept up on me and I couldn’t be happier. The only problem was, I needed to talk to Stacy, but I didn’t dare to it in person. I didn’t have her number so I asked Kevin, and he gave it to me.

I got home, sat with my mom for a bit and let her give me some updates on the house. I told her I had a ton of homework and then I went upstairs. I put Kevin on FaceTime while I opened up a text to Stacy.

“What are you going to write? Kevin asked.

“I don’t know. I want to be as nice as possible, show her that Andrew is not a good person and that I’m on her side.”

“I feel like nobody else would handle this situation as well as you are.”

I sighed. “Well, what can I say. I’m the new girl. I don’t know what I’m doing, and as far as I know, I’m doing high school wrong.”

Kevin laughed. “Alright, enough. Start a draft of something. You don’t want to say anything that will tick her off in the slightest. She probably won’t even reply, knowing her.”

I started writing something, then I deleted it. I repeated this process a whole bunch of times before I finally wrote something that seemed okay to me. I read it out loud to Kevin.

“‘Stacy, it’s Cameron. I understand that I am the last person on the planet that you would ever want to talk to, but I really want to be honest with you. You don’t have to try to be nice back to me, but I want to show you that I’m on your side. Andrew tried to kiss me at the party last night, and I pushed him away before anything could happen. I’ve been trying to avoid him all day, but he keeps coming back to me. He tried to kiss me again, and that’s what you saw, but I stopped him from getting very far. He told me he was going to break up with you for me, and that is the last thing I would ever want to happen. I’m so sorry and I want to help you in any way that I can.”’

“That’s good,” said Kevin. “I still can’t believe you’re reaching out to her like this. No one ever does that.”

“Yeah, well, we’ve already established that I’m doing high school wrong.”

“Actually, I think you’re doing high school right.” I laughed at Kevin. “Everyone else is doing it wrong.”

“Whatever you say, expert.” He laughed. “I’m gonna send it. See what happens.”

I sent the text and waited. I waited and waited and eventually Kevin had to go start his homework. I was now waiting alone. Waiting, waiting, waiting. My mom came upstairs.

“Sweetie?” She asked. “I’m tired, so I’m going to bed. I won’t rush you, but you should go to bed soon.”

“Alright, Mom,” I replied, “I love you.” She smiled and closed the door. My phone buzzed and I opened it up immediately. It was a text from Stacy.

“I believe you, and I forgive you. I’m sorry about all of this. But I feel like it’s my fault. It’s not yours.”

I read the text over and over again, feeling really shocked. I texted Kevin, but he didn’t write back. I went back to my conversation with Stacy.

I replied, “Thank you for understanding. It is not your fault at all. It’s obvious who’s fault it is.”

We went on texting for a lot of the night. I learned a lot about Stacy and how her time at school wasn’t always so easy. I found out that Andrew was the one who made it seem like Stacy was the mean girl. He was the hurtful one. She said it was all very complicated, but the short version was he made her be the mean one to cover for him. She was too scared to do anything but listen.
When they first started dating, everything was fine, and she eased her way into popularity. She thought everyone was nice, everyone loved her, and Andrew didn’t like something about that. That was when he took the initiative to force her to be mean. He wanted to be the center of attention no matter what. Stacy wasn’t trying to be, but it just happened. He blackmailed her, saying that he’d break up with her if she tried to do something about it. From then on, he never usually stayed faithful. That’s why she wasn’t extremely mad at me when I told her, since it had happened before. They had a very topsy turvy relationship. Eventually, I said I had to go, and I fell asleep instantly.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock the next morning. I was unbelievably tired and really didn’t want to get up. However, I heard my mom’s voice from downstairs, telling me that my breakfast was ready.
I finished up my cereal and gave my mom a hug and a kiss goodbye. I went outside to my car and drove off towards the school. As I was driving, I heard my phone buzz. I glanced over and saw it was a text from Stacy that read, “meet me in the courtyard when you get to school.” I acknowledged this message and continued to drive.
I got to school. The courtyard was crowded and lively as usual, but I eventually found Stacy sitting on a rock, staring at her phone screen. I walked over to her, causing her to look up at me and smile.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” I replied. “What”s up?”
Stacy sighed. “I think I’m going to end it with Andrew.”
“Really?” I didn’t know exactly why this came as a surprise to me. I knew it would happen at some point, just not so soon. “Is this my fault?”
“We went over this. You were involved, but it wasn’t your fault. At all. Besides, I’m doing this more for me.”
“But is...what happened, is that the reason why?”
“It’s a large chunk of it. And also,” Stacy shifted her weight, “I just want to thank you for telling me. I knew he wouldn’t, and most girls wouldn’t even approach me if that happened to one of them.”
“Thank you. I mean, you’re welcome. Or whatever.” She laughed. “So what’s the plan? When, where, how?”
“I want this to really get to him, you know? But I don’t know what to do.”
“Okay…” I shifted my weight. “What do you want to do to him? Even if it’s crazy, just be honest.”
“Well,” Stacy thought for a second. “I really want to, I don’t know. Just, like, slap him.”
“Then do it.”
“What?”
“Slap him.”
Stacy looked a little taken aback. “How could I ever pull that off? Are you crazy? I know you’re new here, but we don’t--”

