I walked along the sidewalk up to school and my two other friends practically skipped. They were always happy, unless, they broke up with all of the jocks at school. They were cheerleaders and had begged me to be one. I guess it just never was a dream of mine. “Strut, strut, and strut,” Stephanie said gleefully.

“Strut, strut and strut,” Carol repeated.

“God you two,” I groaned. “I’m tired of your “struts”.

“Aw, c’mon,” they both complained. “It’s really fun.” I sighed and kept walking. We’d been best friends ever since the seventh grade. I was a loner and they were the social butterflies, trying to get every guy in the football team. I study and they strut their stuff. They can be annoying, but they’re still good friends of mine.

“Aw man, I forgot to study for the biology test today,” Stephanie groaned.

“I forgot too,” Carol said. “But I’m going to try my best!”

“B-E-S-T!” they both screamed and did cartwheels on the floor. I slapped my forehead and kept on walking.

“You guys…,” I said. They gave me huge smiles and it made me forget how annoying they were. “Am I the only one who studies around here?” I asked. “You guys need to come over or something and have a study session with me.”

“But study sessions are boring and are for nerds,” Stephanie exclaimed thoughtfully.

“Agreed!” Carol yelled.

“Ugh,” I groaned. “You guys are never going to get into a university.”

“Give us a break,” Stephanie said.

“It’s hard,” Carol finished for her.

“I really feel like I’m the only one doing the work,” I complained.

“Cause’ you are,” Stephanie and Carol said. I walked into the school as Stephanie and Carol skipped ahead of me. I stood in front of my locker and grabbed my science books, looked at my watch (almost class time), and walked to Stephanie and Carol.

“Ok guys, two minutes until class,” I said. “You ready?”

“Yup,” they agreed and skipped along to class. I went into my own class and sat down. Girls were sitting on their desks flirting with all the “cute” boys. I set my books on my desk and took out a pencil and pen. I flipped open my notebook and started doodling on the side of one of the sheets. The bell rang and all the kids slid into their desks, right as the teacher walked into the room.

“Hello class,” Mrs. Burgundy said. “I hope all of you did your worksheets since I will be handing out a pop quiz.” Kids groaned (good thing I studied). “Tsk, tsk, kids.” She walked around handing out the papers as a boy stood in the doorway. Some kid announced his arrival and the teacher turned around and smiled. “Class this is Derek Anderson,” she exclaimed inviting Derek in. “He just transferred from Boston, Massachusetts. Please give him a warm welcome.”

All the girls gave him a dreamy look and the guys gave him the death look. I was amused by this. I seemed to be the only girl not looking at him dreamily so the teacher happened to tell him to sit by me. “Derek, why don’t you sit by Madison Lane?” The girls turned to me and gave me the death looks. I tried to make myself small and that obviously wasn’t working.

“Hello Madison,” he said politely, “Pleasure to meet you.” The other girls were still giving me a frightening glare.

“P-Pleasure to meet you too, Derek,” I stuttered out. He gave me a smile that made my heart stop beating for a couple seconds. As soon as I turned away from his gorgeous face I met the “not so gorgeous” faces glaring at me. I sank into my chair.