Chapter One:
Not For You
"Kristen!" I lifted up my head and found Abby running towards me. "I missed you soooo much!" She smiled at me, and I nodded back. "Yeah. Feels weird to be back, you know?" Abby sipped on her latte, as we sat by the bench, the bench we sat at for years, together. I looked over to her. She hasn't changed much, I thought. Abby was still the same girl I knew for years, short brown hair, big brown eyes and a pouty lips. She was still about 5"2. "So, what's changed?" I turned and lifted an eyebrow. "Well, you remember Tiffany?" I nodded, tall, blonde and a bitch - as always. "Yeah, well.. She took over the dance team as soon as you left." Abby stammered. My mouth dropped open. "ABBY!" I screamed."What? We couldn't do anything about it, no one knew what to do, and you know that you're the only person who would stand up to her." Abby bit her lip and pointed at Santa Monica High. "Things there? They've been.. different since you decided to jet off to New York for … well. Yeah."
"Abby, you know I had no choice. But now, I'm back. How did things, well, um change?" I bit my lip, hoping she wouldn't bring up Trevor. "Like I said, Tiffany and the dance thing was the major difference. Principal Kendwall retired, and our old Geometry teacher's our principal, way weird." She waved those thoughts like they weren't important. "What else? Oh, we have a new swimming team, you should so try out." Abby smiled at me and eyed my phone, which has been beeping ever since she sat down. "You should get that," she commented. "Huh? Oh, no. It's nothing important." I flicked off my phone and shoved it in my bag. "So now Mrs. Jenson's is Principal Jenson? That's unexpected." Abby stood up, grabbed my arm and said, "Well, now that you're back, shall we go with the usual?" She smiled, and I noticed her braces were gone. "Yeah, why not?" I giggled and we rushed off to the mall."Kristen? KRIS? Is that you?" I spun around in the fitting rooms and faced Tiffany. "O-M-G. IT IS! When'd you get back, why didn't you call me? Are you staying?" She flipped her long blonde, now straight hair over her shoulders. Abby appeared to my side in seconds. "Shut up, Tiffany. You knew she was coming back, the whole school knew." Abby said through her teeth. Abby and I - we've been friends since middle school. We never liked Tiffany, or her friends, who we call the 'Tiff-bots.' They dressed exactly like her, and followed her everywhere. They were like, mini hers. It's hilarious. Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Was I talking to you?" she spat. She turned back to me, and pulled my arm towards the mirrors. I could feel Abby's eyes burning into Tiffany's back as she went back into her dressing room. "So?" Tiffany asked."Yeah, I just flew in last night. Sorry, I was unpacking." I said. "That's alright." She cleared her throat, and I knew she wanted to know if I was staying or not.I smiled, "And yeah, I'm staying." She raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth. "Well-"I cut her off. "Listen, Tiff. We should catch up some other time, you know? I should get back to Abby.""Yeah, okay. I'll call ya tonight?" She called as I walked away. I nodded without looking at her before going back into the fitting room."What the HELL was that?" Abby demanded as soon as we left the store. I folded my receipt and shoved it in my wallet. "What, Tiffany?" we walked towards the food court and found a seat right by Starbucks."YEAH. Why were you all buddy buddy with her?" Abby questioned as she sat down, placing her shopping bags in the empty seat. "What are you talking about? You know I don't like her." I laughed. "Hey, what do you want?" I dug through my bag for my wallet."I'm not hungry." Abby sat back in her seat and took out her iPhone, so I shrugged and went online. "Okay, so where are we hitting next?" I asked as I sat back down. I took a sip of my iced tea and looked at gave me a funny look, "What are you drinking?""Uh, iced tea?" I answered
"Yeah, but why?" She reached over to my biscotti with her perfectly manicured purple fingers."I've laid off the coffee." I smiled. "That's not like you! You used to drink two cups a day, now down to none? You're an inspiration, Kris." Abby laughed.
I tied my hair back into a ponytail as I continued to empty the boxes that were filling up my room. But something caught my eye, my phone was vibrating on my bed. I flopped back and saw 'Tiffany Bells' flashing on my screen. How about, no? I thought and hit Reject.
I walked through the halls of Santa Monica High and breathed in the warm air. Locker 219 my card read. What classes were I taking this year? I rummaged through my bag and looked for my schedule, "Where is-" "Whoa, sorry! Didn't see you there." I blinked and sighed when I saw my books all over the first floor. I looked up and faced a tall and brown haired guy, who was holding a football. "Oh. It's okay. I wasn't looking." He leaned down to help me pick up my books, and took a look at the crumpled schedule. "That's a lot of AP classes for an eleventh grader." He grinned. "I'm Nate." He held out his right hand, so I took it."Kristen. And yeah, my parents are always encouraging me to try to do my best.." I said. "Well, I gotta go, my friend's waiting for me." Instead, Nate moved in front of me, "Where's your locker? I could walk you there. I mean, you're new right?" I kept walking and eyed him doing one of those guy handshakes Gary Portman - I think? He was a friend of Trevor's. "It's on the second floor, and I'll be fine. I'm not new." Nate coughed and stiffened up but still walked with me. I was staring down at my phone, wondering where Abby was when I realized people were staring at me. I just felt it. I looked up and around, and noticed that my past class and school mates were all staring at me, and whispering. "She's, really, like..back?" I heard. Katie snickered. She was a 'Tiff-bot'. I looked over and flashed one of my smiles. Her blue eyes widened and she turned away. I continued down the long hall, and so did Nate. "Why are you following me?" I stopped and asked him. "I'm - uh, not?" Nate flickered his eyes. "I have to speak to the Coach.""Isn't he that way?" I pointed in the direction we just walked from. His eyes followed my finger, and he opened his mouth but didn't say anything. I looked at his face, with the soft brown eyes and a perfect teeth. "Yeah? But you know, helping a fellow school friend out never does any damage."
"I told you. I'm not new." I stalked up the stairs, and noticed that he didn't follow.I found a seat by the window, the only one. It was in the back, and I groaned. That meant I had to go through rows of familiar faces. Everyone waved or said hello, leaving me no choice. I didn't want to be rude. I sat down and took out my binder, when I heard the laugh. His laugh. It was Trevor and he was in my homeroom. I continued to talk to Natalie, a girl I knew since the beginning of high school. I hope she didn't notice I had crossed my fingers, begging that Trevor didn't see me. But, unfortunately as soon as my teacher- "Ms. E" walked in, she called out my name. "Kristen Jacobs?" Her voice rung through the loud classroom, and then there was an awkward silence. I raised my hand, as everyone turned to me. Trevor went from laughing with his friends to not even saying breathing. I looked at him and he smiled. "Kristen, do you have your schedule?" Ms E asked."Um, yeah. I got it in the office a few days ago." I murmured. "Well, welcome to Santa Monica! Or should I say, welcome back?"I nodded. That was the first "welcome back" I got since I arrived. When the bell finally rang, I darted for the door and hoped that Trevor wouldn't catch up. But, being the super jock he was, he did. "Kris!" He called. I stopped when his hand held onto my arm. "What?" I asked back icily. The whole class had their eyes on us, and I didn't care. "Do you have anything to say? Another sorry, another plead? I'm not back for you, dumbass. Don't think that I forgot about Erika." He let go and just stared at me. I heard a few whispers and gasps behind me, even Ms. E was staring. I turned around and walked down the corridor and thought, Why the hell did I come back?
