Chapter 1

Decisions, Decisions

He was an outcast and I was part of the popular crowd. I never wanted to give up the life I had worked so hard to get, but for him it was worth it.

…

I sat in the cafeteria, poking at my piece of pizza while my friends blabbed about their new football boyfriends and all the parties they'd gone to that weekend. I could've cared less, only because I already knew about all of it. I was at those parties, and I had seen them with their boyfriends. I didn't want to go but it was something I had to do. It was either go to the party and pretend to love it, or not go and be kicked out of the popular crowd.

Being a face in the crowd was fun in the beginning of freshman year, but now in the middle of senior year, it felt more like a chore than anything. I didn't have a boyfriend like the rest of my friends; it's not because I couldn't get one, I'm gorgeous, don't get me wrong, it's because I didn't want a stupid football jock. Football jocks just aren't worth my time.

I hated my friends, they were complete air heads, but they were like that on purpose. I want so bad to leave the popular group but if I did I'd have nowhere to go, no one to talk to. I'd be an outcast of the outcasts.

I looked around at the crowded cafeteria. There were 3 main groups at our school, the popular group, consisting of the jocks, cheerleaders, and friends of theirs (I wasn't a cheerleader, my best friend was, and out of all of them, she was the only one I actually liked being around), the wannabe group, consisting of those who were trying to hard to get into the popular group, and the outcasts, consisting of the scenes, emo's, Goths, and anyone else you could think of that was similar to them. If I were to leave my group, I would be part of the outcast, I wouldn't mind it at all but I had a bad feeling they wouldn't accept me.

…

He sat on the complete opposite side of the cafeteria, and his name was Andy Biersack, the outcast boy who I had watched from afar for so many years. I had never admitted it to anyone, but I was in love with him. We used to be best friends when we were younger, but then we split ways Freshman year. I'm not even sure if he remembers me, but maybe its better that he doesn't remember how I wanted so bad to be popular and I completely betrayed him in the process…

…

I was completely lost in my train of thought that I didn't even realize that I had been gazing at him this whole time. My best friend Claire hit me lightly on the arm to snap me out of my deep thinking. "God, Valary! It seems like all you been doing is daydreaming lately!" Claire said.

Everyone had always been under the impression that I daydream almost all the time, but what I'm really do is either thinking about Andy or trying to figure how I'm going to leave the popular group.

I glanced over in Andy's direction. He had looked up from the notebook he had been writing in and was starring right at me. I quickly averted my gaze back to Claire.

"Oh, um, yeah, daydreaming," I said quickly, hoping she hadn't noticed that.

"Something doesn't seem right about you lately, Vals… Is something bugging you?" she asked, throwing in my old nickname, 'Vals', the only three people that still called me that were her and my parents.

"Um, can you come over to my place tonight? I have something to tell you." I was gonna come clean to her about everything and I wasn't going to do it in front of all my so called 'friends'.

"Of course," she said, and then turned back to the rest of the group to listen to their stories.

…

The bell rang and I headed for my 6th period class, Government/Economy, aka the most boring class in the world! It was a completely pointless class, and our teacher, Mr. S. never had a clue what he was talking about. The only good part was none of my 'friends' were in this class and I sat right next to Andy… He was scribbling in his notebook, writing song lyrics I assume, like he always was.

Although, I hadn't talked to him in years, I knew he was in a band called Black Veil Brides, he was the lead singer and he went by the name 'Andy Six'. I'd heard their music before, and I love it, especially, Sweet Blasphemy and The Mortician's Daughter. Do my friends know that? Of course not! Well, Claire might, but other than her, no one does. Sometimes I feel like I have two separate personalities. The party loving, popular girl, which is a complete act, and the metal loving, head banging girl, which is the real me.

People really feel the need to interrupt my train of thought today, because my idiot teacher called on me to define one of our vocabulary terms.

"Seriously, Mr. S, who the hell really gives a damn what that means," I answer, pissed off that he had to call on me when there were 29 other people he could have called on.

Mr. S. let out a hard sigh and went on with the lesson. Andy on the other hand laughed and then smiled at me. I stared back into his icy blue eyes and I felt my cheeks turn bright red but I tried to smile back.

The class felt like it lasted for hours even though it was only a 45 minute class. The only thing that made it bearable was the random glances I would get from Andy.

…

Finally, after 7th period ended, 7th period being my P.E. class, I could finally head home and figure out was I was going to do. I knew I was finally going to get to be myself; I just wasn't sure how I was going to do that.

I headed for my car in the crowded parking lot attempting to find my car which I can truthfully say I can't remember where I parked. My car was easy to spot though, an old blue Mustang stood out among all the black and white cars.

My phone vibrated while I was walking.

