Today is Monday. It's the first Monday of the new school year. What I should be doing is laughing with my friends. Right now, I should've been on my way to home room with my best friends. Jake, Kara, Jason, Nancy, and Josh. What am I doing?

Running for my life.

My heart is beating quickly, the room is spinning. The only sounds are the code red bell chiming piercingly loud, and my ripped up converse hitting the floor in a quick, unstable beat as I ran through the school's empty and dark hallways with someone behind me.

This person had a gun. This person had made my school go into lock-down. Everyone was locked away in closets and classrooms. Except for me.

I felt my legs shaking as I ran, and I couldn't breathe. I was way past the amount of time I could run for. My lungs hurt terribly, and it hurt to breathe. But I couldn't stop.

Soon the lack of air took its toll. My surroundings became blurred, and my shaking legs, tripped over one another, sending me flying onto the cold hard tiles of the hallway floor. I fell face first, catching myself with my shaking hands.

When I looked up, I saw a masked man standing over me with a smirk.

"Please-" I choked out, breathing heavily. "Just let me go,"

He chuckled and took the gun from his side pocket and pointed it at my fore-head. My body stiffened.

"After what you've done- I think I have the right to," he spoke.

"I don't even know who you are!"

"And you never will,"

Before I knew it, the trigger was about to be pulled. I rolled clumsily out of reach, swinging my legs and tripping the man. But the bullet shot.

And it hit me right in the middle of my fore-arm. The pain rushed over me immediately, and it was unbearable. I yelled out in pain and gripped my arm, the blood from the wound rushing out causing my sweater's sleeve and my hand to be drenched in red liquid that was my blood.

I looked to my left and saw the man stumbling up from where I tripped him. I had to get him away from me, I thought. But almost immediately after, I heard a stampede of footsteps coming our way.

"ROSE!" one voice called out.

The man looked at me one last time, and whispered, "I'd watch it if I were you and your friends," before sprinting off, and out of the school.

I fell back onto the cold floor and tried to breathe. Everything was spinning, and the now present puddle of my own blood around me was just a sign to me that I had lost more then enough blood to cause me to black out. I closed my eyes, and winced in pain as I gripped my arm.

The footsteps grew closer, and closer, and finally they were right behind me, when they stopped. I opened my eyes to see Kara staring at me with wide eyes. She was scared to death of blood, but it looked like her worry and anxiety took over that fear.

Jason was soon beside her, and when he saw me, nothing except a small and short gasp escaped his mouth. I closed my eyes again, and breathed in and out. I couldn't speak. I wanted to, but couldn't.

"Rose? Rose? Rose answer me," I heard a soft voice say. It was Jake. I immediately opened my eyes, and gave him a forced, small smile. He was standing in my pool of blood, kneeling beside me.

"Nancy called the ambulance," he assured me. "What happened?"

"He--He chased me… Then shot me," I didn't know if I should've told him about what the man said to me. 'I would watch it if I were you and your friends,'

"Rose, please. Be careful," Jake warned.

"Jake, this is nothing… I promise you, I'm going to be fine," I swore, but knew at the same time, half of what I said was a lie. It was something. I thought I was going to die. But really, what's new?

It's been three weeks. Three weeks since I was running for my life. Three weeks since I last saw the man that threatened me and my friends.

But I'll just go on, and pretend it's nothing.

I'm in the mall with Jake. We go to the Springsdale mall every Saturday. It cures our boredom, and it gives us a chance to hang out. We hardly ever shop. Usally, we just walk around, talking to each other.

It was a sunny day, but it was humid and sticky as well. The weather never cooperates here in Springsdale. Ever.

I looked over to Jake, who was looking at some pretty blonde girl walking by. I giggled to myself, and tugged on Jake's arm, signalling him to keep walking.

"Jake, she's way out of your league, keep dreaming." I joked. He turned his head away from the girl and looked at me, a small smirk on his face.

"I can dream." Jake laughed, flipping his dark drown hair out of his face.

Jake is my best friend, and I love him. No, not that way, but as a friend. Him and I were best friends since the first day of ninth grade. He knows all my secret and I know all of his. We trust each other with our lives, and I like it that way. I can tell him anything, and Jake can tell if anything is wrong with me. I can tell if something's bothering him, as well.

He know about my past, and it's not a pretty one. I used to be homeless. I used to live on the streets. I had no home, I had no family, I had no education, I had no money. I 'lived' in the crappiest part of California, and talked to no one. I took drugs, drank alcohol like there was no tomorrow, and the worst part was, to earn money I sold my body. Yup, that's right. I was a prostitute, and I hated it. To get into a school was so hard. I had to go to the library, and learn how to read, do math, all by myself. I had no mom, I had no dad, I had no friends. It was only me, and I was forced to call hell, home.

