AN: wooo, new fic wooo yeah! I hope you like it! Please review and stuff. Your responses to my last fic (a new addition) were amazing; I did not expect it to go down half as well as it has done! Its rated T over all but some chapters maybe rated M, if they are, rather than change the rating of the whole story, I'll just write a warning at the top of the page, is that ok? There will probably be mild/strong language throughout.. This chapter just kind of sets the scene and lays out who all the girls are...

1. Monday morning

She strode into school on Monday morning, her rucksack was slung over her shoulder, her tie was hung loosely about her neck, her socks instead of being knee high, were about her ankles and her skirt, against what was specified in the school uniform code, was not just below the knee, infact it would be lucky to reach mid-thigh. However, although you couldn't tell she had actually run a brush though her thick dark hair which was parted in the centre but more often than not it was tucked behind her ears. She was nearly 17 years old and although she wasn't considered a conventional beauty in that she was tall, gangly and didn't wear as much make-up as most girls her age, she was bright and liked by most of her teachers, sporty, played for the school hockey and football teams and. She had a small group of friends, not necessarily the popular girls but Nikki and her friends were an established clique. They didn't have a particular label like the popular girls but found solace in each other as all of their misfit personalities seemed to somehow fit… well they would have made a pretty good pub quiz team anyway.

As Nikki made her was across the yard towards the big doors of the school, a football was kicked into her path. She stopped it with her foot and looked around to find the owner of the ball. To her delight she saw Susie waving at her,

'Nik, pass it!', Susie was the same age as Nikki and they had been friends all through school, since year 7 when they had all tried out for the football team together along with Lori (Loreena) who was now standing behind Susie. Nikki flicked the ball up on to her foot before bouncing it on to her knee and passing it back, and following its path over to Susie and Lori. The other two girls were dressed similarly to Nikki (the skirts were compulsory) Susie had a mop of mousy brown curls, which today were tamed back into a ponytail. She ran her hand across her cheek simultaneously wiping dirt across her face as she did so. She didn't notice. Susie was one of them secret geniuses, she wasn't a 'swot' or a 'teacher's pet', she didn't even have to try in lessons, always playing the clown and then getting the highest marks in the class on the test, a secret genius. Lori on he other hand had long ginger hair which she clearly hadn't run a brush through this morning, Loreena had joined the friend group when the girls had seen her being picked on in the yard for having red hair. Now she was in the sixth form Lori blew off any ginger remarks with a rude hand gesture. As well as being on the football team she was also a talented musician with the ability to play the guitar and piano as well as singing, although she would never play on demand for any of her friends.

'Hey' Nikki said casually.

'Morning' said Lori, bending down to tie her lace that had come loose.

'shit, what time is it? I said I'd meet Matt' said Susie quickly shoving the ball into her rucksack. Matt was Susie's boyfriend, they had been seeing each other since year nine, so he had had to just slot into the group.

'umm about quarter to', replied Nikki.

'cheers, see you later!' and with that Susie ran in through the school doors leaving Lori and Nikki stood on the yard together. Loreena shrugged at Nikki.

'C'mon, I'll walk to registration with you' said Loreena hauling her bag up on to her shoulders.

'Wait, no Jen this morning?' asked Nikki who was slightly confused by the absence of her other friend.

'Nah she went to the library first thing, she hadn't done her maths homework, so she's doing it now'.

'oh' Said Nikki before turning her eyes to the ground. Lori looked puzzled at her friend's attitude, she turned around and immediately caught Nikki's thinking, she too looked at the ground kicking her foot on the floor nervously as Stacey Taylor walked past them with two other girls in their year, Becky and Michelle. Stacey was the so called 'it girl', popular and pretty but as Jen so eloquently put it, 'she was a bitch and a half'. Nikki and her friends tried to avoid her as much as possible; it had been her who had tormented Loreena so mercilessly.

'did you know she shaves her forearms, like as well as underarms?' whispered Lori after Stacey had passed.

'what!?' Nikki seemed disgusted, 'who the fuck does that?'.

'I dunno, you coming to hockey at lunch?'.

'yeah, ah shit, I forgot my stick!'.

'its fine, there's loads in the sports cupboard' replied lori reassuringly as both girls made their way into their form room.

AN: Woomp there it is.. What did you think, any suggestions? Requests?