New Message from Claire-bear: What the hell? No goodbye or anything? Ah, whatever… So I guess I'll come over at like five today? That sound good? Want me to bring anything? What exactly are you going to tell me? I'm kinda getting curious… K, bye!

I replied: It's a surprise! You're gonna love it… or hate it… I'm not sure which… But yeah, be there at five!

I wasn't paying much attention to where I was walking while I was texting. I ended up walking straight into someone. When I looked up to see who it was, I was met with bright blue eyes staring down at me. I took a step back, knowing whose eyes those were.

"Oh, sorry, Andy, I wasn't paying attention," I said quickly.

His eyes widened at the sound of his name as if he didn't think I knew his name.

He stared at me for a few more seconds before saying, "It's fine, Val…" and walking away.

I stood there in awe. He knew my name… He remembered my name after so many years! I blushed but looked both directions to make sure no one else saw. But then I remembered I really didn't care what people thought anymore.

…

Since Claire wasn't coming over until five and my parents weren't going to be home until late at night, I decided to go shopping for a few things and go home and 'fix' my hair.

By the time Claire came over, I was doing the finishing touches to my hair, as in curling the last few pieces I missed. Claire rang the doorbell and when I wasn't there within two seconds, she opened the door herself, and headed through my house to find me.

"Val?" she called.

"Hold on one sec!" I called back. I fluffed my hair out so she could see the work I put into it. I unplugged my curling iron and ran for my room.

She opened to door and stood there with wide eyes. "Ohmigod, Valary! You… You finally did it!" she exclaimed.

She ran toward me and played with the curls in my long hair, admiring my work. I was blond to begin with, so I dyed the bottom half of my hair black and put two large blue streaks in the top layer of my hair.

"So, you're finally letting the real you out?" she asked, looking around at my room. The walls were covered with posters of my favorite bands, Avenged Sevenfold, Rise Against, Hollywood Undead, Blood on the Dance Floor, and, finally, Andy's band, Black Veil Brides. This was the reason I never invited anyone over to my house, they'd see the real me. Some people say your room reflects who you are, and mine reflected who I am. It was a complete mess, clothes thrown everywhere, bed not made, dresser stacked high with CDs, and all those posters. Claire's actually the only person that's ever seen it all (besides my parents), so she had actually seen this coming and encouraged it.

"So, what do you think?" I twirled around in a circle so she could get the full effect.

"Um," she hesitated.

"You know what Claire-bear, I like it and that's what counts! I don't care if everyone else hates it!" I said quickly, with as much confidence as I could.

"I was just testing you, Vals! I love it! You look gorgeous like always!" she said, happy as can be. She tousled my hair and skipped around my room.

"You know what this means, though," I said softly.

She stopped skipping and stared at me. "You're leaving us, I know."

"And you're okay with it?" I asked, wincing slightly from fear of what her answer was going to be.

She let out a sigh and bit her lip. "Um, okay with it, I guess. Happy for you, yes. But do I want you to go? Hell no. This means I'll barely ever get to talk to you!"

"Oh, come on, Claire! It's not like I'm moving away or anything!" I reasoned.

"It's practically the same thing! I mean, I'm here and you're there…" she widened her arms to show imaginary distance.

"Groups mean nothing!"

"Oh, yeah, says the girl who's going from the top of the food chain to the bottom in one day. You worked so hard for this life and now you're just gonna let it go?" she retorted.

"Claire, please…!" I had expected her to take the news much better than this, but I guess things could have been worse.

"You're doing this for him, aren't you?" She glanced at my Black Veil Brides poster.

I pretended to have no idea what she was talking about.

"Don't look at me like that, Valary. I know you guys were best friends before I moved here. And you left him behind to join our crowd…" She paused. "I know you love him, Vals. I know you're not daydreaming all the time; you're staring at him. And, if I guessed it right, and you do love him, then I'm happy for you and he's is probably the luckiest guy in the world that a girl like you would actually do all this for him. And don't forget, I'm always here for you."

Tears started to form in my eyes. I had forgotten how different Claire was from everyone else. She actually cared about me and was a real friend.

"Ah, Claire-bear, you're the best!" I jumped up and hugged her.

"I know I am, Val-Belle!"

Val-Belle was the other nickname she had for me. She thought since I called her 'Claire-bear', she should add an animal to the end of my name, but because 'Valary' doesn't rhyme with much, she started calling me Val-Belle.

"Well, I guess, good luck tomorrow?" she said.

My eyes widened at the thought of it. "Thanks, I'm gonna need it."

…

A/N: Okay so this is my quick disclaimer. I clearly don't own any of the members of Black Veil Brides, or any other band members that are used in this story, or any of the songs. I do own my original characters (the few that there are) and any fictional bands that exist in here. Please Review! I love reviews! Oh, and trust me! It does get better! Don't quit on me now!