I still remember the first day of high school. I had used up almost all my money to buy nice clothes, make-up, the works.Everything was so new, and I was scared out of my mind. I looked down at my feet, and that's when it happened. Jake and I bumped into each other, and we just became friends instantly. I remember walking home that afternoon-actually, just to my little spot in the alley, and I was just… Extremely happy. Halfway into the year we became closer and closer, and I became friends with his friends, and by the end of the first year we were all living under one roof, in one of the nicest parts of California.

Way before then, Jake knew about my 'secret'. It happened by an accident. It was so embarrassing, but it was worth it. He agreed to buy me anything I needed, pay for anything… His family is quite rich. Actually very rich. When he found out that I was selling my body, he got pissed off. I remember the huge fight we had. You have money now, why the hell are you still doing this, Rose!? Are you okay!? I cried and said I hated taking his money away from him. It took a while, but he understood and I promised to stop. And after that, there was no problems.

Jake and I kept walking, we didn't have to tell each other, but we both knew we were heading for Starbucks. We did that all the time, because we both enjoy the over-priced frappacino's, despite the fact it has a million calories. We soon neared the sweet-smelling coffee shop, and stood in line waiting for our turn to be served. I inhaled the delicious scent of the pastries, fresh coffee, and excessive amounts of chocolate. I noticed Jake's eyes on my torn up Converse.

"Rose, I really need to buy you some new shoes." Jake chuckled. I rolled my eyes.

"I can buy them myself. Give me the time to get some more money together," I moved my feet, rocking back and fourth on my heels and the balls of my feet.

"They're literally falling apart, can't you just let me get you a pair of shoes just once?"

"Maybe," I smiled walking with the line that was slowly moving closer and closer to the counter. He moved with me. I looked down at my feet again, my brownish red hair draping over my face. Tell him, he'll support you.

"Rose," Jake starts. "Why am I sensing that there is something you aren't telling me?" Fuck. I look up at him and look at him in his eyes. I feel anxious, and the palms of my hands start to turn sticky. I shove them in my pockets, and look away from his stare.

"I know I'm going to sound insane, but…" I take in a breath. "I think someone-more particularly the man who shot me, is following us." He stares at me intently for a couple seconds before talking.

"Rose, you're just paranoid about what happened about what happened a few weeks ago." I move my hands out of my pocket and on my left arm feel the bandage wrapped around my arm rub against my sweater. It still hurts.

"You don't understand. It's just this feeling… It's weird, like I can feel his eyes on me." I say, not wanting to tell him what the man really said to me.

"Paranoid." he sings to me in a singsong voice.

"Not." I singsong-voice him back and we both stop. Finally we are at the front of the line and are ready to place our order. I open my mouth to speak, but Jake steals the words from my mouth. He faced the young brunette barista and places the order.

"Two tall java-chip frappacino's."

"And a chocolate chip cookie." I add. She smiles and shouts the order back to her co-workers as she taps in the numbers of our orders on to the register in front of her. I open my book bag's side pocket, and search for money, but Jake, as per usual, beats me to it, and slams the money down onto the counter before I even have time to blink. He smirks at me, and I groan. We walk over to the counter where we wait for our orders.

"I really wish you would let me pay, just once. Seriously," I begged. "It's a couple coffee's and a cookie. Not a fricking car,"

"Well, sorry for being a gentlemen." he and I chuckle under our breath and we wait for our order.

"You're not a gentlemen, Jake." I giggle. Our order is called out by a cute blonde-haired guy. When I say cute, I mean, like, really hot. He winks at me as I grab my cookie and coffee and I giggle. Jake of course notices this and glares at the guy, and I playfully hit him in the arm. Jake grabs his coffee before walking off with me.

We sit at a round table not too far from the counter. I take a small sip of my frappacino before taking out my cookie and taking a bite out of it.

"Thanks Jake," I take yet another bite of my delicious cookie.

"No problem," he replies. "That guy looks like a douche."

"You're mean."

"You're too old for him." I make a face at him. I'm 20, thanks to all those lovely years I used up before coming to high-school. Then I laugh. Not because it's funny, but because of the irony.

"I'm two years older then you Jake." He stays silent.

"Yeah, well… I'm your best friend." he retorts. We both stare at each other for a while, before letting small giggles slip.

"You know one day I'm going to get married, right?" I ask raising an eyebrow, eager to hear his response.

"Yeah, I'll probably still call him a douche." he says casually, but a small smirk appears across his lips. I look at him seriously from across the small table, as I take another sip of the frappacino. He also takes a sip of his, and the smirk is still there. I playfully glare at him, and he winks at me. I groan and lean back in my chair, feeling the eyes on me once again.

Meh.

So, here's the deal.

Give me 5 comments/likes/reviews, I put the next chapter on.

Can we do that?

I think so! =D

Now, if you are confused, check out the trailer here:

www. youtube. com /PeacexLovexSharpay

Take away the spaces.

It's on my channel. It's called My heart trailer.

Enjoyyyy

Please review, too.=)

xox

-Steph