“Stacy, we are way passed that. I know what I’m doing. A little slap in the face probably won’t even do much. And if it does, yay.”

“Okay, when?”

“Now.”

Stacy put her arms up in surrender. “You are crazy!”

“No I’m not. I’m dauntless.”

Stacy laughed and sighed. “Okay. So we have our plan. Should we go?”

“Yeah.”

Stacy and I got up from our little rock and walked around the main courtyard. We found Andrew in his usual spot near the parking lot. He was surrounded by boys in sports uniforms and girls in short, tight clothing. Kind of like what Stacy would wear, but today she had a purple skirt down to the bottom of her knees and a regularly sized white lace blouse. She looked more pretty than trashy. We stood next to my car, which was situated a good distance away from Andrew’s little group. We stared for a while, but Stacy turned to look at me.

“I don’t think I can do it,” she whimpered.

“Yes you can.”

“Cameron, come on! Do I look like the kind of girl who can slap a guy like Andrew?”

“Yes actually,” I pointed out. “Ever seen a chick-flick? Where the girl slaps a guy, and then the other girl slaps the guy because he was cheating on the other girl with the other girl, and there’s just lots of slapping? You get to be that girl. That strong, empowered girl who is determined to get what she wants without feeling pain. Andrew is the one that will feel the pain. You are going to feel so much better after you do this. Like you said, Andrew has always messed up your relationship in some way, but you just forgave him. Don’t do that this time, because you don’t deserve to deal with a douche like him any longer.”

Stacy just sat there, staring at me. “Wow, okay. I think I have to now.”

“Because you do. Now go over there, and give him a good one right across the face.”

She nodded. “Okay.” She looked over in his direction, nodding, and then back at me, still nodding. She looked so nervous. “I’m, I’m gonna do it.” I nodded and motioned for her to go over to him. She turned around and took a few steps towards his area. She stopped for a few seconds, and then turned around, taking back the few steps she had taken. “I can’t.”

“Stacy…”

“Cameron I really can’t, not in front of everyone.”

“We’ve been over this. Show that you are strong and empowered, okay? Use this opportunity to not care about what anyone thinks of you. You know you want to do this. You said it yourself.” She sighed at my proof that this was really what she wanted to do. She nodded reluctantly and walked over.

I watched as she slowly made her way to Andrew and his posse. Andrew caught sight of her and put his arms out. He grabbed her by the waist, attempting to do God knows what, but she pulled away forcefully. Good, I thought, good. Stacy started to say something, but I couldn’t hear anything, even so, I watched intently.

Then Andrew started to say something, but before he could finish, Stacy raised her hand and swung, hitting him right in the cheek. It was so loud I could hear the clapping sound from my car. My jaw even dropped at how spectacular it was. Good for you Stacy, I thought. There was lots of “ooh”ing following the hit. I saw Stacy say something else and walk away, causing lots more “ooh”ing. Andrew just stared at her as she walked back towards my car. He caught sight of me and looked absolutely dumbfounded. He shook his head and stormed off into the school building, defenseless. Stacy made it back to me.

“I did it,” she said excitedly, “I really did it!”

“I know!” We grabbed hands and shook them crazily, letting wide grins stretch across our faces. “Let’s go inside. I think we’re late.”

*

Every time Stacy and I saw Andrew in the hallway, people were whispering about him. He just glared at them and kept walking. Stacy and I had most classes together now, and we were best friends. She decided to stay away from the “popular” kids for a while, since it got too crazy. Everyone seemed to hate Andrew, but everyone now seemed to love Kevin for some reason. They chose the better cousin this time. Since Kevin was still Kevin, he stayed the sarcastic nerd that I knew and loved. I could already tell that he wouldn’t let this newfound popularity get to his head.
Stacy and I waited by my car for Kevin. When he emerged from the school building, he made his way over to us.

“Hello, ladies,” he said.
We smiled. “My house?” I asked. Stacy and Kevin nodded. “Let’s go.”